Sudan: A Struggle Marked by Hunger… and Miserable Alternatives
Everything in Sudan has changed, yet there are no longer any unifying visions embracing the
full spectrum of society. Genuine political models, developmental renaissance, or economic
breakthroughs have vanished. What remains are recurrent violence, ethnic conflicts, regional
wars, exclusion, arrogance, oppression of the other, state terrorism, deep-seated resentment,
hunger, human rights violations, brutality, intimidation, marginalization, and diminishment.
All past eras have been mired in stagnation and perpetual quagmire. The national compass no
longer heeds a unified geographic direction; rather, it is overwhelmed by the chaotic,
fractured monolithic mindset embedded within Sudan’s own complex fabric—driven by
instinctive desires for control, a dense political memory, regional bankruptcies, ideological
fragmentation, and relentless poverty. These are the components of the current frustrations
that have brutally and blatantly disoriented the nation.
Sudanese politics now resemble an offshoot of primitive mythology, fantasy, and rampant
illusion. The once corrective vision is no longer appealing or compelling; clinging to it is
repugnant and alienating. The moral compass of the state is in constant turmoil—wavering,
crumbling, and frail. The epistemology of the current reality swings between ideological
rigidity and shallow, biased, regionalist interpretations of Sudanese identity—often selectively
deployed and diagnosed with the same authoritarian and all-encompassing lens that critiques
moral reasoning, all while insisting the nation is healed. This is an exposed, blatant
contradiction whose deceptive rhetoric no longer fools anyone—especially after the
intellectual gagging lifted and the margins and peripheries ceased to be exploited for endless
chants.
Hence, the paths forward must be calibrated according to a collective understanding of the
true meaning of the homeland, with explicit recognition of the country’s unique identity and
citizenship as a right—not a bestowed favor. The old crooked paths and the headlong rush
under the guise of tribal collectives to reap greater failures and drag Sudan into the tedious
cycle of taboo and civilizational regression no longer serve any purpose. Everyone dreams,
just as the politicians have accustomed us to weeping in the name of the homeland with
pitiful, melancholic hymns, retreating backwards while searching for new leadership at every
feast—where the marginalized feed on leftovers, walking alongside the ruler, drifting from
their course, hoarding sorrows and tears, only to end up starving at the gates of the privileged,
dismounting to seek a lost identity and stolen rights.
No longer are the people in my homeland a herd blindly led. The era of closed ceilings, tight
fences, and red lines is over. To claim one’s rights, there is no red line, no tribal custom, nor
any glory for the ruler. A new awareness must arise. A new birth of serious, novel concepts is
necessary to contribute to building the new Sudanese reality—grounded on the principle of
citizenship, denouncing the past political experience marked by military rule and
totalitarianism, and seeking logical, objective, and inclusive alternatives that restore rights to
all and reform tribal and sectarian democratic practices.
Clinging to regional declines and ethnic pitfalls as defining features of the general Sudanese
fabric will lead us into the trap of quota politics and the hoarding of opportunities in the name
of tribe, blood, and ethnicity—among other grotesque manifestations of collective violence
and barbarism. Yet, despite their harshness and sometimes dreadful consequences, these
realities do not negate the importance of uniqueness as an alternative to isolation. Partnership
is a demand for all, and pride in one’s heritage is not a flaw. Rather, the soil in which it grows
is a challenging test.
There must be a critical review of the political behavioral culture among politicians, educators
of liberating thought, and theorists of discarding the old—guided by an understanding of
correcting history and rewriting it without depriving anyone of their alphabet of existence,
rights, struggle, glory, legacy, and belief in the cultural, social, religious, intellectual, and
other distinctive traits of the Sudanese identity as it ought to be.
However, if the politicians, the privileged, and those suckled secretly and openly from the
very essence of this land insist on their ways, the task will become exceedingly difficult. If we
reflect on Sudan’s specific conditions and complexities, we find that seeking a national
collective role within the confines of a tribe or a single party is futile. Creating islands and
cantons of minorities or majorities only confuses the situation and complicates the
understanding of the scene. Diversity and plurality must be the prevailing principle.
