How the world views Somalia

[Barkhadle1520]

I watched this video today, this channel makes very good content about the economies and development of most countries that I tend to enjoy, but when it mentions Somalia 99% of the video is stock footage of poor Congolese villages and people (I'm not making it up watch it) and was overall the worst analysis of the country's economy and development I have ever seen.

My point is, why is there not any good video on Youtube about understanding Somali society and economy ? It seems like these channels only have to slap Somalia in the title with decade old pictures in the thumbnail or IDP camps and magically get 1M+ views on the video, regardless of the quality of the content, which is always very poor.

I wouldn't even care if all of this they say was true, it's really frustrating cause you can predict what they will say before watching the video.

I really don't like the image that's being portrayed of Somalis and their country online overall, this is not a small problem cause whenever I search about Somalia on Youtube it's just tons of these poorly researched outdated documentaries showing videos of some village in DRC or IDP camps in Puntland.

Am I also the only one who has noticed these Documentary channels spamming the same old documentary about 2010 Mogadishu every year ?

Is there not a single good analysis of Somalia's history and economy in the 21st century on Youtube ? Seriously we need to start raising attention about this, any Somali who has been back home knows we're nothing like what they make us to be.

What do you guys think about this ? Any videos or articles to recommend ?

 

[Zak12]

Most videos like this aren't interested in delving deep into Somalia, they are often surface level and use click bait titles like "most dangerous economy" because its easier to do so than actually doing in-depth analysis.

 

[Medeea]

They keep pushing out low-quality content (90% of the images aren’t even from Somalia) because they know it will get millions of views easily.

There’s nothing you can do but ignore it, build up, fix your economy and politics, and become successful. Even then, expect westiods and their slaves to still downplay it and pray for your downfall, just like they regularly do to China, Gulf Arabs (especially Saudis), Turkey, and other “unwanted” groups.

That’s why I believe we should focus more on emerging markets like Saudi, Turkey, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and China. Economically, politically, and even socially. Bring back the lucrative Indian Ocean trade.

 

[Maintainnnin]

That's because Somalia's federal government actively promotes negative narratives to secure more international aid for famine prevention, flood relief, IDP support, etc., only to loot it.

We're no poorer than Rwanda, yet look at the positive PR that country gets, then look at its GDP per capita. Another example is their neighbor Burundi, which is literally twice as poor as Somalia.

The only positive of this is that our economy is entirely locally run. Somalis own all the largest companies and enterprises. You can't say the same for most other African countries, where small Lebanese, Indian, or white elites are controlling the economy.

 

[Keep it a boqol]

They keep pushing out low-quality content (90% of the images aren’t even from Somalia) because they know it will get millions of views easily.

There’s nothing you can do but ignore it, build up, fix your economy and politics, and become successful. Even then, expect westiods and their slaves to still downplay it and pray for your downfall, just like they regularly do to China, Gulf Arabs (especially Saudis), Turkey, and other “unwanted” groups.

That’s why I believe we should focus more on emerging markets like Saudi, Turkey, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and China. Economically, politically, and even socially. Bring back the lucrative Indian Ocean trade.

fr we should be focused on building bridges with the east more. We’ve always had ok relationships with them and they see us amicably the west despises our guts we shouldn’t take their opinions seriously

 

[Idilinaa]

Yeah i have seen this before. And i actually commented on this:

2 years ago actually when i knew far less about Somalia's economy and political landscape than i do now i said this about it:

Disappointed. It didn't actually explain the economics of Somalia at all. All it did was emphasize how the security impacts the development and foreign aid/investment into the country.

It would have been interesting seeing him break down the different sectors, how each makes up the GDP and where the potential growth lies. The Remittances and diaspora investments are another thing.

Describing it as a functional anarchy is also completely inaccurate. No, it's a society with multiple competing governments. Anarchy means a society without power hierarchies, not a civil war

I agree with @Zak12 these videos are mostly farming views through clickbait. They rely heavily on outdated footage, recycled clichés, and sensational titles like “World’s Most Dangerous Economy” because it’s easier to repeat tired narratives than to actually do deep research and produce something meaningful.

There’s a reason why actual scholarly content like this well-researched video that discusses the Somali economy using academic frameworks and real data, only has 460 views:

Even here, they understand Somalia is not an anarchy. He points out it's run by multiple overlapping regional governments and local administrations that function like governing states.

Although they get a few things wrong, at least they acknowledge the mobile money system and the advanced logistics networks that help self-regulate the flow of goods and are often taxed locally.
They also recognize the existence of a Greater Somali Economy, even if there isn’t a Greater Somalia as a political entity.

All in all, I believe this presents an opportunity for us to fill the knowledge gap about Somalia and actually create well-sourced, balanced, and informative videos that reach larger audiences, especially for our own people.

Insha’Allah, I will play more of a role in this regard in the near future.

 

[Idilinaa]

Somalia is a very interesting economy. It’s not “unique” in the sense that it’s some kind of dangerous anarchy or piracy-based system , that’s just false.

What makes it interesting is that it’s a decentralized, locally driven, cashless economy one built on trade, logistics, and multi-sectoral activity. Its trade networks are independent, regional, and self-sustaining, with ownership and operations run by cooperative enterprises.

It also has a high degree of economic integration across a wide geographic area, which is rare especially for a country often misrepresented in global media. Somalia is one of the main trading partners to all of it's neighbors.

 

[Barkhadle1520]

fr we should be focused on building bridges with the east more. We’ve always had ok relationships with them and they see us amicably the west despises our guts we shouldn’t take their opinions seriously

FGS is a western vassal that's not gonna be possible

 

[Abu Hesi]

flag it for misinfo, good day mate.

 

[cunug3aad]

A lot of these channels rely on solely stock footage and there isnt any modern stock footage of somalia because no westeners go there still, because they see the bad outdated stock footage