The BBC recently aired a documentary about Somalia called “Escape from the World’s Most Dangerous Place“, which has enraged the Somali community in Britain and is being interpreted as an attempt to justify Britain’s imperialist war mongering and foreign policy against Somalia.
The BBC once again shows its position as the official mouthpiece of the corrupt, undemocratic and imperialist British government.
Salah, a supporter of our campaign, has forwarded Hands off Somalia a letter of complaint sent to the BBC about the documentary (see below).
What you can do:
1) Send your complaints to the BBC now (http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/complain-online/) to register opposition and disgust at the program about Somalia called “Escape from the World’s Most Dangerous Place”
2) Put your complaints below in the comments on this page so everyone can read them and the BBC can not hide at the utter discontent and dissent against their bias and inaccurate journalism.
Time to raise your voice and be heard!
Hands Off Somalia!
To Whom it may concern,
I am writing in response to the recent BBC documentary ‘Escape from the World’s Most Dangerous Place’ about Somalia and would like to illustrate some of the misconceptions viewers may gain from watching such a biased view on Somalia.
The video also does not display any of the reasons why Somalia is what they call a ‘failed state’. As a Somali individual and having been to Somalia and seen it for my self, I feel that there was a complete lack of dialogue with Somalis in this documentary. This video gave no chance for the British public to get a real indication of the root of the problems of Somali issues, such as the dumping of toxic waste in the surrounding coast, killing what used to be a main source of food (fish).
Certain points emphasised by the film were off topic, such as the idea of female circumcision which is by no means a common trend in Somalia, it is only in the minorities, which again indicates the bias view the BBC are trying give viewers; not to mention the fact that 28 other African and Middle Eastern countries carry out such practises. The BBC seem to be insinuating that Somali people are living in medieval times, which is untrue and promotes a barbaric image of Somali people.
‘In Somali culture, the birth of a girl is a disappointment while the birth of a boy is celebrated’ such fallacies are being implemented in the minds of people who don’t know Somalis. Somalis love their daughters as much as they love their sons just like any other family would, as otherwise it would not only go against my peoples’ morals but against my peoples’ religion. Besides this, social conditions impose the idea of gender value, this was obviously also left out of the documentary.
It seems to me that the video is promoting Islamophobia as well as the British governments self interests in the region. The British public are not given any means to comprehend what is going on in Somalia and more importantly the roots of the problem. They are merely given ‘reasons’ for Somalia to be ‘fixed’, of course by the British.
Ignorance is dangerous and this is a classic example of promoting ignorance as fact. This is the same kind of ignorance that promoted violence and murder in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. Britain has displayed too many times what it is capable of militarily across the Middle East and Africa and has always given reasons to justify its violence. It is plain to see where this BBC and British government propaganda is heading.
Yours sincerely,
Salahuddin Hassan, London
The BBC claims to be an impartial source of information, but in this program we learn quickly, how subjective British media really is. Throughout this program we are limited to the UN bases of operation and the presenter is only allowed to speak to the UN workers or the Ugandan army. Al-Shabaab is presented as some omnipotent and demonic entity that possesses all of Somalia, but the problem in Somalia is NOT Al-Shabaab! It never has been. Alshabaab formed as a response to the invading foreign armies and although problematic, they cannot be blamed for all of Somalia’s problems.
In 2006, at the age of twenty, I travelled to the Somali capital of Mogadishu for the first time since fleeing the civil war in 1991. So you can only imagine my excitement at hearing about a documentary that was to portray the experience of Samira Hashi, a London based Model as she returns to our home town. Having prepared myself a cup of Somali tea, I sat down with my mother to watch the BBC Three documentary; our minds already filled with the images of our own experience. Visions of a bustling Bakarah soukh (market), busy internet cafés, small pharmacies, my uncle’s range rover and a giant Coca Cola factory flashed across my mind as the program began.
Within the first few minutes however, I was fuming! It became clear to me that this was not a documentary. The very early mentions of medieval stoning and beheadings set my blood boiling and clarified for me, the path that this so called “documentary” was going down. Medieval stoning and beheadings do NOT occur as common place in Somalia and female genital mutilation is not a practice that is specific to it, but is used across Africa and parts of Asia.
This “documentary” only serves to highlight the negative aspects of Somalia, creating an image of a barbaric and backward country. A nation in need of rescuing by the West. This is clearly a propaganda piece with the sole purpose of damaging the image of Somalia and the Somali people. A piece which so conveniently happens to coincide with the recent London Somali Conference and the discovery of oil. None of which are mentioned at any point throughout this program.
We hear about al-shabaab, we see the practice of one case of female genital mutilation and rape in the refugee camps, all through the eyes of a young and naïve girl. You can see why Samira Hashi is chosen to present this. Her innocence and emotional reactions to scenario’s only serves to further highlight the intended contrast between a ‘comfortable’ life in the West and a ‘tragic’ existence in Somalia.
But where are the hundreds of Somali led charities and organizations who operate within Somalia to solve these problems? Where are the thriving businesses? Where is the mention of the Somali conference? The pending creation of a new constitution?
