Internet censorship

Internet should be a useful place that’s only very important things are found. I believe that internet censorship is very important. Otherwise every worthless, dim idea would have been posted everywhere.  I completely agree with internet censorship but it should be to a certain degree.

Few months ago a dim-witted and brainless guy made an offensive movie about the Prophet Mohammed (SWC). That movie was very offensive to Muslims and the Prophet. He called the Prophet meaningless, insulting names and traits. That movie made a lot of Muslims very upset and they started protesting against that movie and the man who made it and his entire crew. Most of the websites blocked that 14minute movie and its trailers but the others didn’t. The man wasn’t caught which only made the Muslims more upset. Then the Muslims took a very risky and dumb action towards this, they killed a USA ambassador and two marines. This only made the Americans and all the other people upset and shocked with their terrible call.  Certain websites refused to censor and remove this video, some of them were Google and YouTube. “A clip of the show was posted to YouTube on September 9, where it has received almost 400,000 views so far.” This terrible movie has risked a lot of innocent people’s life and it should have been completely censored and blocked.

I believe that at this degree the internet should be censored. When it violets other people religion and beliefs. It is common sense to block and censor those kinds of posts with these effects. Yes people can express their ideas and share it on the internet but it shouldn’t be offensive to anybody.

People tend to post a lot of crappy meaningless things on the internet and someone needs to be responsible for this, either and organization like the ITU or the country itself. I believe it will be better if each country controls its own internet in their country. Like if each country can control its own internet this offensive movie could have been blocked from all Muslim countries, not some but all of them. The ITU wouldn’t agree to block it from all Muslim countries; they would have just blocked it from the places that they want. It would have been fair if each country controls what its civilians can post and what they can’t. So if some kind of opinion isn’t appropriate for that country or if it’s violating other country it should be taking care of the country not the ITU.      

Bibliography

agencies, Al Jazeera and. "Anti-Islam film: What we know." Al Jazeera (13 Sep 2012).

 

  

Never Forever

 “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” A person can be defined by the experience and challenges he or she goes through, and the way they overcome it. In my case, there are two major challenges that I have faced, those obstacles shaped me to the person I am today, tomorrow and the rest of my life. Those incidents hurt me a lot, but they made me the person I’m proud to be now.

When I was in Saudi Arabia, I had a best friend named Khadra. We were friends since I was in kindergarten until I turned 10 years old. We used to go to school together, play in the fields together and watch cartoons together. One day, we had a Math exam next morning; I didn’t understand most of the topics so I called Khadra to come to my house to study with me. She also wanted me to come to her house too, but it was after 530pm and I was not allowed to leave the house after 5pm. My father convinced her father to drive her to my house, and later my father would drive her back to her house. I was very happy that she was coming, so I sat outside waiting for her and my parents were sitting with me. The road in front of our house was rough and only big trucks can pass it, so her father dropped her at the end of the road. I saw her coming towards us, and then I asked my parents if I can go and meet her there and they refused. I sat back and waited until she comes. Then I saw a big lorry coming and it was incredibly fast. In a blink of an eye the lorry hit Khadra. I saw all of what happened and how it happened and I couldn’t stop any of it. Everybody started running towards Khadra, but I couldn’t move I was frozen. The last thing that I remember was, I was standing and looking at her dead body, until my dad took me back to my room and locked me there. I still recall that incident like it was yesterday. That incident turned my life upside down forever. From that day until now I am afraid to call anybody a best friend, and it’s really difficult for me to let people to be close to my heart. I always push people that I love away for me when they become very close to my heart, not because I hate them. I just don’t want to be hurt again by someone who is very close to me. Every day I regret that I asked her to come over to my house, but I know I shouldn’t, regret won’t bring her back to me. Right now, I have many great friends that I love and respect, but I am still afraid to lose them like I have lost Khadra.  “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”

      Now, this is the second incident that changed my entire life. When I was 11 years old my parents decided to move all of us to Somaliland. My father told us that he will come to Somaliland after one month not later than that. Then after being one month in Somaliland we waited for his return eagerly but he never showed up. I used to get my hopes high whenever he used to say that he will come back soon, but he never showed up. Now, if he tells me that there is a big chance that he might come back tomorrow, I wouldn’t be optimistic of his return. This experience proved to me, that I am became mature and not naive anymore.  It also made me not to have my hopes high for anything, because of it I am a pessimistic person I always look at the negative side of each story in my life. I have learned not to depend on others and to let faith take me to all the mountain peaks there are to climb.

