Staggering visions of unity from Kenya’s historic #RejectFinanceBill protests demonstrated a solidarity that many thought was impossible. However, now that the clear threat of a single bill has diffused, many feel we are in unprecedented, uncharted waters. Nothing could be further from the truth. In 2012-13, our Sudanese comrades realised that street demonstrations were the manifestation of people power, but only through mass organising could that power actually be wielded. From neighborhood resistance committees to informal unions, Sudanese have drawn upon African revolutionary traditions of popular democracy to innovate powerful forms of grassroots organisation—tactics we hope can expand the political imagination of those who have been invigorated and radicalised by the protests here in Kenya but ask, “What’s next?”
On 31 August 2024, we invited Rabab Elnaiem, Husam Mahjoub, and Gussai H. Sheikheldin to share insights from Sudan's grassroots organising.
Rabab Elnaiem is a Sudanese activist, labor organizer, and former spokesperson for the Sudanese Workers Alliance for the Restoration of Trade Unions (SWARTU) currently based in the United States. She is a co-founder of the Ta Marbuta podcast, a feminist, anti-capitalist podcast.
Husam Mahjoub is co-founder of Sudan Bukra, an independent nonprofit Sudanese TV channel launched in 2019 as a media voice for the revolution. Husam is a communications engineer, journalist, and host of a show in Sudan Bukra that critically examines Sudanese politics through interviews with various political actors, including many resistance committee members, trade union leaders/members, and progressive writers and activists.
Gussai H. Sheikheldin is a researcher and consultant whose work seeks to illuminate synergies between techno-science and institutions, to advance policies and solutions in sustainable design for socioeconomic systems and development governance. Based in East Africa and Sudan, most of his projects focus on African topics, from a pan-African perspective.
Other useful links:
https://hammerandhope.org/article/sudan-revolution
https://newpol.org/issue_post/a-revolutionary-way-of-doing-politics-is-taking-shape-in-sudan/
https://menasolidaritynetwork.com/2021/11/04/powering-the-uprising-sudans-resistance-committees/
https://www.phenomenalworld.org/interviews/magdi-el-gizouli/
https://roape.net/2024/01/10/exposing-the-murderers-the-uae-and-saudi-arabia-in-the-war-in-sudan/