The Things I Said

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2007-09-10T04:30:00.000-07:00

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Killings in Eastleigh, Nairobi

2007-06-28T07:45:00.000-07:00

As reported by The News On Foot.

The Eastleigh Murders

Hello, Jambo....

2007-06-27T06:32:00.001-07:00

Hello fellow Lady-bloggers and Gent-bloggers. How is it going. It feel like ages since I visited the blogosphere. Insha-Allah will update you on life in Kenya. For those of you whom I am supposed to correspond through emails, forgive me for not writing. For my fellow bloggers, I will be active on this blog Insha-Allah although the internet connection over here really sucks. It really does.

Till next time, hasta luego mi amigos.

A Play With Emotions

2007-03-25T13:49:00.000-07:00

Continued from Fleeting Moments and Confessions

Diiriye, realizing the gravity of the situation in which he has found himself, was determined to leave the house, well before any of Nimco’s brothers showed up. Gently, he picked up his coat from the couch and begun to proceed towards the sitting room’s door, where Haajir stood. As he approached the door, he could sense Haajir’s body language change. He noticed that Haajir’s fist was tightening as if in preparation for a fight. Diiriye couldn’t help but make a silent prayer, saying ‘Oh God, let me out of here safely. Let there be no punch-ups. Get me out of this house in one piece’. As he got nearer, his heart begun to palpitate and the bounding in his chest got alarmingly louder by the seconds.

Nimco didn’t move an inch, her face still wet with tears, she nervously placed her fingers on the lips, and displayed a face overwhelmed by dread and anticipation of what Haajir might do to Diiriye. All sorts of fears went through her mind, but the biggest fear concerned Haajir’s misconception of what had happened. This would certainly make him attack Diiriye, she feared. Nimco knew Haajir was a big fellow whose attack of Diiriye could result in a serious injury. The prospect frightened her. Trained as an analyst, her mind went into an analytical mode within seconds. When in this sort of mode, usually if the danger she perceives is quite great, she would engage in predictive exercises, that only frightens her even more. In the few seconds it took Diiriye to pass through the sitting-room’s door, hyperventilation took hold of her altogether.

On top of it, she was confronted by a serious hypothetical dilemma of ‘what ifs’. What if Haajir assaults Diiriye; what if it becomes a police matter, she asked herself. She knew too well the consequences but she didn’t know how she would deal with such a matter. She couldn’t bear the thought of either implicating Haajir or lying, which would result in the loss of whatever imagined affections Diiriye might have developed for her. Neither could she bring herself to the idea of lying under oath. These thoughts about what ifs only confounded her.

Fortunately, however, Diiriye managed to get out the sitting-room and also the house, without any provocation from Haajir. But Nimco couldn’t immediately regain the focus of her mind to this. She dwelt in thoughts of anticipation. She did not regain her composure until Haajir insensitively shouted something at her. ‘What!?’ screamed She. ‘Where is he? Where is he?’ she repeatedly asked. Haajir, unable to understand her sudden questioning disdainfully replied ‘Are you blind? The son of a bitch left!’ ‘Alhamdullilaah!’ she said with a great sigh. She then took to her feet and sprinted towards her upstairs room, shut the door and begun sobbing uncontrollably.

Disorientated, as soon as he stepped out of the house, Diiriye ran along a bus that was going to the next bus stop, jumped on and climbed up to the upper deck. He seated himself in the front seats and held the edge of the seat and broke into tears. He was equally as relieved as he was worried of future consequences. To be continued…..

Fleeting Moments and Confessions

2007-03-18T13:48:00.001-07:00

While in the kitchen, she would occasionally edge closer to the sitting-room where Diiriye was listening to love songs. Whenever the song that most interested her is blasted out, she would feel immense yearning intertwined with hopelessness. Attentive to Diiriye's reactions to particular songs, she wished he would sing along when some of her favourite songs were playing. If he did so, she believed, it would be possible that he may share not only her appreciation of these songs but also her sound preference of them. She did not know Diiriye that well, yet in all the times he came to the house with her cousin, she felt, with an unexplainable rationality of her own making, that she belonged to him as a future wife or at least as a forlorn lover. What puzzled her much, was that although she felt this way, he has not yet derived any meaning from the hints she has been sending out to him.

To her dismay, she thought, 'what is more disgraceful than to harbour the willingness to belong to one when he isn't least bit appreciative of the opportunity?'. Injected with much haste and hotheadedness, she did not know when she dashed out of the kitchen and came into the sitting room. Diiriye, slouched in into the couch he was sitting on, was startled by this rude intrusion. He never liked to be alone with a young lady in her own family home. But this time, he could not avoid it. His friend and Nimco's cousin has gone out to drive her mother Muxubo to her relations. His absence was Diiriye's distress, but for Nimco, this was the perfect opportunity to confront him with what she has been harbouring.

Dressed modestly with a traditional scarf, she adjusted it to hide revealed parts of her hair. Clearing her mind, instead of talking, she started to sing along with the song that was playing:

'Maxaan kaa dhugsayoo ----------(How I awaited hearing from you) Inaan dhaayaha ku saaroon -------------(And to lay my sight on you) Ku dheehdo dooney! ----------------(To have my eyes feast on you)

Maxaan kuu dhabar adaygoo------- (Oh how I persereved to have you) habeenimo kugu dhadhabayoon --------(And in nights hallucinated of you) Dhuuntiyo laabtaa --------------(And within my heart and throat) Kaa dhex baarey! ---------------(oh how I searched for you)

Diiriye felt confounded as to what this young lady was alluding. Had he been giving out any affectionate signals, he thought, he would have expected this lady behave thus. He clutched both of his hands unto the couch and pushed himself back, trying to avoid Nimco who was poking a finger at him. Her her face showed intense emotions. Her eyes were teary; her composure was confused as if her confession to Diiriye drained all sensibility and energy out of her being. Even more distressful, she thought Diiriye was not the man she had believed he would be. For her, a man must have the skill of getting hints when given by a lady, but as concerns Diiriye, even when he was made a direct declaration, he does not seem to yield.

While she stood there in front of the couch grieved and motionless, Diiriye crept up from the couch slowly and went towards the CD player, with the intention of turning it off. Soon as the music stopped playing, Nimco's cousin, Haajir, entered the house without making any noise. He found himself standing in the sitting room. Immediately, he looked across the room and saw Nimco's teary eyes and Diiriye's discomforted figure standing next to the CD player. Nimco turned towards Haajir and speechlessly pointed a finger on Diiriye who kept looking down. She was still shaken and tears were rolling down her cheeks. In a split second, alarm bells rang in Haajir's ever suspicious mind. However innocent the situation might have been, Haajir assumed the worst of what could have happened. Diiriye, on the other hand, couldn't utter a word. Haajir thought Diiriye's silence was a complicit affirmation of what he had tried to do to Nimco.

'Get out' said Haajir 'you bastard'. 'What?' cried Diiriye 'Just get out before I kill you!' said agitated Haajir Nimco, whimpering and heartbroken from the turn of events couldn't hold back from crying. 'No! It is not what you think, Haajir. Nothing happened. Nothing happend' cried She. 'What the hell happened then' exclaimed Haajir 'explain it to me' 'It is nothing, I swear, it is not what you think it is' explained Nimco. 'No, I don't want to hear your excuses of what he has done to you, explain it to your mother and the brothers when they come back' intimated Haajir. 'No! Please don't tell them anything, I beg of you please cousin' cried Nimco.

All the while Diiriye stood there looking even more distressed than before. He contemplated what the results could be if the mother and the bothers were to get involved in this matter. He has had disagreements with one of Nimco's brothers before over a girl both of them liked. Diiriye was convinced that if Nimco's brother was to be given an opportunity, he would have no second thoughts of murdering him. He is that kind of person, he thought. Diiriye told himself, 'for luck! I am to be killed for a woman who I harbour no feelings! I wish she was Sucaad. I wouldn't be least worried dying because of her!'

To be continued...

SIMPLE BUT BEAUTIFUL

2007-02-26T08:28:00.000-08:00

A THOUSAND WORDS?

Northeastern Kenya..

Click on picture to see an enlarged version. Picture taken by Masha Hamilton.

What do you know about Camel BookDrive? If you don't know much about this project then I would advice you to visit their websiteside and learn more about their wonderful work. This is a pioneering project that takes books to the pupils (and people) that need them most. Nomads are mobile in their search for water and pasture. It is usually difficult to reach them but this project seems to have brought about a much needed alternative. Take a camel load of books to the nomads :)... A kind of Somali reer-guuraa library at their disposal. The camel herders and school pupils alike can peruse through the pages of these books while tending to the camels or goats or even in their short break from school...

These are Garissa Primary School pupils, right? I kind recall the colour of the school uniform. I wore the same colour but in another division of the district. Wore Gray in Sec. School - ah, so dull a colour...Bloody County High.. But is so good to be reminded on my school days..especially primary. Insha-Allah, I might pay it a visit when I visit Kenya soon.

Another translation of Qasim's 'Sweetness and Bitterness'

2007-02-24T09:49:00.000-08:00

The first translation ofQasim's classical 'sweetness and bitterness' or 'Macaan iyo Qadhaadh' in Somali was done by a Polish Somali linguist and analysis was done by Martin Orwin of SOAS university. But I have stumbled on this slightly 'different' translation of the poem above Mohamud Togane's 'Memorium for Qasim' so I was wondering, did he do this latter translation or is the earlier one with few words and sentences added to it? (Also read M.Togane's An Elergy to Yamyam- Yamyam is a well-known poet in many parts of Somalia who died few years ago)

In Pictures: Mogadishu Exodus

2007-02-24T08:54:00.000-08:00

Somali resistance movement; let us change tactics please!

2007-02-24T07:46:00.000-08:00

Well, what do you know? The city is in flames again and its non-combatant inhabitants have, again, last night that is, proved to be the only sacrificial lamb. So for me, as I see it, the resistance is quickly losing the plot. Those on the ground seem to be making the same mistakes they made when the city was in their grip. The mistake here is haste. They were hasty when they took over Mogadishu by banning very many things overnight, which the Somalis took for granted. The effects of this ban created a change in the peoples’ heart and mind. This time around, the resistance movement is hasty in its strategy to fight back.

Some of the tactics they have used so far are not only deplorable but also a crime against the Somali nation. A crime committed every time militias hide amid residential areas and fire missiles at Ethiopian military bases, while knowing full well that the response their acts garner is a massacre of women and children. Just last night, almost 10 civilians were killed as a result of Ethiopians firing ‘anti-aircraft missiles’ at a residential area. Five out of the ten people killed were children. This is not an isolated case but rather the norm.

Having said that as a criticism directed towards the resistance movement, I would like to add that there are positive signs for the cause. The Ethiopians and their Somali stooges seem to have opened a Pandora’s box. It seems they have decided to get rid of the warlords that have helped them capture Mogadishu and in a queer turn of events, the former warlords are now re-arming themselves in order to fight the very Ethiopian troops that gave them the chance to come back to Mogadishu. Even funnier is that the warlords have been rumored to be re-organizing the remnants of the one and only Islamic Courts Union as to join forces. So, before too long, we might have in our hands, Black Hawk Down revisited.

The Somali Warlord-President storms Chatham House..

2007-02-23T12:47:00.000-08:00

First, the Warlord-President, Abdullahi Yussuf, enters the conference hall and gets seated. Seconds later after sitting down, the Ethiopian Ambassador in London enters the hall and the Warlord-President (supposedly) of Somalia sees the Ambassador and requests that he be seated the front row seats. Then Sally Heally, the speaker, starts with the autobiography of the President and mentions that he (the President) was born in Galkacio, Mudug. It seemed as if the President didn't know what the hell she was talking about but when he heard the lady utter the word Mudug, he rudely interrupted her and asked: 'have been to Mudug'? The interruption was so rude and intense, it was claimed, that the audience became terrified. It later become clear that the President had no clue of what was being talked about.

Apparently, when he was welcomed to the podium, he took out some papers and immediately started reading from them. For shame, ten minutes into his reading and on the second page, one of the President's boys rushed to the podium to notify the President that he was altogether reading the wrong speech! :) The boy then gave another speech to the President and so the President starts reading again. This time, he struggles with his pronunciations of the odd-difficult words here and there till he finished.

Now comes the Question time...

Although the president said he was unable to comment of the speech he just read (probably it was new to him), he allowed other questions to be asked. That is when a gentleman who works for Chatham House asked a question. The question was would the President start reconciliation with moderate elements of the ousted Islamic Courts Union? The President replied that he knows no moderate elements in the former UIC and asked the questioner to produce the names of those whom he considers to be moderates. The second questioner asked about the reasons why other countries of the world haven't supported his government.

Instead of answering the question, the President asked the question, what are you? (a traditional Somali line of questioning - usually about your clan linage) A Yemeni? But the poor questioner replied, no I work for Chatham house. The President repeatedly asked the man what he was. In tribal Somalia, the President has been known to deal with people according to their tribes. At times, he would fish out the weakness of one clan and use it to his advantage-mostly to create disunity. This time, however, he was dealing with a Chatham House worker and not a Somali. When the questioner persisted that he works for Chatham House, the President said something in Somali which made the questioner go silent.

A Somali among the audience braved himself and asked the President about the Tegre Boys of Meles Zenawi and why they are killing the civilians or whether it is the Tegre boys who control the country or the TFG. The President's response to that question was predictable. He attacked the questioner and asked him 'are you the reminder of what was the Courts'? Meaning, are you Habr Gedir tribe? The Somali questioner replied fittingly to the Warlord-President and said, don't you know we are in London and that this country is a democracy? If you are a Somali, you would decode this as meaning, 'this is not a Warlord-fiefdom in Mogadishu where you could have killed me for simply talking back'.

