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Mohamed Ali Arkow Thursday, July 14, 2016 In my attempt to shed light on the untenable situation of the Somali intellectual, I’m not going to delve into a discussion about the meaning of the word Intellectual. Philosopher Jean Amery tried to define it before he took his life, and Dr. Primo Levi tried to add something to Jean Amery’s definition. Levi himself committed suicide years later. They were both haunted by demons that followed them from concentration camps in Poland. An intellectual is not necessarily a university graduate. The founders of the Somali Youth League (SYL) were intellectuals. They definitely fit Goran Hyden’s definition as they were men “—with defined system of values and the capacity to command influence of the general trends in society by mastering oral or written means of persuasion”. However, my discussion is focused on the Somali men and women who have earned a university degree and their role in the NATION BUILDING PROJECT. Very few of this educated