Somalia: Islamic Militants Fight Culture Wars

There is a war going on in Somalia, a war between ideals. Islamic fundamentalists are waging cultural battles in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. The militiamen hope to "rehabilitate" their countries people, and plan on getting its citizens back on the right track. "The right track" for these militants though is a path of radical Islam. In other words, they want their Somalian women veiled and want them at home, while men have to grow beards. A man with a "stylish Afro" was told to shave his head, while a woman in Magadishu was taken into custody for a "promiscuous" skirt. The World Cup is deemed taboo, and any theater hosting the games have been shut down. The new rules that the Shariah courts have set up are no doubt strict, but are they necessary to maintain order?

While there are many complaints about these stringent new rules, there is much more praise for them at the same time. There is this euphoria that the old warlords are out, and great optimism for some type of peace and order in a city that has been without a government for more than a decade. It seems that people are willing to give up some of there rights in order to have some stability in a country where rap and violence use to be the norm. After all, wouldn't you rather sacrifice a soccer game, in exchange for bullet in the head. But the consolidation of these radical Islamic courts (the Shariah courts) are quite alarming, especially in Washington.

But those courts owe part of their strength to the Bush administration, which tried secretly to undermine them. In recent years, American intelligence agents paid warlords to root out Islamic militants operating in Mogadishu, because they were suspected of aiding Al Qaeda. It seems that Washington has just exacerbated the situation that the had originally intended to eliminate. As a result there is a feeling of mutual animosity between Somalians and Washington. There is a deep mistrust of the West in Mogadishu, and for good reason.

Although the new rule of law might seem very repressive, it seems a godsend compared to what use to be in Somalia. After all, any rule of law seems better than no rule of law. It seems that US foreign policy has facilitated a sort of extremist measure in Somalia, and the people have sufficed to these demagogues of sorts. Then again not all Muslims seem to be this extreme, it just appears that the extremists are the only ones to take the action necessary to maintain peace.