Statement of the Internationalist Socialist League (RCIT Section in Israel / Occupied Palestine), 24.10.2020, http://the-isleague.com

 

 

 

North Sudan is in the news for three reasons: for its pro-democracy and revolutionary movement, for the economic deep crisis with inflation of over 200%, and for the pressure Trump applies on it to normalize relations with Israel.

 

On 19 December 2018, the slashing of bread subsidies in the northern Nile-side town of Atbara led to a mass movement aiming at the removal of the dictator Omar al-Bashir after three decades in power. While the mass protest began over the high price of bread and fuel shortage, the protest was not simply over bread but about equality and for decent living free of oppression and exploitation.

 

In the demonstrations, women were in the front line. Sudanese women face child marriage, domestic violence, and rape. "One in four women are married before 18, while nine out of 10 have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) in the strict Islamic north African nation, the United Nations (U.N.) says." ^[1]

 

This brings to mind the Russian revolution of 1917 where the working-class moment was in the front line of the revolutionary struggle. In Sudan however, the bourgeois and the lower middle class are in the leading role so far.

 

On 11 April 2019, Omar al Bashir was removed by the army that formed a "transitional council” which includes politicians from "The Forces of Freedom and Change" (FFC) coalition to run the country.

 

"The Transitional Military Council and the FFC signed a power-sharing agreement in August 2019. They agreed to reform the economy, appoint civilian governors, and a transitional parliament, as well as dismantle the Bashir regime. This was a sell-out by the FFC." ^[2]

 

In addition to the large protesting movement, the TMC has been facing the rebellion of the black population in Darfur led by Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu who demands that Sudan will be a secular state or the province will demand its self-determination.

 

The working class of Sudan reentered the revolutionary movement against the TMC in late May last year with a two-day general strike on 28 and 29 May. The TMC used brutal force to dispersed the sit-in demonstration in Khartoum on 3 June, killing hundreds and beating, assaulting, and raping demonstrators.

 

The Corona set back the mass protest but beginning with June this year the masses are demonstrating once again and it is only a question of time that the working class will enter again on the historical stage, to lead the movement.

 

 

 

Some History of Sudan

 

 

 

The country known as Sudan (Billad as-Sudan, 'land of the blacks') was known in ancient times as Nubia. It was known for the great trade road with the savannah south of the Sahara. In the Jewish Bible, it is described as a region rich in gold, bdellium, and onyx. ^[3]

 

It was described as positioned at the southwestern boundary of Eden, a vast well-watered region that received water from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Much of its history has been linked with Egypt, its neighbor to the north. In 3100 BC, the pharaohs extended their rule as far up the Nile including modern Aswan. Later on, the country that was named by the pharaohs as Cush (the Blacks) became a colony of Egypt. The local ruling class in Cush serving the empire adopted the customs and beliefs of their imperial masters. The first Kushite dynasty, established before the 8th century BC with its capital city at Napata (near modern Merowe), was Egyptian in style. And the Kushite god by this time is Amen-Re. Eventually, the Kushite kings ruled in Egypt and were the first to unite the peoples of the Upper and Lower Nile.

 

In modern times the Ottomans that ruled Egypt ruled Sudan as well. However, during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798–1801), the Egyptians freed Egypt from the Ottomans and founded the Muhammad Ali dynasty. Sudan became once again an Egyptian colony.

 

In the 19th century, Britain occupied Egypt. General Gordon became in 1873 the governor-general of Equatoria (South Sudan, most of the northern parts of present-day Uganda, including Lake Albert and West Nile). In 1881 the situation was changed with the emergence of Mohammed Ahmed, a charismatic religious leader known as the Mahdi who led a rebellion against the British. In the war, over Khartoum, the British army was defeated and General Gordon lost his head in 1885. The Mahdi ruled until his death in June 1885, and he was replaced by the caliph - Abdullahi ibn Mohammed.

 

For 14 years the Califia maintained a military Islamic state in Sudan, but it was defeated by the British army led by Herbert Kitchener at Omdurman with artillery and machine-gun fire. This restored British control in Sudan.

 

When King Farouk was overthrown in the 1952 coup by Naguib and other officers including Gamal Nasser the new government recognized the right of self- determination of Sudan. After the elections of 1954 in Sudan the National Unionist Party, led by Ismail al-Azhari, led the nation into a separate independence state in 1956.

 

However, already in August 1955, the non-Muslim African majority in the south rebelled and demanded independence.

