Article
Comments (1)
email Email
print Print
pdfSave
separation
increase
decrease
separation
separation
By Ahmad Mahmoud
“Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or
die for. And no religion too.” John Lennon
August 3, 2011 — I’ve started writing something a while ago, in an
attempt to materialize my “serenity towards Secession versus Unity” as
my last attempt entitled “Otherology”(1) stated. The one I ended with
“I’ll finish this January 2011”. But between October, 2010 -which is
the date I scrambled Otherology- and today, I’ve torn several papers
to pieces, and I came to believe I’ve torn more than just papers in
the process.
“Just see these superfluous ones! Sick are they always; they vomit
their bile and call it a newspaper. They devour one another, and
cannot even digest themselves.” Thus spoke Zarathustra
I’ve never been a patriot; and I don’t appreciate the concept of
patriotism very much to be honest. The sloganeering that accompanies
it disgusts me. And recently, in the past 5 days a new type of
patriotism emerged, at least it’s new to me. It’s most likely inspired
by the whole referendum issue which is ironically 5 years old, but I
don’t remember seeing a status mourning the loss of the “biggest
Arabic country” also, some statuses express the joy that “a thorn on
Sudan’s side is finally removed” which is obviously a joy inspired by
the despicable Sudanese Just Peace Forum Party (SJPF) and its chairman
Al-Tayeb Mustafa who gave up his membership of the ruling party, the
National Congress Party (NCP) to establish the SJPF and a newspaper
called “Al-Intibaha” to promote his “secessionism”, and suggesting we
cast away all those who do not fall under his definition of “The
North” –using not only his newspaper, but also a bunch of fancy well
printed banners that you’d find scattered around Khartoum-.(2)
Let me leave aside the president’s uncle and his superfluous
secessionism, for it’s based on –according to the man himself- “major
differences in culture and identity: The north is Arab and Muslim and
yearns for its Arab and Muslim surround” because this sick concept of
patriotism has one word to describe it, bigotry.
“Flowers only die in a vase A heart only dies encased in a lie we call
race” Brother Ali
On the other hand, there are those patriots, who mourn the secession
-even though it didn’t happen yet- and who have “become aware of the
misfortunes of their homeland suddenly, and decided to adopt a
melancholic pattern of publicized activism” as a friend suffering a
writer’s block described them last night. Not that I’m against their
freedom of expression, freedom of timing their expression that is.
Three years ago, I would’ve been writing this under the spell of
“mending my broken country”, hell... three weeks ago I was under a
similar spell, I used to be touched by the creatively designed
pictures that flooded the Internet showing Sudan being intimately held
by a person, being the broken heart of Africa, showing faces pained in
Sudan’s flag colors, showing it as a sad face with a crack resembling
the sad mouth and the south etc. I would be on my homepage and read
the words “Fulan and 11 other friends changed their profile pictures”,
and without clicking on the link, I can see the pictures most of the
12 friends deemed as Profile Pictures and they’re all, well,
“Patriotic Pictures”.
“You see my kind of loyalty was loyalty to one’s country, not to its
institutions, or its office holders. The country is the real thing,
the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch
over, and care for, and be loyal to; institutions are extraneous, they
are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease
to be comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and
death. To be loyal to rags, to shout for rags, to worship rags, to die
for rags—this is loyalty to unreason.” Mark Twain
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate those PPs at all, nor do I judge its
users intentions in any way, but the effect they had on me before I
tore the last paper is long gone now, I’m happy that a part of Sudan
gained an opportunity to win its independence from this fascist regime
that has drugged the Sudanese people by means meaner than a banner
held by a group of Dinka in Juba written in Arabic saying “bye, bye
Khartoum”.
Sudan, the Land of the Black, a name equivalent to the name Ethiopia
in meaning is engraved in the minds of Sahara dwellers (Morocco,
Tunis, etc) as the regions of Senegal, Mali, and Nigeria.
Historically, the area south of the Sahara extending from The Red Sea
east, to the Atlantic Ocean west has been known as Al-Sudan(3), Islam
and Arabic Language has spread in those regions long time ago, and
co-existed alongside with the native religions and languages and were
-Arabic, and Islam- naturally, affected by them. After their
independence, the countries of the area known as Al-Sudan adopted new
names drawn from their heritage, history, geography, etc, except for
Sudan, and Ethiopia, their names were chosen by the ruling elite in
both countries, and so were their flags, anthems, and constitutions,
years later, in 1993 Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia in
a scenario similar to the one we have in Sudan.
