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Sudan
Provides a well informed summary of the context and nature of the October military coup.
See also: 'Sudan: Coup de Grace', The Economist, 27 November 2021, p. 55.
This analysis of the coup leaders' decision to reinstate Prime Minister Hamdok interprets this move as' the army tightening its grip on Sudan's political transition.
In this article (partially adapted from an interview in Marxist Left Review 19, but rewritten and updated) Achcar begins by situating 2011 within a global crisis of the neoliberal stage of capitalism. He also notes the specific features of the region, and comments on the defeat of the workers' movement and the left in Egypt, and then turns to prospects in Algeria. Sudan, Lebanon and Iraq.
Achcar, a professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, assesses the prospects for a successful outcome in Sudan, and notes the parallels with the earlier uprising in Eygpt and the 2019 movement in Algeria. He also comments on the deteriorating economic situation and the added problems created by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. But the outcome of the revolution depends largely on the very varied social and ideological groupings that fostered the revolution, and their present relationship with long established political forces. Achar provides an illuminating analysis. He also examines the different tendencies within the armed forces, whose role is crucial.
A brief overview of the factors that led to the revolution in April 2019 and the toppling of Omar al-Bashir.
This article starts by suggesting the popular resistance in Sudan led the military to make a deal with the civilian politicians they had jailed, but on terms ensuring military control. It also notes the refusal by the resistance committees that led the 2019 revolution to accept power sharing. Muzan traces the evolution from the 2019 revolution to the coup, stressing that political parties had been dominant in the transition civilian government. He also comments on the economic problems, including very high inflation, which had led to popular unrest, which might have encouraged the coup plotters.
Arman surveys the social composition of the revolutionary nonviolent mass movement, seen as more inclusive than the previous uprisings since independence in 1956. In 2019 both rural and urban areas, students and professionals, political parties and civil society groups, as well as social activists engaged in resisting dams or land grabs or and other causes, joined in. The participation of some Islamists from both older and younger generations is significant. Arman also stresses the greater role played by women, and suggests that the movement's discourse - embracing diversity, equal citizenship and anti-racism - could provide a new discourse for nation-building.
See also: Akashra, Yosra ‘Killing a student is killing a nation’, OpenDemocracy, 22 April 2016.
Explores how Sudanese universities have become the only space left to exercise freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
See also: Hale, Sondra, ‘Sudanese feminists, civil society, and the Islamist military’, OpenDemocracy, 12 February 2015.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/sudanese-feminists-civil-society-and-islamist-military/
Investigates the impact of NGOs and civil society participation of progressive women in Sudan in representing women and youth.
Detailed account of the Sudanese women activists who supported the revolution and contributed to ousting Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.
See also: Awad, Nazik, ‘Women’s stories from the frontline of Sudan’s revolution must be told’, OpenDemocracy, 20 March 2019.
Provides background on socio-economic conditions in Sudan and highlights women's leading role in the revolution. Includes a direct link to #SudanUprising which is relevant to understanding how the discourse about the revolution developed on social media.
Blog based on contribution to panel on 'Prospects for Democracy in Sudan' at LSE, 11 October 2019. Berridge compares the 2019 revolution with the 1964 and 1985 uprisings in Sudan, and assesses their failures to establish a long term democracy in the country.
See also: Berridge, W.J., '50 years on: Remembering Sudan's October Revolution', African Arguments, 20 0ctober 2014, pp. 16.
https://africanarguments.org/2014/10/20/50-years-on-remembering-sudans-october-revolution-by-willow-berridge/
Berridge notes Sudan's status as 'a gateway between the Arab and African worlds', which means it is often overlooked in discussion of Arab civilian uprisings overthrowing military autocracies. But long before the 'Arab Spring' of 2011, the October 1964 revolution overthrew a military dictator and brought in four years of parliamentary democracy. The article suggests that Sudan did not join in the 2011 uprisings partly because the regime had learned lessons from 1964 and 1985. It also explores the changes in opposition politics since the 1960s such as the new role of regional rebel movements, the mixed legacy of 1964, and the problems of creating a democracy after a revolution.
