by Cali Cusmaan
"Give power back to the Somali people so it can make its own decisions and decide its own destiny" - Sharif Sheikh Ahmed
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Sheikh Sharif Ahmed and Ernesto (Che) Guevara - Both are concerned about the blight of the poor and exploited minority communities.
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What is the relationship between Ernesto Guevara de la Serna the Argentinean born doctor and the Somali born lawyer and teacher Sharif Sheikh Ahmed? Che was a revolutionary, the iconic socialist figure who championed the right of the working people and peasants all over the world. Ernesto Che was trained as a doctor while Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was trained as a lawyer, they both traveled widely before they chose their perilous social revolution over comfortable careers.
Ernesto (Che) Guevara saw the blight of the indigenous Indians and the poor in Latin America and that changed his conscience to become a revolutionary leader that led him to the mountains of Sierra Maestra in Cuba with Fidel Castro and overthrow of the Batista government and later into Bolivia where he was murdered.
Similarly, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed saw the blight of the Mogadishu people, abandoned, raped, murdered, tortured, looted, and kidnapped daily and that changed his conscience to become a revolutionary and change agent that led him to team up with brilliant military strategist and veteran of the Ethiopian Somali war Colonel Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys a Fidel Castro of Somalia.
Both men faced an incredible opposition. Ernesto (Che) Guevara with Fidel Castro faced Batiste government supported by the United States of America and the rich land owners of Cuba but they were able to defeat them with the help of the popular support of the Cuban people. Similarly, Sharif Ahmed and Hassan Dahir Aweys faced with formidable coalition of warlords supported by the United States and Ethiopia but they were able crush them with the popular support of the Somali masses.
Ernesto (Che) Guevara was a socialist with a deep conviction of right and wrong, he was concerned about the poor people and the exploited; similarly, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed is driven by the same conviction of right and wrong. He is concerned about the blight of the poor and exploited minority communities. For example Sharif Ahmed few days ago went to Dubai and asked the Somali Business men to lower the astronomical price they are charging to the average people and the poor. He cancelled the racist policy that gave the minority communities a smaller share of the parliament. He announced all Somalis are equal referring to the 4.5 division given to the minority tribes of Somalia while the dominant tribes get 5 shares. He asked the UN and NGO’s to distribute the aid food they are hoarding in storages.
It will be too early to predict the outcome but if history is any guide, the people of the Che always win even if the Che’s are killed by foreign enemies.
Cali Cusmaan
E-mail: [email protected]
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