 

A left-wing coup in 1969 brought to power colonel, Gaafar Mohamed el-Nimeri. The Stalinist Party, the SCP, at the beginning supported Nimeri. Its recommendation of regional autonomy for the South was adopted by the government. Joseph Garang, a SCP member, became the Government Minister of Southern Affairs. This reflected the Stalinist strategic policy of Popular Fronts. This government ended the civil war in South Sudan by signing the Addis Ababa Agreement, allowing for the internal autonomy of Equatoria.

 

It did not take long and Nimeri began to remove the Stalinists from the government. This led to a split in the SCP. The orthodox wing, led by party secretary-general Abd al Khaliq Mahjub, demanded a popular front government with the Stalinists participating as equal partners. The National Communist wing on the other hand supported cooperation with the government without being part of it.

 

Nimeiri ordered the deportation of Abd al Khaliq Mahjub. When the SCP secretary general returned to Sudan illegally, Nimeiri put him under house arrest. In March 1971, Nimeiri ordered that the trade unions led by the Stalinists would be placed under government control. Nimeri also banned communist affiliated student, women's, and professional organizations. Nimeiri also announced the formation of the Socialist Union (SSU), which would be in control of all political parties, including the SCP. Then, the government arrested the central committee of the SCP.

 

Once again the Stalinist Strategy of the Popular Front led to defeat and the repression of the working class and the popular masses. These strategies began in 1936 in France and have continued with the same results in Spain 1936-9, in Palestine with the support for the Zionists, in Indonesia, and in Chile to mention the most known cases.

 

On July 19, 1971, the SCP launched a coup together with some officers of the army against Nimeiri. Major Hisham al Atta arrested Nimeri with a number of his officers. Atta formed a seven-member council, in which the Stalinists participated. But within three days the coup was smashed. Nimeiri ordered the arrest of hundreds of members of the SCP and dissident military officers. He executed some of these individuals and imprisoned many others.

 

Ten years later the socialist party of Sudan changed its policy in Sudan - partly because in the south the black population demanded full independence and at the same time Nimeri caved in to the growing strength of the Muslim Brotherhood in the north. In 1983, Nimeri changed the Sudanese law and imposed strict Sharia. In the same year, he abrogated the Addis Ababa Agreement, bringing the south back under central administration.

 

 

 

Stalinism and Military Coups: the Example of Iran

 

 

 

Thus we can see that a military coup organized by the Stalinists, rather than a revolutionary uprising, is the other side of the Popular Front strategy. Such a failing coup took place in a few countries Iran (1953), Guatemala (1954), Iraq (1963), Indonesia (1965), Algeria (1965), Ghana (1979), and Afghanistan in the last days of the former Soviet Union. Both policies lead to the defeat of the working class. In the framework of this article, we deal only with Iran in 1953. In 1953, the Tudeh party was strong. It controlled the Central Council of the United Trade Unions of Iran. The Tudeh leadership was aware of the CIA plans to bring down the government of Musaddiq by a coup.

 

The period of 16-19 August was a short and critical…On August 17, the party began to call for the abolition of the Monarchy and the establishment of a democratic republic. In other words, a bourgeois-democratic revolution which reflected their reformist two stages revolutions. First a democratic revolution and in a later historic period a socialist revolution. To carry out a revolution it is necessary to estimate the correct relationship of forces between the ruling class and the working class and the popular masses in favor of the revolutionary armed classes. Yet because the Tudeh was not a working-class revolutionary party it was unable to differentiate between a revolution and a coup, and it was used by the counterrevolution and the paid provocateurs who organized the demonstrations to smash the Tudeh by the nationalist government and to use it to bring down the nationalist government of Mosaddeq.

 

"Tudeh members were instructed to join the demonstrations for the new cause. At the same time, CIA operatives in Tehran were organizing their paid street agents to pull down the Shah's statues around the city. This fake Tudeh crowd was joined by Tudeh supporters and added to the panic of the nationalist government, which did not intend such a radical reaction. The government, therefore, ordered the military into the streets' resulting in the arrest of many Tudeh activists… The Tudeh leadership does not seem to have been aware of the fake Tudeh activities and was not able to react to them" [4]

 

”General Zahedi came out of hiding to lead the demonstration. Operatives hired individuals in groups to act like protestors and cause turmoil in the streets of Tehran. The first of the hired masses posed as Tudeh supporters and encouraged real Tudeh members to vandalize and destroy any symbols of capitalism like shops or businesses.” [5]

 

"The next day, CIA-backed agents assembled pro-shah crowds in Tehran, as the coup's military forces made a second move against Mosaddeq. The prime minister indirectly aided this second coup attempt by ordering the police to clear the Tudeh Party from the streets on Aug. 18, to bring calm to the city after two days of communist demonstrations. Overwhelmed by pro-shah forces, Mosaddeq's government collapsed on Aug. 19. Crowds were assembled by paid agents or organized by the coup's supporters in Iran's clerical and bazaar circles." ^[6]

 

The Tudeh party did not and was unable to change. This was proven in 1979 when the Tudeh supported publically the Ayatollahs and during the Arab spring supported the military coup of Al Sisi in July 2013.