The Warlord-cum-President must have forgotten his brain in Villa Somalia, Mogadishu. He thought he could manipulate the journalists and the audience questioning him. The funny thing was, one of the journalists in the audience had a disclaimer before questioning the Warlord-President. The Journalist said that he didn't wish to be intimidated by the Warlord-President because of tribe and that he wished to declare that his tribe is 'Journalist' :). This is how primitive the Warlord-President is; to be safe from his intimidation, one must state his/her 'tribe' so that he could determine whether you are a friendly or an enemy tribe. If you are a 'Journalist' I am afraid you are not one of his friendlier tribes. This is why there is a ban on many media outlets in Mogadishu...

Right to resist I understand; but how I dont!

2007-02-23T09:40:00.000-08:00

As a supporter of the resistance movement against the invading Ethiopians in Mogadishu, I am deeply troubled by the way 'resistance' has turned out to be. By resistance, I mean, the right to resist outsiders hell-bent on denying us the right to be the masters of our own affairs.

These sort of outsiders should be the target of our anger and resistance. However, in our process to resist, what if our actions become harmful to the very people whom we are trying to fight on their behalf? What if, with every stone and bullet we throw, results in the loss of the lives of our children and womenfolk? What is the right way to resist?

Somalia: An Oily Cliche?

2007-02-23T08:53:00.000-08:00

by David Barouski

February 23, 2007

Today, it is a reflexive cliché to claim the United States (U.S.) is off on another oil-acquisition conquest anytime they invade an Arabic nation. In the case of Somalia, the cliché may neverless be true. While undoubtedly, the U.S. and its Ethiopian proxy conqured Somalia and “liberated” it from the clutches of Al-Qaeda primarily for geostrategic reasons (possible launching point to attack Iran, more friendly territory close to Arabic Sudan, more ports under their control, a possible regional base for the AFRICOM command post, potential launching points to protect the Strait of Hormuz [the primary shipping point of Middle Eastern oil], etc), Somalia is awash in unspoken oil and provides a tantalizing business opportunity.

Perhaps We Had Better Start From the Beginning…

Continue reading in Zmag....

Somalia Debate: What is next for Somalia?

2007-02-21T10:39:00.001-08:00

Speakers:

Dahabo Isse, Somali Civil Liberties and Human Rights Organisation Mohamud Guled, representative of the Somali transitional government Cathy Nugent, editor of Solidarity Dawn Butler, MP Brent South (Labour)

7.15pm, Thursday 22 February Pattidar Hall, London Road (off Wembley High Road). Three minutes walk from Wembley Central station (Bakerloo line and Silverlink).

In December of last year, Ethiopian troops invaded southern Somalia, pushing back the Union of Islamic Courts with the support of the Somali transitional government. Meanwhile, the United States intigated a bombing campaign in the name of the 'war on terror', ostensibly to take out three suspected Al-Qaeda operatives. What will happen next? And what should the left have to say about it?

All welcome - plenty of time for questions and discussion.
Link: Workers' Liberty <--- Sounds Socialist?!

The Las-Qorey Jetty Project

2007-02-21T09:17:00.001-08:00

Just some information: An ambitious project to build a jetty in LasQorey town has been proposed. The research or feasibility study has been carried out already. The project is on a take-off phase. The work towards the construction of a port in LasQorey within 36 months has been thus far initiated by Fatima Jibril of HornRelief, an environmental and humanitarian organization based in Nairobi. If this project is included in HornRelief's portfolio, the organization becomes a developmental charity whose work promotes infrastructural development in Third World countries.

Who benefits from this project?

According to LaasQoreyport.org, "The communities in and around Laas Qoray will be direct beneficiaries of the Port. We expect that the local impact will be important to economic development in the area and we have an economic feasibility study that details economic forecasts. "As well, we acknowledge that the Port will affect the local environment. A comprehensive environmental assessment has been completed and the Project will engage relevant environmental specialists to ensure that damage to the coastal area, including inland features as well as fisheries, etc. is minimized."

What about the environment? Who is monitering the environmental efffects of the project?

In their statement regarding these questions, the Laasqorey port authority says: "The local environmental impact of construction and the effect that this Port will have on fisheries, the coastline, and the inland environment is important to this project. Planning for this project includes special attention to potential environmental impacts and project staff will work closely with environmental engineers and UNEP to ensure all activities have minimal impact on the environment.

The project will include the following environmental aspects:

an environmental assessment and full monitoring during mobilization and construction.
specialized training to the fishery sector to strengthen sustainable fishery practices. safe disposal of all construction waste.
facilities for migrant construction workers (latrines and access to drinking water).
measures to mitigate local environmental impact of the project in and around Laas Qoray town.

What about operations?

The Port will be complete in approximately two years but before it opens, management and governance structures will be established to operate the Port in a safe, efficient, and profitable manner. A framework for governance, management and ownership has been developed that blends traditional Somali approaches to governance with contemporary enterprise management.These bodies are truly egalitarian in composition involving civil society, cultural leaders, and community members. The Project already has the commitment of leaders in the region to manage this community asset by way of community involvement, regardless of clan.

Guiding Princinples?

--Collaborative governance, ownership, and management. --Equal opportunity. --Prudent fiscal management. --Transparency, accountability and professionalism. --Safety and Security. --Environmental Care.

A very grey day to die...

2007-02-19T08:09:00.000-08:00

Literaly, some 15 minutes ago, a car accident in Green Street killed a padestrian crossing the road. Green Street was momentarilly closed but now it is back in business. The victim of the car accident is a white man and the driver of the car was an Asian lady with a baby on board. Thats the news of NewsOnFoot :D.

WANTED: Camel herding experience ...

2007-02-19T07:27:00.001-08:00

Hello Bloggers, yes you didn't misread the title of this post! It is what it says; I am seriously considering an opportunity to get some first-hand experience in camel herding. I am hoping to travel to Kenya in the coming months to visit family. At the same time, I hope to travel to the countryside, especially Northeastern province where camel herding is common. There are few places that come into my mind that I think would be suitable to visit.

Wajir District or Laghdera constituency in Garssa district. These are the two places I think would provide the best opportunity to do camel herding for weeks on a row. Mostly, as some people tell me, the camel herders in these two areas, could spend a month and a half without coming into much contact with settlements. This makes the experience very worthwhile.

I am still gathering information regarding this, and Insha-Allah, if there is any of you guys who has visited Northeastern kenya recently, I would appreciate what you have to say about this...

Thanks in advance..

The Things I Said...

2007-02-18T11:52:00.000-08:00

Change of title is overdue, I believe. I am only trying to give myself an excuse to say something without being seen as an advocate of some kind. The name thetwoadvocates came to exist from the fact that upon the shoulders of each of us, there are two angels-one that writes good deeds and one that documents bad deeds.

There is always a struggle between these two angels. What we do, say and think is visible to both of them. I hope that I say or write much good rather than bad in this blog. Sometimes, it is easy to forget the weight of what each of us (bloggers) writes. So to avoid losing track, I'll try to remember the things that I say in here. The title change is in line with that.

Blogging 'cos of the blues

2007-02-15T09:09:00.000-08:00

Blues...my only hideout. When the world is full of the idiot's chatter, I find myself appreciative of boredom. I'd rather be bored blue than listen to what glorified stupidity has to say. Glorified because the most irritable people, who chatter on and on are bearded men, who, nauseatingly repeat themselves till they achieve perfect incoherence and illogicality in everything they say. I am tired really of these kind of individuals and I am also tired of local government workers' never ending bureaucracy! Damn it, my little patience is wearing out and in every other conversation I have with civil servants, my blood boils. Every normal person would feel the same way as I feel about these two group of people.

To begin with, how would you feel if the lady at your registry office or council tax does her nails while you wait according to your ticket number? How mad would you feel if the lady you are interperating for has a several month old baby crying non-stop, while the civil servant at the counter is on the phone discussing with her colleague the new job she has been offered by another government department? And then when she is finished bubbling on the phone and you enquire why she kept you waiting for one hour for no good reason, what if she says, 'excuse me, office is nearly up so stop waisting my time'. Oh, what a nerve!

Now, let us say you leave that damn office tired and irirated and hungry. You then decide to get something to eat at your local Somali restaurant. There, you find yourself sitting in a table above which a bearded man is repeatedly saying the same words to score a point with his fellow fadh-ku-dirir man, who is drinking coffee few tables away from you. Shouting and shouting and repeating the same bloody words while the other one is doing the same...just hearing these two gorilla-minded men argue, it just winds you up to the last nerve...

This is the encounters I had today and usually, and I only blog when I am depressed as you can obvious denote from my rantings.... I hope you bloggers had better days.....If you did, enjoy it, don't let me ruin it for you.

Violence returns to Mogadishu - special report - news - channel4.com

2007-01-18T06:14:00.000-08:00

Violence returns to Mogadishu - special report - news - channel4.com

A nation under occupation

2007-01-05T09:27:00.000-08:00

What eases one's pain once he begins to realize that he is under the most undesirable occupation? Lick his wounds and keep silent. For the time being that, my fellow Somalis, seems to be the only way forward. If we decide to speak or resist now, the land would experience a suppression that would wreck havoc. We've been fought by a coalition of our enemies and we have been defeated. In turn, they have succeeded to re-introduce chaos back to Mogadishu. The justification given being ‘chaos in Mogadishu is security in Addis Ababa’. I just hope those who have invited Ethiopians into our borders and into our capital city do reap the bitter seeds they have sowed.

It is not what you think it is, it's a launderette ad

2006-12-20T07:41:00.000-08:00

Took this picture in Green Street, Upton Park- Newham. I couldn't resist. At first I thought, what the heck! Then I realized it was a laundrette add- proposing to kill the wifey with jealousy. A similar ad to daz's. So clean the clothes that she would crawl up and die lol. How merciless!

Have you ever got cought off guard..?

2006-12-07T09:04:00.000-08:00

It happend to me, and all I can say is that ' I am loving the result'. I can't say much but all I am going to say is this; please don't build a fence over your hearts and employ two guards at the entrance lol. Sometimes it is better to drop your guard and just live the experience of intruding signals from others. I can understand the defense mechanisms we all employ to remain safe but sometimes these defenses spoil our chances of getting hold of what we want. At least, balance up the defence and let in those who you think have 'the correct' identification papers lol. Excuse my analogies, since poetic or flowery words have failed to destribe how I felt, I am become a direct man ;).

Anyways as I was saying... open the door to the suitable members of the public...you may find some of them quick up-standing cizitens of the heart.

I can't write much so I say good day and have a lovely time.

The Matrix, re-incarnated? lol

2006-12-04T11:12:00.001-08:00

Rains cause death, havoc

2006-11-25T07:50:00.000-08:00

At least 12 people were killed, 300 families displaced and 54,000 refugees endangered as heavy rains pounded various parts of the country. Apart from the loss of life, the floods have submerged entire villages, washed away bridges, destroyed crops and livestock and made it difficult to get aid to victims still trapped.

And the worst of the rains is yet to come, according to the National Meteorological Centre at Dagoretti, Nairobi. In the Coast Province alone, the victims are estimated at 200,000 — all marooned in ever surging waters. In Nairobi, walls came tumbling down, fallen trees blocked roads and a clogged drainage system turned roads into rivers. Police had to step in to divert motorists from dangerously flooded roads.

Source: The Standard

Celebrating Fatherhood, the BIG event!

2006-11-23T05:33:00.000-08:00

A big forehead: Celebrating Fatherhood project

Everyone, you are obligated to spread the word, you hear? This is for our Fathers and Fatherhood in general! If you are a father (which is just why I want to father a child) or as in general, have a Father, please show your support!

CLICK HERE TO BUY YOUR TICKETS

It will cost you just 5 quid but the experience, I heard from the organizer, would be more than worth it! Oh, also this is the greatest family oriented experiences. You can bring along your kids, nieces (that I am going to do Insha-Allah), nephews or the neighbour's kids to give them a great day out. I promise you, an event taking place in The Decorum is just too good to miss. The venue itself is mesmorizing :). So come bloggers and bring others with you! Please :D

PS: PLEASE PLACE THIS INFORMATION IN YOUR BLOGS, IF POSSIBLE. THANKS

A photoblog...Mogadishu Memories

2006-11-22T13:29:00.000-08:00

From Mogadishu Memories Photoblog

I have a private collection of some old photos take from Mogadishu. So, I will Insha-Allah dedicate 'Mogadishu Memories' to them. The first two photos are already there. I hope you enjoy the photos I am going to upload.

6 weird thiings about me? Well, only six?

2006-11-21T10:36:00.000-08:00

I have been tagged by Sleepdeprived to post six weird things about me. Well, where should one start? When everything you do comes across as weird to others, you wouldn't know where to start. Now, let me see the six least weird things about me that make others iritated. I don't want to reveal my extreme weirdness 'cos it may scare you (specially, ladies) away :)

1- I look down when I see an attention seeker, to protect my senses from giving him/her the pleasure of noticing them.

2-If I don't know someone and they shout instead of speaking, I get extreme pain in my heart almost forcing me to tell me to keep their voice low. If they speak to me, I don't reply and if they continue I literally walk out on them.

3-I wake mid-night to read and write. I am more comfortable with a book than a person's company and I feel as if I have heard everything people say. Nothing new, no new knowledge.

4-I suffer from Dejavu; I could swear I find events familiar and could almost predict their course. My mother use to say 'something is with you' and I never knew what she meant. In the few months alone, I asked people and dreamnt of things that were to occurr the next day. A bit scary. I heard a friend say 'Abdullahi' and I came close to him and asked, what happened to Abdullahi Yussuf, did a bomb explode on him. He got pissed and left. The next day bombers targetted Abdullahi Yussuf. The guy called me and apologized for getting pissed. Few weeks after that, I dreamnt someone very familiar to me dying sudden death. The next day my friend's father fell while walking, went into a coma and, died. May Allah rest his soul, aamiin. It has always been like this.

5- I dont get scared easily. I can say I have not been scared as long as I remember. I am thinking something is wrong with me-a psychological damage to my scary part of the brain.

6-I smile, especially when I am under pain and hardship. It also means that I get angry at things people don't find significant. 'Men' who spread rumours- they make me angry to the point of killing them.

Nomads, switch to Blogger Beta please!

