Today,
the sky is heavy with dark clouds and our hearts with the sadness of Ali Hassan
Adan’s departure. He was popularly known, as Ali Banfas. Banfas means more than
a surname, it demonstrates his artistic talents in the Somali literature, it
was a title in which he earned when he won the competition of Somali artistic
show ( Bandhiga fanka Somaaliyeed) in 1976. He was a man with multiple
personalities, a most loved teacher, an outspoken dissident poet in a time that
walls had ears, and the air was thick with the fear of Siad Barre’s repressive
regime. No one was daring to say a word or express a gesture that can be
interpreted as a critic or dissidence against the System. Unlike most of those
who lived that time, [Ali] Banfas never succumbed to the intimidations and
Brutalities of the dictator’s men, but shook his words with castles of
oppression and woke up the arrogant blood-sucking vampires from their nests…
the high ranking Generals and Captains. His poetical awareness was a nightmare
that haunted them and taught them, they will never go away with their cruelty.
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| Poet Ali Banfas - The Odysseus of Somaliland |
[Ali]
Banfas, though conceptually was analogous, he was artistically different from
the revolutionist poets. He never hesitated to be proud of the nobility of his
origin as an Isak-blooded man and Hargiesawi too. He was not wrong about that,
because Isak-cleansing was the principle of the suppressive campaigns’ in which
the regime launched against Hargeisa, Berbera,Burao and Erigavo. With bravery,
he stood for his ideals, his determination for freedom, and his position in
human dignity. In the face of the arbitrary judges of the regime’s notorious
courts, he broke the walls of silence with his strong rhymes; spoke out loudly
against the repressive policies. Mocking judges and prosecutions wiped with
beads of sweat from their foreheads, embarrassed with the truth of his poetical
revelations. While women and children were cheering and ululating outside
vicinity of the court, tingling with the sense of patriotism as they heard [Ali]
Banfasi’s daring response from the speakers.
“Oh
Bidhiidh, do not let the fear overwhelm your sense, the time is changing! (Ha
u biqin Bidhiidhaw waqtigu ways badalayaaye)
It
is the most remembered verse of his inspiring poem at that moment—-A lion
remains to be a lion even if it is behind bars.
It
was not message for Bidhiidh only, an inmate who shared the chains with him.
This ill-treatment, torture and degrading practices were not confined to them
personally, but it was something that systematically subjected to every prison in
the detention facilities and police stations. It was common fate that was
waiting for everyone who had conscience.
Mujahid
Ali was not a man of words; he was also a man of action. He would have served
15 years, but he got his back freedom, as a result of carefully orchestrated
Military operation of SNM fighters who conquered Mandhera Prison in January
1983. This successful combat which was known as Bad-baado (The Rescue
Mission) was led by Mohamed Hashi Dirie (lihle )…..a senior Commander in SNM warriors
. According to the context of his poetry works, [Ali] Banfas was always
optimistic about future. He assured that there was always a light at the end of
the tunnel.
“The roar of explosions around me are the
symbol of my rescue”….( Inaan garab haysto, gariirka agtayda ayaan ka
gartaaye…..)
It
was a poem he made when he was inside the prison. As they heard the sound of
sporadic fires behind the walls, the sense of smile came back to the desperate
faces of the inmates, his colleagues….the woods of hell. The time has
changed…..and after few hours, the whole place was covered with smoke and
blaze, as the dead bodies of the notorious prison guards and tormenters were
piled up in the corridors of the jail.
“The
time had changed”…as [Ali] Banfas foretold.
From
that day, when the chains of oppression were broken, he put himself in the fire
line of the SNM battlefields, exposed himself to the hissing bullets of the
enemy. Because freedom demands more than words, it wants to consume the blood
and the souls of the braves. It was an obligation that vested upon everyone who
could understand the circumstances of that day. Schoolboys turned into warriors
who fought with morale and courage. Teachers like Ali Banfas, started to teach
another classes in the heart of thick jungles, preparing their attentive pupils
to the miseries of war and roasting themselves in the middle of its suffocating
flames.
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| Advocate Mohamed Ahmed (Bacaluul) |
Our Odysseus (Banfas) you passed away, but you won’t disappear as long as freedom
of expression exists as an ideal within our system. You were the champion of
this liberty and proved to the world that nothing could suppress the voice of
truth even if all the tools are in the hands of the tyrants. Truth erupts like
a volcano, puffing up its ingredients when the scale of the oppression goes up
in to intolerable extent. You are one of great poets who ignited the fire
of freedom with their tongue. No wind can turn out the candle of your legacy.
Those
who went through hard times for the sake of us and lived enough to witness the
fruits of their struggle are luckier than Ahmed Genius. Because he implored
Allah, not to take his life before he sees the accomplishment of the mission.
“Ilaahoow aan horteed dhiman, iyadoon
dhammays noqon”,
Genius.
Unfortunately
Mujahid Ahmed missed that chance. He martyred in the battlefields before the
liberation.
May
Allah rest all of you in peace and bless all the martyrs with his paradise.
Written
By: Advocate Mohamed Ahmed Abdi (Bacaluul)
22nd
Oct, 2013
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