The Election

At the time of the attacks on September 11, 2001, the Somali community in Central Ohio was preparing for an historic first: free and fair elections. When originally incorporated (well over a decade ago), the Somali Community Association of Ohio had been conceived as more of a fraternal organization doing good works within the Somali community. That was when the Somali population in these parts amounted to about 400 people. Those who incorporated the organization never dreamed it would become the hub for distributing essential services to approximately 30,000 Somali immigrants.

The transformation of the Somali Community Association from a small mutual-aid society to large social service agency was both rapid and largely unplanned. The Association got the federal, county and city monies available to assist Somali immigrants largely because there was no other organization available that could provide the same service. As the Association grew larger and more important, the calls for an election for new board of trustee members became more persistent. This was, in part, natural. Each of the various factions (clan and/or family) of the Somali community were eager to gain what representation (and control) they could. However, the subtext of this election was that it would serve as a referendum on the Association’s current management.

I was involved in this to the extent that I was working with the Association’s attorney to update and redraft the Association’s organizational documents to reflect the realities of what the Association had become. As most of the agitation for elections was being directed towards the City of Columbus, which was providing some of the Association’s funding, it was decided that the City would oversee the election to ensure it was open and fair. In August it was decided that the election would be in late December. This meant, of course, that the President of the Association, Hassan, was going to have to get out on the campaign trail.

For a variety of reasons, including the tragedy of September 11, the campaigning didn’t really get started until late October. Besides Hassan, there were two other Somalis running slates of trustees in the election. From my vantage point, this election wasn’t so much about the trustees as it was about the Association president... who would be chosen by those trustees elected. All three ‘presidential candidates’ came from either different clans or from different factions within the same clan (I never really got that part of the election straightened out – factionalism and inter-clan tensions are not something any of the Somalis felt comfortable discussing in any detail with me).

Once the election campaigning began in earnest, the first thing that became apparent to me was that democracy is learned. It is not a part of the natural order. That isn’t much of an insight, but I can tell you that it does gains some considerable force when you start spending time around people who have never actually experienced democracy. You have to watch someone acquire it to understand just how unnatural it is. That’s the way it was for most of the Somalis in Central Ohio in late October, 2001.

Most Somalis had never experienced democracy in the country of their birth. The democratic government of the Somali Republic, formed from British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland in 1960, survived a mere 9 years. In 1969 Mohamed Siad Barre overthrew the government and established a totalitarian dictatorship that lasted until 1991. For all intents and purposes, with Barre’s overthrow Somalia ceased to exit. The country rapidly descended in anarchy and a savage inter-clan civil war which continues to this day. At most, no living Somali could claim living under a democratic Somalian government for more than 9 years of their life.

9 years isn’t all that long.

One of the first issues the City of Columbus had to untangle was the misunderstanding that the election was to be restricted to Somali males. Evidently the Somali men assumed they were the ones who would be doing the voting, and once this became known the City had to step in and explain that women were going to have to be allowed to vote, or there wasn’t going to be a vote (and by implication, City funding). There was some grumbling about that, but since nobody wanted to lose City funding, the decision to allow women the vote was made quite quickly.

Perhaps more serious was the worry of violence. Political rhetoric amongst the Somalis tends to be extreme; imagine your favorite internet ranter and take it to the nth degree. And unfortunately, that rhetoric did cross the line to threats of violence. Just how credible those threats were I cannot say, but the City had to take them seriously. From my own perspective, I felt the City’s caution was warranted; there was no real way for outsiders to gauge what constituted a credible threat. And if Hassan wasn’t threatened, he was subjected to some pretty amazing verbal abuse (mostly accusations – bigamy, warlordism, corruption... you name it).

From my vantage point, the issue of violence was born of a lack of experience with democracy and democratic institutions. Much of the tension surrounding the election seemed to be generated by the persistent belief of many of the Somalis that the election wouldn’t be fair; each faction had supporters convinced that another faction would steal power. Beyond that, when you live in a place like Somalia, politics is not a sport... not even a full contact sport: In Somalia, if you are on the wrong side in a political dispute, you end up dead. There is no next time, and all politics is winner take all. You have to spend some time around people who’ve lived under those circumstances before you start to understand that what you’d at first take to be paranoia is actually the coping/survival skills acquired under another sort of political system.

Happily, as the campaign season progressed, the atmosphere seemed to grow less tense, if not more relaxed. That isn’t to say the intensity of the electioneering diminished. It didn’t. But as the weeks passed and the Somalis saw that the candidates were actually soliciting their votes, that there were no spies, that there were no goons or killings or bombs, it began to dawn on them that this was really going to happen... they were really going to have a voice. And once they began to believe, the anger, distrust and suspicion turned to excitement. It was an amazing transformation to watch.

