January 29, 2024 - 6:25pm
Ilhan Omar has a reputation as one of the most progressive politicians in the United States. She is a prominent member of “the Squad”, the most Left-wing faction in the US Congress, and is especially vocal when it comes to foreign policy. Yet she recently gave a speech in which she sounded less like a bleeding-heart progressive and more like a full-blooded ethno-nationalist.
While addressing a Somali American crowd in a Minneapolis hotel in her native tongue, Omar proudly spoke of how “we, as Somalians […] are brothers and sisters, people of the same blood.” After taking a swipe at those who “claim to be Somalis” — referring to the semi-autonomous breakaway territory of Somaliland — for signing an agreement with Ethiopia on sea access, Omar assured her audience that she will “protect the interests of Somalia [and Somalis] from inside the US system”. As one of the community’s “daughters”, she is in the US Congress to make sure this is the case.
Right-wing commentators expressed their outrage at Omar for apparent “disloyalty”. That she was elected to represent her district in Minnesota in Congress, not the interests of the Somali ethnic group who form only a small part of her constituency, adds fuel to their claims. But this “long-distance nationalism”, as Benedict Anderson termed it, isn’t unprecedented. America is known for having a plethora of ethnic lobbies attempting to shape US foreign policy for the benefit of a particular country of ancestral origin. The Irish American diaspora has made notable efforts to lobby the US government to support the cause of Irish unification. Most of the time this isn’t threatening, but if it becomes politically influential — even affecting foreign policy — these old prejudices can become rather toxic.
Ilhan Omar, an American congresswoman, tells Somalians that she is Somalian first, Muslim second, and… [no, American wasn’t even mentioned].
Oh, and she says that her primary job in Congress is to protect Somali interests. pic.twitter.com/ex5IlkAkR2
— Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 (@MarinaMedvin) January 28, 2024
What was ironic about Omar’s speech, however, is that if a Zionist at an Aipac meeting were speaking in those terms about Israel (for example, Donald Trump saying to a meeting of American Jews that Benjamin Netanyahu was “their” prime minister) she would lambast them. But the terms Omar used to describe how Somali Americans should band together and fight for their interests in the American political arena seem reminiscent of the Israel lobby and its real and imagined effectiveness in advancing its interests.
It shouldn’t be surprising that immigrants can be shamelessly nationalistic about their homeland, have intense pride in their identity and history and not quite shake off long-held ethnic grievances. It’s why someone like Dua Lipa can be an Albanian irredentist — or why German Turks tend to vote for the Social Democrats in German national elections, but when the Turkish elections come around many vote for Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s conservative Islamic party, the AKP.
This may sound like a paradox, but there is a rationality to it. For ethnic minorities in a Western country, it’s usually the Left-liberal or social democratic party that will try the hardest to garner their vote, even if they aren’t particularly liberal in outlook. Meanwhile, the Right-wing parties are often regarded as, ironically, not conservative enough or too hostile because of racism. So they have more to potentially gain from voting for the centre-left party even if they’re not particularly progressive socially and politically.
Of course, ethnic groups are not hive minds. There are wide variations of politics and social views within them. Many American Jews have long been discontented with groups such as Aipac and their links with Netanyahu. Likewise, many Somali Americans aren’t irredentists, nor do they think in terms of narrow clan allegiances. This is why it is increasingly important to have a political vision of politics which isn’t based on ethnic lobbying or communalism, especially in a multi-ethnic democracy. Omar would be wise to tread more carefully in future.
Ralph Leonard is a British-Nigerian writer on international politics, religion, culture and humanism.
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SubscribeIlhan Omar comes from a part of the world that is deeply tribal. If she is unable to shake off those old prejudices then she really has no business being in U.S. politics.
The real issue here is that people voted for her; or rather, voted for the party she represents. Her inability to represent those voters in any way meaningful to being a US citizen is due to their political blindness.
This is not a political blindness, this is DEI in action
Would you also criticise a Jewish American politician who says they’ll defend Israeli interests, or one claiming Irish ancestry sticking their nose in about Northern Ireland?
You can’t compare that and you know it. Israeli interests are very much shaped liked American interests, whereas Somalis still live in a state of medieval warlordism. Their contribution to humankind as a whole is zero. You could argue that the democrats are increasingly behaving like medieval warlords, but that is only a tiny fraction of democrats and they are not going to get away with it.
My dream would be for RFK to win the next election, to rally reasonable democrats around him and to let woke DEI bureaucrats and globalist warlords be all that is left of the democratic party so that the entire world can see what pathetic frauds they really are.
