I’ve realised that they all circle back to Ba’athist ideology. Even Kacaan, which literally has the same translation as Ba’ath - to rise up, even though it was Somali national socialism, it still is an offshoot of it. From Gama Abdelnasser to Saddam to Assad’s to Gaddafi. That’s why I find it hard to understand those who romanticise the 70’s and 80’s in Somalia.
Thanks for your comment, Samatar. You're right — there are many clear parallels, not only in the development of Somali socialist ideology, but also in how it framed and attempted to address what it saw as the major problems it aimed to resolve. It ultimately succumbed to the same result in the end too. Robin Yassin-Kassab, a British-Syrian writer, referred to the Syrian and Egyptian governments as thugocracies which put "Arabism over Arabs". You might say the same about Siad Barre and his team.
When I think about the nostalgia for that era expressed in my own interviews with those who lived through the era (as opposed to today’s online admirers), it seems to stem more from a mixture of the pain of exile as refugees and a broader longing for the ‘good old days’ — a time when there was at least a semblance of normality compared to Somalia today which is mostly characterised by chaos. I haven’t encountered many people who defend the Barre regime uncritically.
I’ve realised that they all circle back to Ba’athist ideology. Even Kacaan, which literally has the same translation as Ba’ath - to rise up, even though it was Somali national socialism, it still is an offshoot of it. From Gama Abdelnasser to Saddam to Assad’s to Gaddafi. That’s why I find it hard to understand those who romanticise the 70’s and 80’s in Somalia.
Thanks for your comment, Samatar. You're right — there are many clear parallels, not only in the development of Somali socialist ideology, but also in how it framed and attempted to address what it saw as the major problems it aimed to resolve. It ultimately succumbed to the same result in the end too. Robin Yassin-Kassab, a British-Syrian writer, referred to the Syrian and Egyptian governments as thugocracies which put "Arabism over Arabs". You might say the same about Siad Barre and his team.
When I think about the nostalgia for that era expressed in my own interviews with those who lived through the era (as opposed to today’s online admirers), it seems to stem more from a mixture of the pain of exile as refugees and a broader longing for the ‘good old days’ — a time when there was at least a semblance of normality compared to Somalia today which is mostly characterised by chaos. I haven’t encountered many people who defend the Barre regime uncritically.