And watch it I did. Throughout December, whatever excuse I could find for driving down to the Association’s office I took. During normal times the Association’s offices were a beehive of activity. People were always there looking for help with every conceivable problem: language classes, driving classes, housing assistance, interpreters for doctor’s visits... whatever. But in December, the place was an absolute madhouse: Where you’d have 100 Somalis in the offices on a normal day, now there were 200. The parking lot was filled all day long with Somali men milling about and talking in small groups. It got to the point that the Association’s landlord called me for help in clearing the lot so cars could get in and out of the Huntington Bank drive-through. This was in December in Ohio...

On the last payroll day before the election I drove down to the Association offices to deliver checks. When I arrived the place was packed to the rafters. I found Hassan on the second floor; he was talking to what appeared to be a delegation of women... and even though the conversation was in Somali, it was pretty clear there was some serious pre-election schmoozing going on. I managed to catch his eye and motioned that I’d be in his office. He gave me a quick smile of understanding without missing a beat of his schmooze. The man is a serious politician.

It took a few moments, but I managed to weave through the waiting room and the hallway to Hassan’s office. The door was open, so I walked in and then closed the door behind me. Accountants usually don’t like hauling out checks in front of large crowds, and that was exactly what I was doing when the door burst open. For whatever reason, Somalis (or at least the Somalis I have dealt with) consider a closed door to be an invitation to come in unannounced and find if who or what they’re looking for happens to be around. It took a while for me to get used to people barging into whatever room I happened to be in when I was at the Association, but by the time this young Somali man, whom I had never seen before, came barreling through the door, I was used to it enough that I wasn’t really taken by surprise.

“Hello,” I said.

He was a young man, in his 20s, and quite handsome. He was tall and slender, but well built. An athlete. He didn’t respond to my greeting. He just stood there with the most amazing look on his face – a combination of excitement, exuberance and, quite frankly, what appeared to be rapture – and his eyes were as bright as a man’s could be.

He stared at me for a moment, smiled a huge smile and said, “We’re having an election!”

That was it. He turned around and was gone, slamming the door behind him.

I have not seen him since.

..........

The election went well. The turnout was heavy, there was no violence, and despite some concerns about the men informally working to keep the woman away, women showed up and voted in droves. The City considered it a minor triumph, as well they should have. Hassan’s slate of trustees won handily, and because they did he kept his job and I kept a client.

To me, the election marked the second real turning point for the Somalis here. The first was September 11. To be frank, it seemed that a substantial number of them were amazed that they hadn’t been rounded up and either imprisoned or killed. Perhaps for the first time in their lives, they had experienced political tolerance. Then, within a few months of that, they were allowed to have a free and fair election – in fact, they were encouraged to have an election – and had one without intimidation or violence. For most probably their first real experience with the democratic political process. I’m sure many never really believed it would happen. But it did.

Those were heady days, during that election season, and I don’t know if future elections will generate that much excitement. In a way, I hope they don’t. I hope they’ve come to understand that what they had experienced in that election should be expected in every election.

We will see.

Comments

[D.E. Cloutier]

A friend of mine was a general in the Egyptian military. He could speak several languages fluently. He often traveled to the U.S. and Europe.

Once I gave him a book that predicted the eventual end of national governments because of globalization.

He read the book. "This is dangerous thinking," he said.

Think about that. A highly sophisticated Muslim man in the world's most populous Arab country considered a new political idea "dangerous thinking."

[Jena]

Did you stick around to hear your friends reasons?

Because think about this: farfetched as it may seem, there is possibly a highly sophisticated person in the West who might not be able to conceive the thought that a "new" political idea (use of the quotes because it isn't a new idea, just modern) such as the one your book played around with might in fact be less than beneficial to mankind. In fact, be the nightmare of all nightmares. I know, I know, "Imagine!! All the people...."

[DavidS]

More please!

[Jena]

Nice post Dennis. I was going to make a comment about elections in Iraq, but I decided not to given some of your earlier posts on scoring points which I for the most part agree with. (But having just made a comment by mentioning what I decided not to comment on you can see I remain ambivalent.)

Just a question. Are there kids hanging around the center? How's their English? Are they melting in? I'm trying to get an idea about the Ohian Somali experience as compared to other immigrant groups, including my own, so I hope you'll talk about the next generation at some point in full, or pepper them in throughout your seminar. Cheers.

[sarius]

DtP,

Thanks for this series ... interesting, as always from you.