Why isn’t the illegal dumping of toxic waste in Somali waters mentioned? By BRITISH companies? Or the increase in numbers of university students across Somalia? Why is Somaliland not praised for their twenty odd-years of stability? With so little of the wider picture presented, we must ask ourselves, how can this even be called a documentary and what purpose does this program serve?
David Cameron has on numerous occasions called Somalia a failed state and expressed his intentions of invading the land. Attacks have already begun in parts of Mogadishu and it is clear to me, that the BBC and wider media is being used to support these imperialist intentions by creating a scapegoat of Al-Shabaab and selling the wider world an image of a fallen country in order to achieve this.
THIS IS CLEARLY THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT TRYING TO JUSTIFY ITS FUTURE PLANS TO BOMBARD SOMALIA.
Whilst watching this documentary, I could not help but think about the many similar programs of the past. This is the Iraq weapons of mass destruction all over again. This is Osama Bin laden all over again. This is the western world selling its image of extremity and violence to justify their planned attacks and only last year, we saw the demonization and forced removal of the Libyan government, only to see that the country is in complete ruins with whole communities fleeing racist persecution.
The program you aired once again goes against the fabric of truth and democracy in this country, the BBC is the mouthpiece for colonial propaganda and british supremacy over the rest of the world. what you have shown is very very far from the truth, it is dangerous for these kind of lies to be aired in this day and age as much of the ideology comes from the media, somalia has many functioning aspects within it and at the moment is on the brink of a full recovery with a new parliament and oil discoveries. somalia has three of the top univercities in africa of which women are the main attendees, its GDP without a functioning goverment has still been doing better than many other african countries who have a functioning government, much of the the large towns in central and north somalia enjoy complete peace and are prosperous, your program is an effort to directly hinder the image of a poor country pushing hard to move foreward, somali women have long been the head of the community and are respected in our culture,they hold parliamentary seats aswell as play a central role in the fabric of somali society. your program is designed to instil a sense of abhore and disgust as if to say that somalies are a sub human nation that need western influence, i presume that you were on the orders of the oil grabbing entities to push foreward this bleak image of Somalia, like you did with the Weapons of Mass *DISTRACTION* fiasco of the Iraq war….LAZY JOURNALISM AT ITS FINEST !!!!!!
Sent to Hands off Somalia via email:
I cannot help but feel here we go again, When the media demonises so called failed states! So called threats on the world! Another misleading documentary that beats a war drum. How have we not learnt from the devastation in the Middle East? Oh but of course they were not human beings, Tony Blair called them innocent people “Collateral damage” As for David Cameron his terminology is no better. As a young British woman I am so ashamed that Britain historically and present love to divide and rule and televise us to believe lies and inject Hollywood In documentaries. Straight away I knew something was not right, as soon as I saw a nice young Somali model to be used and a glamorous movie star to narrate, how about having a young Somali activist that knows the art of war? Someone more aware of the situation so they are not so easily mislead? I find using celebrities in politics when it is on the politicians terms, a complete gloss over of the harsh realities of imperialism and a distraction from what is really on the agenda. Why did you not mention the toxic waste dumped by British companies including nuclear waste? The new found oil in the country that clearly interests us? I quote Mary Harper “It is far from being a failed society, In reality, alternative forms of business, justice, education and local politics have survived and even flourished” Someone like Mary Harper on this documentary would have given the public REAL journalism!
- Aimee
Hello I am currently a university student of history in Glasgow. Since the winter we have been looking at the origins of the British Empire in particular the exploration of Africa.
While watching the BBC documentary ‘Escape from the World’s Most Dangerous Place’ I was struck by how similar the claims being made about Somalia today were to the views of the early British imperialists of the nineteenth century.
British imperialism in the nineteenth century portrayed Africans as ‘uncivilised’, ‘childlike’, ‘backward’, ‘unintelligent’, ‘savage’ and ‘dangerous’ and the British public were shocked with stories of African polygamy and human sacrifice. Ideas of British racial and spiritual superiority over African peoples were promoted by the media and government and used as a justification for interference in Africa; British explorer David Livingstone stated in 1858;
‘We come among them as members of a superior race and servants of a Government that desires to elevate the more degraded portions of the human family’.
This so called ‘civilising mission’ was in fact an imperial mission which would plunder and massacre the peoples of Africa for the next 100 years under the British Empire.
The BBC documentary, with its warnings of pirates, female circumcision and neglect of female new borns, aims to stir up feelings of hostility, disgust and caution in the viewer much the same as stories of African polygamy and human sacrifice were used in the nineteenth century.
The BBC are playing this demonising role as part of a long tradition of justification for imperialist invasions and plunder.
We should remain under no illusions the ground is being prepared for the invasion of Somalia and it is not for humanitarian reasons but for the same reasons which Livingstone outlined on the outset of his British government sponsored Zambezi expedition in 1868; ‘to extend the knowledge already attained of the…mineral and agricultural resources of Eastern and Central Africa’. In the case of Somalia today; Britain’s concern stretches no farther than the capturing of oil reserves uncovered in recent explorations.
