Oozing sarcasm, I’ve asked whether Germany, Nigeria, Mexico, and Argentina are libertarian paradises.
But, according to this satirical video that I first shared ten years ago, there’s a real libertarian paradise in Somalia.
I will admit this is a very clever video. The cholera comment at the end was especially amusing (reminded me of the Ron Paul breakfast cereal).
Indeed, the video was one of the first selections for my libertarian humor page.
But is it true that Somalia is actually some sort of free-market paradise?
Have the warlords turned the Horn of Africa to a new version of what Hong Kong used to be?
That’s one of the implications of a recent report in the New York Times.
Authored by Jeffrey Gettleman, it paints a picture of a society that – if nothing else – is very resistant to taxes and organized government.
Here are some of the most relevant excerpts from his article.
A whole class of opportunists…have been feeding off the anarchy in Somalia for so long that they refuse to let go. …They do not pay taxes, their businesses are totally unregulated… They are attacking government troops… And they are surprisingly open about it. Omar Hussein Ahmed, an olive oil exporter in Mogadishu, the capital, said he and a group of fellow traders recently bought missiles to shoot at government soldiers. “Taxes are annoying,” he explained. Maxamuud Nuur Muradeeste, a squatter landlord…will do whatever it takes, he said, to thwart the government’s plan to reclaim thousands of pieces of public property. “If this government survives, how will I?” Mr. Muradeeste said. …opportunists sense that this transitional government, more than any other, poses the biggest threat yet to the gravy days of anarchy.
Interestingly, the article actually acknowledges that people did figure out how to make a lot of things work without any centralized authority.
…when the central government imploded in 1991, people quickly devised ways to fend for themselves. Businessmen opened their own hospitals, schools, telephone companies and even privatized mail services. …Business leaders then backed a grass-roots Islamist movement that drove the warlords out of Mogadishu… They delivered stability, which was good for most business, but they did not confiscate property or levy heavy taxes. They called themselves an administration, not a government. “Our best days were under them,” said Abdi Ali Jama, who owns an electrical supply shop in Mogadishu.
But does any of this make Somalia a libertarian paradise?
Not exactly. Because of a lack of data, Somalia does not receive a grade from either Economic Freedom of the World or the Human Freedom Index.
And Somalia also doesn’t get an official grade from the Index of Economic Freedom.
But there are some partial scores showing that Somalia is very bad on the rule of law.
And we also see a failing grade for “business freedom.”
The bottom line is Somalia is nowhere close to being a libertarian society. The best thing that can be said is that entrepreneurs try to figure out how to meet human needs and earn profits even in the worst of circumstances.
P.S. The NYT article mentioned that Mr. Ahmed bought missiles to deter tax collectors. Even I think that’s going too far, but he does belong with the other “great moments in tax avoidance” that I have cited (see here, here, and here).
———
Image credit: Kurious | Pixabay License.
