Part II: A Movie Coming to Your Neighborhood Soon: Pirates Of the Somali Coast and the Curse Of the Failed African State
By Tekle Woldemikael
On April 8, 2009, the whole world woke up to watch pictures on televisions and computers of four gun-toting young Somali “pirates” who were holding hostage the crew of a ship which was carrying cargo bound for Mombasa, Kenya. They were asking for ransom in exchange for releasing the hostages unharmed. Five days later, the drama ended with the killing of three “pirates” and the capture of one by snipers from the US Navy Seals. This event drew much world attention. It was a drama played out in the media around the world. On the television screen one could easily watch the vessel, the hostages and the “pirates” involved, and the journalists and experts narrating the story unfolding in front of one’s eyes. This drama had its villains, the “pirates,” and its hero, Captain Richard Phillips, who offered himself in exchange for freeing his crew and his ship. The one captured “pirate” will be facing criminal charges in a US court. This is a perfect story of the West, how it faces adversaries and challenges in the uncharted seas and lands around the world and succeeds in defeating its enemies. As usual, its success story involves a commoner who becomes a singular hero who gives testimony to the western myth that the average person in the West is a member of a superior people, culture and morality. To be fair, there were some writers who attempted to provide a narrative to counter this epic story by depicting the Somali “pirates” as heroes, whose acts represented an expression of resistance and defiance by impoverished fishermen who were defending their communities and their livelihood against unscrupulous foreign (mostly European and Asian) fishing ships and companies that dumped nuclear waste and other heavy metals in the Somali Coast.
This second narrative might be true, but there is also a need for a full and careful investigation of the consequences of the collapse of the Somali state in 1991 for the Somali people as well as the U.S. The Somali youth who conducted such brazenly daring acts of “piracy” did not seem to either know or care about the imperial powers they were dealing with and their effects on the lives of their communities. They were not demanding that shipping companies stop their unethical practices. It seemed all they wanted was to be paid their ransom. Once they had their demands met, the “pirates” would let the abducted men and ship free, but they gave no guarantees they would not do it again to others.
The new world order that came on the heels of the decline of the Soviet Empire has one imperial superpower, the U.S., patrolling every corner of Africa and other parts of the world under the claims of fighting international terrorism and maintaining international peace and security. This new imperial US obsession with fighting terrorism came after a series of terrorist acts in the U.S. soil on September 11 2001 by 19 hijackers who belonged to a group known as Al-Qaeda. The drama of the Somali “pirates” entered the world stage after eight years of the U.S. government’s search for “terrorists” and enemies, big and small, anywhere and everywhere. This search brought the small Somali criminals into the global media focus. The “pirates” played the media as much the global media played them. The U.S. wants the whole world to focus on the “war on terror” and help it in hunting and capturing “terrorists” anywhere around the world. This is perhaps especially true in East Africa, where the U.S. withdrew ingloriously from Somalia in 1994, after it sent troops to stop inter-clan fighting among Somalis and to conduct humanitarian relief efforts under the name, Restore Hope, in 1992. The U.S.’s insistence on fighting a global war on terror has given a free hand to the global media to focus on every petty crime that could be tangentially connected to “terrorism.” By chance, the Somali case of “piracy” provided the stage for the media to script this new angle on terror and security. It has turned into quite a show, with all the props for a good drama. It has twists and turns, dangers and resolutions, and an American hero who gallantly wins at last. This story could not have been told without the global reach of the Western media and technology that makes events taking place in distant locations appear immediate, intimate and personal. Reporters sensationalized the event and dubbed the abductors “pirates,” evoking images of European “pirates” of the Middle Ages, who supposedly roamed the high seas committing crimes.
Yet such a success story barely tells us anything about why this “piracy” happened. The “pirates” seemed to play along, aware of the power of their defiance, and were emboldened by the media surrounding their high stakes acts of abduction. It is safe to hypothesize that the collapse of the Somali state has opened the opportunity for so called “pirates” to roam the waters around Somali, the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean with impunity. They can be considered as opportunistic small criminals who help themselves by filling the power vacuum created by the absence of a strong Somali state. Yet it is possible that the media is the biggest winner in this drama. The ransom the “pirates” ask for seems a pittance compared to the potential media profits. The drama’s end portrays the U.S. once more asserting its powers and affirming to itself the superiority of its people and its morality. It will not take long before Hollywood produces a blockbuster movie with the title: “Pirates of the Somali Coast: the Curse of the Failed African state.” Watch out, it may be coming to your neighborhood soon!
Tekle Woldemikael is Chair and Professor of Sociology, Chapman University. He can be reached at: woldemik@chapman.edu.