 

In an interview with Mohammad Omidvar, member of the Polit Bureau and spokesperson of the Tudeh Party of Iran, he said:

 

"The Iranian revolution successfully completed its political phase of overthrowing the Shah’s despotic regime. It was clear for our Party that for the Revolution to succeed it needed to evolve into its social phase replacing the socio-economic order it had inherited from the Shah’s regime into a new order. Much of our Party’s slogan and platform - including the nationalisation of banks and multinational companies as well as land reform - was carried out in the atmosphere that existed in the first year of the Revolution. However, constant US imperialism and reactionary interference in Iran, including the imposition of the imperialist-instigated Iraq-Iran War, stopped the Revolution in its tracks and provided the backdrop for Khomeini and his followers to stop these programmes and move towards the establishment of a theocratic regime. At the time, conscious of challenges facing the Revolution, our Party called for the formation of a “People’s United Front” with other revolutionary forces to make sure that the revolutionary movement would not be derailed but this did not materialise due to significant political differences between those forces. Our Party, in its analysis of the early years of Revolution, concluded that in our policy of “critical unity” with Khomeini and his followers we were perhaps more concerned with “Unity” than being critical of some of the policies that clearly were not in line with revolutionary ideals and the people’s demands. It is clear that had the left-democratic forces managed to come together, it would have been possible to change the balance of forces politically in the country for a different outcome. The reactionary forces, in a matter of three years, were able to attack the left and democratic forces one-by-one and then establish their absolute rule in Iran." ^[7]

 

In an interview with Salah Adli, general secretary of the Egyptian Communist Party by "Nameh Mardom", the Central Organ of the Central Committee of the Tudeh (Communist) Party of Iran on 6 July 2013 Adli stated about Al Sisi coup:

 

"What has happened is not a military coup in any way, but a revolutionary coup by the Egyptian people to get rid of this fascist rule. What the army did is carrying out the will of the people and protecting them from the plots of the Muslim Brotherhood and their armed terrorist allies who want to ignite sectarian strife and civil wars, divide the Egyptian army and destroy the institutions of the Egyptian state to serve the interests of imperialism and Zionism in the region.^{" [8]}

 

 

 

Sudan since 1983

 

 

 

After 1983 Sudan saw a civil war between the forces of the government and the Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA) of the South. It began when the government attempted to impose new Islamic laws on the entirety of Sudan and southern troops rebelled. Exacerbated by drought, famine, and ongoing violence, thousands upon thousands of Sudanese perished.

 

On June 30, 1989, Colonel Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir seized power in a coup. He sent government troops and tanks to parliament and ousted Speaker of Parliament Hassan al-Turabi. In 2002, the United States government's Sudan Peace Act declared that Bashir's regime was conducting a campaign of genocide, claiming upwards of 2 million lives in the southern provinces.

 

For years the U.S. government-supported Southern secession as a way to weaken the Northern government in Khartoum, particularly over Sudanese support for Palestinian and other armed groups in the Arab and Islamic world. For this reason, the USA declared that Sudan is a terrorist state.

 

Like the Kurds in Syria that had illusions in the USA, the people of South Sudan have discovered that US imperialism has one interest only which is to control regions for economic and military reasons. By supporting the alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Washington gained indirect control of half of Syria's strategic resources - including many oil fields and dams, and much of its most fertile agricultural land.

 

Now the SDF is backed into a corner and the Kurdish militia that dominates the alliance, the People's Protection Units (YPG), faces the Turkish army without any backing from the USA.

 

In June this year, Turkey deployed Special Forces in northern Iraq in an operation against Kurdish rebels backed by air and artillery support as the conflict continues to escalate.