2006-11-21T10:28:00.000-08:00

I can't leave comments in your blogs because the Blogger says there is an error with the server. But Blogger Beta is perfectly working, so please try to make the transition because sooner or later, Blogger would make you switch to Beta anyway. That way, I could leave comments (that took me five mins to prepare only to be lost to some obscure error)

MONTHLY MARRIAGE MEETING

2006-11-20T12:28:00.000-08:00

Date: Saturday 25th November 2006 Time: 5.00 pm Venue: Hall B, Islamic Cultural Centre, 146 Park Road, Regents Park, London, NW8 7RG

An opportunity to meet potential spouses in an Islamic environment. All brothers and sisters who are serious about marriage are welcome but prior registration is mandatory.

For more information please contact: Tel: 020 7724 3363 E-mail: info@iccuk.org Website: www.iccuk.org

TV: 3-PART SERIES OF PROGRAMMES ABOUT ISLAMIC HISTORY

2006-11-20T12:24:00.000-08:00

Dates: Tuesday 28th November, 5th December & 12th December 2006 Time: 7.15 pm TV Channel: Channel 5

Islam today is the most misunderstood and controversial religion. In this series Akbar Ahmed, a leading Islamic scholar, takes us on a journey to the beauty and sophistication of Islamic art and architecture. In three stunning programs we see the glories of the great historical cites of Istanbul, Damascus and Cairo.

Programme 1 - The first in the series looks at the achievements of the first Islamic dynasty, the Umayyads, who established their capital at Damascus. This programme does not just deal with mosque or religious architecture. At Jericho we see the remains of one of the Arab conquerors' luxurious desert palaces, with its famous gazelle mosaic that has become an icon of Islamic visual art. From the Ayyubid period we see the mighty Citadel of Aleppo, which was only conquered by Tamerlane himself.

Programme 2 - A main theme of the series is introduced here, i.e. how Islam, for centuries, has held a special respect for knowledge and learning - ilm in Arabic. Professor Ahmed argues that it was when this respect for learning was weakened, so was the force of the whole religion. He finds cause for optimism in the huge modern library built at Alexandria, on the site of the old Hellenic library. It is a magnificent building where the most sophisticated computer data-banks sit near precious manuscripts of medieval poets. Cairo's role as a centre for glassware and ceramics is examined in this episode. The city's influence spread so far that even modern Sicily displays evidence of the time when the Fatimids ruled the island.

Programme 3 - The final of the three which deals with the last great Islamic dynasty, the Ottomans, and their great capital at Istanbul. The Ottomans continued the theme of borrowing from, or adapting, the work of their Byzantine predecessors. The two dominating buildings of historic Istanbul are the Blue Mosque and Haghia Sophia. The latter is a converted Christian cathedral, still containing the images of Jesus and Mary alongside the motifs of the early caliphs. This episode also looks at calligraphy, the peculiarly Islamic art-form which grew out of the careful copying of the word of God. Akbar Ahmed also considers Sufism, a warm and attractive branch of Islam which focuses on meditation, inner strength and religious passion. There is something of a revival of Sufism in Turkey and its influence can be found too in modern Turkish painting.

Akbar Ahmed is the author of numerous books on Islam and associated topics. He is the Ibn Khaldun Professor of Islamic Studies at the American University, Washington DC. Akbar Ahmed was the Pakistani High Commissioner in London and has taught at the universities of Cambridge and Princeton. He has been at the forefront of efforts to reconcile the adherents of different religious faith, working with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Chief Rabbi of the UK, and especially working with the father of Daniel Pearl, the American journalist murdered in Pakistan. He has just finished a major research project and book for the Brookings Institution. Akbar Ahmed is a regular contributor to the BBC and to American stations including CNN, Fox, CBS and NBC.

For more information e-mail Dr Boase at R.Boase@qmul.ac.uk

Dark Street

2006-11-20T06:21:00.001-08:00

Dark Street .

It is just 2 oclock and London seems so gloomy today! I have seen the face of the sun this morning and was looking forward to more sun, but where is it? It is gone, disappeared, its brightness has seazed to be, it is no more! What is the whether in your part of London. I could immigrate to anywhere the sun is shining. Oh it is has started to rain..take your umbrellas with you, you hear?

Manners, brothers, manners please!

2006-11-19T12:29:00.000-08:00

I know can shout my brothers, but really, do you have to prove it obsessively? I mean, you know you are standing right next to me but yet you shout as though I was miles apart from you. Please, brothers, use your brain and calculate the distance between your mouths and my ears, and then, produce suitable amount of sound that doesn't destabilize my already suffering ears. Watch out for my eyes too brothers; it is not good being close to you while you speak and hurl spits in the air that end up right inside my eyes. You know I haven't got big eyes; it is just the amount of saliva produced per minute that worries me. I can duck few spits here and there but as our debates get more heated, you tend to over-do it. Please, control yourselves!

Now, the other issue is about the manners of the table. You see, I have noticed a tendency in many brothers; they put their right hand in their mouth as if they were escorting the food right down to the stomach. Brothers, c'mon, you know the Prophet (pbuh) said 'use three fingers' to eat your food. No fives, ok? OK. But what about the state of the mouth, when eating? It should remain closed, brothers. No eating open-mouthed and making chewy noises. I mean its not that appetizing is it? A big NO to talking while chewing food. That is less beautiful :D, ok sisters? Oh I mean brothers? :).

OK, enough complaining. I don't like to complain about others' manners but yesterday a fellow cost me a meal. A whole plate of meat and spaghetti that I was looking forward to devour. This fellow sat in the table I was sitting, right opposite to me. As soon as the waiter brought the food to him, his friends came in and he starts a fadhi-ku-dirir politics.

Man, and was he shouting and talking while he had food in his mouth! To be quite honest, it was disgusting. I tried to cover my plates of food with my hands and the tissue but to no avail. To many things falling in and I just snapped at the guy! 'War, afkaaga naga leexi ninyow! I paid 7 quid for this meal!'. The guy just went on with his arguments and told me, 'eat the food man, I ain't got no disease!' I mean, what is that suppose to mean? Fuck! I threw the money at the waiter and stormed out of the restraunt. I was pissed at myself for even entering the place, why did I think 'waa Somali hotel ee marka wax ka cun'! There was nothing else could I do. Bought me some take away chicken and caught the bus home.

So brothers, please and please, mind your manners. It is very un-Islamic to cost a fellow Muslim 7 quid with your bad manners, so very un-Islamic! Xaq darro waaye waxaas!

Added my photo..to the profile

2006-11-18T13:44:00.000-08:00

For my deciples, followers and fans :D. It has been such a long time since I have seen my pics in the computer. So, few days ago I scanned one for a visitor who was so worried of getting the wrong guide. He insisted that it is better to be on the safe side than grab hold of another man's beard :). That got me lauging and thus I agreed to post it. That being the case, I am sure there are many out there who know me in personal whom I haven't seen for sometime. To refreshen their minds, I decided to post my pic here. Some of these people are friends, others are deciples of my future teachings and fans of my writing, after I die. These potentials exist lol. So listen, deciples and fans, frame this face of my for posterity! Erm, like, Che Guavara's? Lol.

............Camel Milk, just yummy!

2006-11-16T13:47:00.000-08:00

Somalia: Past and Present.

2006-11-16T10:05:00.000-08:00

Well, today was pretty good for me, because I had the privilage of meeting Somalia's Ambassador to India, Mohamed Osman Omar, who is also the author of almost five books that start with 'The Diplomat and Protocol' to The Road to Zero, Somalia: between Devils and Deep Sea and to today's Somalia: Past and Present. As he told me after conversing with him for more than an hour, sipping spicy tea, this book is meant to guide or set the platform for all those who wish to learn about Somalia's history and politics. The book is therefore a preparation for another book that he is currently working on.

Read A Review of the book

MI5 monitering M15 activity

2006-11-14T13:41:00.000-08:00

MI5 has announced it is monitoring the notorious organisation known as MI5. "We have over five thousand employees, and we suspect every single one of them, from outrages and sabotage, to spilling coffee on the Ministers' crotch."

However, the sheer weight of evidence and the operation itself has mean MI5 have had to employ other people to monitor it's own staff. "We have employed over twenty thousand temporary workers to monitor every single one of our devious little prolls" said one insider "But we can't trust them either. We need more". A further fifty thousand have been recruited to keep an eye on the temporary workers, while a hundred thousand people have been assigned to follow them around and peer through their windows and make sure they're not up to anything.

"We expect that in the fullness of time, or possibly by Tuesday, we will employ the whole country to follow watch other about and make notes. I just hope whoever is in front doesn't decide to jump off a pier".

TheSpoof

I am inlove with....

2006-11-13T05:39:00.000-08:00

I am inlove people..but with nothing in particular. I am in love with beauty but not the beauty of particular thing (living or non-living). My kinda loving has come a full circle - starting with the troublesome creatures called women - to spiritual love :), and now something must have triggered a general feeling of in-love-ness in me. Don't ask me, I feel much much happier lately - I am actually going out of my way to help others in distress! Can you imagine that? Yeah, it is unbelievable - I don't laugh at other people's stress anymore, I feel I should help them cope. I have grown a heart and it has been pumping pretty well for the couple of days. Been listening to quality music too. Went to Southall few days ago and bought a brand new CD by a brand new singer (Iskalaji).

Damn this fella can sing! Actually, coming to think of it, I think it is after listening to his songs that my current attitude came into being.. That might help you too. Listen to it. Ileys. Other songs include Arag, Xalima, Xaawo and so on, but most interestly there is one notorious song called Cambaruud. Ladies, listen to it at your own risk, guys, you are gonna enjoy it I know ;).

Listen to and download the entire album in Somalilyrics.Net and the fellow goes by the name Abdiaziz Iskalaji

The lyrics are good that they leave one smiling to him/herself, that is if the comprehension of Somali language is good enough to visualize the images the singer draws with words.

Some of the lyrics include:

Ilayskii cadceedaay

sida ubaxa nuuraay

arartayda guudiyo

ma ahayn ujeedadu

Danta inaan ilaawnee

waxaan kula agjoogaa

ifku maalmo weeyee

inaan noqono lamaanee

Axdi uu dhexyaalee

illa daain abidkood

adna ruux ilaawine

maxay adiga kula tahay.

Raga lama ilaamoo

ibba laguma tuuree

eedaadka caashaqa

adaa igu abuuree

Admigu siduu qabo

amay aniga ila tahay

ruuxii aqoon lihi

waa gudaa abaalkee

Asagaaga gabaryahay

adaan kaa ildoortee

adna ruux ilaawine

maxay adiga kula tahay.

Amazing, just amazing I tell you. I am very impressed and very much inlove with, erm, nothing really. It can't be worse than loving women - ungrateful creatures :(.

A fellow Somali bragging about being drunk..

2006-11-06T13:01:00.000-08:00

ROAD KILL DINERS

2006-11-06T10:40:00.000-08:00

People have rituals of their own that seem peculiar to others. A peculiar ritual of mine lately, has been sitting in a park situated in Upton Part, Newham. I have moved to this area not long ago from a more spacious and greener Hillingdon in the far west of London. When I was there, I had a habit of going on for long walks and sitting in one of the benches in the park. Gradually, I have come to realize that there is much life crawling under thick and long grass that shelters many insects from the sun during summer times. I have also come to appreciate the types of plant life found in the parks I use to visit.

When I moved to Upton Park, I realized that the parks here are as rich as those I was used to. Among these parks, I frequent one unusual park that seems to attract hundreds upon hundreds of crows. I have never seen such large numbers in one place before and considering the mythical notoriety these birds are given, it seems to some a very peculiar tendency for one to sit on a bench just to enjoy their assembly. An old Somali lady passing by commented 'war maxaa tukaha ku ag fariisiiyey'...or 'what is the heck is making you sit near the crows'.

I don't know why crows and owls have become figures of fear, but for me, there is an enjoyment in seeing the beauty of their creation. Their colour and cries fascinate me. Simply, I find them beautiful, whatever others may call it. Nothing is peculiar about loving to watch them (after all bird watching is a hobby of mine).

According to others, however, my logic sucks :D. So, instead of going on and on trying to justify my likings and dislikings, I would accept that some peculiar tendencies make even the most peculiar (people like more) quite amused! I have been telling myself that I have seen all kinds of peculiar rituals and nothing's surprising anymore. However this wasn't the case when I tuned in to BBC radio 4 and heard of RoadKill Diners

. Retired civil servant, Arthur Boyt, has the most amusing (or peculiar) ritual of his making. As the term Road kill implies, Arthur walks down the country road near where he lives to collect animals killed by the vehicles using the road and makes dinners of them. He collects the dead and injured animals, cleans them and cooks them and consumes them at the same time. Arthur says that he hasn't bought any meat from the butcher for the last 30 years. Better still there is variety in the meat he consumes- it includes Pheasant, hare, deer, fox meat and many others.

So, interested or amused by Arther Boyt? Welcome to the idea of ROADKILL Diners!

I officially hate Blogger

2006-11-04T11:55:00.000-08:00

I have been subject to frustration for hours today because Blogger error denied me the right to post. Not only did I lose time, but I have lost all my links because I have been forced to change template. It is the 5th time I am changing templates because of a Blogger problem. Friends, give me sometime. I hope I would be able to get all my links back- must have saved them somewhere.

A Samaritan's Dilema: Should I intervene?

2006-11-03T10:40:00.000-08:00

I face a moral dilemma of a sort. My dilemma is this: shall I be a Good Samaritan and speak to my neighbour about denying his children the basic right to attend school or, since these children are his and his alone, keep my silence? My first worry is that if speak to him, judging from what I know about his character, he may explode in anger at my intervention. My second worry is, if I keep my silence and let it slide, while knowing full well that these children have missing out on their education, I know that I won't be able to forgive myself.

At least it would seem a bit immoral not to speak to the fellow and then offer my full assistance to secure positions for his children in the local school. But the flip slide is that by attempting to tell this fellow what is good for his children seems as if I am intruding in family.

I ask for your advice people, shall I speak to the fellow or forever keep my silence?

A break-time debate

2006-10-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

J-What does it mean to live?

