International Day of the Disappeared

To “disappear” is to vanish, to cease to be, to be lost. But the “disappeared” have not simply vanished. Someone, somewhere, knows what has happened to them. Someone is responsible. (source)

Today, August 30th marks the International Day of the Disappeared. A day to honor and remember those who have disappeared, ceased to be, lost.

I am bringing this to your attention because of a an incident that has left a permanent scar in my heart.  In 1992, SPLA forces almost liberated Juba. When they withdraw, the Jalaba forces of the National Islamic Front responded by extrajudicially executing civilians, captured and wounded SPLA forces etc. In the weeks that followed they rounded up over 260 young officials and to this day, their whereabout is anyones guess.

They just disappeared!

RIP comrades…

Juba Arabic: A Distinct Dialect

If you ever thought that Arabic Juba, the lingua franca spoken in Equatoria Region, South Sudan is just Arabic spoken badly, then you just got another fact about Sudan very wrong!

According to a certain Ashari Ahmed Mahmud (PhD) Juba Arabic or Arabe Juba is a distinct dialect. I happen to agree with this doc.

Although not much is published in Juba Arabic, it still continues to be spoken among communities from south Sudan living in Khartoum, as well as communities in Diaspora. A dictionary has been published and with NGO’s rushing to the south, the book is becoming popular.

In Australia, you can call and get assistance in Juba Arabic. And here you could read some idioms and a story here.

The Mind of the Oppressor….

“The Victim Is Never Fully Human In The Mind Of The Oppressor.”

Maybe a better title could have been “Do you think like an oppressor?”, or “Are you an oppressor and you don’t know it?”. Or oppressed if you like…

I’ve had several discussions about our beloved Sudan (its past, its future and its women) with Sudanese from almost all walks of life. It does not surprise anymore when self-proclaimed secular Sudanese make remarks without having the slightest clue that they sound and reason just like an oppressor. Maybe in more occasions than one, I have acted, thought and behaved like a person who is being oppressed or is oppressing although I’d want to believe that I have liberated myself from the control and conditioning of the oppressor. But how can one tell?!

The other needs you to survive…

One typical belief of an oppressor is that, once free, the oppressed can not survive without him (The ladies have to excuse me from here onwards for referring to the oppressor/oppressed as male). The oppressed, in the mind of the oppressor, is not learned enough and not capable to be the captian of their own destiny. Thus, it is his duty as the oppressor to care for the oppressed. According to the oppressor, the oppressed does not know the difficulties that awaits him, so he the oppressor will not let him free, even if he the oppressor has to use force to prevent the freedom of the oppressed! In other words, the oppressor believes he is the sole custodian of the fate of the oppressed.

If you don’t know this already, Khartoum has been trying to sell this idea to every mind willing to receive their lies that the South (or even Darfur if it chooses to separate) can not run their own affairs if it decides to break free. Unbeknown to most Sudanese, the ideas of the oppressor are like viruses that take over your brain if you are over-exposed to them, and will continue to spread to other brains. That is why you still hear the same arguments coming off Sudanese who are partially possessed by the alienator?

Which brings us to the next point: in order to liberate the oppressed, you must also liberate his oppressor.

Most oppressors use and only understand one language: aggression. To liberate their selves from the yolks of their oppressor, the oppressed usually resort to the use of force, a fight for freedom or a war of liberation. But victory is never complete when only the oppressor is chased away, killed or overthrown. The task and role of the oppressed is to liberate not only themselves, but also liberate the oppressor from their mentality of being a superior race, class, religion or culture.

Are you still with me? Good.  Let me repeat that:  the oppressor needs to be liberated from their mentality of being a superior race, class, religion or culture.

Coming from being a victim to a savior of a the criminals that did you wrong, this added role of a liberator to liberate his ex-oppressor is definitely not an easy task. Most liberators would prefer to put the ex-oppressor on the receiving end by avenging the evils done to them, thus becoming the oppressor over the ex-oppressor. The true and real freedom fighter fights for the rights of all, the oppressor included.

So, where do you stand so far?

Are you possessed by the oppressor demon? Wanna test if you are oppressed?