 

Warplanes struck more than 150 Kurdish targets in northern Iraq's Haftanin region, 15km from the Turkish border an operation launched against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

 

"According to the latest news from Friday the media center of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said attacks by the Turkish army and affiliated groups have recently increased in northeast Syria. Artillery and mortar shells targeted the people in particular and inflicted a lot of material damages to the property of civilians in the area, intending to empty the area of its residents," the SDF said. Many villages near the M4 international road were bombed by the mercenaries of the Turkish occupation army over the past three days, especially along Ain al-Issa line," it added, noting that "flights of reconnaissance and warplanes accompanied the bombing." ^[9]

 

On January 9, 2005, under the terms of the so called "Comprehensive Peace Agreement" (CPA), South Sudan got autonomy for 6 years, at the end of which would be a referendum to decide if the southern provinces should secede from the rest of Sudan. Islamic law is to remain in the north and to be voted on for the south.

 

Thus the United States played a key role in the creation of South Sudan as an "independent" state, mainly to weaken North Sudan but also to gain control of the oil of Sudan located mainly in South Sudan. This independence has left disputes between Sudan and South Sudan, including demarcation of the border, status and rights of the citizens of each country in the other, and the status of the oil-rich Abyei region, disputes that may lead in the future to armed conflict between the two.

 

"A new Global Witness investigation shows how South Sudan's state-owned oil company, the Nile Petroleum Corporation (Nilepet), has fallen under the direct control of President Salva Kiir and his inner circle and is being used to funnel millions in oil revenues to the country's brutal security services and ethnic militias, with limited oversight and accountability. While South Sudan's population continues to suffer a senseless war and economic crisis of their leaders' making, Nilepet is failing its true constituents, serving instead the interests of a narrow cabal, and being used to prolong the brutal conflict," said Michael. While South Sudan is a producer of crude oil, it lacks the capacity and infrastructure to refine this into the fuel its population relies on. As a result, Nilepet is deeply integrated into global oil supply chains, including international refineries and commodity traders, without which it would be unable to raise revenues. These international trading partners could play a key role in challenging and holding it accountable. Gibb, Campaign Leader for Conflict Resources at Global Witness." ^[10]

 

"Oil exploration started in the 1970s by American and French companies but now is dominated by Asian companies. Fields in the Kurdufan states are operated by the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC), the 2B Operating Petroleum Company, and Petro-Energy. Most of these companies are jointly owned by Chinese, Malaysian and Indian investors along with the Sudanese state." ^[11]

 

The oil production in South Sudan is causing a very serious pollution to the lands of the peasants, and poisons the drinking water. "It includes everything from increased droughts to strange health conditions for the people and animals exposed to oil contamination in the air, on the roads, and in the local waterways". ^[12]

 

As to the political nature of South Sudan within two years of independence, South Sudan entered an internal ethnic civil war. The immediate cause of the civil war was the killing of Nuer, of the civilian population of Juba in December 2013, by a Dinka component of the Presidential Guard. Yet it reflects the opposition to the dictatorial corrupted rule of John Garang of the GRSS government. On July 8, 2016, fighting broke out between forces loyal to Kiir and forces loyal to Machar, and Machar fled the country. In Machar's absence, the government launched large-scale offensives throughout the country to consolidate its power. During this time, abuses against civilians, including appalling levels of sexual violence, forced more than four million people to flee their homes and left more than seven million South Sudanese – over half the population – in need of humanitarian assistance. In February 2020, the parties formed the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU) and Machar returned to Juba.

 

Ugandan troops were deployed in South Sudan as a so-called peace keeping force. Yet Uganda has been among the clandestine suppliers of weapons that originate in the EU, US, and China to both sides of the bloody civil war. Also, Israeli brokers and companies supply weapons to the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and its main opposition, the SPLA-in-Opposition (SPLA-IO). The SPLA-IO is receiving weapons also from North Sudan. This organization is representing the Nuer ethnic group and their leader Riek Machar.

 

In the conflict between Sudan and South Sudan, we do not support any side, as both states are semi-colonies and have reactionary regimes. Nor we support any side in the new civil war in South Sudan between two corrupted politicians serving USA imperialism.

 

 

 

North Sudan

 

 

 

Last year the pro-democracy movement toppled Omar al Bashir on April 11. However, instead of a democracy of any type, the masses only got a so-called Transitional Military Council (TMC) which is officially run by Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan. However, according to Al Jazeera,

 

"Many say that Dagalo, also known as Hemet, is the top authority. Under this government at least 118 pro-democracy activists were killed. The masses are in the streets demanding democratic government, at the moment the Freedom and Change Forces (FCF), an umbrella organization of protesters is leading The FCF demands a greater share of power with the army...

