Somalia's Anarchy (And Other Things I Never Knew)
Somalia was without a government for 13 years. Warlords ruled bits of the country for most of that time. Families lived (and still live) in the buildings once devoted to schools and hospitals.
A new government was elected last year, and peacekeeping troops from Uganda and the Sudan are on their way to restore order to the more dangerous parts of the country.
I'm not sure this is exactly a success story for peace. Going from anarchy to a government is certainly a stabilizing force in the region, and one hopes that the tide of refugees flowing from Somalia will be stemmed by a return to order. But how did a country go without a government for so long? And what kind of government will be in place now? Only time will tell, I suppose, but the need for a structure -- any structure -- does not often result in an ideal government.
But here's the more pressing question: did anyone know about this place? Did anyone know that Somalia has been in a state of anarchy since 1991? (For most of that time, it was the only state in the world without a government). There were the pictures from Mogadishu in 1993. And then the place vanished, with no mention of what has happened since. I find my lack of knowledge about this area incredibly disturbing -- that my only awareness of this country came from the horrific deaths of Americans who went there.
On a larger scale, my ignorance of Somalia is indicative of the bigger picture that Americans have little knowledge about the world in general. Part of the reason for this blog is to help to correct that -- to bring information about these parts of the world to light. Information about the world in which we live is essential for peace. Without knowledge of each other, of the true state of the world, we have little hope of defusing conflict or attempting to promote peace throughout the world. I don't know how to accomplish this goal. As I find out more about my own ignorance, I am overwhelmed by the amount of things that I don't know. And I am overwhelmed by the task of informing myself.
We are asking difficult questions on this blog, questions that require patience and wisdom to answer. Here's the big one for today: Will we ever learn about each other (other countries, other people)? Will we ever be able to effectively promote peace if we don't?
posted by Sammy @ 9:21 PM
3 Comments:
It takes courage to admit what you don't know. An important question is WHY don't we hear about Somalia (Congo, Liberia, Nigeria...)? Is it racism? It is a Cold War legacy - a long history of deliberately ignoring atrocities depending on whether a country is on "our side" or "their side," putting our perceived strategic interest before the quest for truth. I see a theme emerging in this blog: Look for absences. What don't we know, and what is the cost of our ignorance? From your fan, Prof. M
I tend not to blame racism for such absences, but the more innocuous lack of interest -- the same shrug of the shoulders on the part of the American public that taints all things Asian or European or South American. From a young age, we are given a tiny worldview that encompasses our neighborhood, our state and our country. We learn about American history in school. We learn how to speak English properly. We get our driver's licenses, but not our passports. We know little beyond these boundaries.
I'm struggling with how to remedy this insular culture. An overhaul of the education system would be a start, but unlikely. An increased emphasis on foreign languages may help, as would the encouragement of travel abroad post-high school or college. These small measures could help to fill the absence of knowledge that, right now, covers most of the globe.
While I absolutely agree that Americans often ignore the rest of the world (it makes it easier to ignore the international community as American news outlets systematically reduce foreign correspondents and focus instead on domestic affairs), I also think there is more to this issue. I don't think that the US is ignorant because of a culture of insularity, if that were true, one would expect to see Americans well-versed in their own history. But, I think its rather clear that Americans, on the whole, don’t just neglect to study international affairs in any meaningful, non-primetime news way, they also neglect to study their own country in any depth. I really don’t why this is, but I think it has something to do with the peculiar attitude that the US is somehow sui generis, ahistorical and divinely ordained to lead the world (remember manifest destiny and more recently, Reagan’s shining city on the hill?). Anyway, just a thought.
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