A- It means to be present on this earth for one purpose or another.

J-One purpose or another? Ok. Although I don't believe there to be a purpose for us being here, I'll accept that our presence here has something to do with purposes.

A- There exist one overarching purpose for being here, present as we are. That purpose, I tell you, is the one to worship your creator.

J- Ok. I am not really in a mood to dispute that but what about the other purpose; the requirement of humans to reproduce? Is it also an overarching one that can be foresaken?

A- It can't be foresaken. The whole point of worship is not really independent from reproduction. Who worships your creator, animals or humans?

J- Humans,of course.

A- Right! So for them to keep worshiping they must always exist in this world. Thus, reproduction ensuring this endurance.

J- But it is not a MUST to reproduce, is it? Say I don't like the whole business of dealing with relationships and that I love solitude and the silence that comes with it. I don't want to reproduce, I don't see the point of this. Why should I be forced to reproduce, can't my creator judge me according to my own deeds while I was alive?

A- That is going to happen of course, you would be judged for your own deeds and not others. But look, you are not here alone. You descended from others who also worshiped and reproduced. They had a choice to speak as you are speaking now, but they didn't. This is because the saw the wisdom that their very existence is only justified by the reproduction of previous generations and that for worship to carry on they must do the same thing their ancestors did. If God told us that the purpose of 'men and jin is to worship me'then it becomes clear that for the purpose to be fulfilled we must carry on existing and thus reproduce. All of us, men and women, and even jins, have to enter into marriage to reproduce.

J- I don't think I follow you very well. If God has made men and jins to exist for the purpose of worship, can't He create other creatures similar to us that can carry on the worshiping? I mean, I am willing to worship Him, but I don't need the buggage that comes with marriage to interfere with my enjoyment of solitude.

A- Yes, God can create similar beings like us who can offer worship to Him but that is not the point here. The point here is for you to accept the concept of reproduction as very important not only for theour existence but also your faith itself. It is said that men who die wife-less have less ajar than those who die in marriage.

J- I don't think we understand each other at all. I am telling you, I will offer prayers and worship in the best way possible but I don't need to get married. In fact I don't like humans that much and I would rather stay away from all their sinning and insecurities. I prefer animals and plants to humans- and I wish to spend my time away from humans as much as possible. Why should that affect my worship to my creator?

A- What? You don't like humans? So you are anti-humanist.

J-No I am not, I just don't like their superficiality. That is all. But even if I hate them, I can say so.It is a free country

A- Oh yes, you hate humans, I can see that in your eyes. Now tell me, do you hate me too?

J- What are you? An animal?

A- No, I am a human.

J- I hate you then.

A- F!ck you

J- No, you f!ck you!

A- Don't look at me like that.

J- You suffer from paranoia, fool.

A- Anyway, don't forget to pick that litter. We should have finished with this street long ago. It is because of your arguments that we lag behind. Do you see others from the agency around?

J-No,I guess they have finished their shift and went back to the agency to get their wages.

A- Yeah. Just hurry up, J. During this times, Ruqiyo passes through this street. I don't want her to see me in the street cleaner uniform.

J- Humans,lol. Very superficial. We are street cleaners for now man, this pays your bills. Work and work hard. Don't mind attracting or being seen by woman who doesn't understand the sweetness of feeding on the sweat of your brow.

A- C'monman. You can't blame these women. This is how they were raised. Very proud of themselves and they take serious what sort of husband they should have. So I must always protect my image-if you know what I mean. I must look the part

J-No I don't know what you mean. Is this woman working?

A- Working? Are you kidding me? She's on the ceydha

J- Lol. Really?

A- Oh yes!

J-So do you mind if I call her pride, 'pride oo ceydh? :D

A- I swear I will kill you J. I will, and you know I am serious. She's my honour....

J- And she is my.....

If ever ....

2006-10-26T10:18:00.000-07:00

Four lines. Four years

2006-10-09T10:17:00.000-07:00

I wish you knew my reminscing
And the whispers of my heart,
Knowing times we spent apart
You're the one I've been missing.

I propably never thought I ever harboured such strong feelings for this girl. I know her for almost 5 years now and till two nights ago, whenever I got to think of her, I never could arrive at a specific definition of her. What is she to me? How is she emotionally attacked to me? These questions always accompany my thoughts of her. I know that I have certain fondness towards this girl but yet I couldn't figure out where I was deriving such fondness from. Most propably I haven't tried hard enough to get to know her well- if I knew her well, atleast I would have found an explanation as to why I feel somehow attached to her. Although I know her to some extent, it has been sometime I did communicate with her. Maybe she has changed with the times and my knowledge of her is no longer relevant. Only God knows.

But one thing I know, I am sure she will read this message :) while browsing this blog. She may even read it and think, 'aah! good luck'. Sso I am saying 'luck has nothing to do with it'. It is about me knowing you, yes you! This could be our 'Love and Basketball' or even 'Brown Sugar' love story..that is hoping you don't mind me comparing you to Sanaa Lathan. Anyway, whatever other feelings I might have, for the time being - I just hope that we could, if possible, re-instate our old communication links? What do ya say to that, lady? Done deal? Bellisimo.

PS: This only applies to a lady we previously had each other's telephone number; e-mail accounts don't count ;).

Well, I don't know about this blog but I think I am wining

2006-10-08T12:45:00.000-07:00

Tried everyone of my limited number of tricks to configure my template, but till today, no good results came out of all my efforts. I always had the self-belief that whatever it is, no matter on which subject, I can always find my way around it. It may take time but sooner or later I would crack it :D.

Well, what do you know! All that self-belief in my DIY skills disappeared in the last couple of days. I have come to conceed that I, alike to 'mzee tamaa bin tamaa', is no geek in computers; even more I feel more technologically challenged than I have ever been. You what this reminds me? That topic I wrote about 'my hate for technology'. It must have been a subconcious thing.

Maybe it is my inherent inability to deal with technology which hasn't surfaced till few days ago that made me fore-hate (if there is such a word). But whatever it was, I am glad one thing is clear to me- that I am not genious of the computer world. I am happy. Really, I am. You have to believe me on this one.

After all the difficulties I faced in the last few days, I have managed to change template successfully. I think I won't have another problem for sometime to come. In the meantime, I can come back to blogspot - I miss posting on this page.

Legendary Figures?

2006-09-26T08:35:00.000-07:00

I guess the days of Somali patriotism is long gone. Those days when Xaawo Taako resorted to fighting with stone-throws seem very romantic in some way but also, to be quite honest, too good to be true. She has become a national legend known for her courage and pride in Somaliness. But would these qualities mean anything to Somali women of today?

How about him? This guy with the turban and the galloping horse.

Or this one. This guy took a camel to Mombasa beach in Kenya, to give tourists a ride. I see the legendary Somali businessmanship in his eyes- a very genious idea. lol

Or her here. The architect of Somali Homes. Literally, the stick and glue of Somali families and communities since time immemorial.

SOL, down again?

2006-09-25T05:20:00.000-07:00

Yet again i think the site is not working...atleast for me. Anyone else experiancing the same problem?

no comment

2006-09-23T14:48:00.000-07:00

There is no home when she's gone....

2006-09-23T08:58:00.000-07:00

What freedom? It's hell.

Can't live with her, can't live without her

"we'll bomb you back to Stone Age" Musharaf

2006-09-22T08:44:00.000-07:00

Well, as Somalis say, markii wax laguu sheegaad wax garataa or things make sense when explained. All the time, I thought Pakistan was part of the coalition of the willing. Well, do ya know, it isn’t! Instead, it is part of the coalition of the un-willing, forced to support America's imperial war on the rest of the world. The coward, Musharaf, spoke today with a lamentful that he has been forced at gun-point (or shall I say nuclear-war-head-point) to hunt jump on the wagon of the crazy cowboys.

To be precise on the words used to threaten Pakistan, and for the benefit of it all, here are the exact words: "Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age". Rag rag dhaley iga dheh. Although I am not a big fan of America, I cannot help but admire the beauty of their threatening words, by the then-Intelligence Director, Richard Armitage. I believe all cowards, whoever they are, must not only be bombed back to stone-age but annulated altogether. The likes of Musharaf and other Arab and Muslim stooges need to be shot point blank. All over Pakistan there have been protestations against Musharaf's participation of the war-on-terror and all Pakistanis who, deep down, knew that their country was being made to kill fellow Muslims while the US held a gun to their heads, cried silently.

What is more interesting is that just on Wednesday, Bush threatened to enter Pakistan if the intelligence suggests that Bin Ladin is hiding in Pakistan. The next day, Thursday, Pakistan announced that it won't allow foreign troops in its soil -to be honest it is US troops - because no other country has the tendency to sleep-walk into other countries. As a result, today (which is Friday - which Musharaf and Bush were to meet in the White-House), Musharaf told the CBS' '60 Minutes' of what got them into the coalition of the (un)willing. He also talked about how the US told him India is a more reliable friend than Pakistan can ever be - the evidence being A.Q. Khan's transfer of nuclear proliferation know-how (actually - if I can recall it, it was centrifuges that are vital in the enrichment process of uranium). That has given the Yankees the excuse to deny Pakistan the technological assistance it was giving to India.

That said, however, I just don't get how Musharaf has ever thought he could ever be a better friend to America, while knowing full well that he is at first a Muslim and second an Asian and third, the enemy of India? With all of Pakistan's involvement in Afghanistan, I would have thought Musharaf would be clever enough to work for some sort of self-reliance! Shame!

PS: This should be a warning to all the American stooges in Muslim lands, who have become the vampires' accomplice... There is no escaping the vampire! Being stooge never pays, so come back to your senses and be proud of whom you are...

sorry...template problem

2006-09-21T09:49:00.000-07:00

I think I have done something with the template script. I seem have have lost some information in the process, such as the links. Blogspot is giving me a hard time - might move to another place soon. I know I know, from motime to blogspot and back to my old host -wordpress. bear with me please

...things the mind can imagine

2006-09-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

Before I proceed any further, I have one confession to make; I am a manic and marathon tea-drinker. Lately, I have been introduced to spicy tea, which is basically as delicious as it is addictive. So, with that confession made, I will proceed to the miracle in my tea cup. The power for the eye to see an object and relay to the brain for sensory definition of the object seen, is a miracle in itself. Another miracle is the mass or uniform way all our eye (albeit in slightly varied manner) see the same object (say a cup of tea) and recognize it as such. What would have been disaster would have been if man was seeing the same thing but was coming up with different definitions and meanings of what was seen. I believe that human sensory and analytical faculties, in their current state, function in a rudimentary way. This is considering the simplicity of their functions in that they receive information and perceive concepts in a uniform way that requires less effort. The eye sees something and, as society educates, it learns that what society calls that thing. The girl in love feels goose-bumps, but what her skins feels is already pre-named for her, so her mind doesn't have a choice to explain what was felt, through alternative means. Thus such pre-naming or pre-definition does not only do away with alternative options, but it restricts the need for the senses and the mind to seek other answers or evolve. Minds grow more in difficulties (of say war) than in peace that stagnates the urge that triggers it to investigate things. That is why the primal instincts of wild animals are more accute than others. Today, as usual with me, I placed one cup of spicy tea on the desk and decided to observe as an object. It was just few days ago that I received an e-mail from one my tutors that has re-ignited an earlier argument we had. So, with that in mind, I tried to test my former tutor's argument that what you observe isn't necessarily discreet from you. Apparently, and this is what he tells me, that how I observe something is always influenced by either my values (or say preference for the spicy tea) and that there is no clear line between the observed and the observer. He worships phsycists like David Bohm or Philosopher Arne Naess. Bohm's assertion on the quantum phenomenon, which this tutuor uses againt me is that:

Everything is interrelated to everything else. In this respect, the apparent separateness between the observer and the observed, subject and object, is also illusory and no longer relevant.

Now there I was trying to figure out what the hell he is talking about, that is after almost two years of not seeing this tutor. He sent no greetings, no how have you been or the sort of thing you would expect from polite people. After observing the cup of tea for almost 4 or 5 minutes, boredom really got worse. I felt drowsier than even before-'God', I thought ‘what on earth am I doing with my time stuck behind a desk'. There and then, something quite extra-ordinary started brewing in my mind; I would love to call it 'fantastic' approach to enriching imagination. No. To be honest, it wasn't that 'fantastic'. I looked at the cup of tea and shook it a little bit till minuscule waves were formed in it. Those little waves triggered my imagination- I thought to myself 'man, here you are again, in the middle of the east end, and in this humid weather. Couldn't be wonderful if these little waves were those of the sea? If this cup of tea would instantly expand just for a moment while I swim in its waves then soon as I am out of it, would contract to its size' - I hoped. Then I remembered something. What then, what happens if the cup contracts to its normal size with tea inside? It is a question of drinking it or not drinking it! This is a difficult situation. In reality such things are easy to deal with: stop imagining possibilities. But for me, this was my only entertainment-it is a matter of staying life I was concerned- or I would die of boredom. There is a sacrifice to be nade; I either decide to drink the tea or swim in it when it turns to a wavy sea - but then again, drink the tea later on with drink in it? Pretty disgusting. However, I needed that swim- I am by that time obsessing about it. I must swim... OK...caught in the middle I can't finish this silly entry......i will finish it later if possible PS: writing non-sense is an acquired specialty: D.