                As life passes us day by day, we realize that nothing really lasts forever. Everything has an end, even happy stories.  I have become a stronger person because of these two events. They have had a positive and a negative impact on my life. I loved and lost but because I’ve managed to look pass it; I have become a person that I am proud to say. Nothing lasts forever, that’s a big lesson I learned from my wild life.                                     

Lost in Translation

Somaliland is a great country in some aspects and terrible in others. Somaliland’s elections are completely unfair and not democratic at all. They name it “democratic elections”, but in fact they don’t know the real meaning of democracy. Every ballot is rigged and some people vote more than once, additionally you don’t have to be a member of this country in order to vote. One of the main reasons the ballots are rigged is because of tribalism. In this society, the citizens don’t care about who is best for the country, they care about if their family member is in power.  Somaliland’s future isn’t going anywhere unless this changes.

Usually when civilians vote, they vote for the best candidate that they believe can change their country for the better. This is not the case here. Tribalism is the main and most important ideology in Somali culture, people here don’t care about the talent or devotion of the candidate, they only care about which clan that person from. That’s the reason that made me hate voting for any of the candidates.

Families will also force you to vote for the candidate from your clan. I voted once since I came to Somaliland, and I regret it. The only reason that made me get up from my bed and go voting is my brother and mother.  They made me go with all of my sisters and stand in a long line and wait. It was terrible, awful, horrible, etc. We were all extremely exhausted when we came back and we didn’t even know the man we voted for, actually we never heard of him. My brother told us to go and vote for the man, he told us his name, so we went in and voted for that guy. When we all came back my sister asked my mother who is the guy that we voted for? My mom says, “He is a loyal, great guy from our clan.” That’s when I realized we just voted for nothing, it was completely biased. We only voted just because he is from my stupid clan that I don’t even know that well.

That day I promised myself that I wouldn’t vote ever again in Somaliland until this stupid ideology of tribalism is over. There is no point of voting, for me it is a completely stupid and time wasting thing. Sometimes I wonder how this country will be recognized when all they focus on is clans, not even improving their country but only clans. I feel sorry for all of us, God help us out, fingers crossed.   

When Will the Light Shine in this Dark Chamber?

For 22 years Somaliland was trying to get recognized, but the government representing the people rarely put a fully fledged effort to get recognition. Somaliland is trying to be their independent country recognized as Somaliland not as Somalia.  Somaliland has its own parliament, president and currency which are Somaliland Shillings.  They are also very peaceful unlike Somalia, but still the world doesn’t want to recognize it.  This unrecognized independent republic is facing a lot of major issues. Some of them are Somaliland‘s passports and the aid that other countries provide.

            Most of the people in Somaliland have a Somaliland passport, which is a big disadvantage for them. Somaliland has their own passport, but it isn’t recognized by any country. Djibouti and Ethiopia recognize it and accept it as an official pass through certificate. Somaliland isn’t recognized so no country will accept their passport. It is easy for people that aren’t in Somaliland to travel to wherever they want in an easy way; they can just use their passports. But Somaliland’s people need to get an official recognized passport to get into other countries. This passport issue is what led the Somaliland’s civilians to flee from their country in illegal way. To get into other countries they mostly use boats or hide in the ships that are carrying animals to go to other countries, a lot of Somaliland’s teenagers died in this horrible way.

