Pirates of Somalia

When I think of pirates I think of the guy in the picture above. I’ve always thought that a pirate is white, has one good arm and the other arm has a hook attached to it, a patch over the right eye and a talking parakeet on his shoulders. Whoever knew that pirates were black African men?


We’ve all heard about the pirates taking over the American ship last week. I could not believe that the pirates took the Caption hostage and threaten his life. CNN kept me informed about the progress of the situation and I was relieved when they announced that they were sending a Navy ship over to assist in the situation. I felt like a true American, yeah that’s how we roll….we go get our people.

The media presented the pirates as terrorist and after 911 anything associated with terrorism have Americans ready to ride or die. Like many of you I never thought to ask why the Somalis keep hijacking ships. Sadly, it didn’t even cross my mind. But lucky for me I know a beautiful, insightful and intelligent young lady name Nyankor (Nya) Matthew.

Nya is a native of Liberia and helps me and many other African Americans stay informed on what is occurring in Africa. Because of her personal experience and knowledge of the continent she can provide a view from the perspective of the Somali pirates. Please take a moment to visit her web page and read her thoughts on piracy http://www.liberianforum.com/Articles/Somali-Pirates.html?ac=0


Did you know….

According to documents obtained by The Times, nearly two-thirds of Somalia was allocated to the American oil giants Conoco, Amoco, Chevron and Phillips in the final years before Somalia's pro-U.S. President Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown and the nation plunged into chaos in January, 1991. Industry sources said the companies holding the rights to the most promising concessions were hoping that the Bush Administration's decision to send U.S. troops to safeguard aid shipments to Somalia will also help protect their multimillion-dollar investments there.

Many nations are committing piracy against Somali by illegally fishing in their waters. Europe, France, Spain, Greece, UK, and Norway has participated in massive illegal foreign fishing piracy that has been poaching and destroying Somali marine resources for the last 18 years following the collapse of the Somali regime in 1991.


European and some Asian companies have taken advantage of that anarchy to turn the Somalia coast into a toxic dump. These countries have been dumping nuclear and radioactive toxic waste on the shores of Somalia. It appears that most of the dumping is connected to the Italian mafia, which has found that it costs only $2.50 a ton to dispose of toxic waste of the coast of Somalia instead of $250 a ton at legal European dumps


The media would have us believe that these pirates or just as horrible as Osama Bin Laden. But most of these pirates are fisherman attempting to keep the waterways from being illegally fished and other countries from dumping their crap on the shores.

Of course there are some that are purely out for the money, but without a government what are the people to do? We must take most of the news coverage with a grain of salt, our thinking caps must be on at all times. It’s sad but in the United States we are spoon fed bullshit. We are so under read, undereducated, and unconnected to the rest of the world, this allows our media to bend our minds and tell us their perspective of the news.