..and whispered: I am her mother, let go of my leg

2006-09-16T10:20:00.000-07:00

"When I was a lad", said the old man, "courting a girl was much more exciting". Every generation has a story to tell. How previous generations were such better people (and mythically bigger in statue). Here was an old man who rudely interrupted my phone call to a beautiful girl, commanding me-as if my own father - to 'either do the honorable thing or stop wasting the girl's time'. Sometimes it makes you wonder what sort of occupation Somalis had back home-were they all fathers to all sons or interrupters of phone calls? Whatever they were, this old man continued telling a story of the courting rituals of previous geel-jire generations. He tells me, "we use to run and run and run for miles, sometimes for days, to a deris (an encampment of several camel-herding families at one location) just to spot the special girl. Upon setting our eyes on the girl, we would hide behind a tree and observe has feminine movements. We'll listen to her tending of the goats and singing melodies, while she thinks she was all alone. Seeing her was the best outcome we could hope for, and only lucky men would achieve to make their presence felt to her and say 'hello'". "OK, Adeer. Gotcha! Thanks for the romantic story! Now, allow me to get back to my call, please. Would you?. "As I was saying" he continued without paying any attention to my displeasure, "when I was courting my late wife, my Allah rest her soul, during the night I was meant to run away with her, I sneaked into her Somali aqal from behind -where she said she would be sleeping- and got hold of a leg. It was dark. I pulled the leg with the intention of pulling her out of the aqal. If possible forcefully. That was what 'roormo' (taking a girl by force and marrying her) was all about. But, I heard a whisper telling me: I am not her, I am her mother. She is over there-go get her and let go of my leg." To be quite honest, I was angry about this old man's rude interruptions, but I couldn't hold back a laughter. I told the girl on the phone I will call her back while still laughing. I could hear her becoming a bit paranoid as to why I kept her hanging on the phone and why I was laughting. Anyway i said bye for now and cut off the call. "So, Adeer", i asked with interest, "weren't you suppose to be hiding from the mother- i mean betrothing her own daughter". He started laughing too, and said embarrassingly, "It was an awkward situation, Adeer. Her mother feared for her life, I was pulling the leg so strongly that she felt she should direct me to her." i could just imagine a mother feeling a bit weird having been held by the leg by a man whose intentions were to steal her daughter-the future son-in-law. "What did you do when she directed you" I asked. "Well, I stepped over her. She was on the ground because they settled that evening and didn't have the time to set the alool (wooden bed). So, while in the process of reaching for the girl, I stepped on someone's hand. I could tell it was a man's hand. The next thing I knew a burst of yelling and a man suddenly jumping out of sleep. It was he father. Everything happened so first from then on. All I could feel was a bakoorad against my skin. It was so painful that I had to run through to make-shift Aqal. I must have run fast and hard because the house collapsed soon after I exited it. And I was dragging half the aqal's duful that was tangled up on my right leg." I really couldn't hold my tears. I just laughed and laughed until my kidneys and stomach was hurting so much. However I felt before about the old man, I felt glad that he interrupted my phone call. The old man went one telling how he sprinted off with nothing to show for his troubles. He said the baakoorat has injured him so badly that he couldn't hide it from his family, who then when they learnt what had happened, came back to the girl's father for blood money. There both families found out the root cause of the injury, why a man pulled a mother's leg and the injury caused by a father protecting his family in a dark-night. Instead of blood money, the old man asked for the girl's hand which was given, and went on to marry to her and have 7 children with her. So he tells me how easy things are for our generation of the internet and the mobile phone. I told him "Adeer, adiga you had bad sense of judgment. Don't blame us just because you got hold of your mother-in-law by the leg!". He laughed it off and said "only if you knew the troubles other men of my generation went through to say hello to girl, you wouldn't be making fun of me" That was my encounter last night. I went to bed laughing. The old man's misfortune really cheered me up. I don't know what that says about me but I felt nice, I mean laughing at him. Now I know what makes me happy when I am down- lol, I use to hear 'misery loves company- I guess the saying some truth in it.

Not a good day to live....

2006-09-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

The day is totally shit. Excuse my cockney, but it really looks, smells and even walks through the minutes of its hours like shit. That is the sad reality or maybe I am over-exaggerating it. Because I feel like shit, I may even be brushing everything with the same sad brush-stroke. The monotonous and unflattering activities that filled today has reduced, at least a quarter I can calculate, from the half-full glass which contains my will to survive. Things, damn it, things we do for a living really come across as plain stupid. For most of the time I am immersed in the struggle of ‘survival’, but what this survival and ‘living’ do with each other, I cannot explain. All I am sure of is that I am not living; I am merely imitating what it means to be living. With that conclusion reached, I need to redefine what ‘living’ means to me and refocus my attention to the sort of living my soul desires. I don’t care that much for the kind of lifestyle I would be leading once I decide on it- it could be living in the most primitive way one could imagine. Any lifestyle with the least technology would be the most suitable for me now. I am f—ing tired of technology and its further developments. People talk of robots controlling the world in the future but what they fail to realise is that this damn technology is already ordering us around. From the time the clock was invented to the invention of computers, we have been the most rushed species of this planet. I doubt even whether the dinosaurs or other extinct creatures were rushed that much to run for their lives during the seconds and minutes of their extinctions. So I am the professed enemy of technology from clocks to computers (urm…I know am using one – for the benefit of humanity’s welfare though J). Now let me come back to the re-definition of what it means living. My friends at www.primitivism.com really present a leisurely lifestyle where technology is non-existent and work is really not cool. People then take 2 to 3 hours to hunter and gather as their diet necessitates and the rest of the hours are spent having a good time. You see, that sort of lifestyle is not only sustainable and leisurely, but also, if all humanity lived as such, it would mean that we wont be worrying about ‘global warming’ or the danger disturbing the planet’s harmonious balance. What endangers the planet and its occupants is technology. A return to primitivism would cure all these climatic ills the planet currently faces. For me, although this may seem extreme to some of you readers, I think this is how I define a blissful living. I would love to recreate it sometime somewhere with someone primitive . If living in the literary sense means: first, keeping a constant interval of breathing through one’s lungs and then making sure that other organs of the body are feed to maintain a fully functional entity in which a soul can be contained, then I don’t see why it matters how I or others achieve to maintain the ritual of keeping the soul in there. All other worries of living aren’t really worth considering. I wish I could have that kind of lifestyle. If I did, that would mean I wont get so unhappy as I am today. Because I won’t be trying to imitate living, rather, I would’ve been living in the truest sense. I wouldn’t be waking the odd hours of morning just to ‘survival’ or work against the damn and never restin CLOCK. Anyway, I think that is enough of lamenting for one day. My parting advice is this, look at living as that basic ritual of keeping the soul in the body in an acceptable manner. If you achieve that then all other things that are expect of you by family, community or society is really secondary. Something it is wonderful if you think beyond your fears of what may happen if you don’t do what is expected of you. Trying to understand to what extent that which you fear can affect your life in a detrimental way is always advisable. Ask yourself, how bad can things get than death? Death is the biggest fear for all living things, and if things that you fear are far from leading to death then you have no reason to keep fears in your heart. PS: I hope your day was better than mine.

"80% of British Somali Men Chew khat" Mush Macquul

2006-09-14T08:20:00.000-07:00

Click on the play button to watch the video.

Anyone Reminiscent?

2006-09-14T06:26:00.000-07:00

Jerusalem- Salam Aleykum by Alpha Blondy - Old Days -- KBC

The Wariyah Collabo Video (Redykyulas version of the Somali)

2006-09-11T05:57:00.000-07:00

If you overcome the stereotype...this is really hilarious. Munching on some khat, never forgetting the trademark macawiis and explaining the wariyahs are not stupid, as other kenyans would've thought previously. See if you can stomach it. For those who don't speak swahili...the imagery says it all :). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLOiqCb2Yr0

Gone missing...but not for good

2006-09-05T19:21:00.000-07:00

Just gone for a while (few days hopefully) from posting....me and my chocolate and if you can notice my beloved 'findhicil' or toothpick

2006-09-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

Empire of Oil: Capitalist Dispossession and the Scramble for Africa by Michael Watts Blood may be thicker than water, but oil is thicker than both. —Perry Anderson, “Scurrying Towards Bethlehem,” New Left Review, July–August 2001 In his 2006 State of the Union address, George Bush finally put into words what all previous presidents could not bring themselves to utter in public: addiction. The United States, he conceded, is “addicted” to oil—which is to say addicted to the car—and as a consequence unhealthily dependent upon Middle Eastern suppliers. What he neglected to mention was that the post–Second World War U.S. global oil acquisition strategy—a central plank of U.S. foreign policy since President Roosevelt met King Saud of Saudi Arabia and cobbled together their “special relationship” aboard the USS Quincy in February 1945—is in a total shambles. The pillars of that policy—Iran, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf oil states, and Venezuela—are hardly supplicant sheep within the U.S. imperial fold. Continue reading this article

Is Somalia Online Offline, or is it just me...

2006-09-04T08:12:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to access SOL for the two days and I am not getting through. May be the Admin is moving server or may who knows, maybe he's gone picnicking ;) - mind you, today was very warm in London. To be honest, I cannot guess whatever else happened to SOL. All I want is to access - whatever the weather. So please, can someone give me some lead as to why SOL is inaccessible to me? PS: never mind, I am joking. A serious joke. Kaftan Dhable.

Group Activities may constitute 'Terrorism'

2006-09-03T11:36:00.000-07:00

[EDIT]....Group Bonding (BBC) The BBC's security correspondent, Gordon Corera, said the arrests were linked to allegations of "training camps" within the UK for people who want to engage in terrorist acts.

"This involves people suspected of facilitating training activity within the UK which might have allowed others to take part in terrorist activity," he said.

"Here in the UK it's more forms of bonding and getting groups together as well as radicalising those taking part. It's not necessarily military or terrorist training or blowing things up, it's more training in the sense of groups bonding and working together".

Some of the 7 July bombers were suspected of having undertaken this kind of training activity within the UK, although there is no link to those arrested overnight.

A spokeswoman for Home Secretary John Reid said he had been "kept fully informed".

Meanwhile, two men have also been arrested in other anti-terror raids in Manchester but a spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said these arrests were not linked to the London raids.

The pair were detained under the Terrorism Act and three addresses in the Cheetham Hill area are being searched.

A spokesman said both arrests followed an operation that took place on 23 August, when one man was held and a house in Elmfield Street in Cheetham Hill was searched.

-- Talking about group bonding, here is another previous statement from the police -->Terrorist pastime

An Ode to a Xalimo (Bless your heart)

2006-09-02T13:07:00.000-07:00

Thy wafting scent of femininity is sweetest,
When my nostrils’ crave is well pleasured;
By that Dirac whose exposure is measured,
By the perfumes spread when wind is fleetest

Thy figure, my dear, natural elements revere,
Thy feet wherever they tread is the sphere,
Neither hateful eye nor evil ear comes near
That is the sort of good Xalimo you’re, my dear

Now gallop before me like a horse, to and fro
Sway those hips, darling, as far as they can go
Burn that incense to the coal till I supplicate
That my lungs with your uunsi would suffocate

O’ Xalimo though art like an ‘Anjero blessed
That I consumeth with a heart’s full delight
Gratitude is to thee, for delicious foods I bite
And forgive me for yelling when I am stressed

On the US-Israeli Invasion of Lebanon by Noam Chomsky

2006-08-31T17:47:00.000-07:00

Al-Adab, August 19, 2006

Though there are many interacting factors, the immediate issue that lies behind the latest US-Israeli invasion of Lebanon remains, I believe, what it was in the four preceding invasions: the Israel-Palestine conflict. In the most important case, the devastating US-backed 1982 Israeli invasion was openly described in Israel as a war for the West Bank, undertaken to put an end to annoying PLO calls for a diplomatic settlement (with the secondary goal of imposing a client regime in Lebanon). There are numerous other illustrations. Despite the many differences in circumstances, the July 2006 invasion falls generally into the same pattern.

Among mainstream American critics of Bush administration policies, the favored version is that “We had always approached [conflict between Israel and its neighbors] in a balanced way, assuming that we could be the catalyst for an agreement,” but Bush II regrettably abandoned that neutral stance, causing great problems for the United States (Middle East specialist and former diplomat Edward Walker, a leading moderate). The actual record is quite different: For over 30 years, Washington has unilaterally barred a peaceful political settlement, with only slight and brief deviations.

The consistent rejectionism can be traced back to the February 1971 Egyptian offer of a full peace treaty with Israel, in the terms of official US policy, offering nothing for the Palestinians. Israel understood that this peace offer would put an end to any security threat, but the government decided to reject security in favor of expansion, then mostly into northeastern Sinai. Washington supported Israel’s stand, adhering to Kissinger’s principle of “stalemate”: force, not diplomacy. It was only 8 years later, after a terrible war and great suffering, that Washington agreed to Egypt’s demand for withdrawal from its territory.

Meanwhile the Palestinian issue had entered the international agenda, and a broad international consensus had crystallized in favor of a two-state settlement on the pre-June 1967 border, perhaps with minor and mutual adjustments. In December 1975, the UN Security Council agreed to consider a resolution proposed by the Arab “confrontation states” with these provisions, also incorporating the basic wording of UN 242. The US vetoed the resolution. Israel’s reaction was to bomb Lebanon, killing over 50 people in Nabatiye, calling the attack “preventive” – presumably to “prevent” the UN session, which Israel boycotted.

The only significant exception to consistent US-Israeli rejectionism was in January 2001, when Israeli and Palestinian negotiators came close to agreement in Taba. But the negotiations were called off by Israeli Prime Minister Barak four days early, ending that promising effort. Unofficial but high-level negotiations continued, leading to the Geneva Accord of December 2002, with similar proposals. It was welcomed by most of the world, but rejected by Israel and dismissed by Washington (and, reflexively, the US media and intellectual classes).

Meanwhile US-backed Israeli settlement and infrastructure programs have been “creating facts on the ground” in order to undermine potential realization of Palestinian national rights. Throughout the Oslo years, these programs continued steadily, with a sharp peak in 2000: Clinton’s final year, and Barak’s. The current euphemism for these programs is “disengagement” from Gaza and “convergence” in the West Bank – in Western rhetoric, Ehud Olmert’s courageous program of withdrawal from the occupied territories. The reality, as usual, is quite different.

