Institutional Repression and Suppression, the example of Sudan

2013-06-25 19:33:00
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Sameer Kuku


By Sameer Kuku
State oppression
As I write this, the ruling gang in Khartoum might be preparing to celebrate the twenty fourth anniversary of the coup d’état led by the National Islamic Front, which has a profound ideological connections to the Muslim Brotherhood. Throughout this period, the regime imposed its unilateral vision, inflicting on us the highest degree of totalitarianism. Because of this, the civil war in southern Sudan was prolonged, and eventually led South Sudanese to pick up secession. Other wars broke out in east and west Sudan. The internal opposition increased and external parties imposed sanctions. Ruling authorities have used all means to guarantee their longevity, persecuting citizens in areas that dared to take up arms against their oppressors. As a citizen of one of the areas that dared to fight back, I personally suffered different forms of repression under a regime that does not understand the ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity among the citizens of Sudan.
When I was entering school for the first time, local authorities closed our school, claiming that it was used to promote Christianity and proselytizing to Muslim students. The school was established by Priest Daniel Comboni and received funds from the Catholic Church. It was, however, never used to promote Christianity, according to the Muslim students who attended. During my study there, no one spoke to the Muslim students about Christianity. On the contrary, there was a teacher of Islamic Education who taught the Muslims the basics of Islam. The school was built to help us, the children of poor, displaced people who left their hometowns because of war.
We were devastated when we were forced to transfer to other schools after the government closure. Yet, we could not protest against the fascist regime that led a coup against democracy. They claim to have a project to promote Islam all over the world. Although their claims are based on Islamic sources, they are racist to the core. The fact is that our school was composed of displaced citizens of a persecuted race, so the authorities should be focusing on racial assimilation. When I finished high school, I wanted to join the military academy to graduate as an engineer with a first lieutenant rank. The main reason I wanted this was my fear of the high costs of studying at a private university or even public university. Military academies are financed by state so I would have a guaranteed job after graduation. I submitted my application, and passed the health and security screenings. I was among the best applicants, but the director of admissions had a different opinion. He disqualified all applicants who had African origins, mainly those who come from Darfur and Nuba Mountains due to the war that was escalating in Darfur. It is obvious that racial discrimination is an official policy of the state in order to keep all citizens of African origins out of the high rankings-military-personnel, but it is very good; in fact it is highly necessary for the same state to militarily recruit the same people in low ranks to control and drive them.
Social repression
Due to the actions of those in power, there is a deep fissure in the Sudanese community, and deep-set racism is now a part of our culture. People decide whether or not to interact with you based on your tribe affiliation. The tribe has become the main social structure of Sudan and religion has been abused as a tool to destroy our nation. I am pretty sure that every young Sudanese person reading my article is looking for job. Either that or they are busy with heavy loads of work for a very low salary. In all cases, they are looking for an immigration opportunity. The job of young Sudanese people is to search for job openings and legitimate or illegitimate immigration opportunities to any country, including Israel.
Anyone born in a certain part of Sudan sees his follow citizen as the "other," so there is no harmony among the elements of our society. The best evidence of this is what is happening now in Darfur in the west of Sudan. The social structure has been destroyed and cannot stand on its own two feet.
Sexual Suppression
Sexual suppression is linked to social repression. Society in general is not accepting mixed-gender gatherings, even at places like universities. For this we can thank Islamic extremism, which has nothing to do with true Muslim values of tolerance. Sudan government is always biased in favor of males over females. This inequality has been slightly alleviated due to pressure from women's rights organizations, but some universities are still being established for girls only to separate them from male colleagues. It is said that mixing the sexes will spread corruption and immorality. Talking about ####### is prohibited and only occurs in secret. It cannot be discussed in the media, which would benefit the society as a whole. The government has ordered the administration of Khartoum University to ban the famous novel "The Season of Immigration to North" by the world-renowned novelist Al-Tayeb Salih from the curriculum of literature school because this celebrated literary work included explicit sexual material.
Implicit acceptance of our situation gradually turns into actual acceptance and the citizens start reinforcing the oppressive system. This leads to a weakening of opposition forces and a general social consensus about the modern world. This overarching social consensus increases the legitimacy of defending suppressive policies.