How Somalia Came To Have Pirates

Do you believe everything you hear? Of course you don’t, no one does, but what about when you watch the news? Shouldn’t there be some credibility there? It seems the whole story is rarely heard. It usually has a political spin that sways the viewers to see it the way the media wants. The truth is what you are watching (on your nightly news channel of choice) isn’t exactly a lie, it is a half truth or obscured explanation to fit an agenda or a timeframe. It is about the breaking news and being the first on the scene, but with fast journalism comes false facts and bias. It’s easy to judge a story when you have not done the research to know the cause and effect of a story.

I am a fan of K’Naan a Somali rapper. Until recently, he was underground and, as of late, he has become quite popular. I saw him at a concert and he spoke of the Somali pirate issue and spoke on how it came to be such a problem. After hearing him I googled some news articles and found some videos of him speaking about his country and it was very interesting to learn what caused Somali piracy.

All I knew before this point was how these “savage pirates” were hijacking ships. It sounded odd, like something out of a book; I mean really, who is a pirate in 2009? My ignorance is shared by many I’m sure, but with further research I learned that Somalia’s government collapsed in the early 90’s leaving their shores vulnerable to illegal dumping of nuclear waste.  No one was there to protect the people of Somalia; this was devastating the livelihood of the country’s fishermen. Somali citizens tried to ask for help from the United Nations but it was ignored.  So after a while these men took action, fishermen and street militia decided they were going to stop the dumpers before their ocean was ruined forever. Sadly, greed and opportunity lead these men into a life of piracy. They went out, initially, to protect their waters, but found they could also hijack for ransom and goods.

Somalia is a very poor country with no government and no aid from the outside world, so it doesn’t take a genius to guess what the next step for these men was going to be. I’m not saying what they are doing is acceptable by any means, but it could have been avoided if their plea for help was answered.  It started out as not wanting nuclear waste dumped in their waters and has escalated into making the waters of Somalia unsafe. All I am saying is, imagine being in their shoes, it is understandable how this all came about.  

It is sad how the media is so quick to paint a picture of these “evil pirates” without showing the desperation that got them there or without shining a light on why they do what they do. It is just so easy to be negative and show the evil without trying to understand why. Of course hijacking, kidnapping and piracy is not condoned by any means, but I wish that the media would use their power to help shine light on the help this country needs rather than portray pirates as if it were a Disney movie.

-Kristin is a contributor for TheOnlineGrapevine.com. Check out her bio to see where her view comes from.