The Gaza “disengagement” was openly announced as a West Bank expansion plan. Having turned Gaza into a disaster area, sane Israeli hawks realized that there was no point leaving a few thousand settlers taking the best land and scarce resources, protected by a large part of the IDF. It made more sense to send them to the West Bank and Golan Heights, where new settlement programs were announced, while turning Gaza into “the world’s largest prison,” as Israeli human rights groups accurately call it. West Bank “Convergence” formalizes these programs of annexation, cantonization, and imprisonment. With decisive US support, Israel is annexing valuable lands and the most important resources of the West Bank (primarily water), while carrying out settlement and infrastructure projects that divide the shrinking Palestinian territories into unviable cantons, virtually separated from one another and from whatever pitiful corner of Jerusalem will be left to Palestinians. All are to be imprisoned as Israel takes over the Jordan Valley, and of course any other access to the outside world.

All of these programs are recognized to be illegal, in violation of numerous Security Council resolutions and the unanimous decision of the World Court any part of the "separation wall" that is built to “defend” the settlements is “ipso facto” illegal (U.S. Justice Buergenthal, in a separate declaration). Hence about 80-85% of the wall is illegal, as is the entire “convergence” program. But for a self-designated outlaw state and its clients, such facts are minor irrelevancies. Currently, the US and Israel demand that Hamas accept the 2002 Arab League Beirut proposal for full normalization of relations with Israel after withdrawal in accord with the international consensus. The proposal has long been accepted by the PLO, and it has also been formally accepted by the “supreme leader” of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has made it clear that Hezbollah would not disrupt such an agreement if it is accepted by Palestinians. Hamas has repeatedly indicated its willingness to negotiate in these terms.

The facts are doctrinally unacceptable, hence mostly suppressed. What we see, instead, is the stern warning to Hamas by the editors of the New York Times that their formal agreement to the Beirut peace plan is “an admission ticket to the real world, a necessary rite of passage in the progression from a lawless opposition to a lawful government.” Like others, the NYT editors fail to mention that the US and Israel forcefully reject this proposal, and are alone in doing so among relevant actors. Furthermore, they reject it not merely in rhetoric, but far more importantly, in deeds. We see at once who constitutes the “lawless opposition” and who speaks for them. But that conclusion cannot be expressed, even entertained, in respectable circles.

The only meaningful support for Palestinians facing national destruction is from Hezbollah. For this reason alone it follows that Hezbollah must be severely weakened or destroyed, just as the PLO had to be evicted from Lebanon in 1982. But Hezbollah is too deeply embedded within Lebanese society to be eradicated, so Lebanon too must be largely destroyed. An expected benefit for the US and Israel was to enhance the credibility of threats against Iran by eliminating a Lebanese-based deterrent to a possible attack. But none of this turned out as planned. Much as in Iraq, and elsewhere, Bush administration planners have created catastrophes, even for the interests they represent. That is the primary reason for the unprecedented criticism of the administration among the foreign policy elite, even before the invasion of Iraq.

In the background lie more far-reaching and lasting concerns: to ensure what is called “stability” in the reigning ideology. “Stability,” in simple words, means obedience. “Stability” is undermined by states that do not strictly follow orders, secular nationalists, Islamists who are not under control (in contrast, the Saudi monarchy, the oldest and most valuable US ally, is fine), etc. Such “destabilizing” forces are particularly dangerous when their programs are attractive to others, in which case they are called “viruses” that must be destroyed. “Stability” is enhanced by loyal client states. Since 1967, it has been assumed that Israel can play this role, along with other “peripheral” states. Israel has become virtually an off-shore US military base and high-tech center, the natural consequence of its rejection of security in favor of expansion in 1971, and repeatedly since. These policies are subject to little internal debate, whoever holds state power. The policies extend world-wide, and in the Middle East, their significance is enhanced by one of the leading principles of foreign policy since World War II (and for Britain before that): to ensure control over Middle East energy resources, recognized for 60 years to be “a stupendous source of strategic power” and “one of the greatest material prizes in world history.”

The standard Western version is that the July 2006 invasion was justified by legitimate outrage over capture of two Israeli soldiers at the border. The posture is cynical fraud. The US and Israel, and the West generally, have little objection to capture of soldiers, or even to the far more severe crime of kidnapping civilians (or of course to killing civilians). That had been Israeli practice in Lebanon for many years, and no one ever suggested that Israel should therefore be invaded and largely destroyed. Western cynicism was revealed with even more dramatic clarity as the current upsurge of violence erupted after Palestinian militants captured an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, on June 25. That too elicited huge outrage, and support for Israel's sharp escalation of its murderous assault on Gaza. The scale is reflected in casualties: in June, 36 Palestinian civilians were killed in Gaza; in July, the numbers more than quadrupled to over 170, dozens of them children.

The posture of outrage was, again, cynical fraud, as demonstrated dramatically, and conclusively, by the reaction to Israel's kidnapping of two Gaza civilians, the Muamar brothers, one day before, on June 24. They disappeared into Israel's prison system, joining the hundreds of others imprisoned without charge -- hence kidnapped, as are many of those sentenced on dubious charges. There was some brief and dismissive mention of the kidnapping of the Muamar brothers, but no reaction, because such crimes are considered legitimate when carried out by “our side.” The idea that this crime would justify a murderous assault on Israel would have been regarded as a reversion to Nazism.

The distinction is clear, and familiar throughout history: to paraphrase Thucydides, the powerful are entitled to do as they wish, while the weak suffer as they must. We should not overlook the progress that has been made in undermining the imperial mentality that is so deeply rooted in Western moral and intellectual culture as to be beyond awareness. Nor should we forget the scale of what remains to be achieved, tasks that must be undertaken in solidarity and cooperation by people in North and South who hope to see a more decent and civilized world.

Film: The Little Man

2006-08-31T12:35:00.000-07:00

For all of you comedy lovers, the wayans brothers are at it again. This time is the little man who is the jewellary thief but whose game turned sour. Lol. from then on, as a brother undercover, baby nappies becomes his dresscode and has to be carried around like a baby. I've heard it would be one hell of a movie and would worth the quids you spend on it. Good luck if you decide to watch. I know I am going to :).

British film courts controversy by fabricating Bush assassination

2006-08-31T12:33:00.000-07:00

Thu, 31 Aug 2006 13:39:07 EDT CBC Arts

A controversial British film that fabricates the assassination of U.S. President George Bush will screen at the Toronto International Film Festival and air on a BBC channel later this fall. The film Death of a President, produced by Gabriel Range, Simon Finch and Ed Guiney, combines real news and documentary footage with acted scenes to create the story. The 90-minute film takes the form of a fictional documentary looking back at the assassination of Bush in October 2007 in Chicago.

In the film, Bush is confronted by a massive demonstration against the Iraq war when he arrives in Chicago and is gunned down by a sniper as he leaves a speech. The hunt for the killer focuses on a Syrian-born man, Jamal Abu Zikri, giving an opportunity to explore issues of the political climate in the U.S. amid the war on terror. Actors play fictional secret service agents and aides who recall the shooting in interviews recorded for the retrospective documentary.

TIFF reviewer Noah Cowan calls the film "dangerous and breathtakingly original," and says Range does a masterful job of integrating the real and the fictional, using special effects. On the TIFF program, which starts Sept. 7, the film is referred to as D.O.A.P. Peter Dale, head of More4, the BBC digital channel airing the film Oct. 9, called it a "thought-provoking critique" of contemporary U.S. political realities.

"It's an extraordinarily gripping and powerful piece of work, a drama constructed like a documentary that looks back at the assassination of George Bush as the starting point for a very gripping detective story," he said. Dale acknowledged that the film describes an unwelcome scenario and could be considered provocative.

"I'm sure that there will be people who will be upset by it, but when you watch it you realize what a sophisticated piece of work it is," he said. Range and Finch have done two similar projects for BBC2, both of them critiques of Britain's body politic that combined real footage with fictional disaster story.

The Day Britain Stopped shows a complete failure of U.K. transit systems after a rail strike and plane crash coincide. The Man Who Broke Britain posits a Britain in financial turmoil after oil prices peak and a shady trader loses millions for a major bank.

MOGADISHU CLEAN-UP: BACK TO HER OLD SELF

2006-08-30T15:02:00.000-07:00

The ICU seem to have done great deal of things for Mogadishu. Not only have they chased away the warlords, they have already done away with alot of street rubbish in the city. The people of Mogadishu have joined forces to make sure that the city gets a very good clean-up that would bring a smile or two to Mogadishu's previous smile. And she is loving it :).

This use to be the Sayid's Statue. The only thing missing now is the statue which went missing during the war.

Here is the Dhagaxtuur Statue or 'The Stone-Thrower' in English. Obvious the thrower is missing too.

Thanks to the Chimp, my love ;)

2006-08-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

Suddenly, she was there lying in the middle of a circle of men. Their eyes wide-open and their faces showing an expression of extreme disbelieve. They were mouthing some words and were raising their hands up in the sky. She didn’t know what was going on, and didn’t quite understand how she got in the middle of this crowd of men. Completely disorientated, she would close her eyes and open them again. When that didn’t work, she would place her hands over eyes and let go. Still, she couldn’t see things in an orderly manner or make sense of what was happening to her. It was as if she was inflicted by some sort of blindness that allows her to see, yet at the same, not be able to decode what she was seeing. She could hear some noises, but all the sounds she heard were somewhat unintelligible. All she knew was that her senses seem to have rudimentary functions but were each working separately, without collective coordination. After few minutes of what seemed like eternity, she started to notice that her vision and hearing were now becoming clearer. Now she was even starting to feel the hands on her shoulders caressing her and the other hands holding her hands as if checking her pulse. For the first time she could hear a voice cry “Oh Allah, she is alive”. She asked herself what does ‘she is alive’ mean? Who are they talking about? Before she could think further people around her started joining the first voice that yelled ‘she is alive’. They somehow kept repeating the same words again and again until a chorus emerged out of it. As she slowly gained back her senses, it came to her that the person that the crowd was talking about was her. A chill went through her spine. For a second she froze and then clutched her teeth and muttered: “what, what happened to me? Why am I lying here?” The crowd of men looked at each other with a great unexpectedness. They never thought she would be able to live let a lone speak and ask questions. As if their action were rehearsed, they started laughing exactly at the same time. What the hell are they laughing at? She thought. “Tell me, what happened to me, and also, tell why am I lying here?” she asked with determination to stop them from laughing. The men looked at her and started laughing again. “You morons”, she interjected, “answer my damn questions”. And with that said, she tried to move her body in order to stand up but she couldn’t. She felt as if she was paralyzed. She couldn’t feel her legs. All kind of thoughts raced through her mind and tears started forming in her eyes, changing the expression on her faces to not only someone in pain, but someone overcome by sudden sadness. Realizing the change of expression on her face, the surrounding men cut short their laughter. One of the oldest amongst them came close to her and gently said: “you are here, lying in the middle of the road near the zoo.” “What do you mean you mean in the middle of the road and near the zoo?” she wondered. “Yes” said the man, “you were passing by, crossing the road to the other side when”, she couldn't hold herself back but added “when what? When I was hit by a car?” “No” replied the man while holding back a smile and looking at the rest of the men who were also holding back from laughing. “You weren’t hit by a car, fortunately, but were hit”, before he could finish the sentence, a sort of embarrassment came over him and he shied away from telling her what hit her. “Nuur, you tell her” he asked his friend standing on his side. Nuur looked at the older man (Jaamac) and insisted that he finished what he was telling the girl. But Jaamac declined and moved back from the girl. “There are things an elder like me can’t tell a girl, you know” he said. “Very well then” said Nuur. Nuur leaned towards the girl who was lying on the ground and started by saying: “Since Jaamac can’t pronounce what hit you, because of the unusualness of what hit you…” Nuur couldn’t help but chuckle but resumed by slyly adding “allow me, young lady, to mince my words”. “Damn it, will you grown up men be grown up men about it and tell me what happened” she angrily demanded. “Ok lady” replied Jaamac. “You weren’t hit by a car nor were you hit by shopping trolley, but was slapped senseless by a huge chimpanzee, yes a chimp! And by God it was a huge one too”. “What” she thought, how can I be slapped by a chimp? She kept quite to imagine all the scenarios in which she could be slapped by a chimpanzee. She could find one in her mind. “How come, how did that happened? She asked. “Well, it was a bit of an unfortunate situation that you had to pass by that road near the zoo, just when two huge chimpanzees have escaped from it”. “Ok” she said, “Continue. What has that got to do with me being slapped senseless?” “Erm…” Nuur hesitated “because the escaped chimpanzees were like a couple”. She just couldn’t understand the connection between the escape of a couple chimps and what happened to her. “Man, would speak sensibly and tell me clearly what happened?” “I am trying to lady” Nuur replied almost annoyed by her constant interruption, “but you keep interrupting me”. “Ok, but make it quick please” she requested. “You see the male chimpanzee was running after the female chimpanzee while they were escaping. But because of the traffic, the female chimp disappeared from his sight. So he ran closer to where she disappeared to, and that is when you showed up in front of him. I guess he must have thought you were his girl something and grabbed you. We saw him grabbing you. That is why we came to you rescue. But everything happened so quickly. I don’t know but I think after he realized you weren’t his girl, he gave you one hell of a slap to unconsciousness. That is what happened” finished Nuur. The girl was so horrified at what she was hearing. She cried out “what do you mean he must have thought that I was his girl, man you f—ing offensive, do I look like a female chimpanzee?” All the men looked at each other dreading what she is going to say next. One of the men said from behind the crowd “oh sure you do look like one”. The crowd all turned around to see who said that. Soon as they saw his face they coincidently said: “So are you”. The girl labored to see the offensive man and upon seeing him, she recognized who he was. The man saw her too and said to the girl, “no opposites attract, my love”. “I know my love” she replied. The crowd couldn’t believe this. These two were former lovers but were lost from each other during the civil war. If it wasn’t for the chimpanzee’s slap, the guy wouldn’t have enquired about the crowd surrounding her. Neither, if she wasn’t slapped senseless, she would have gone to the interview she had and would have never seen her long-lost love. Realizing this, Nuur said “thank the chimpanzee; his slap must have been a blessing and a compliment on your beauty lady”. “A compliment indeed” the crowd said and dispersed. -A made up story....

