Sudanese refugee camp in Chad, May 2023. Photo: Henry Wilkins/VOA, public domain

How indifferent seem many of the world’s powers, big and small, to the tragedy of Sudan, where starvation threatens millions. The horrendous reality of Sudan, where tens of thousands have died, is well-known:

SUDAN’S DEADLY REALITY

• Genocide threatens the Darfur region.
• Sudan has the largest displacement of people in the world, according to the UN. Over 10 million people have been forced to flee their homes since warfare broke out in April 2023.
• Famine stalks the land: the UN estimates that 26 million people, slightly more than half of the population in Sudan, are facing high levels of “acute food insecurity,” meaning they are threatened by death from starvation—most of them are women and children. More than 220,000 children could die in the coming months alone, the UN says. An estimated 755,000 people face catastrophe in 10 states, including the five states of Greater Darfur as well as South and North Kordofan, Blue Nile, Al Jazirah, and Khartoum states. That means that 8.5 million people (18% of the population) face emergency
• Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have become refugees in surrounding countries: Chad, 781,000; Egypt, 541,000; South Sudan, 699,000; Ethiopia, 133,000; and tens of thousands more in Central African Republic and Libya.

CAPITALIST INTERESTS EXACERBATE TRAGEDY

Some reports call what is happening in Sudan a civil war. But in truth it is a war on the Sudanese people by two generals fighting each other. Now, as outsiders are moving in, The New York Times reports:

“Fueling the chaos, Sudan has become a playground for foreign players like the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Russia and its Wagner mercenaries, and even a few Ukrainian special forces. They are all part of a volatile stew of outside interests pouring weapons or fighters into the conflict and hoping to grab the spoils of war—Sudan’s gold, for instance, or its perch on the Red Sea.”

Sudan’s masses, who began a revolutionary process in 2018, must not be forgotten for they have not forgotten the revolutionary movement they created. Rabab Elnaiem is a feminist Sudanese activist, labor organizer and former spokesperson for the Sudanese Workers Alliance for the Restoration of Trade Unions (SWARTU). Speaking to the Middle East Research and Information Project, she discussed the hopes and ideas of the resistance:

“We can build, we can always build and continue to struggle for a free Sudan/Palestine/Congo and all marginalized people. I want to reflect a bit on the question of building… My pessimism comes from the realization that there is no one magical way to build. Instead of searching for a magical solution, we should be consumed by the question of what we want to build. Looking at the revolutionary slogan, ‘Freedom, Peace and Justice,’ I think of Marx defining the realm of freedom as beginning ‘where labor which is determined by necessity and mundane considerations ceases.’ This draws a direct link between freedom and the conditions of labor and production. I can’t even begin to answer, but I know we will have to tackle questions about organizing the informal sector in order to build…

“This [the ongoing war] is really counter-revolution at its logical conclusion. Like the soft landing, the war is meant to reset Sudan. The result could be the disintegration of the social, political and economic fabric of the country and the removal of the political will of the people. We resist by taking part in the hard exercise of thinking critically about the war and how we stop it. Stopping this war (and future wars) is a result and not an action in itself, a result of us creating the conditions for the people of Sudan to live, produce and reproduce cooperatively.”

The Sudanese people deserve the world’s attention and humanitarian aid, as well as assistance in carrying out their social transformation. Whether the two warring generals know it or not, the revolution continues.