            Another major issue that Somaliland is facing is the aid that they need from other countries but they never get it. Usually countries can’t give aid to Somaliland because they aren’t recognized, so they just give it to the capital Somalia. Some countries actually want to help Somaliland but they can’t give them the aid openly. There are MANY poor and homeless people in Somaliland who need a lot of help and aid too.

          One of the major setbacks that Somaliland is facing is the lack of effort of their government. The Somaliland’s government officials don’t try their best to improve their country in the greatest way that they can. They usually only import a lot and export very little. The only thing they export is animals. Another hinder is the clan system. There are a lot of educated people in Somaliland but if they aren’t in the “right” clan that everybody wants they wouldn’t be elected, and for the most part that’s the case. They don’t use those intelligent and educated people to help their country. That’s what always leads the educated people in Somaliland to leave the country and search for appropriate jobs for themselves.

            If I was one of the important leaders in Somaliland then I would have done a lot. First I would have tried my best to give all the important positions in the government to talented and educated people, choose them based on expertise not on clans. Then work most of the time on figuring out ways to help the country to get recognized as soon as possible. Also work a lot on improving the living standards in the country. Fixing the roads and expanding the country is the most important ones. If we also try our best on getting fixed relationships with foreign countries would have helped a lot.

            If Somaliland was soon to be recognized its entire foremost issues would have been solved.  The biggest ones as I mentioned earlier are the passports and the aid that they are getting from other countries. When will this country rest and get what it wants? Until when will their only answer be”stay hopeful”? Until when do we have to wait and fight?  As people say “There is light at the end of the tunnel”, I am very sure that Somaliland will get recognized if they try to work on the issues that they are avoiding. Also trying their absolute hardest to overcome the obstacles, that is blocking them from reaching the far away light that they were yielding for a very long time.

Bibliography

J.N.L. "Mo money mo problems." The Economist (2011).

Kibble, Steve. Somaliland: Surviving without Recognition; Somalia: Recognized but Failing. London: London Memorial Institute , 2001.

 

 

 

               

 

           

               

  

 

The Astounding Adventure to Ethiopia: My View on a New Neighboring Nation

Dear Readers,


       Before going to Ethiopia, I thought it will be a terrible disgusting place.I never have been to Ethiopia but most of the students had been there and they  hated it, they even made me think badly about it. Anyway all my expectations about Ethiopia turned out be wrong. Ethiopia was awesome!

    Ethiopian cuisine was incredible. The cheese burgers were spectacular. The pizza was stupendous. The cheese omelet was stupefying. Every kind of food I ate there was scintillating.  I wished I could eat those kinds of food forever.

       I was suprised by the quality of the roads. They were all straight and clear. They resembled the streets I see in the movies. They reminded me of the streets of Saudi  Arabia.  On our way there, I stared at the streets the whole entire time as if it were a Matthew McConaghey movie because it was just as enjoyable.On our way there, i saw this astonishing deep blue lake. It took my breath away and my eyes were glued to it. No one knew its name, so I decided to name it after myself. They had fantastic, enormous buses. They had very comfortable seats, and had nice televisions. We kept watching movie after movie, it was great.

Another thing that shocked me was how free the women were. All the restaurants that I went to had female waitresses, which you would never see in my country. I've also seen some lady workers at construction sites. I realized that they had the option of working wherever they want and not be judged for their choice.


Many restaurants had shelves full of Alcohol. Many people were drinking around us, and it was funny watching them get drunk because they acted recklessly. It was unusual because restaurants in Somaliland don't serve alcoholic beverages.

Taking the SAT was one of the best moments of the trip. I felt nervous at first, but then i felt a bit better. I am proud of all of the Abaarso Tech students because we were one of the only ones who weren't cheating. The exam wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be but it was exhausting.
 

       

  
 

        Ethiopia was an unforgettable, once in a lifetime experience. I feel so blessed to have experienced it with such wonderful friends, who have become my second family during the course of these 4 years.