Somali Pirates: An alternative perspective

Over recent months, much attention has been given to the almost surreal resurgence of piracy on the high seas, particularly off the coast of Somalia. Most articles have roundly condemned these pirates, but some have taken an alternative view of their actions - condemning the act of hostage-taking, but recognising the validity of the pirates' motivations and local popularity.

Johann Hari from the Centre for Research on Globalization sums up this alternative perspective in this article, in which he argues that Somalis have resorted to piracy in response to international exploitation and extreme domestic need:

In 1991, the government of Somalia collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since - and many of the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country's food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas.

Everyone agrees they were ordinary Somalian fishermen who at first took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least wage a 'tax' on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia - and it's not hard to see why. In a surreal telephone interview, one of the pirate leaders, Sugule Ali, said their motive was "to stop illegal fishing and dumping in our waters... We don't consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits [to be] those who illegally fish and dump in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas."

Its the classic 'one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter' senario, but certainly the evidence does seem to suggest that the developed world has been taking advantage of the instability in Somalia to further its own interests.

One possible solution to the ongoing problem of piracy, poverty and exploitation in the Horn of Africa would be to establish one of Paul Romer's Charter Cities in Somalia. If we assume that piracy is partly an expression of misappropriated capitalist ambition (as this satirical game from Wired.com argues), then we know that Somalis have the necessary drive to make a go of the more constructive opportunities for change that a Charter City offers. After all, many successful modern cities have their origins in illegal activities and investments, including London and Las Vegas.

One primary goal of Charter Cities is to alleviate poverty through creating opportunities for native innovation and organic development. Surely, few countries need to reduce poverty and instability more than Somalia. An additional ramification of such a development would be the reduction in the flow of Somali migrants and asylum seekers into Western states, thereby lightening the burden placed on Western welfare systems.

Finally, a Somali Charter City (in partnership with whichever developed nation) would likely have greater potential to stop foreign nations from exploiting Somali waters and therefore correct the fundamental complaint of the pirates.

Sounds like a no-brainer to me. Clearly, the issue of political instability elsewhere in the country would be a problem, but if we think of the charter city like the Foundation from the Asimov series of the same name - an isolated bastion of stability and innovation created to develop and share life-changing alternatives with its underdeveloped neighbours - then the potential for positive change must surely outweigh the threat of instability.