PUPPETRY In Politics Is An Ugly Culture

Ahmed Haji Nur, Oslo, Norway

In the world of performance art, like the theatre, puppetry is an old and cherished culture. It existed in various forms in most of the ancient civilizations such as Mesopotamia in Iraq, Pharaonical Egypt, Minoa in Crete and the Indus Valley Civilization - now Pakistan. In India, sutradhar(a) is an old word which refers to the show-manager of theatrical performances (or a puppet-player), and also means literally "string-puller" or "string-holder". An equally ancient word in Greek, neurospasta, means exactly as the Indian word. The history of puppetry in culture is long and respectful. In the modern world, puppet shows are very popular and appeal to all ages.

Articulated Indian figurine

Puppets have been delighting children and families for centuries. A puppet show, in its basic form, is a number of small figures of persons and animals which are operated by a puppeteer. To generate the desired motion in the puppet, the puppeteer (or strings puller) pulls strings attached to the figure or sometimes pushes or releases wooden kegs which among the figures perpetuates a certain movement. Puppet shows, which particularly appeal to children, use an array of different and colorful figurines or simply their hands. Special music and voices give life to the puppets and make the show very lively. But the real beauty of a puppet show very much depends on the skills of the operator which is pulling the strings behind the scene. Puppet art is a life-time engagement and its artists train and practice for ever. The most skilful puppeteers produce very delicate and almost life-like motions in their puppets. Untrained or bad puppeteers kill the show and make their puppets ugly.

While puppetry in art is a beautiful tradition, it is a despised thing in other walks of life. This is specially so in politics. In general, a puppet, outside its natural context, is used to describe a person who is controlled by others and is used to perform an unpleasant or dishonest task for someone else. Puppetry which conforms to this definition is usually observed in dictatorships where only one person pulls the strings. Other individuals in the arena of a dictator are basically puppets whose performances depend on which string the person behind the scenes pulls. Some argue that in any political system, even in democracies, all politicians are puppets to some degree or the other, since always some head-figure of the system pulls the strings. This may be true, depending on ones point of departure and choice of metaphors, but it is difficult to so simply find similarities between real democracies, with all its pillars in place, and a dictatorship where all real power is in the hands of one person. In performance art, the puppeteer is a trained person who masters his trade. In politics, a dictator usually comes to power by some unfortunate circumstance and rarely is qualified for the job. To cover his or her lack of skill, dictators use crude and violent methods. The puppets in the show make crude and clumsy movements and are extremely ugly. In the end, as history stands witness to, the show dies and its actors, both puppets and puppeteer fade away in disgrace.

This little analogy, puppetry in politics, seems to more and more apply to Somaliland. The puppeteer in this show is clumsy and obviously does not own much fantasy, let alone, real hard-earned skill. As time goes by, one really feels sorry for the Ministers in the Somaliland Government, which more and more take the role of bell-boys in a large town-house in Hargeysa.

Way back, when the Interior Minister publicly insulted a respectful lady of Somaliland citizenry, many meant the words not to be his own. In fact, some went as far as arguing that the words in the mouth of the Minister were not coming from a man. The expelling of the EU rep in Hargeysa by the Minster of planning and the French Academic by the Minister of Interior are also understood to be similar pitiful pulls by the puppeteer. These were actions which resulted in the defacing of the puppet and disgracing of the country. In later times, The Planning Minister seems to be the receiving end of most of the bad moves.

Amina-Weris, a well-known and respected citizen of Somaliland competed for and by merit won a position with Care International in Hargeysa. In the beginning, Care conducted the process of employment correctly. Having become satisfied with the qualifications, experience and personality of the applicant, they sought final clarification from the Foreign Minster, Hon. Edna Adan Dhakhtar, which is their proper counterpart as a foreign NGO. The Foreign Minister, not only green-lighted Amina-Weris’s employment, but also gave the NGO her highest commendations. In a healthy world, that would have been the end of the process but it did not happen that way.

From the little I know, The Minister of Planning is personable guy and I do not think there is a bad blood between him and Amina-Weris. Even if there was one, which I do not believe, The Minister could not do such a thing without consulting first with his boss. It seems that someone in the Somaliland Presidency did not like Amina-Weris getting this job, so strings are pulled and some proxy is made to move. This lead to the now infamous campaign by the Minister of Planning. By way of oral messages and in writing, Care is instructed not to hire Amina-Weris. But that was not all. The Somaliland Government campaigned, and still campaigns, for a foreign man to fill Amina-Weris’s position.

The Somaliland people are horrified by this very mean behavior from the individuals in the peoples’ highest place of honor. When the Parliament passed a decision ordering Care to give Amina-Weris the position she earned, or else leave the country, the puppeteer, instead of stepping on to the moral high-ground and clearing the mess, pulls some strings again and this time it results in opening the mouth of another puppet – that of the Propaganda Minister- who accused the MPs of being hijacked by interest groups.

Where do we go from here!?

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