“Al-Rujal Mato Fi Karari” A Sudanese proverb meaning (Men died in the
Battle of Karari)
After Sudan’s independence, the Sudanese ruling elite defined the new
born state as “Arab” and “Muslim”. The new constitution was silent on
two crucial issues for southern leaders - the secular or Islamic
character of the state and its federal or unitary structure. However,
the Arab elite of Khartoum promised the southerners to create a
federal system, which later led to a mutiny by southern army officers
that launched the civil.
This “Afandi” mentality replaced the colonial mentality of the British
and created a barrier of civilization between the governor and the
governed. Those “Afandia” who occupied small administrative jobs under
the British colonial government, viewed the Sudanese society in the
same way the British viewed them, a primitive society, thus alienating
themselves from it, and after independence those Afandia inherited the
government, neglecting the various cultural aspects of this society
and this neglectance can be observed in the dominance of Odurmanian
Music (also known as Hageeba Music) over the other musical styles for
example. This perception of inferiority is what controlled the
official media since the independence.
“Marisa”, a brewed drink (some sort of a beer), indigenous to the Nuba
mountains and considered a basic breakfast meal for the locals of who
sip it before heading to the fields to work the land, it is not
intoxicating unless consumed heavily and made from the very same
ingredients they use to make another breakfast meal which is “Asida”.
It was deemed “Haraam” after the Islamic Sharia Laws were applied in
Sudan based on the Islamic doctrine of “ma askara kathiroho, fa
galiloho haraam” (What intoxicates in large quantities, the little of
it is forbidden). Government carried out the laws against this drink
with no regards to its role in the native culture of the Nuba
Mountains, although the carriers of the law were a minority of
believers in its prohibition, but their faith being perceived through
the Ideological and political dimension of the regime.
“Men feared time, yet time feared the pyramids” Vinnie Paz
It is said that Islam was introduced to this part of the world known
today as Sudan through a man named Abdullah Ibn Abi Al-Sarh, who waged
war on the Nubians in the North of Sudan, coming from Egypt, Nubians
being the fierce fighters they are, the war ended by signing the
longest treaty man ever known, The Baqt Treaty, lasted over 700 years
between the Christian Nubians and the Muslim Arab rulers of Egypt. Its
major provision was that 360 slaves per year are to be sent to Egypt
and the rulers of Egypt would send goods down south including wheat
and legume. The treaty also obliged the Nubian kings of Al-Mukarra
Kingdom to maintain a mosque for Muslim visitors and residents.
Another theory argues that Islam was introduced peacefully through
western Hajj passages, however, over a period of over half a century
Islam infiltrated the Sudanese societies. A system of disperse emerged
as the Arabs who fled the Mamluke Dynasty’s rage in Egypt declared
themselves as “Ashraf”, associating themselves to the Mohammadean
bloodline, therefore guaranteeing a position in society very effective
and altering to the societies they found. The maternal system of
Nubians and Beja people is but an example of the aspects that almost
perished under this caste system.
When I first visited Al-Bagarwya in 2008, I noticed the structural
similarities between the Nubian pyramids and the Islamic Gubba
(Sudanese shrine), of course the cultural similarity is obvious, both,
the pyramid and the “Sudanese” shrine are used to host the body of
reverend figures after their death. Sudanese people incorporate
elements that are neither Arabic nor Islamic into their identity, if
any indication, this clearly indicates that we’re more “Sudanese” than
Arabs or Muslims, and by Sudanese I refer to The Sudan the continent
not the country.
“Have you ever seen a government pray?” Dr. John Garang
A friend asked me, what side am I with. The South and The North are
mere directions to me, I’m no longer a victim of the delusion of
directions. The same delusion that caused the death of men in Karari
and the fall of their Mahadian State, that their leader being an
Ashraf who descend from the east will gain them victory. Ibrahim, a
fellow member of Sudan Unite Group(4), was asked by Al-Arabia TV if
the secession of the South will put an end to the SUG, he replied
“Intellectual battles do not end by political defeats”, I couldn’t say
it better. If secession becomes reality next week, I wish the country
number 193 will flourish and becomes the new heart of Africa and its
people will be healed and rewarded for all the years they’ve suffered
because of the delusion of directions. After all, all the borders of
the world are ought to fall. I’ll finish this by finishing the
Lennon’s quote I started with: “You may say that I’m a dreamer. But
I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us. And the world
will be as one”
“The rights of southern citizens in their country are not provided for
in Sharia but rather in Islam at the level of fundamental Quranic
revelation” Mahmoud Mohammed Taha from his “Either this or the Flood”
Ahmad Mahmoud is a young Sudanese activist, Hip Hop artist and a
budding writer. He can be reached at [email protected]
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD
info" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected].
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