BTW, did you ever wonder if Raj dropped you because he's threatened by you? After all, you write much better than he does. Your serious stuff is better, your comic stuff is better, and you don't even do it for a living. Business schmisness ... jealousy, pure and simple.

Just my little 2-cents worth.

[D.E. Cloutier]

Jena, he didn't say it was a stupid idea. He said (and meant) what he said--dangerous thinking. There is a difference. Thinking you can publish cartoons of Muhammad in an Arab country is "dangerous thinking."

The man speaks English flawlessly. This was not a one-time meeting, by the way. I have known and spent a lot of time with the man over the years.

I agree the idea is the book is not a good one. But the refusal to give a new/modern idea any consideration at all shows what the Bush administration is up against in its quest to plant the seeds of democracy in the Middle East.

[DennisThePeasant]

Jena-

There are plans to discuss the kids. I haven't had a ton of contact with them, but have had one or two incidents of dealing with parents...

Sarius-

You're too kind. Don't stop.

[jena]

D.E.

Perhaps it was a word thingy problem that we were having. "Dangerous thinking," "bad idea": toemaytoe, toemahtoe. But since we seem to agree about the nature of the idea found in that book and about the probable disposition of a general in the Egyptian military there isn't much left to talk about. Except, perhaps, why give him such a book to read? I'd like to hear what our general thinks about the Federalist Papers or ten other books if I were to start using his opinions to wage bets on the probability of acorns becoming oats. C'mon D.E., get with the program and become a point of liberal (classical) democratic light! A butterflies flapping wings makes a typhoon kind of stuff. If you had only given him the right book he might have seen the light and could have been well on his way to becoming Egypt's George Washington by now. (Personal amusement over: I do grant you the "difficulty" problem. But that's what makes it so fun. p.s. Islam has plenty of examples of tolerance and pluralism to draw from in any endeavor to end tyranny so no one needs to become G.W. The wooden teeth things isn't very attractive either. )

Dennis,

Glad to hear it. When I move to Ohio in the far future and am electing my Congressman I'm hoping the Republican candidate for office, who decided to run by virtue of her strong feelings fostered for the democratic process and the rule of law and by his immigrant parents, and of course having secured much of the crucial Somali vote given where said parents immigrated from, wins in a landslide and at the victory celebration the name of Dennis is spoken of in revered tones. (Don't worry Dennis, you're still alive, but unfortunately they don't let you out in public anymore. p.s. You lost the weight.)

[D.E. Cloutier]

Jena: "...if I were to start using his opinions to wage bets on the probability of acorns becoming oats."

I have dealt daily with customers in Muslim countries for 30 years. I lived in Egypt and Indonesia. Sorry, I will trust my experience before I trust your opinions.

Jena: "C'mon D.E., get with the program and become a point of liberal (classical) democratic light!"

I'm a pragmatist. Whatever works best is fine with me. I could care less which clown is in the center ring in the American political circus. Tell me who he/she is, and I will adjust my dog-and-pony show accordingly.

Why did I give him the book to read? Because it was written by a mutual acquaintance.

[D.E. Cloutier]

Jena: "...to wage bets on the probability of acorns becoming oats."

Acorns become oaks, not oats.

[jena]

D.E. I don't remember really giving you my opinion. I said "..if I were to start using his opinions to wage bets...." And so forth. But I'm glad to learn you will trust your experience before my opinions (whatever they might be, and whatever they might be based on, not to mention whatever my experience might be). Makes going on really besides the point. Not that we were getting anywhere. As far as your being a "pragmatist" and "clowns" and all the rest: I'll let the dog lie since arguably you started this thread off topic and I committed the sin of engaging you and to keep on with this would only compound my faults.

As for acorns becoming oaks and not oats: thanks for catching my mistake. Or was that my opinion?

[sonic]

""This is dangerous thinking,"

Same thing I heard when I pulled out my copy of Trotsky's history of the Russian revolution in Idaho, your point is?

[GoHskrs]

Dennis - Excellent series on the Somali immigrant community here in Columbus. Our suburban school district is gaining a lot of Somali students, which elicits some predictable xenophobia from some of the neighbors, who don't want "those people" in "our schools".

I'll be forwarding your article to those in the neighborhood whose minds aren't already slammed shut and bolted.

[elemental]

I really enjoy reading about your experiences with our new neighbors here in Columbus.

I imagine most of us here don't really get that opportunity and lack of understanding can lead to problems. Your articles help dispell a lot of myths and fears that sometimes arise when a large immigrant community grow so quickly in an area not known for diversity.

Also, like GoHskrs (who needs to get a new team) said, as children integrate together potential problems are dispelled through interactions that are often not possible for adults.