A Call to the Collective Somali Conscience

Ikar Mohamed Ikar
Saturday, January 01, 2011

After going through a period of reflection and self-examination, the Benadiri Intellectual Youth Organization (BIYO) is contented to announce its commencement of a long-delayed, critical public campaign aimed primarily at combating all forms of Somali on Somali abuse and discrimination, the main obstacle, we firmly believe, to securing a lasting reconciliation and restoring a functioning central governance body.  Dubbed the “Somali Conscience Project,” Phase I of this noble initiative will, God willing, kick off at the onset of the new year, with regular dispatches to media outlets as of January 2011.

 

To any patriotic Somali, the heeding of the call to the collective conscience should instantly be prompted by probing the outcome of passive indifference, the calculation that, without the immediate intervention and vigorous determination of its own conscientious and courageous citizens, Somalia’s future existence as a viable, sovereign, one-nation state will remain barely foreseeable, if not too bleak to realize.  Decades since the outbreak of civil war, the countless setbacks in elevating the nation above the stage of utter failure, the absence of a comprehensive roadmap to alleviate the current state of affairs, and the lack of a promising end to hostilities do indeed communicate the sad and bitter truths we find too difficult to believe and, worse yet, overly painful to live with.  Moreover, based on past patterns and fair assessment of the contemporary situation on the ground, the forecast for the future, if not drastically interrupted, is gloomy, with the conflict likely continuing to grow and deepen, inevitably taking turns for the worst. 

 

The condition of our brethren remaining in Somalia is equally dreadful and dire.  In addition to braving bullets and bombs on a daily basis, common Somalis are subject to other grave risks, including frequent and often severe shortages of food, water, health care and other vital needs, too familiar trends that often culminate into recurrent catastrophes and horrendous humanitarian crises.  The ongoing warfare, stirred by contests for control of the country, perpetuate the very wickedness, carnage, mass destruction and displacements that never-endingly and disproportionately victimize innocent civilians, bringing those living therein to their knees and holding their hopes and dreams hostage.  For as long as we remain oblivious to their plight and uphold the custom of fading root causes of problems into oblivion, the status quo is predestined to prevail. 

 

The overwhelming nature of the daily news coming out of Somalia and the prevailing climate of impunity has forced the BIYO leadership to succumb to a prolonged state of contemplation.  Consequently, after pondering for a long time over the message conveyed by the Quranic passage, “Verily, God does not change the condition of any people unless they themselves make the decision to change or change what is in themselves or their heart” (13:11), we convincingly arrived at the conclusion that we, Somali citizens, must not wait for a miracle to show up and deliver us out of the predicament we find or, in the first place, put ourselves in.  Indeed, God will not extravagantly alter our destiny without any effort on our part.  In other words, only by amending our intrinsic system of functioning can we truly alter our fate or destiny.  Therefore, we are compelled to scrutinize the very system of social and moral values we subscribe to and the manners in which we perform our collective and individual duties, all with the goal of rejuvenating an equitable society where all members are free from fear, prejudice and maltreatment.

 

As we embark on this mission, take charge of our destiny and lead the stage by, first and foremost, raising our collective voice to condemn discriminatory and destructive social policies and practices, we would like to once again invoke the collective conscience of Somalis everywhere to invalidate the superiority-inferiority complex espoused by unconstructive and counter-progressive ideologies, such as tribalism and ethnocentrism.  We invite Somalis of good conscience to heed this crucial call for the betterment of our circumstances and support us with a sense of duty and a spirit of solidarity as we aspire to create an all-inclusive coalition for this just cause.  We welcome the constructive pooling of resources and see comfort in coordinating our campaign with other concerned groups.

 

We look forward to the possibility of transformation made possible through our collective action.  We thank our future partners in advance for their cooperation and collaboration.

 

Ikar Mohamed Ikar, MA, PMP

Somali Conscience Project Manager

 

About BIYO:

Benadiri Intellectual Youth Organization (BIYO) is not a political or clan-based entity.  More correctly, we consider and clearly define ourselves as a social justice advocacy group.  In addition, we would like to clarify that ‘Benadiri’ is by no means a tribal or clan-related name; it is a designation used to identify a conglomeration of multi-ethnic people, bound together for centuries by ties of citizenship rather than tribal affiliation.  BIYO is committed to promoting, propagating, and pursuing peace amongst Somalis.

 

Contact BIYO at:

P.O. Box 8074

Rochester, MN  55903

Phone: 1-507-990-9775

Email: [email protected]