Résumé Font Offends Employer

2006-08-28T10:34:00.000-07:00

Issue 42•35

CHARLOTTE, NC—The decision to set his résumé in default-font Times–New Roman "deeply, personally, and irrevocably" offended a prospective employer of Seth Hershey Monday. "I look for quality, pedigree, and competency in the résumés that cross my desk, but I don't care if you founded the Harvard School of Business—if you're going to use a crap typeface like this, you might as well send me a finger painting in your own shit," said HealthBest South Associate Vice-President Dick Scottsfield shortly after hurling the document across his office in disgust. "Did he think we'd accept something like this here? Does he take me for a damn fool? If he had chosen the correct font, why, I could've even overlooked this cheap, 14-lb. cotton stock paper." Scottsfield said he intends to offer the job to the first person who uses a decent 12-point Cheltenham Book with an elegant leading.

If Somalia was a poet, she would've said...

2006-08-27T14:37:00.000-07:00

I am at this confounded juncture, In which to where lead is unknown. To my east lives an ancient beast, And to my south lives another, To my west, the slithering sea, yet My brothers, consistent in their ways My own brothers wish neither victory, Nor martyrdom for me, except defeat Disowned, only faith accompanies me Thus, to God’s army I entrust my fate

Apparently, 'Tea 'healthier' drink than water'! That is news

2006-08-25T01:50:00.000-07:00

Tea 'healthier' drink than water

Drinking three or more cups of tea a day is as good for you as drinking plenty of water and may even have extra health benefits, say researchers. The work in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition dispels the common belief that tea dehydrates. Tea not only rehydrates as well as water does, but it can also protect against heart disease and some cancers, UK nutritionists found. Healthy Cuppa Experts believe flavonoids are the key ingredient in tea that promote health. These polyphenol antioxidants are found in many foods and plants, including tea leaves, and have been shown to help prevent cell damage. Tea replaces fluids and contains antioxidants so its got two things going for it Lead author Dr Ruxton Public health nutritionist Dr Carrie Ruxton, and colleagues at Kings College London, looked at published studies on the health effects of tea consumption. They found clear evidence that drinking three to four cups of tea a day can cut the chances of having a heart attack. Some studies suggested tea consumption protected against cancer, although this effect was less clear-cut. Other health benefits seen included protection against tooth plaque and potentially tooth decay, plus bone strengthening. Dr Ruxton said: "Drinking tea is actually better for you than drinking water. Water is essentially replacing fluid. Tea replaces fluids and contains antioxidants so its got two things going for it." Rehydrating She said it was an urban myth that tea is dehydrating. "Studies on caffeine have found very high doses dehydrate and everyone assumes that caffeine-containing beverages dehydrate. But even if you had a really, really strong cup of tea or coffee, which is quite hard to make, you would still have a net gain of fluid. "Also, a cup of tea contains fluoride, which is good for the teeth," she added. There was no evidence that tea consumption was harmful to health. However, research suggests that tea can impair the body's ability to absorb iron from food, meaning people at risk of anaemia should avoid drinking tea around mealtimes. Tea is not dehydrating. It's a healthy drink Claire Williamson of the British Nutrition Foundation Dr Ruxton's team found average tea consumption was just under three cups per day. She said the increasing popularity of soft drinks meant many people were not drinking as much tea as before. "Tea drinking is most common in older people, the 40 plus age range. In older people, tea sometimes made up about 70% of fluid intake so it is a really important contributor," she said. Claire Williamson of the British Nutrition Foundation said: "Studies in the laboratory have shown potential health benefits. "The evidence in humans is not as strong and more studies need to be done. But there are definite potential health benefits from the polyphenols in terms of reducing the risk of diseases such as heart disease and cancers. "In terms of fluid intake, we recommend 1.5-2 litres per day and that can include tea. Tea is not dehydrating. It's a healthy drink." The Tea Council provided funding for the work. Dr Ruxton stressed that the work was independent. Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/5281046.stmPublished: 2006/08/24 09:51:47 GMT© BBC MMVI

Why Africa Deserves a Fresh Look

2006-08-24T22:45:00.000-07:00

Why Africa Deserves a Fresh Look

Despite the headline hijacking impunity of Islamic terrorism, the attention span of the world was most recently deluged with the “Make poverty history”, the Tony’s Blair’s “Commission for Africa”, and the Live 8 Concert project of the rock stars, led by Bob Geldof and Bono of U2 fame12. The G-8 summit which followed on the heels of these had the African poverty as a part of its consideration. All these are welcome developments, which must be critically appraised so that the positive dimensions of it would not be swallowed up by the negative.

A fresh look on Africa by the global community is now not only necessary from the perspectives of enlightened or strategic self interest, but equally an ethical imperative, if justice and our common humanity is anything to go by. Obiora Ike was of the view that no part of the world can master its problems by being indifferent to the fate of other regions. For him, widespread poverty in the Southern Hemisphere swells the northward flow of people trying to flee poverty. Poverty equally drives people to over-exploit the natural sources of life, thus threatening a tremendous damage to the entire ecological system.13

His views here issues from the perspectives of enlightened self interest, global security and ecological integrity. The United States Catholic Bishops advocates the ethical imperative dimension for engagement with the poverty situation in Africa. For the Bishops, Africa today witnesses “less external intervention, but more neglect and indifference. While strategic rationale for intervention has diminished with the end of the cold war, the ethical imperatives for engagement with Africa remains stronger than ever. They were of the view that the US, the West and the global community should not write Africa off as having little relevance to their strategic priorities. But that they should embrace a broader vision of their interests in obligation to the world’s poorest continent.14

This fresh, ethically-gravitated look must be devoid of the prevailing Afro-pessimism, which has written Africa off as a hopeless continent. It must eschew the hypocritical and stereotypical lenses through which the rest of the world have viewed Africa, as a continent inhabited by inferior human beings. Derogatory philosophies and false epistemic authorities have so shamefully lent their incompetence and false expertise, to the perceptual degradation of the African in the course of our history. Hegel is an eminent example of men who pontificated with authority over an area that dwarfed their competence with the certainty which only profound ignorance breeds. It is time for an overhaul of these attitudes. Read the rest of the article The Global Politican

Poor Excuse for Failure Develops a Life of Its Own

2006-08-24T22:39:00.000-07:00

Poor Excuse for Failure Develops a Life of Its Own

Business Day (Johannesburg)

OPINION

August 24, 2006 Posted to the web August 24, 2006

By Rhoda Kadalie-Johannesburg

A SMALL report in the Sunday Times (August 20) caught my eye. It looked insignificant but captured an issue at the heart of government's inability to deliver services to the poor. "Youth body says it lacks capacity" is the story about the National Youth Commission complaining to MPs that it does not have the tools or "capacity to achieve our mandate ... Our research directorate is a joke compared with other government units". What an admission.

Almost blaming Parliament for their inability to do their work, these "laaities", who earn more than professors (more than R500000 a year), were appointed to high office by the ANC simply to co-opt them into the ruling elite lest they stray into Zuma's path.

Whatever the political reasons, many are far too young and inexperienced to do the job, and use the excuse of "lack of capacity" as though it is unrelated to their abilities. The same goes for the South African Local Government Authority (Salga), the National Development Agency and the Umsobomvu Fund. Millions of rands have been wasted on these organisations -- their role being to build capacity -- when the very people running them lack the skills and competencies to carry out functions they are meant to perform.

Business Day recently exposed former Salga CEO Thabo Mokwena's gross mismanagement of the body. And the auditor-general commented on exorbitant wastage under his command. Parliament's oversight body, Scopa, finds it difficult to keep track of misappropriations at this and similar bodies because, complains chairman Themba Godi, of perennial turnover of senior government officials, who despite bungling move on to the next job before they get found out.

And so this phrase "lack of capacity" has developed a life of its own, a euphemism for the appointment of unskilled, unqualified, and incompetent people under the guise of affirmative action. By their own admission, these highly salaried, BMW-driving youth lack the qualifications to do their jobs. It has become commonplace for government to employ underqualified people, often political appointees, to top jobs, but then employ consultants, researchers and academics to do their work for them.

Countless houses could have been provided with the money these institutions have wasted. Instead of taking up space in newspapers to counter John Pilger, government's Trevor Manuel and Joel Netshitenzhe should address this rampant wastage. The government is its own worst advertisement for affirmative action. Project Consolidate is an admission that affirmative action has failed.

Debate on scrapping provinces is another acknowledgement that the incumbents (political appointees mostly), and equity-at-any-cost have affected delivery adversely. The more that local and provincial government fail to deliver, the more government thinks it should centralise. This politically inspired view denies that decentralisation, citizen participation and democratic decision-making at local level enhance rather than detract from effective service delivery. The City of Cape Town, under mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo and city manager Wallace Mgoqi, was incompetent and wasteful because the most heinous affirmative action and procurement policies (compounded by secret forms of governance that excluded the public and opposition parties) destroyed capacity in that municipality.

The country cannot continue on this path, and has to find a better way to implement affirmative action. Government has to acknowledge that political appointments are not the same thing as affirmative action. Second, affirmative action is not about redress, because we cannot make up for the travesties of apartheid but we can adopt measures to make equal opportunity a reality for those discriminated against.

Affirmative action should not exclude white people but should create a balance between what is needed and who is the best person to do the job. So if I were the president, I would employ rather than alienate skilled whites precisely so they can make up for the past -- those with the best skills and privileged education should contribute to rebuilding SA by using the skills that advantaged them.

Third, affirmative action means appointing on the basis of merit, skills and qualifications of those formerly excluded. It does not ever mean getting rid of incumbents, no matter what their race, gender, or ethnicity. For affirmative action to succeed, it has to go hand in hand with relevant selection and recruitment procedures; proper induction of new employees; continuing training and development of staff; transformation of the organisational culture; establishing special training programmes; and periodically setting goals and timetables for achieving diversity. "Lack of capacity" is the result of policies based solely on race, gender or disability, and is responsible for municipalities collapsing and the decline of efficient services to the poor. Affirmative action is a human-rights violation when unskilled people are foisted upon the poor, who need effective service delivery most.

Kadalie is a human-rights activist based in Cape Town.

posted in AllAfrica.com

Regionalism gaining a stronghold in world economy?

2006-08-24T22:22:00.000-07:00

The European Union started the president of economic regionalism, and Latin America has some sort of a regional market. Several country, Russia as lead, of the former soviet bloc are banking on their similar historical and linguistic experiences, have been discussing the prospect of creating a regional economy wit open borders. Today's news adds these mentions regional blocs to some South East Asian countries, headed by Malysia, who have been meeting for the last couple of days to exercise some their skills in building a single market. There is even a talk that by 2015, these new countries may have a single currently, just like the European Union. While the world's countries are coming together in economic sense, thus bridging the gap of political difference, our region (the Horn of Africa), seems to be travelling the opposite direct. In particular, Somalia seems to be breaking up into unrecognizable terrorites. God has the power to make us the see when when the Horn decides to use some economic sense and not pursue distructive military endeavours. Aamiin. Malaysia to Create ASEAN Single Market Kuala Lumpur, Aug 22 (Prensa Latina) Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi called on the Association of South East Asian Nations Tuesday to create the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015. Speaking before representatives of the regional group, meeting in Kuala Lumpur this week, Abdullah warned that if the integration of its 10 economies does not speed-up, they run the risk of losing their importance as an attractive destination for investors. We must take the necessary steps to protect our position as a center of competitive production, the prime minister told those attending the 38th ASEAN Economy Ministerial meeting. Attending the meeting are ministers from Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Philippines (current president of the regional group), and Malaysia, as host. Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, the group s most developed nations, advocated for the creation of the bloc to face the increasing competition from China and India, whose markets are very attractive to foreign investors. Parallel to the ministerial meeting is the ASEAN Council Meeting on the Free Trade Agreement and the ASEAN Investments Area Council meeting. ln/ccs/iff/mh

See the smile on this guy's face?

2006-08-24T14:47:00.000-07:00

I was keeping this song in store. Beautiful girls, erm, doing their thang.

2006-08-24T14:40:00.000-07:00

OK OK. I am not a big Ethiopian fan, but I kinda thought I will make this song an exception to everything Amxaari. To be honest, erm...its..just that these girls are beautiful. You can't blame a guy for appreciating some Horn of African beauty :P

Mirayle - Aduunyooy Waaya Badan

2006-08-24T14:27:00.000-07:00

I don't really know where this guy has disappeared to! He is really one of the younger Somali singers with genuine talent. The last time I knew, he was in Minesotta..so reer Mn, any news of this fellow? I might comission him for his album :D "Aduunyoow wallalleey, Aduunyooy Waayo Badan Warwareeg maada i yiri Fartiyo wadnaha isku qabo"

Jeegadheerayaasha -

2006-08-24T14:17:00.000-07:00

Heh.

Woman - by Oliver Goldsmith

2006-08-24T13:23:00.000-07:00

[Disclaimer]: This poem may come across offensive to some but that is not my wish. I have selected the poem for its literary qualities.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Woman

WHEN lovely woman stoops to folly,

And finds too late that men betray,

What charm can soothe her melancholy?

What art can wash her tears away?

The only art her guilt to cover,

To hide her shame from ev’ry eye,

To give repentence to her lover,

And wring his bosom is—to die.

Somalia: Courts open old wounds

2006-08-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

Somalia: Courts open old wounds

Rageh OmaarMonday

28th August 2006 The past few months have witnessed the most dramatic and profound developments in Somalia since the collapse of the US military inter vention 13 years ago, a mission that failed when what should have been a humanitarian project became a "counter-terrorism" operation. The changes emphasise the position of the Horn of Africa at the very heart of the so-called "war on terror" - and yet you could be forgiven for not having spotted a thing about it in the media.

After the withdrawal of US forces, Somalia and its capital were in effect abandoned to the warlords who had driven them out. There was no government, no rule of law. Somalia was a textbook failed state, similar in some ways to Afghanistan after the Soviet withdrawal, though even more chaotic, if that were possible. The warlords plundered the country, did whatever they wanted, and their militias helped themselves to whatever took their fancy.