Their contribution to humankind as a whole is zero
To be fair Mo Farah has been a net plus but other than that I’m struggling……..
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, that makes two.
So politicians promoting foreign interests is fine, as long as it’s the “correct” one?
The woke and the online right really are as hypocritical as each other
Standing in favor of free speech and peace frequently involves taking a position on a foreign/international question. So yes, there are “correct” foreign interests.
Its clearly a question you are struggling with, so…?
There’s a fine line there to be sure, but such advocacy is usually dissuaded and should be avoided.
It depends. If Jewish American politician is a democrat, he is a dangerous short term solution.
Additionally, she was chosen as a virtue signaling, same phenomenon as Obama as President – that’s what I meant about her.
Are you satisfied?
Mix that in with the ”religion of love” she swears to and you have a real loyalty problem.
I would take it a step further and say that she has no business being in the U.S.
I wrote something similar but my comment is on hold ‘waiting for approval’. Censorship doesn’t help anyone.
She really has no business being in the US
And where 99.2% of the women have their clitorises cut off.
Ilham’s father was one the junta of Siad Barre , the notorious dictator of Somalia who commit genocide against the people of Somaliland so she knows what she is talking, she has Machiavelli ideology of hate and she has also alshabab, the other notorious terrorist group of somalia,based in Puntland, where she flew last time. America Machiavelli people are in the congress WAKE UP.
sometimes it seems that support of western nation states has been delegitimized in favour of support of a vague globalist universalim (which is impossible and so inevitably just cleaves to more disparate forms of tribalism)
It is the logical end point of Western asymmetric multiculturalism. Omar’s ethno-nationalism is tolerated because she is part of a minority, and her views have no direct bearing on the governance of the US. The ethno-nationalism of a white American would be treated very differently.
Agree 100%. White American and white European must find the historically relevant words to express their views with rationale mind not a hateful mind which is unproductive.
Id have to file this one under ordinary political behaviour. Of course she is going to promise her brethern she will do what she can. The funny thing really is watching the democrat party assume that ” black” is s single political constituency or demographic group. The children of African immigrants who came to the country to build a better life are just a totally different group from the African Americans who have been a part of tje American social fabric for many generations and who who just keep getting the rawest deal going and are now probably suffering the most from the wave of immigrants that “progressives” seem to defend and encourage as far as feasibly possible. We all need to sharpen our political lens of we are going to negotiate and alleviate the fractures in society going forward
Don’t take Omar’s words at face value. She is struggling to maintain support amongst Somalis due to her other views.
Ilhan Omar Booed at Somali Music Event in Minneapolis (newsweek.com)
Irrespective of whether you like Omar’s politics, responding to an articulate person’s mission statement with “oh, she didn’t like really mean that” is naive, foolish and can be quite dangerous.
Part grifting narcissist *****
She is an attractive young woman but with her family background and current politics, she is a disastrous individual to have in the American political system.
Attractive? Not everything is physical; Her personality and demeanor are very off putting to say the least. We’re talking ‘pit viper’ here.
Import the third world, get third world politics etc. there’s a reason the third world is a sh@thole. and it isnt colonialism.
Omar really ought to resign her Congressional seat and run for office in Somalia which needs her ‘talents’. The USA doesn’t need malcontents and even traitors.
In Somalia women/Trans/LGBTQ do not have equal rights.
Is she defending that?
The relationship between immigrants and the Democratic party was always transactional, occasionally directly so, with democrats paying for votes. More often, it took the form of free alcohol, food, bus rides to polling stations, and such. Rarely if ever did the national party ever give immigrants any serious political concessions, just a vague sense of advocacy. Keep in mind this is the same Democratic party that dominated the south in the heyday of Jim Crow. It wasn’t until after the Civil Righs movement that the modern party started to form. Identity politics is in some ways a fusion of the Democratic civil rights party split taken by Kennedy/Johnson and the traditional though usually facile appeals to immigrants. This is another Americanism that makes more sense in historical context. The problem isn’t that Ilhan Omar is a Somali or advocates for immigrant issues or a particular community of immigrants. That’s pretty common here in the major urban centers and is not new by any means. The problem is she’s a deluded progressive zealot who advocates for a bunch of nonsense in addition to all that and is supporting a party that is driven by a corporatist establishment that is bad for everyone.
In Somalia many groups do not have equal rights.
No one actually believes that Omar loves or is grateful to this country. People like her make me believe that all immigration should be halted except for those who assist us in conflict and even then they should be barred from standing in elections. Immigration has not been a benefit overall.