Is the BBC prepared to report this?
End the demonisation of Africa!
Hands off Somalia!
Dominic
They(somali) destroyed their nation and they went outside for seeking peaceful life , they submit refugee applications that their country is the worst place in the world and the life is not possible, some of them told the interviewers that he/she is from minority families while he is not, now when they became western citizens they are arguing that Somalia is not failure state!
FGM is practised in Sierra Leone, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Egypt and Ethiopia to name a few; as well as India, Oman, Yemen, Malaysia and it is not any part of ‘Somali culture’. Unless the BBC is suggesting that these countries have the same ‘culture’ as Somalia.
Interestingly FGM was practised in the US and England until 1950s, ‘as a common “treatment” for lesbianism, masturbation, hysteria, epilepsy, and other so-called “female deviances’ There is a direct correlation between a woman’s attitude towards FGM and her place of residence, educational background, and work status…urban women are less likely than their rural counterparts to support FGM. Employed women are also less likely to support it. Women with little or no education are more likely to support the practice than those with a secondary or higher education.’
Somali education was destroyed by the IMF in the 1970s and 1980s through its SAP (structural adjustment programmes) ‘austerity/privatisation policies. That is, the very same people whose interests the BBC represents.
The best way to counter FGM is through education not bombs. British imperialism can play no progressive role in Somalia.
See Female Genital Mutilation – The Facts for info in quotes (http://www.path.org/files/FGM-The-Facts.htm)
The BBC fails to mask itself a mouthpiece for the interests of the British government. Yet again under the name unbiasedness the BBC portray my people as backwards and unable to cope. Instead of focusing on the more prevalent issues such as the Al Shabab they focus on smaller issues such as FGM even though that’s shocking, Somalia isn’t the only country that performs it. Furthermore the quote about boys being treasured more than girls is a lie. Nowherre in our culture does it say or show that is the fact. Both genders are considered a blessing to have. Also the issues of the pirates, the BBC didn’t show the reasons of why piracy has developed (due to the toxic waste being dumped in our waters and having no coast guard or army to protect our waters). Samira should have been shown the culture and how people are still living their lives in all the adversities the war is causing them instead of showing and dragging her from one bad scenario to the other. As for the title of the world’s most dangerous place, I don’t think that was an appropiate title for a girl who’s going to her home country for the first time and also there are plenty of dangerous countries, that does not mean Somalia should have the head title of that. Whoever came up with that hasn’t been to every country that’s been considered dangerous and it was just done for sensational reasons. I see this programme as a way to portray an image of Somalia that’s just to the benefit of the British government and media and to create a feeling of hostility about a country that I am from and love. I am upset and angry at the way the BBC has made and shown this programme to be all about lawlessness, inequality between the sexes and chaos.
The BBC is biased, we all know that. It’s a socialist/liberal/pro Labour biased but allot of the stuff I’ve read on here is utter biased BS! Your people are backwards, the real reason this war is still going on is tribalism. Let’s not lie to each other here, my own father was born in Mugadishu, the capital of Somalia. So I can also say my people are backward thinking tribal/terrorist killers (the majority obviously ain’t but the minority causing this stress, pain and suffering are)!
Allot of the people on this blog also seem the confuse imperialism with crony capitalism. Somalis are some of the most capitalistic people on the African continent. Look at the booming economy of Somaliland. In fact, hundreds of stores selling anything from the basic fruits and vegetables to flat screen TV’s can be found scattered all over Somalia. Now I am not saying Somalia is a rich country, but look what capitalism has done to thousands of lives in Somalia. It’s made it a whole lot better, so please stop comparing crony capitalism to free market economics.
Samuel,
I think you are the one who is confused about the definition of what is meant by imperialism.
I don’t know how you can make general statements about ‘Somali people’, claiming they are ‘the most capitalistic’ people in Africa. What I see is people trying to survive in poverty, struggling to live inside the conditions they are presented with and enforced on them.
The most capitalist people in Africa are in fact the USA – who have an occupying army in Africa which they are using to try and control the continent in order to enhance their capitalist system – this is imperialism.
The BBC is not socialist – I think you are seriously mistaken. The BBC represents and reflects the politics of the British state, which is imperialist.
Sir you cannot be serious here, capitalism has helped the Somali people hugely. And the BBC is socialist/communist. That’s a fact, you might not call em’ that but that’s what they are. And lastly Somali people are some of the most backward people on this planet (not all of them, obviously but like I said the ones causing the problems for the majority are). We cannot lie about that, they have allowed tribalism rip apart their country and allot have just watched from the sidelines instead of mustering up the patriotism to fight this utter disgusting way of thinking.
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I absolutely value all of the tough work you’ve put into keeping this website here for all of us. I absolutely hope this is around for a good long time.
thank you Vishakh – your solidarity is appreciated and I hope to see you involved in our work at the first opportunity! HOS
Your site is just what I was searching for.
You have no idea how long I have been questioning the same thing!
I am so happy that I am not by myself.