Socialist Worker isn’t happy about the defeat of the Somalia based Wahabists earlier this week.
The militias’ (of the United Islamic Courts) victory was based on genuine popular support. it bleats.
Popular eh? Among middle class Western ‘anti-imperialists’ perhaps.
But not so popular with young people, women and moderate Muslims on the ground according to this particular Somali writing in the Washington Post:
They alienated youth by banning all types of entertainment, segregated women and deprived tens of thousands of families of their only livelihood by banning Khat without bringing an alternative source of income. They even embittered traditional Islamic scholars with their self-righteousness Wahhabi style, condescending to mainstream Islam.
Or their immediate neighbours:
They mistook their easy ride to power for being an unstoppable revolution and started stirring instability in the peaceful Republic of Somaliland by branding the leadership of that democratic country as an infidel and threatening to bring Somaliland under their Wahhabi cloak.
By reviving the Somali irredentist policies of reunifying all Somali people in the Horn of Africa and creating greater Somalia, they reminded Ethiopia and Kenya of the era of wars and instability they had with the successive Somali governments over their claim for the Somali regions in their respective countries.
The Islamists decided to tweak the tail of the last superpower too:
Their Security Chief Colonel Yusuf Indha Adde, had even made the gaffe of the century by admitting that he was one of the people who dragged the bodies of the dead American soldiers through the streets of Mogadishu in 1993 and that he was ready to do it again.
It’s a shame the fun had to end. Never mind – those who want to demonstrate their support for the banning of music, the right to threaten neighbours with Jihad, and the veiling of women have an opportunity to do so at the next demonstration:
The Stop the War demonstration on 24 February will not just be about Trident and Iraq – but also against the way imperialism devastates areas such as East Africa.
Don’t expect too many Somalis to attend though:
Now, it is time for the people of Mogadishu to reclaim their freedoms and their true religion. Time to read the Quran with piety and not with politics; time to perform Dhikr in the Sufi Qadiriya style; time to dance in weddings and listen to the music of our late melody queen Magool, which the Islamists wanted burn. It is time to let our women come out to the sunshine and swim with their children in the lido beach; time to shave the beards, watch cinemas and let our youth revel, sing, dance and ring in the New Year “
