tag:dreamwidth.org,2010-05-11:512731 Gray Woodland, Writing on the Hoof caper_est 2011-01-25T20:20:36Z tag:dreamwidth.org,2010-05-11:512731:26989 2011-01-25T20:20:36Z 2011-01-25T20:20:36Z Fatwo - Abdirashid Omar. Oddly enough! admiring public 2 The BBC's carrying a story today about the Somali poet Abdirashid Omar, who is in hiding from the al-Shabaab militias after scourging them in his widely-circulated work <em>Fatwo</em>, or the Decree.&nbsp; They would like him to recant it: he would like them to shove it.&nbsp;<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;">&quot;A person who contradicts his own poem will never be taken [seriously] again in Somali society - something they knew because they are Somalis.&quot;</div><br />Read, read, read the full story <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12246627">here</a>.&nbsp; <br /><br />My own thoughts at larger length, on my main blog <a href="http://goat-in-the-machine.blogspot.com/2011/01/what-bad-lads-fear-abdirashid-omars.html">here</a>.<br /><br />The author's musical recitation of the whole piece (in&nbsp;Somali) on YouTube is linked to from both, or you can find it directly <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrXh3ceV_MA">here</a>.&nbsp; Though wholly ignorant of the language, I found it well worth the listen.<br /><br />And his making and his upholding of it, well worth an honourable toast, and a few minutes' humble contemplation.<br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=caper_est&ditemid=26989" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments