Young Somali men growing up in the West left alienated and at risk of violence (Britain)

[AussieHustler]

Police in Camden, after a young man of Somali origin was stabbed

The recent spate of knife crime in British cities has brought many young Somalis into the criminal justice system and claimed several lives. In mid-February 2019, 16-year-old Sidali Mohamed died after being stabbed as he was leaving school in Birmingham. In September 2018, Guled Farah, a 19-year-old of Somali-British origin was gunned down in Walthamstow, east London. Earlier that year, two young men of Somali origin were killed on the same night in Camden, north London.

In May 2018, the Anti-Tribalism Movement, a Somali youth organisation in London on whose board I sit, invited me to a sobering forum about youth knife crime. The discussion at the workshop quickly became intense. A former gang member shared his experiences: “I started this business (of being in a gang) at the age nine,” he said. Now, he runs his own sports club to rehabilitate other gang members.

“I’m curious,” I asked him, “what do Somali gangs do?” He told me that to prove themselves and get promoted in the ranks of their gangs they needed to act ruthlessly and violently. He said they also try to recruit young people who are particularly isolated, and start to share drugs with their own siblings, friends and relatives.

“Are there Somali girl gangs?” a young woman asked. “Yes,” the man nodded, adding that their numbers are increasing.

Sadly, it seems that Somali youth in London haven’t been spared the trauma of the ruthless civil war that many of their parents endured, the legacy of which, followed by continued violence by Al-Shabaab militants, forced many to leave the country.

Being a young Somali
In my own PhD research, which looked at the integration experiences of young Somali men in Australia and the US, I found that Somali youth were particularly susceptible to criminality and Islamist extremism. Among the causes for this I identified were social marginalisation, poverty, unemployment, racism, identity crises, Islamophobia, Western governments’ foreign policies toward Muslim countries, and the dysfunction of the Somali community.

My case studies of the experiences of Somali men in Minneapolis and Melbourne showed many tended to be ambivalent about Somalia and their cultural identity. This is driven by negative media coverage of Somalia, focused on famine, piracy, Al-Shabaab militants and clan warfare, as well as a shortage of resources for the Somali community. Still, I found that Somali youth in US had a more developed sense of belonging to the US compared to those in Australia, the UK and elsewhere in the EU.

Yet, based on my ongoing research and conversations with the Somali diaspora around the world, it appears that the inclusive multiculturalism of countries such as the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – where different cultures can easily intermingle – have created an environment that gives young Somalis particularly little time to culturally adapt. Many young Somalis I’ve met, who were either born in the West or came early in their childhood, do not speak the Somali language.


In contrast, I recently met with Somali families from Switzerland, Italy, Norway and Sweden and I was amazed at their children’s fluency in the Somali language and their affinity with their cultural roots. In Switzerland, Finland and Sweden, Somali is taught in schools, helping to improve young people’s communication with their families and community. This matters, because language and cultural preservation keep young people connected to the Somali community. From my conversations with members of the Somali diaspora around the world, I believe such connections could help to prevent young people from joining criminal gangs.

Not leaving it too late
Back in London, the Somali youth at the forum on knife crime described the legacy of family breakdown, the lack of positive mentoring and positive role models within the Somali community. As one young man put it: “There is a shortage of emotional intelligence and encouragement in the community.”

Another young woman at the London forum said: “You know Somali parents get mad when it is too late. They don’t prevent children getting in trouble.” Like we Somalis say, Waxa aad qarsato waa ku qarsadaa (what you hide, hides you too), meaning Somali parents do not speak out and seek help at early stages when their children are in trouble, but they do seek help when things get out of hand.

The exception is when the trouble is associated with activities influenced by religion. Conversations I’ve had with Somali community experts suggest they believe Somali parents are less likely to report incidents of religious extremism to the police than they are to report sexual crime, knife or drug incidents. A specific referral service with religious legitimacy for young people suspected of extremism could help alleviate this. That said, my ongoing research is chronicling the way in which the longer members of the Somali community stay in the West, the more closely aligned they become to arguments that a crime is a crime, whether committed in the name of religion or otherwise.

In order to protect young Somalis from becoming the victim of violence or radicalisation, community leaders should help to foster links with their traditional culture. This could include meetings with moderate sheikhs with religious legitimacy and the development of specific services for the community. Somali communities should also demonstrate leadership and confront all kinds of violence for the welfare of the wider UK society. And to the citizens of Britain: open your hearts and minds to this community – reach out to the new arrivals and make them feel at home.

http://theconversation.com/young-so...left-alienated-and-at-risk-of-violence-106664

 

[AussieHustler]

Police abandoned us, say Somalis in wake of London knife killings

A wave of deadly violence has traumatised the ethnic minority community in Camden Town. Locals blame cutbacks by the Met.


The streets start emptying at dusk. “As soon as the sun goes down, the kids come out and take over,” said Abdi Ali. He gestured towards the western end of Queens Crescent, the entrance of Weedington Road, prime turf for the gang that controls this corner of Camden, north London.

There was, until quite recently, a police station nearby that functioned as a community hub. Officers would routinely patrol the neighbourhood, offering reassurance and a reliable stream of intelligence.

But the station closed 18 months ago according to locals and since then the surrounding streets have been commandeered by gangs. Violence, said Ali, had spiralled during the ensuing period.

“Now they are killing each other – it’s been made worse because they’ve started supplying heroin. They don’t even bother with cannabis any more,” said the 32-year-old, who works at his uncle’s grocery store, Banadir Gate.

Ali belongs to the area’s sizeable Somali community, still traumatised by the violent scenes last week that saw two of its younger members killed on Camden’s streets.

Sadiq Adan Mohamed, 20, was stabbed to death on Tuesday evening, 300 metres from Banadir Gate. Less than two hours earlier, Abdikarim Hassan, 17, was found fatally wounded in a nearby street. That followed the stabbing of a 16-year-old, who remains in hospital.

Although an 18-year-old man has been arrested in Camden on suspicion of two counts of murder, a section 60 order remains in place across the borough, allowing officers to stop and search people “with good reason”. Already police have intercepted a number of young men carrying weapons. The police measure, under continual review, remains in place amid fear of reprisal attacks.

Weedington Road had recently become bitterly contested “turf”, according to Ali, with youngsters from Queens Crescent clashing with those from nearby Agar Grove, Chalk Farm and Camden. Congolese teenagers had, he said, teamed up with Irish youngsters to take on the Somalis.

“But the police just drive down here, look around and drive on. Since the police left us it’s been terrible,” said Ali, whose family fled Mogadishu and the country’s civil war in 2003.

Other Somalis describe a “security vacuum” that has left them effectively abandoned by the police and, more broadly, the state. “Kids around here don’t feel safe, the police aren’t doing enough,” said Abshir Mohamed, whose parents also fled the Somali civil war for London in 1988.

“There’s lots of money for Prevent [the government’s counter-radicalisation strategy] and for counter-terrorism which can target the Somali community, but then you have younger members of our community being targeted by knife crime. There’s a sense that Somalis are not being protected.” Mohamed, who is a youth volunteer for the Kentish Town Community Centre, and meets many of the area’s young Somalis, said trust in the police among youngsters had ebbed away. “If a young man gets threatened and he’s told: ‘The next time I see you I’ll stab you’, they don’t tell the police. They just carry a knife. They are not safe.”

Police on patrol at Camden lock, close to the scene of recent knife crime

Mohamed said that Camden borough’s police commander had held a meeting in the community centre in the aftermath of Tuesday’s stabbings to address security concerns.

“He said they had collected a lot of knives in the area through section 60, but when we asked them why didn’t they do more, he just said [there had been] funding cuts. Every time we ask why they don’t do more patrols around here, they just respond by saying cutbacks [were to blame].”

Ismail Einashe, a journalist born in Somalia who used to live in Camden, said that such distrust was compounded by the sense that not only had the state failed to protect them, but that many felt the justice system too easily criminalised them. “And then you add austerity – cuts in youth services and police numbers – to the mix and you create a really toxic environment.”

Mohamed, who also works as a primary school teacher in the area, said when he was growing up he looked forward to five-a-side football and adventure trips that were arranged to occupy them. “They were the good old days, now they’ve got nothing. There’s nothing for them to do anymore,” he said.

A fear of being stabbed had also prevented many of the neighbourhood’s adults from confronting the youngsters who congregated in the area.

Mohamed, 33, said many felt powerless.

“If an adult tries to engage with a youth, they just pull out a knife. I’ve seen that with 10-year-olds. You can’t touch them,” said Mohamed.

A young mother waiting at a local bus stop agreed. “We’ve ended up in a place where the kids have nowhere to go, they end up on the streets and that’s where the problems start,” she said, requesting anonymity as she gripped her young son’s hand.

For Mohamed, a daily witness to the alienation facing many of London’s young British Somalis, there is, however, one silver lining. “Thank God we don’t have [many] guns in the UK.”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/feb/25/camden-knife-killings-somalis-police-abandoned-us

 

[AussieHustler]

A whole neighbourhood in North London is locked down by Somali thugs and the older Somalis are complaining about the abandonment of the police to police Somali young males endangering the lives of other Somalis and some here are obsessed with few tweets by Somali girls in London saying, 'they won't marry these guys'. I know now why Salafism is attractive to young Somalis in Britain, it's either that, or die as a gangster. They turned London into Somalia. RIP reer Londonstan.

@halwa I'm sending you an Australian visa.

 

[Lostbox]

This is the reason I stay far away from lower class Somalis or any lower class people in general. When you hear that just associating with these people can possibly put target on your head. Nothing good comes out of them.

 

[pablo]

Very sad but our people expect the government to raise there kids and will completely blame the environment. The environment will always have a part to play laakiin you don’t see timo jilecs or Ethiopians, Eritreans involved like we are, why? Simple because Somali parents don’t instruct core cultural values on the young boys so lack of cultural understanding + bad environment= crime.

 

[911]

Fatherlessness is the root cause

 

[AussieHustler]

Britain’s Somalis. The road is long.

Somalis fare much worse than other immigrants; what holds them back?

BARBER shops are excellent places for gossip. Hassan Ali’s place in Kentish Town is no different. The north Londoner arrived in Britain from Somalia with dreams of becoming a mechanic. But he was good at cutting hair: you do whatever work you can, he says. Most Somalis—Britain’s largest refugee population—do not work. They are among the poorest, worst-educated and least-employed in Britain. In a country where other refugees have flourished, why do Somalis do so badly?

The first Somalis to arrive in Britain, over a century ago, were economic migrants. Merchant seamen settled in cities with docks: Cardiff, Liverpool and London. As civil war ravaged Somalia in the 1990s, refugees flocked to Britain. In 1999, the high-water mark, 7,495 Somalis arrived (11% of the refugees that arrived in Britain that year). Since then, the influx has slowed (see first chart); it still leaves a large community. The 2011 census identified 101,370 people in England and Wales who were born in Somalia.

Poverty is their first problem. Over 80% of Somali-speaking pupils qualify for free school meals. In Waltham Forest, a borough in east London, home to nearly 4,000 Somalis, 73% live in households on benefits. More than 50% of British Somalis rent from local councils, the highest proportion of any foreign-born population. In nearby Tower Hamlets 2010 data showed that Somalis were twice as likely as white Britons to be behind with the rent. The cost of their economic marginalisation hurts them, and is a toll on the public sector, too.

Education looks an unlikely escape route. Overcrowded houses mean children have nowhere to do their homework. In 2010-11 around 33% of Somali children got five good GCSEs, the exams taken at 16, compared with 59% of Bangladeshi pupils and 78% of Nigerian ones. Parents unable to speak English struggle. They see their children move up a year at school and assume they are doing well (in Somalia poor performers are held back). Their offspring, roped in as translators, are in no hurry to disabuse them.

This helps to explain the pitiful employment rates among Britain’s Somalis (see second chart). Just one in ten is in full-time work. Many Somali households are headed by women who came to Britain without their husbands. Fitting work around child care is a struggle. Without work, Somali men while away their days chewing khat, a mild stimulative leaf. Awale Olad, a Somali councillor in London, supports the government’s recent decision to ban the drug. But others fear it will needlessly criminalise a generation of men.

