|
On the other hand, it’s quite sad and heart-breaking indeed to see, or
contemplate powerlessly, these days, an unusual Arab country as original
and potentially promising as Sudan falling apart in this manner and for
such preposterous reasons as religious intolerance, racism and exclusion.
Sudan, this rare masterpiece of ethnic diversity endowed with unparalleled
assets (geo-strategic centrality, important arable landmass, plenty of
water, huge reserves of oil, lot of minerals…); this exceptional and
colorful land, this rare kaleidoscope of ancient cultures, of civilizations
and traditions, this awesome mosaic of peoples and languages, living under
an ecological rainbow of beauty; this sub-continental country, a true jewel
of nature, provided with such a talented intelligentsia- not to be confused
with the dreadful ruling political elites-, could not, after half a century
of political independence, nurture a sense of common national identity, or
cultivate a modern concept of citizenship; worse, it could not keep,
intact, its territorial integrity for simply not have been capable of
valuing, on time, its most precious treasure: diversity. Thus, despite its natural potential, Sudan is, alas, finally breaking up.
After decades of autocratic rule and mismanagement, after a long night of
nefarious plots and foreign interference, after a long succession of
man-made disasters, this amazing country is, at last, splitting into two
separate entities, and maybe even more, divided along ethnic and religious
lines. Beyond the fact that this hodgepodge of manufactured frontiers was, in
large part, a legacy of British colonialism, there is no doubt that the
current painful outcome is primarily the result of an enormous political
failure; a failure of governance; a failure of leadership; a failure of
integration, a failure of co-existence. It is, also and mainly, the outcome
of a much deeper, and sinister, reality: the overall impotence of the Arab
world. The breakup of Sudan is not just an internal Sudanese problem. It is much
bigger than that. It is an extension of a structural impotence; it’s the
tragic expression of a low point of powerlessness and helplessness gripping
for so long the entire region. It epitomizes, if need be, a common point, a
whole mark of today’s Arab leaders: lack of vision, and worst of all, the
total absence of political legitimacy. The long-term deliberate neglect of
Egyptian rulers, the current ailing and senile head of state in particular,
of their own southern flank, i.e., their most important geo-tragic depth,
is an eloquent indication of an indisputable fact: The indifference of
autocratic rulers to the wellbeing and vital interest of their own
peoples. If Mubarak were truly representative of the will of his people would have
he acted as though Sudan did not exist or represent anything of vital to
Egypt, to its vital national security and long term strategic interests?
That’s the question. Therein lies, perhaps, the source of the problem. On
cannot watch, indifferently and carelessly, its brotherly neighbor slowly
drown and, all of a sudden, begin screaming heavens falling, like “Chicken
Little”, after the body has sunk, as exactly has done the Egyptian
political leadership as regard Sudan. National leaderships that are inherently illegitimate and rule by illegal
coercive security means are never at ease with themselves; therefore they
can never think beyond the immediate horizon of their political survival.
Like animals they behave in accordance with their gut feelings or survival
instinct. They often camouflage their impotence by a veil of jingoistic
slogans and stultifying demagoguery. They can care less about the future of
their own country or its long term interests. Their sole focus is the power
they have stolen and are illegally holding; staying in charge or
perpetuating the incumbency of the political regime is their only and
unique preoccupation. Any other task is secondary. To get a better sense of this obsession with power, let’s ponder this
grim, and really pitiful, spectacle: Hosni Mubarak, that ailing and senile
autocrat, is pathetically clinging, come hell and high water, to an
evanescent seat, by all means (coercion, fraud and corruption) instead of
retiring, like a respected Mandela or a perceptive Senghor, and enjoying
his last remaining days; doing so he hopes to delegate, before his death,
the presidency of Egypt to his preferred would-be heir, the corrupt and
hated son who is now a multi-billionaire, thanks to his unscrupulous
business deals and paternal connections, in a country where 20% of the
people live under the threshold of poverty, namely with less than a dollar
a day. When citizens are kept outside the equation of power or the process of
political decision-making, when they cannot hold accountable their rulers,
when they cannot get involved in shaping their own future, the result is
what we see in Sudan and many other Arab countries: chronic domestic
vulnerabilities, record of underachievement, sectarian violence, foreign
intermingling, wide-open wounds… But the plight of Sudan, like anywhere else, is, first of all, the result
of the actions of the Sudanese themselves. One can blame, at will, the
British and their colonialism, the Egyptian and their negligence, the
Libyans and their past nefarious intermingling, Israel and its infinite
plots, the US and its neo-imperialist plans, but none of that can take hold
had it not been the mistakes of the Sudanese ruling elites themselves. From
Numeiri to Turabi to El Bashir, they all set an unprecedented record of
underachievement, a litany of socio-political fiascos, the least of which
is the lack of a sound consensus-based and participatory system of
governance. The fact that the citizens of the country were for so long, in the South
in particular, oppressed and completely disfranchised, undoubtedly explains
a great deal of what is happening now. Nationhood is not an abstract
phenomenon. It is a work continuously in the making; a work that requires
effort and dedication, vision and leadership; most importantly, it requires
the collective free will of the people. Today’ world is different from
nineteen century Italy or Germany or Napoleonic France where force could be
used, at will, to unify a vast land or impose a cultural or linguistic
identity upon a diverse group of peoples. To forge a free nation today you need the assent of all. No identity can
be unduly imposed anymore. Moreover, everyone should have a stake in the
decision making process of the collectivity. The role of the state is to
manage those differences not to impose blindly a mythical idea of
uniformity. Its main task is to nurture a notion of collective belonging, a
culture of civic citizenship, a sense of ownership, of national entitlement
regardless of ethnic origin or economic class. That’s how modern statehood
should be conceived and constructed. Unfortunately that democratic ideal has been so lacking in the Arab world
where as the Palestinian intellectual Rami Khouri put it: “The modern Arab
state has been transformed heavily into a security apparatus and a
facilitator of shopping malls and real estate investments because the
alternative route to national stability and sustained, equitable
development -- democratic participation and the consent of the governed --
have never been attempted on a serious basis.” Let’s hope that the “Jasmine Revolution” in Tunisia will be the linchpin
for the long-awaited awakening of this great Nation from the Atlantic to
the Euphrates; and its liberation from the chains of tyranny, the yoke of
foreign domination, and the shackles of economic misery. Mohamed El Mokhtar Sidi Haiba
Political Analyst
|
RSS Site |
RSS News
)
