Sudan's Revolution And The Right To Self-Determination

When does a revolution, become a revolution? Is it with the first person or the first march? When the first chant resounds, or when the first ground is conceded? With Sudan’s current revolution, what is clear is that it is, and will remain, a people’s revolution; by us, for us. What started as a teacher’s strike in the White Nile State and protests in Eldamazin, on 13th December 2018, became a nation-wide, on-street, presence across the country six days later; in resistance of Omer Elbashir’s 30-year government. With the momentum set and the resolve sure, our message to the dictator and his regime was clear: just fall, that is all.

However, this did not stop international media outlets reporting that the protests were about spiking bread prices and fuel subsidies, but we countered this narrow framing with social media engagement and articles to the contrary. The revolution was now being tested on an international scale, and while the revolutionaries on the ground faced tear gas, beatings, and imprisonments from government factions, the revolutionaries on the internet faced an external shaping of our narrative. Here is where activism on the streets of Sudan met activism on social media, and Sudan’s richly skilled diaspora came out in droves to amplify the voices of grassroots activists in the country.