Pushkin and Somalia

Last night there were lectures at the AEC about Pushkin and Somalia.

The lecture on Pushkin was more an overview of the times he lived in. It covered the intellectual climate of the time and what the political situation was. The lecturer admitted he is not a literature critic and is not familiar with everything Pushkin wrote.

Pushkin was not a great thinker nor did he create any grand philosophical ideas. However, his use of language was exceptional and he brought original ideas into poetry. Pushkin is also known to have written naughty texts which were popular among gentlemen. But these are not popular these days as Pushkin has a special place among the giants of literature and naughty texts do not fit into this image.

Pushkin got into trouble because of his womanizing and he was not popular with the powers that be. He was not allowed to travel outside Russia. However, Pushkin was not against a strong central government and he was skeptical of liberal ideas which were popular in Western Europe. He certainly was no dissident.

After the above lecture there was the third lecture on Somalia. This time the lecturer covered the period after 1960.

Like many parts of Africa, Somalia was the scene of Cold War action. It was the usual story of both superpowers supplying an unlimited amount of weapons to the area.
Then in the early 1990s the proverbial manure really hit the fan with the well-known consequences. Of the neighboring countries Ethiopia has been the keenest to get involved in the internal affairs of Somalia. The lecturer was optimistic that the current political developments might yield positive results. In his opinion at least some advancement in the political sphere is better than nothing at all.

Because of the civil war there is no functioning central government in Somalia. This has been a great opportunity for the private sector. Apparently it is easy to get a telephone line in a house and there is good internet coverage in the country. There are TV-channels and newspapers. If one has the financial means one can choose an airline from the fifteen available and do some traveling.

Among the audience there was one eager civil servant from the Finnish Immigration Service who wanted to impress others with his knowledge of Somalia. He had these long monologues which were focused on the topic but he wasn’t the main speaker. Why couldn’t he just wait until the lecture ends and then have a conversation with the lecturer? But no, he had to have his moment in the spotlight.