The Coffee Shop Warriors of Minnesota-Somalia
By Doug McGill
The McGill Report
MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- Here’s something fun to do on a Saturday morning. 
Go to the Starbucks at Riverside Avenue and Highway 94 in Minneapolis and
pull up a chair at one of the coffee tables packed with Somali immigrants
who are sharing the day’s news, telling jokes, arguing politics,
and comparing the merits of Somalia’s various clan leaders and warlords.
When the hubbub settles, as it eventually will so that the group can take
stock of the newcomer, pull out a small notebook and tell the group you
want to know the meaning of a new Somali phrase you have learned.
Jot down these three words on the paper: “fadhi ku dirir.”
Nonchalantly throw the piece of paper to the middle of the table. Now,
sit back and enjoy the gale of laughter that ensues. In particular, note
how all the men at the table (Somali women avoid this Starbucks) look at
each other self-consciously as they finish laughing and whisper to each
other in Somali.
As the laughter dies down, then ask the group “Are you guys ‘fadhi
ku dirir?” The laughter will peak again, and this time notice the
vigorous shaking of heads as each man protests “no, no, no,” while
pointing to other tables around the coffee shop that are
filled with debating Somalis.
Guns and Daggers
Americans might have a hard time believing that a phrase that describes
a certain kind of political discussion could elicit such fun.
But that’s precisely the case. Literally translated, “fadhi
ku dirir” means “fighting while sitting down.” More broadly,
the phrase is now used so often and in so many ways, arousing so many emotions,
that it's become a key to understanding modern Somali society. It plays
an especially important role in the boisterous exile politics of a country
up to a third of whose population lives as refugees outside of the homeland.
“‘Fadhi ku dirir’ means hanging around, talking and debating,
especially if you are on opposite sides,” says Adi Galayd, a Somali professor
of international relations at the Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
in Minneapolis. “It's like joining a Dunn Brothers Parliament, a
supposedly more peaceful way of engaging each other than by using a gun
or dagger.”
When clan warlords forced Somali’s Prime Minister, Siad
Barre, to flee the country in 1991, plunging the country into
a civil war, “fadhi
ku dirir” became an essential activity of the Somali
street both in Somalia and in the Somali diaspora that
stretches across eastern Africa
(especially Kenya and Ethiopia), to the United Kingdom,
Sweden, Canada, and the United States.
Without a government, Somalia is run by dozens of warlords, each of whom
claims a territory, a platform for national governance, and a fight-to-the
death constituency.
Deep Hatred
It would be impractical, of course, for these constituencies to actually
fight to the death every time they met each other on a Somali street. Not
to mention when they meet in coffee shops in Stockholm, Ottawa, and Minneapolis.
So instead of fighting to the death, they “fadhi ku dirir.” They
order shots of espresso, sit across coffee tables from one another, and
hurl rhetorical ordnance for hours at a time. They are Somalia’s
coffee shop warriors.
“It’s not civic discussion, argument or debate,” said Abdirahman
Aynte, editor of the popular Somali Web site, Hiiraan.com. “A
lot of it is insults and name-calling, and sometimes it’s
praising one’s
own tribe. It’s tailored to deep hatred and dislike.
It’s uncivilized
and has a bad connotation.”
Name Calling
Which explains the self-conscious looks and the slightly embarrassed laughter
at Starbucks. It also explains why, in the vast number of Somali Internet
chat rooms, the phrase is used an all-purpose insult . Recently spotted
outbursts in Somali chatrooms include: “You are nothing but fadhi
ku dirir...,” and “You guys are all fadhi ku dirir…,” and “I
am not a fadhi ku dirir who would have anyone who is not related to them
fry in hell.”
A PhD studying how political discourse forms community
and identity would find fadhi ku dirir a rich lode
for research.
Abdirahman Aynte suggests that the activity is a form of “ritualistic
presentation” that “confirms and reaffirms tribal stories and
identities” – but which in doing so works against the broader
aim of unifying clans into a single peaceful nation.
Abdullahi Daud, a graduate student at Metropolitan State University, wrote
an essay for Hiiraan.com that made a case for stopping “fadhi ku
dirir”-style discourse as a matter of utmost priority for establishing
peace in Somali.
“They live in the most advanced country in the world, the United States,” he
said of Somalia’s coffee shop warriors. “Yet
they dance to the tune of warlords in the most chaotic
and least-developed country in
Africa. It’s hard to believe, but true. We have to
unchain ourselves from clan slavery.”
Shoutfests
In the same essay, Daud says that warlords exploit the natural human tendency
to boast about clan identity, and to belittle others, as a means to solidify
their own hold on power. Meanwhile, “we never question the self-styled,
so-called leaders who cash in on our division.”
He then tells the story of a Somali journalist who once asked
the mayor of Minneapolis, “Why don’t you help Somalis
in your city?” Upon
which the mayor answered: “How can I help people
when each group I meet discredits the other group that
just left my office?”
Not that Somali exiles have a monopoly on shoutfest political discourse.
Anyone wishing to understand the gist of fadhi ku dirir need
only switch on Fox TV, the blogosphere, or any of the other hyper-partisan “debate” forums
that pass for political dialogue in our country.
"Grill Them"
Whenever two people or parties get together to “discuss” issues
like abortion, gun control, or gay marriage and simply
lob talking points at each other instead of seeking open dialogue
and common ground – that’s
fighting while sitting down, in the truest Somali coffee-shop-warrior
style.
"Deny our clan front-runners the free ride they have so far enjoyed,” Daud
writes in his essay. “Grill them. Question their
logic. Once we are no longer confused, we could then ask
our elected federal, state, and local
officials for assistance with our issues. We owe this to
the next generation.”
You bet we do.
Copyright @ 2006 The McGill Report
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