Religion, however, is an overstated problem. It is true that, like their Bangladeshi and Pakistani counterparts, some young Somalis are embracing stricter forms of Islam. Amina Ali, who hopes to stand as an MP at the next election, worries when she sees girls of three wearing headscarves. People can respect Islam without being so conservative, she says. But religion unites young Somalis with other young Muslims, says Ismail Einashe, a journalist. A few are radicalised, but most are not.

This cocktail of poverty and unemployment dogs Somalis elsewhere too. In 2009 they were the least-employed group in Denmark. The Norwegian government is so worried about its Somali community it wants research done on their plight. Even discounting such factors as religion, age and experience, compared with other black Africans in Britain, Somalis face an “ethnic penalty” when job-hunting. Their disadvantages are clear. But Britain is rightly perceived as a country in which it is relatively easy to set up businesses; it also offers the hope of a warm welcome with its large Somali and Muslim population. This should bode well for Somalis.

Many are hopeful. Somalis want their children to succeed, so growing numbers are hiring private tutors (see article). In 2000 just one Somali teenager in the London borough of Camden passed five GCSEs with good grades. To improve matters, the council and others set up the Somali Youth Development Resource Centre, which mentors students and lends them books. Last year the figure rose to 59%.

Abdikadir Ahmed, who works there, says his organisation encourages people to put the entrepreneurial skills they learn in gangs to better use. He works with Somalis locked up in Feltham prison, a young-offenders jail. Their numbers are dropping, he reckons. Somalis played little part in the summer riots of 2011.

This investment reflects a deeper change. For years many Somalis kept their suitcases packed, ready to return to Africa for good, says Mr Olad. Firm in the belief that they would soon be on the move, there was little point in putting down deep roots, or encouraging their children to do so. But the current generation of Somalis grew up in Britain. For them a permanent return to Somalia holds less appeal. Young British Somalis still embrace their nomadic heritage. But now they seek a dual identity, able to flit between two homelands and, they hope, to make the best of both.

https://www.economist.com/britain/2013/08/17/the-road-is-long

 

[madaxweyne]

Britain’s Somalis. The road is long.

Somalis fare much worse than other immigrants; what holds them back?

BARBER shops are excellent places for gossip. Hassan Ali’s place in Kentish Town is no different. The north Londoner arrived in Britain from Somalia with dreams of becoming a mechanic. But he was good at cutting hair: you do whatever work you can, he says. Most Somalis—Britain’s largest refugee population—do not work. They are among the poorest, worst-educated and least-employed in Britain. In a country where other refugees have flourished, why do Somalis do so badly?

The first Somalis to arrive in Britain, over a century ago, were economic migrants. Merchant seamen settled in cities with docks: Cardiff, Liverpool and London. As civil war ravaged Somalia in the 1990s, refugees flocked to Britain. In 1999, the high-water mark, 7,495 Somalis arrived (11% of the refugees that arrived in Britain that year). Since then, the influx has slowed (see first chart); it still leaves a large community. The 2011 census identified 101,370 people in England and Wales who were born in Somalia.

Poverty is their first problem. Over 80% of Somali-speaking pupils qualify for free school meals. In Waltham Forest, a borough in east London, home to nearly 4,000 Somalis, 73% live in households on benefits. More than 50% of British Somalis rent from local councils, the highest proportion of any foreign-born population. In nearby Tower Hamlets 2010 data showed that Somalis were twice as likely as white Britons to be behind with the rent. The cost of their economic marginalisation hurts them, and is a toll on the public sector, too.

Education looks an unlikely escape route. Overcrowded houses mean children have nowhere to do their homework. In 2010-11 around 33% of Somali children got five good GCSEs, the exams taken at 16, compared with 59% of Bangladeshi pupils and 78% of Nigerian ones. Parents unable to speak English struggle. They see their children move up a year at school and assume they are doing well (in Somalia poor performers are held back). Their offspring, roped in as translators, are in no hurry to disabuse them.

This helps to explain the pitiful employment rates among Britain’s Somalis (see second chart). Just one in ten is in full-time work. Many Somali households are headed by women who came to Britain without their husbands. Fitting work around child care is a struggle. Without work, Somali men while away their days chewing khat, a mild stimulative leaf. Awale Olad, a Somali councillor in London, supports the government’s recent decision to ban the drug. But others fear it will needlessly criminalise a generation of men.