See also: Berridge, W.J, Civil Uprising in Modern Sudan: The 'Khartoum Springs' of 1964 and 1985, London, Bloomsbury Academic, 2016, pp. 304 (pb).
See also: Hasan, Yusuf Fadl, 'The Sudanese Revolution of October 1964', The Journal of Modern African Studies, vol. 5, no. 4, December 1967, pp. 491-509. Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2008. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X00016372
Study by Sudanese historian of the first revolution after Sudan became an independent state.
Covers the early days of the April 2019 revolution and the role of the Sudanese Professionals Association. Organizer of many of the protests, in negotiations with the military. Reprinted in Guardian Weekly, 19 April 2019, pp.10-12
This is an informative article about the reasons for the Prime Minister's decision to accept the deal offered by the military a month after their October 2021 coup, and the terms of the agreement. Collins also notes the responses of political parties and the organized resistance on the streets. He notes that Russia was building a military base in ort Sudan and did not condemn the coup, and considers how far the Egyptian government might have prompted the coup.
Copnall notes that the revolt against President Omar-al-Bash ir is not the first in Sudan's history, but it is the first since Africa's former largest country split in two, when South Sudan became independent in 2011. He summarizes the events leading to the fall of Bashir. He also discusses the long term tensions between the Arab Islamist northern elite, who dominated politics, and the great variety of African peoples and cultures, a conflict revealed by the bloody suppression of unrest in Darfur from 2003.
Elhassan regularly uses her social media platform to raise awareness of social and political conditions in Sudan. She became well known after the December 2018 protests led to the demand for Bashir to be deposed.
See Elhassan, Sara, ‘Revolution in Sudan: on the verge of civilian rule?’, Afropunk, 12 July 2019, available at https://afropunk.com/2019/07/revolution-in-sudan-on-the-verge-of-civilian-rule/
This article argues that the movement that led to the imprisonment of Bashir can only be properly understood in terms of the grassroots struggle that defined it. Elnaiem also argues that it was a multi-layered struggle and discusses the composition of the broader resistance and the historical legacy it built upon, as well as the obstacles to further progress.
See also: Elnaiem, Mohammed, (2019) ‘Sudan’s uprising a ‘people revolution’, Green Left Weekly, Issue 1209, pp. 14-15.
See also: de Waal, Alex, ‘What’s Next for Sudan’s Revolution’, Foreign Affairs, 23 April 2019.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/sudan/2019-04-23/whats-next-sudans-revolution
Analyses the Sudanese revolution with an emphasis on its non-violent forms of resistance.
Dr Fahmi outlines the early months of protest in both Sudan and Algeria, and discusses parallels with 2011 in terms of being 'nationwide, sustained over time, political in nature and interconnected', with the movements encouraging each other.
Grimm compares the rising in Sudan, Algeria, Iraq and Lebanon with 2011, whilst also indicating why these countries were not part of the 2011 wave of movements. He also suggests lessons learned from 2011 and considers what the European response should be.
Malik examines the 30 years of Bashir's dictatorial rule and comments on the lack of civil society leaders able to install a democratically elected government.
The authors argue that the movements in Algeria and Sudan are part of a wider trend across Africa, where since 2000 most popular uprisings have been unarmed.
Outlines the events that led to the overthrow of Bashir in 2019 and links them to the legacy of civil unrest, which overthrew two previous military dictatorships in 1964 and 1985.
See also: Abbas, Reem, ‘Sudan’s Unfinished Revolution: The Dictator Is Gone, but the Fight Continues’, The Nation, 26 April 2019. https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/sudan-revolution-bashir/
This chapter examines how aspects of the Bashir regime's policy of Islamisation, control over women's bodies and concepts of morality and respectability, prompted Sudanese women's activism after 1989. It also explores how the political context has influenced space for activism, and the changing discourse about women's activism arising from the #FallThatIsAll movement.