 

Hemeti has been linked to mass rapes and killings in Darfur in the war that started in 2003, joining the Janjaweed militia. On June 3, maybe hundreds of people were shot, beaten, and robbed by security forces called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), connected with Hemeti, in Khartoum. Residents have reportedly begun referring to them as the Janjaweed, evoking the terror of the 2000s. The New York Times puts the number of RSF at some 50,000.

 

Hemeti also has close ties with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, the two Gulf States which fund and support autocratic regimes across the Middle East. When Sudanese troops were fighting for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, Hemeti's RSF sided with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Foreign Policy reported that the RSF "reportedly received Saudi and Emirati support, including money and weapons. Sudanese protesters are deeply suspicious of Saudi and Emirate offers of help, angrily rejecting a $3bn aid pledge. Many have even demanded that TMC sever ties with both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates." ^[13]

 

Sudan is in a very deep economic crisis with inflation of over 200%. People cannot afford to buy bread and drinking water. It begs for loans from the IMF and the World Bank. The transitional government, which took office in August, is negotiating with creditors to ease Sudan's foreign debt, which amounts to $62 billion, as official data indicates. It is under the pressure of Trump to normalize relations with Israel as a condition for being removed from the list of states that support terrorism and thus be able to receive loans.

 

"Several Sudanese political forces called on authorities to accept a US offer to normalize relations with Israel in exchange for removing the country from the US list. In a joint press conference in the capital, Khartoum, the National Umma Party, Sudan Liberation Movement, and Eastern Front called on Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, chairman of the transitional Sudan Sovereign Council, to accept the US offer to normalize Sudanese-Israeli relations. The American proposal is limited to the upcoming US presidential elections and we shouldn't miss this historic opportunity," said Mubarak al-Fadel, head of the Umma party. He added: "After the announcement of the results of the US presidential elections, we will enter into a major crisis in Sudan if we don't agree to the offer made in the Emirates. ^‘Sudan will not be removed from the terrorism list for many years if we don't take advantage of the existing opportunity,’ al-Fadel said." ^[14]

 

There is opposition to the Normalization Deal amongst the Islamists opposition parties (in the country that hosted the "Three No's" conference). ^[15] It is clear this is a reactionary deal-as well as bolstering the position of Netanyahu and Trump, it also spells doom for the Sudanese refugees in Israel who now can be forcefully repatriated to Sudan. ^[16]

 

 

 

The Program of the Permanent Revolution

 

 

 

Unlike the Stalinists and their disastrous two-stage revolution, the only way to get out of the deep crisis in North and South Sudan, as the local "ruling" classes is unable to lead a democratic revolution, is only by the working class in alliance with the poor peasants which can lead such a revolution, However, once the working class backed by the poor peasants take power, they will continue with the socialist tasks. However for this revolution to win a revolutionary working class party must be formed.

 

 

 

Programmatic Demands

 

 

 

* No Sharing Deal with the army! Down with the Transitional Military Council and the government of South Sudan!

 

* No to the" normalization" of Sudan with Israel!

 

* For a revolutionary Constituent Assembly!

 

* Expropriation of the oil companies and the mines under workers' control.

 

* Building action committees of the "bread and Dignity" movement in every village and city leading to elected national leadership to lead the revolution. This leadership from the North and the South of Sudan should cooperate.

 

* For the complete cancellation of all debts to the IMF and the World banks, the imperialist institutions have robbed Sudan – North and South.

 

* Form a working-class revolutionary leadership to fight for democratic demands culminating in the socialist revolution!

 

 

 

* * * * *

 

 

 

We refer readers also to the following documents of the RCIT:

 

Manifesto for the Revolutionary Liberation of Black Africa, Document of the 2nd Congress of the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency in Lusaka, Zambia, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/manifesto-for-the-revolutionary-liberation-of-black-africa/

 

ISL: After the Israel-UAE-Bahrain Deal: No to the "Normalization" with Israel! https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/after-the-israel-uae-bahrain-deal-no-to-the-normalization-with-israel/

 

Almedina Gunić: Pan-African Women's Day 2020: Long Live the Socialist Struggle for Women's Liberation! https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/greetings-for-pan-african-women-s-day-2020/

 

Michael Pröbsting: EU-Sudan: A Cynical Division of Labor, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/eu-sudan-a-cynical-division-of-labor/

 

RCIT: Sudan: The Deal with the Military Council is a Sell-Out of the Revolution! https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/sudan-the-deal-with-the-military-council-is-a-sell-out-of-the-revolution/