Religion, however, is an overstated problem. It is true that, like their Bangladeshi and Pakistani counterparts, some young Somalis are embracing stricter forms of Islam. Amina Ali, who hopes to stand as an MP at the next election, worries when she sees girls of three wearing headscarves. People can respect Islam without being so conservative, she says. But religion unites young Somalis with other young Muslims, says Ismail Einashe, a journalist. A few are radicalised, but most are not.

This cocktail of poverty and unemployment dogs Somalis elsewhere too. In 2009 they were the least-employed group in Denmark. The Norwegian government is so worried about its Somali community it wants research done on their plight. Even discounting such factors as religion, age and experience, compared with other black Africans in Britain, Somalis face an “ethnic penalty” when job-hunting. Their disadvantages are clear. But Britain is rightly perceived as a country in which it is relatively easy to set up businesses; it also offers the hope of a warm welcome with its large Somali and Muslim population. This should bode well for Somalis.

Many are hopeful. Somalis want their children to succeed, so growing numbers are hiring private tutors (see article). In 2000 just one Somali teenager in the London borough of Camden passed five GCSEs with good grades. To improve matters, the council and others set up the Somali Youth Development Resource Centre, which mentors students and lends them books. Last year the figure rose to 59%.

Abdikadir Ahmed, who works there, says his organisation encourages people to put the entrepreneurial skills they learn in gangs to better use. He works with Somalis locked up in Feltham prison, a young-offenders jail. Their numbers are dropping, he reckons. Somalis played little part in the summer riots of 2011.

This investment reflects a deeper change. For years many Somalis kept their suitcases packed, ready to return to Africa for good, says Mr Olad. Firm in the belief that they would soon be on the move, there was little point in putting down deep roots, or encouraging their children to do so. But the current generation of Somalis grew up in Britain. For them a permanent return to Somalia holds less appeal. Young British Somalis still embrace their nomadic heritage. But now they seek a dual identity, able to flit between two homelands and, they hope, to make the best of both.

https://www.economist.com/britain/2013/08/17/the-road-is-long

That's from the daily mail a racist news article

Somalis do as well if not as good as other immigrants unlike scandanavian Somalis we have more businesses little bit of a stronger community

Somalis are in employment as taxis small shops restaurants we have a lot of Somali take aways and restaurants in london more then other European cities


Yes their are problems it happens with other immigrant groups as well Indians pakis jamo who used to have high rate of crimes when they first came

We are new comers

 

[AussieHustler]

That's from the daily mail a racist news article

@geeljire madaxweyne

Waryaa waad qafiifdey, check the source again.

https://www.economist.com/britain/2013/08/17/the-road-is-long

 

[AussieHustler]

The good ones are working too hard here; @geeljire madaxweyne you should head to Hyde Park at the Speakers' Corner. They are discussing your favourite topic.

 

[madaxweyne]

@geeljire madaxweyne

Waryaa waad qafiifdey, check the source again.

https://www.economist.com/britain/2013/08/17/the-road-is-long

that was from 2010 when most immigrant communities where living on benefits since the
new concervetive party has britain pushed many families to work and the situation is not the same as before

somalis do a lot better then for exampel the jamaican communities jsut a few months ago the jamaicans where complainning of the high amount of somali and horn of african buisnesses.
https://www.somalispot.com/threads/jamaicans-praising-somali-businesses-in-uk.58388/


somalis are doint sensationally better then the last decade and they keep on improving

 

[madaxweyne]

yeah i watched it my fabourite part was when abdullahi put the blm beggin in her place

abdullahi the legend put her in her place

watch from 21..45

 

[AussieHustler]

that was from 2010

@geeljire madaxweyne

Sxb, again you are wrong.

Britain’s Somalis. The road is long
Somalis fare much worse than other immigrants; what holds them back?
Aug 17th 2013

https://www.economist.com/britain/2013/08/17/the-road-is-long

Don't be dismissive, denialist and defensive and let's seek solutions.

 

[Gambar]

Somalis love to come together and listen to the sound of their own voices instead of making things happen. They know the issue, they know the solution but they’d rather talk and bullshit.