Earlier this year, however, the warlords were driven out of Mogadishu by a puritanical and radical Islamist movement, the Union of Islamic Courts. Again the parallels with Afghanistan, the rise of the Taliban movement and the overthrow of the mujahedin are obvious. As with the Taliban, the Union of Islamic Courts came from the grass roots. Ordinary people had had enough of the warlords and their militias and their failure to provide basic services and the rule of law. The Union's court system, based on sharia law, began as a way for ordinary people, businessmen and clan leaders to provide local governance and assert some control over the militiamen. Soon it was hugely popular.

Since capturing Mogadishu the Union of the Islamic Courts has pulled the rug from beneath an internationally backed transitional federal government, made up of former warlords and political leaders. This body had little support and had been unable to set foot in Somalia until recently. There is now a stand-off.

The new regime, if it can be called that, includes a number of openly jihadist and militant Islamists, and this has alarmed other countries, especially neighbouring Ethiopia and its ally the United States. Both have suggested that members of the Union of Islamic Courts are at the very least sympathetic to al-Qaeda and could even be linked to the organisation.

Ethiopia appears unwilling to contemplate leaving the Union of Islamic Courts alone and is making threats and demands. The Union in turn is warning Ethiopia not to meddle in Somalia's domestic affairs. Ethiopia and Somalia have been to war before, and there are already reports (denied in Addis Ababa) of Ethiopian military incursions. The region appears to be drifting towards conflict, and once again foreign powers, including the US, are entertaining the idea of supporting military intervention.

The NewStatesman

After 16 years, the jazz-legend returns to Mogadishu

2006-08-22T19:50:00.000-07:00

By Mohamed Abdi Farah (SomaliNet)

Marian Mursal Isse Botan, (Maryan Mursal) one of top stars and well-known Somali female singer has returned back to her home country for the first time in 16 years. Maryan has arrived Somalia capital Mogadishu by a passenger plane on the international airport of Mogadishu for a short visit. She said she will stay for few days in Mogadishu feeling happy to see the capital more stable and peace. “My arrival will encourage other Somali musicians get back to their homeland,” she said.

Ms Marian, a mother of many children has burst into tears with emotional on her arrival at Mogadishu airport. “I could not believe in my eyes, I have a mixed feeling whether to cry with happiness or laugh with joy”. She is one of Somali beloved pop stars in Somalia She described her trip as to give support to the Islamic courts for their well-done job in Mogadishu and to visit her own house as well in the capital. Marian, one of Somali Diaspora in United Kingdom fled from Mogadishu after the civil war had flared up in Somalia. She had been in Dubai with two of her children on vacation for the past few weeks.

“I believe today Somalia partly Mogadishu the capital is more peaceful than any other country in the world and many thanks to the Islamic courts for their plain efforts to restore peace and stability which Somalia people used to enjoy,” she said adding “We have been imbued with white lies when we are in overseas that Somalia is dangerous place to live in, I have just come to know that the country is more safer,” During her stay in Mogadishu, she will build the grave of the former Somali composer Hussein Dubad who had died in Mogadishu years ago.

WANTED

2006-08-22T18:42:00.000-07:00

Quote of the Day

2006-08-21T10:16:00.000-07:00

“Now turn your eyes in the other direction, and you will see in front of and at the head of the other army the ever victorious and never defeated Timonel of Carcajona, prince of Nueva Vizcaya, who wears his armor quartered—blue, green, white and yellow—and who bears on his shield a cat of gold on a tawny field, with a legend that reads: Meow.”

(Grossman translation, Don Quixote, p. 128)

An ASBO against faaraxs standing and loitering needlessly

2006-08-20T12:53:00.000-07:00

I say, place them under some heavy duty ASBO, at first. Secondly, if they persist, give them a hefty fine on the caydha. Thirdly, if they continue standing outside like a long-dried stem of a tree, capture them, put them in a package, seal them and deliver them to the ICU, for dhaqan-celis. Damn, seeing these skinnies standing outside as if they are street posts is really getting on my nerves. I don't really mind if they stand outside a derelict building or a disused nuclear factory, so long as they quit standing in front of where I work. The customers are constantly complaining, not to mention, how difficult it has become to lure beautiful Somali girls into the shop (as customers of course) without the ogling and harassing faarax acting as a natural repellant. God, I am agitated. Can you imagine yelling half the day at a group of grown-up (middle-aged some of them) forcefully telling to piss off, or nicely cajoling them to melt away or sarcastically, asking them to stand everywhere, especially in the middle of the road. I wish the police would do something about these faraaxs.

The Birth of Fiction; the Sufi Muslim Council

2006-08-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

Something is roaring across the British Muslims' horizon, and it is coming alarmingly closer by the second. We see something approaching but there is too much dust around it to clearly see what it is. Two days ago, in the UK, some unknown group of individuals formed a council called Sufi Muslim Council, and has claimed that they are the representatives of the silent Muslim majority. At last, their speaker claims, the 'silent majority' has a voice! Haras Rafiq cites how

The prime minister and others have on many occasions rightly called for moderate Muslims to stand up and be counted.

And because all the politicians were demanding of British Muslims to make their silent voices heard; they form a council that would do just that. So as politicians shouted commands, it seems they shouts were clearly heard, and as a reuslt Mr Rafiq and his organisation has come into existance- as if an illusion, or a political cherade engineered by a coalition of the willing (The neo-cons are rumoured to be involved in the council's contrsuction). It was not surprising that the sectretary of state, alongside many other high-ranking figures in Westminster, attended the launching ceremony of the 'Sufi Muslim Council'.

To give the occasion even more flavour, present at the launch, were liberal democrats, Aglicans, and Jewish community representatives, which has made it clear for many in the Muslim, the kind of organisation the Sufi Muslim Council is meant to be. As the Arabs say, if you want to know someone, look at his/her friends. Apparently, these individuals mascarading as 'Sufis' alongside their various friends, are the silent Muslim majority. Their aim is to help this majority that has been for a long time been frustrated by organisations, such as the Muslim Council of Britain. The Sufi Muslim Council supposedly offers the British Muslims a non-politicised version of Islam that is non-conflicting with Western interests. Additionally, they want to fight against the so-called 'radicalization' of Muslim youth by fringe 'extremist' groups.

However, after discovering their associations and ill-veiled attempts, one is left with the sick-feeling that, in this world, there are 'feebles' beings who dress up as men, who would prostitute their souls to the nearest devil with a dime. It is also sickening to see Western politicians resorting to such dirty tricks of divide and rule against Muslims, as if they haven't harmed them enough.

A poem dedicated to all who are set apart by circumstances

2006-08-20T08:18:00.000-07:00

A Valediction Forbidden Mourningby John Donne (1572-1631) As virtuous men pass mildly away, And whisper to their souls to go, Whilst some of their sad friends do say, "Now his breath goes," and some say, "No."So let us melt, and make no noise, No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;' Twere profanation of our joys To tell the laity our love. Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears; Men reckon what it did, and meant; But trepidation of the spheres, Though greater far, is innocent. Dull sublunary lovers' love —Whose soul is sense—cannot admit Of absence, 'cause it doth remove The thing which elemented it. But we by a love so much refined, That ourselves know not what it is, Inter-assurèd of the mind, Care less, eyes, lips and hands to miss. Our two souls therefore, which are one, Though I must go, endure not yet A breach, but an expansion, Like gold to aery thinness beat. If they be two, they are two so As stiff twin compasses are two; Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show To move, but doth, if th' other do. And though it in the centre sit, Yet, when the other far doth roam, It leans, and hearkens after it, And grows erect, as that comes home. Such wilt thou be to me, who must, Like th' other foot, obliquely run; Thy firmness makes my circle just, And makes me end where I begun.

Darn birds, and neighbour's bull-dog!

2006-08-20T04:27:00.000-07:00

Early birds fly from their nests at odd hours. I know this from hard earned experience because every morning at around 5, I hear them, the birds that is, flying over where I live (seemingly just few feet over my darn bed -making some funny sounds, like human laughter, as if to piss me off) to wherever in the world they go to. Sometimes they come at the worst of times such as when I am having a pleasant dream and interrupt me. One of the best dreams I had for a long time was spoilt by their f-ing sounds. It was a dream where I was apparently very popular (like a celebrity of some sort :)) and men of higher posts were all smiling at me-inviting me to a podium on which I was going to pay a lecture to a big audience. The audience in turn was welcoming me eagerly with a standing ovation. And I was all high and mighty, confident and reassured. Then, the second I reached the podium, I took out my notes and laid them in front of me and started speaking. Paragraph after paragraph I was getting applauded and got to a point where I was applauded after every sentence. It felt so good, so exciting and I felt so important. Then, abruptly, without warning, in a matter of nanoseconds, the applause changed to jeering and laughter, and the ovation to booing. They were laughing at me, the audience were laughing at every word I uttered. It was such a shocking turn of events in that pleasant dream. Shock! Horror! Unbelievable! How dare them! How could they! I am important! I thought. I jumped out of sleep and the bed too. The next thing I knew was me wearing just macawuus at collusion with my bed-room's locked door. I almost walked through it. The sound of the bang was so loud that my neighbor’s bull-dog started barking so violently. Half-sleep and half-awake, the darn dog's barking confused me even more. The barking was so loud that I thought the dog was behind me. Well, I reasoned, first the misbehaving audience and now the bull-dog on your arse. I don't even know how I got through the house's door and also into the kitchen or how I managed to get hold of the kitchen knife! I just came to my senses while holding a knife. Acuudu Billaah! I recited some Quran and spent the next few ours in the sitting room, somewhat confused. The funny thing is, what I thought was 'the jeering and laughter' of the audience, was indeed some migrating birds that fly over where I live every morning. The sounds they make can be mistaken for human laughter. And every time they pass over us, my neighbor’s bull-dog's reaction is to bark so violently. I figured that out while sitting in the living. It is a house on the path of darn birds…and I am moving house…let the darn birds keep their route.

Welcome Romanista and The Calm Optimist

2006-08-19T22:40:00.000-07:00

I think since using motime is a bit complicated, the move to blogspot is a good idea. I am sure you guys have much to post but as the first one to make the move to blogspot, I say, welcome friends. It is such a pleasure having you here with us again. I know the rest of the contributors are on their way. Sometimes with technology and finding your way through it is daunting, but hey, you seem to have navigated your way through it quite nicely. A bit of an intro... Romanista is our football guru. As the name implies, he has a knack for the beautiful game. I know few of the guys, like I and The Calm Optimist who are die-hard Arsenal supporters, would have something to say about Italian football. Also, the Liverpool supporters contest Romanista's calm to beautifull football. As one of our Liverpudians tells me, Liverpool cooks a beautiful game too :). The Calm Optimist, is the sage who is modest of his wisely thoughts. As someone who knows him very much, I am quite certain that his sagely advices and thoughts would find an audience in the readers of this blog. The Calm Optimist is a man of few words, whose only few words speak volume. I hope we all benefit from his wisdom :) Welcome TCP.

Canary Wharf and Poplar skylines

2006-08-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

A picture I have taken of Canary Wharf and its surrouding areas. I am usually fascinated with the sky, the clouds and how they sometimes seem inter-connected with the sky-scrappers.

Additionally, I am obsessed with the clouds, especially when they form a mosaic that differentiates one cloud's silver-lining from another, according to their distances or promixity to the sun. It is just dreamy.

Sunset from my window. I always look out from this window and everytime I look outside, there seem to be some sort of drama going on between light and darkness. It is strange how the earth could be so dark and yet the sky displays a vivid blue-ness while the clouds become caught between darkness and brightness.

I took this one while at the bus stop. I thought, let me see if the camera has a better eye thatn me because I couldn't see any bus coming.

A word on the estrange educated young women

2006-08-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

When a country engages in a civil war, it contradicts and questions its own norms or truths. When it is at peace with itself, it has a unison voice that has an unquestionable confidence in its choices and destiny. However, when doubts begin to set in, the confident voice looses its united forcefulness. The voice behind which our people have been rallying has grown tired and weary. For the 16 years, the singing of the chorus has been left to women, whether in Somalia or in the Diaspora Somali communities. Women have become our unsung heroes. They remain our unsung heroes because even after all they have done in keeping families and communities together, we (men of course) have not shown our gratitude or have not recognized the hardships they suffer daily. Fortunately, as women have done well to keep families together, they have also managed to progress educationally more than their male counter-parts, although this progress is seen by many men as something unwelcome. Young educated females, according to the traditional male view, are not good for starting families. They are, as some would claim, too educated and hence too opinionated for the role of a wife and mother. The desirable female, some men recommend, is the one who knows her role of mothering and servicing the husband without any suggestions from her part. Thus, the so-called ‘perfect’ wife material leaves all decision-making to the husband. Any female who does anything outside that role is not worth marrying. This is the line of reasoning which many men have inherited from the norm-upholders of Somali male culture. In effect, many men believe in the macho and stereotypical picture of what the structure and power of a household should look like, when in fact many men haven’t been taught about how current household structures disadvantage the welfare of the entire Somali community. The traditional perception of family structure, where the females are totally excluded from decision-making, may have a lot to do with the crises we currently face. When a society does not educate or empower half of its population, it means that it has knowingly commenced a sequence of long-term self-destruction. That is what Somalia has done for many centuries and still continues to do. Today, even when the education of young Somali females is not at the expense of a Somali state or society, female Somali graduates are finding it hard to find marriage proposals as they are deemed too westernized. Education of the mind can not be equated to the brain-washing of an individual. Just because the young educated female is knowledgeable enough to make suggestions as to what is good, doesn’t make her brainwashed.

Hello all

2006-08-19T09:21:00.000-07:00

Don't start welcoming me yet; I am not new to blogging. In fact, I am a blogger-vet (if there is such a thing). The only problem I have is, blogspot.com, doesn't allow people to leave a message without being registered with them. It is for this reason that I have decided to duplicate my 'other blog's name : The Two Advocates. I am a Motimer and so what brings me to blogspot is to leave comments. PS: The Two Advocates was formerly known as The Rogue Elements (or Rogue Element's Analysis), but due to new memberships and other changes, we have decided to re-dub it The Two Advocates.