Comment Writer rues his country's woesEvery country seems to have its own bete noir. For the Kenyan, he is the Somali. If there are illegal arms, it is because Somalis trade in them; if there is cattle rustling on the border, again they are blamed. But they are a tough, resilient people, resistant even to the US which got a bloody nose when it tried to intervene in 1993 and lost 18 soldiers. Somalia remains a deeply troubled and directionless country. All the more reason, then, to hear a different viewpoint. Yet when Somali-born author Nurrudin Farah recently gave a lecture at St Andrews, Nairobi, organised by the Ford Foundation and well-publicised in advance, not one of his books was on sale. Although he is a writer of world repute and winner of prestigious awards like the 1998 Neudstadt International Prize for Literature, said to be almost as coveted as the Nobel, local bookshops mounted no displays of his works either. Recipients of Ford Foundation grants were present in force as was Nairobi's community of "glitterati". Imagine how many books would have been sold! Like manna from Heaven for hungry intellectuals, his lecture "Africa and the Ten Commandments" was particularly timely, not only because the peace talks have just resumed here, but also due to Nation journalist Farida Karoney's excellent series of articles and TV programmes about the country which aroused great interest. Nuruddin Farah was exiled from his homeland for two decades, and a price put on his head as a result of his criticism of the Marxist regime of Mohammed Siad Barre. He was in Rome in 1976 when word that his second novel, A Naked Needle, had been deemed treasonable by the government, reached him. Sitting in a friend's apartment, he decided that "if I couldn't go back home, then I would systematically make the rest of Africa my country." He has written two major trilogies: Variations on the Theme of an African Dictatorship, and Blood in the Sun, as well as several works of non-fiction like Yesterday, Tomorrow: Voices from the Somali Diaspora, which includes interviews with refugees in Britain, Italy, Switzerland and Sweden. He now lives in Cape Town with his Nigerian wife, Amina Mama, who is director of the Gender Studies Institute at the University of Cape Town, and their two children. What was particularly exciting was the power and fluency of his English, and despite the title, his utter refusal to preach. His attitude, unusual for such a successful writer, was one of humility. Though he has not lived in Somalia for 23 years, he has never ceased to write about it and his perspective is all the clearer for its long-sightedness. After all, he is in a long tradition of literary exiles like Joseph Conrad, Samuel Beckett, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka and James Joyce who, Farah informed us, went back to Ireland only once and that was to bury his mother. The picture of Somalia he paints is, like Farida Karoney's, one of terrifying anarchy co-existing with surprising pockets of normality. "It is not a clan conflict," he claims; because of the lawlessness, there is no real way of finding out, but his sense is that it is due to social injustice. Peace talks should be taking place in Mogadishu, not Naivasha. Yet, despite the chaos, 15 newspapers are published in Mogadishu. He contrasted this situation with neighbouring Ethiopia where the press is not free to speak about the mis-management that leads the country to beg for food time and again, giving it a pitiful image on the world stage. Where there is democracy, there is no famine. Why did coups d'etat go on happening even into the 21st century? he was asked. Because there are chronic shortages of basic necessities and people are not at liberty to express themselves. Switzerland does not have coups: where the government delivers, people don't demand change. His themes are those of the modern writer: loss, displacement, exile. The lasting pain inflicted by colonial regimes on their subjects and the failure to make reparations. Had Germans ever apologised for the genocide of the Herero people? Jews had been compensated, but not blacks. Had Britain said sorry for its regrettable record? "We are damaged goods, not wanted anywhere. Africa is an alienated territory." However, it is rare, I believe, that any government admits wrongdoing. "Sorry" isn't part of the lexicon. Furthermore, even if it was, what meaning would it have? Only actions to restore inequality would make sense. But it was the plight of Somalis in Kenya that aroused his greatest ire: 1.5 million of his fellow countrymen were being treated as second-class citizens and forced � like the blacks in apartheid South Africa � to carry passbooks. He had even been shocked to find Somalis chained to policemen." "Kenyans are not friendly," he complained, though as an honoured guest, he had of course been welcomed. I couldn't help wondering to myself which country nowadays is eager to receive foreigners? Has xenophobia not become a mark of the human species in the modern age? And where so many are struggling with poverty and illness, is it surprising that they are reluctant to take on the problems of others? Where it is possible to distinguish others as "aliens", is it not convenient to blame them for all our ills? The loss of self-respect and a sense of identity kept re-emerging, yet Farah was careful to stress that tradition, per se, was not necessarily a good thing. "FGM � is that part of our culture? If so, it's not one I'd like to keep." We must retain what is helpful in a changed world. Polygamy and the practice of taking partners from different age and class background did not meet his approval either. "It is hard enough to keep one wife happy," he mused, "let alone six!" We must insist on monogamy and proper sex education so that our children are not frightened by the myths and half-truths that circulate among peer groups. Nuruddin Farah has had to endure many hardships in order to survive as a writer. Forced to cut himself off from his original home and family lest they be persecuted on his behalf, he is dedicated to his work and has been extremely productive. Comments\Views about this article |
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