 

[madaxweyne]

@geeljire madaxweyne

Sxb, again you are wrong.

Britain’s Somalis. The road is long
Somalis fare much worse than other immigrants; what holds them back?
Aug 17th 2013

https://www.economist.com/britain/2013/08/17/the-road-is-long

Don't be dismissive, denialist and defensive and let's seek solutions.

somalis are known to be the most targeted minority becouse we are a proud group
we dont care about other peoples opinions about us

i can assure where am from in west london area somalis are doing great so many restaurants savannah example coffe shops internett shops and we even open huge mosques and community centres in london we are the most succesfull minortiy in terms of commerce and buiseness

we have more buisenesses then established minorities like jamaicans

infact we are the biggest single ethnciity employed in IT jobs in the city of london

@geeljire madaxweyne

Sxb, West London has experienced one of the biggest 'White flight' in London, even the shops in Acton Vale, West London look like those in Burco. The whole place looks like Rawalpindi with too many South Asians. Have yo given up on Somalis in other areas?

 

[Nin waalan]

@AussieHustler is on a mission to prove something I don’t know what it is quite yet... but it’s something

 

[AussieHustler]

@AussieHustler is on a mission to prove something I don’t know what it is quite yet... but it’s something

@Nin waalan

You are right, I've got a mission and my mission is to find answers to these questions that millions others are searching for answers too, if you know, please do share with us.

"Somalis (in Britain) fare much worse than other immigrants; what holds them back?

Most Somalis—Britain’s largest refugee population—do not work. They are among the poorest, worst-educated and least-employed in Britain. In a country where other refugees have flourished, why do Somalis do so badly?"

 

[madaxweyne]

@Nin waalan

You are right, I've got a mission and my mission is to find answers to these questions that millions others are searching for answers too, if you know, please do share with us.

"Somalis (in Britain) fare much worse than other immigrants; what holds them back?

Most Somalis—Britain’s largest refugee population—do not work. They are among the poorest, worst-educated and least-employed in Britain. In a country where other refugees have flourished, why do Somalis do so badly?"

aussie hustler these are all from racist news articles they used to all say the same thing for asians
jamaicans and carribeans before they started to pick on the somalis

the point is they dont like minorites

i live in england in london @AussieHustler you are not from this country we have many somali buisnesses here savannnah blue oceon somali buisness centres we even open up our own taxi servives
things have changed since the last decade

look at this jamaican talking about somali made buiesnesses and horn of african buiesnesses in london even jamaicans are jelous of us



we even hosted the former uk ambassador to somalia at savannah one of the biggest and best restaurants in london

somali buesnesses are everywhere


we are the most buisness minded community have a read through these
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-29185935

here it show the how somalis started making buinesesses since the early 90s and how london was the paris of somalis in europe in terms of buisnesses
Additionally, the number of Somali businesses in the UK is increasing, ranging from restaurants, remittance companies, hairdressing salons and travel agencies to, especially, internet cafés.

somalis even host an annual international somali awards in the uk, where we award the most succesfull somalis in the uk and i hope to be among them soon
https://www.internationalsomaliawards.com/

pictures from the international somali awards


@AussieHustler am tired of you spreading racist and fake news about somalis i live in the uk most populated somali areas we have the most buiseness we have the most shops corner shops etc

we even have huge mosques that are attended by minorities like indians and jamaicans i go their most of the time , i see jamaicans and indians even arabs attending somali made mosques we are booming in london

am tired of youre selfhating lies about our people we are very succesfull however we do have rotten apples amongst us

 

[TekNiKo]

@AussieHustler You should worry about the South Sudanese Gangs running wild in your country

 

[AussieHustler]

Guys

Do we Somalis have problems in Australia? Off course we do but they aren’t as worse as those in England and Canada where the Somali youth are hellbent in killing one another. Instead of a fake pride, why don’t you admit to your problems and instead of forcing these Somali parents to appeal
to the media for the police to guard and protect them from Somali youth do something about that issue?The most peaceful of reer London Somalis are those in the videos who waste their valuable time on Hyde park arguing, ‘are we Arabs or Somalis.’

Now, I’m officially a Fulani Nigerian, please address me as such. I’m no longer a Somali. Finito.