See also: Gorani, Amel, ‘Sudanese women demand justice’, OpenDemocracy, 20 May 2011.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/sudanese-women-demand-justice/
Amel Gorani reports the systematic use of sexual violence, torture, cruel and degrading treatment as one of the major security threats and tools of repression targeting women and communities all over Sudan.
See also: Bakhit, Rawa Gafar, ‘Women in #SudanRevolts: heritage of civil resistance’, OpenDemocracy, 19 July 2012
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/women-in-sudanrevolts-heritage-of-civil-resistance/
Explores how women have been active in the Sudanese civil resistance and non-violent protests
The authors look back to 2011 and the varied outcomes in four different contexts which shaped the possibility of and the reactions to mass protest. These are: the Maghreb (Tunisia and Morocco); Egypt; the Levant (Syria and Iraq) - states created out of the Ottoman Empire and then dominated by the colonial powers Britain and France; and the Gulf Arab monarchies. They then discuss 'whither the second wave?' in relation to Sudan, Algeria, Labanon and Iraq and draw some provisional conclusions.
Provides an overview of the Sudanese revolution and developments in 2020, but also illustrates the great variety of women involved in the protests and their different styles of politics (political parties, unionism, resistance committees, climate activism) through brief biographical sketches. The authors also interviewed a Nubian woman who had sent evidence of war crimes to Amnesty International and the International Criminal Court and a mechanic who finds protection in wearing men’s clothing.
An early book on the second wave of popular rebellions in North Africa and the Middle East, with chapters on Algeria, Sudan, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq, bringing out similarities and differences between the movements.
Achcar comments on the Algerian and Sudan uprisings, lessons learned from 2011-13, the role of regional and imperial powers, and the role of the international left in relation to Sudan.
This interview with Joseph Tucker provides an immediate analysis of the October military coup, noting that steps had had been taken towards it over several months. The analysis also considers the regional and international context of the October 2021 coup and how the protests against military rule might develop.
This article explains how abortion is understood within Sudan’s Islamist state, where it is politicized through its association with illegal pregnancy. It also the silent disobedience of Sudanese doctors for the purpose of protecting women’s reproductive rights. While abortion is not discussed in the domestic political debate on women’s reproductive and maternal health, and is not on the agenda of the national women’s movement, it has become politicized in the implementation of the law. A number of bureaucratic barriers, in addition to a strong police presence outside maternity wards in public hospitals, make it difficult for unmarried women to access emergency care after complications of an illegal abortion. However, many doctors, honouring the Hippocratic oath, disobey state policy, and refrain from reporting such ‘crimes’ to the police, to protect unmarried and vulnerable women from prosecution.
The authors argue that whilst Sudanese women were at the forefront of the uprising under the banner 'freedom, peace and justice', they were only marginally represented in the negotiations after Bashir's fall. They have also been sidelined in the process of creating a transitional government, though continuing to claim their right to be represented. This report focuses on the 'patriarchal mentality behind and composition of the negotiations' and Sudanese women's demands.
This is a political analysis of the possible ramifications of the Sudanese revolution across the Horn of Africa.
Features brief but interesting comments by three scholarly experts on the Middle East on parallels and differences with 2011 and the implications of Algeria, Sudan, Iraq and the Lebanon being at the forefront in 2019.
Zunes, a well known theorist of civil resistance and Middle East expert, interviewed activists and civil society groups involved in the movement to overthrow Omar as-Bashir to produce this study. He also interviewed journalists and academics who covered the movement.
A Guide to Civil Resistance
Volume One
Volume Two
The online version of Vol. 1 of the bibliography was made possible due to the generous support of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC). ICNC is an independent, non-profit educational foundation that develops and encourages the study and use of civilian-based, nonmilitary strategies aimed at establishing and defending human rights, democratic self-rule and justice worldwide.
For more information about ICNC, please see their website.
The online version of Vol. 2 of the bibliography was made possible due to the generous support of The Network for Social Change. The Network for Social Change is a group of individuals providing funding for progressive social change, particularly in the areas of justice, peace and the environment.
For more information about The Network for Social Change, please visit their website.
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