Steve Biko once wrote “Merely by describing yourself as black you have started on a road towards emancipation, you have committed yourself to fight against all forces that seek to use your blackness as a stamp that marks you out as a subservient being.“

Reminds me of Kizzie’s post about inferiority complex and acceptioning being who you are. Let me leave it here for now. Let’s continue in the comments.

The Exodus Continues…

In the displaced camps around Khartoum, it is quite uncommon to see the displaced gather together in celebration of any kind. For most, life in the camps has always been a struggle of survival. Security forces or rather Islamic police constantly terrorize the camps in raids to search for alcohol, to demolish shelters or just to make a point that they can…

But these last few weeks, hope has come to some in the form of repatriation. Here and there, you could spot smiles on some of the faces, and sometimes even see their lovely teeth. In Jobora camp, drums beating in celebration could be heard deep into the night as the displaced prepare for their long awaited trip back home…

   

Life in the displaced camps in the north has always been miserable to say the least. With a fascist government in power fighting a war it redefined as Jihad, and executing policies of Arabization and Islamization of the whole country,  the capital city of Khartoum was not particularly hospitable to non moslim Sudanese especially those from southern Sudan. The living conditions out there in the bare desert were harsh. In the recent past, cases have been reported of government or Islamic organizations that gave humanitarian assistance to people only after they had converted to Islam.

With the conditions at home almost sub human and unbearable, some children have fled their homes to live in the streets of Khartoum only to be rounded up by security forces and sent to Quranic schools – a form of enforced conversion and radicalizition. Sad but true, the only education (if you can call it that) that the children get is an extreme form of Islam where children are forced day and night to memorize the Quran. When they are finally released to the society, these kids know nothing but the extreme fascist idealogy that has been bumped into their minds by criminals who call themselves moslims. Ironic but true, these losers send their children to good international schools some of which are run by the Catholic Church!

In the camps, mothers are in no better position. With their husband probably killed in the war or still somewhere in the frontlines, these mothers resorted to brewing and selling alcohol, an act illegal under Islamic law, to generate some form of income to feed their kids and send them to some schools. Thousands, along with their children, have been arrested and locked up in prison for years in conditions I can only leave to your imagination.

Two long years after the CPA promised to soften the impact of Sharia – Islamic law- on non Moslims, over 1000 women and children were released this week from Kobar prison after being locked up for years for selling alcohol.

A lot of these returnees probably don’t have a lot to return back to, or could not be taking much with them. But most have had enough of the rough and hostile environment that Khartoum is. One woman is happy to return because she will finally be able to live in dignity, toil the earth and send her kids to school.

However, the return of these citizens from camps in the north comes with its challenges for the families, for the society and for GOSS (government of South Sudan). One mother laments the ‘loss’ of her two elder sons to the system. At the age of 9 and 11, the children were abducted by the security forces and locked up for years in the Quranic schools. When they returned years later, the boys appeared to have had ‘brain transplants’, said the poor mother referring to the level the boys were brain-washed.

Some returnees who survived the hard life in the camps have also taken up the other forms of extremism. With oppression of religion being the norm, Christianity actually flourished more in the years of Jihad than it did in the previous regimes. Other southerners have gotten extremer in their views against the government policies and it was actually in that period that the call for separation became more popular among southerners.

Now, Sudan will of course continue to exist but variables of the equation that will determine the Sudan of the future have changed. A generation will soon be in positions of power, but it has known nothing but war, hatred and a twisted ideology that sets religious and ethnic groups against each other. The path to making Sudan the greatest county in Africa will not be smooth, nor will it be easy to create a country that based on equality of all the people irrespective of their origin, race or religion. It will not be easy to reintegrate many back to the society – what ever society means, nor will it be easy re-establish the trust among groups – religious or otherwise….

The politicians will continue to form partnerships here and there, and not turn back to heal the masses they have poisoned with their lies to satisfy their greed.

Maybe, just maybe, when all return to where they were before the war, can they re-assess  the real  material, psychological, emotional and social and political impact of the war had on them and the rest of us. Maybe, just maybe we will leave our children with the right tools so that they don’t live in misery like some of us did.

Let the exodus continue….