On April 6, 2019, the 23rd anniversary of the most important revolution in modern Sudanese history, the people of Sudan marched to the General Army Headquarters (also known as Al Qiyada) in Khartoum to exercise their right to peacefully protest 30 decades of pain, persecution, and poverty, under Omar Al Bashir’s rule. They formed the sit-in that would eventually topple not one, but two leaders, in the span of 48 hours…but this was not the sit-in’s greatest accomplishment.
The sit-in was a space of magic, healing, love, and community. Within the sit-in’s parameters, the Sudanese people imagined and created a microcosm of the world they knew they deserved — a world where the lines of division blurred, a world where care became the antidote to violence (as Saidiya Hartman would say), a world where art was honored, and a world where joy felt endless. Millions of Sudanese people traveled by foot, car, and train, for hours to visit this sacred space. The sit-in became the living embodiment of the Sudanese people’s dreams.
But in the early hours of the final day of the holy month of Ramadan, as protestors gathered to prepare to celebrate the revolution’s first Eid, approximately 10,000 members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began a calculated attack on the sit-in. The RSF is commonly known as the “Janjaweed,” and is a militia led by Deputy Himedti of the Transitional Military Council (TMC). The Janjaweed are known for their atrocious crimes against humanity in Darfur in 2003, and on June 3, they beat, whipped, and shot live ammunition at the peaceful protestors, burning the tents that housed them and their loved ones, and brutalizing and raping countless women, countless kandakas.
This massacre, along with similar coordinated massacres in Dileij, Zalengi, and other Sudanese cities, has left the country grieving in unprecedented ways.
To cover their trails, the RSF dumped the murdered protestors’ bodies into the Nile River, tying blocks to prevent them from floating up into recognition. As estimated, 40 bodies have already been recovered from the Nile, and we do not know how many more there will be. There have been over 100 confirmed deaths, over 600 individuals injured, and over 50 incidents of rape, and these numbers are increasing every single day. This massacre, along with similar coordinated massacres in Dileij, Zalengi, and other Sudanese cities, has left the country grieving in unprecedented ways.
Since the massacre, Himedti has provided his RSF with free reign over the streets of Khartoum, allowing them to continue to kill, rape, beat, and loot the innocent. Videos have surfaced online showing members of the RSF humiliating and urinating on civilians, dancing in celebration of their killings, and looting homes and stores. Khartoum and other cities across Sudan are under complete siege, and Sudanese government forces have cut off most, if not all, internet access in the country in order to cover up their crimes. Families in and outside of Sudan have been unable to reach their loved ones, and a large number of peaceful protestors remain missing to this day. The international community has remained deadly silent, but the Sudanese people have not lost hope.
On June 9, the Sudanese people decided to expand the sit-in’s borders to encompass the entire nation, engaging in a strike that can be followed using the hashtag: #SudanCivilDisobedience. Al Jazeera reports an incredible participation rate of over 90% of the nation. The people of Sudan have shown that they will not resort to violence, that they will continue to fight for each tribe, each city, and each state’s freedom, and that they will honor the sacrifices of all the martyrs they have lost in over 30 years of military rule.
While there is no telling where time will take Sudan over the coming weeks, the spirit of the Al Qiyada sit-in lives on, a reminder of all the possibilities, an ancestor guiding the Sudanese people on their path to freedom, peace, and justice.
from Muslim Girl http://bit.ly/2KccRi8
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