SUDAN has been in the midst of an enormous economic and political crisis since the masses of workers and youth overthrew the UK- and US-backed dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
Since then, the security forces have used murderous force against the masses of workers and youth. Hundreds have been killed in US-sponsored desperate efforts to strengthen the position of the generals and their pet politicians.
In a crackdown on protesters in the capital Khartoum on 3rd June the bodies of hundreds of murdered workers and youth were thrown into the River Nile.
However, hundreds of thousands of youth protesters and workers returned to the streets just a few weeks later to stage the biggest demonstration ever.
The Sudanese economic crisis has brought hundreds of thousands from all classes onto the streets. However, the leadership was taken on by the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) – a movement of doctors, health workers and lawyers.
The protesters however are much younger than the ‘professionals’ with women and girls at the forefront of the demonstrations.
The masses are now on the march once again. Hundreds of thousands marched in the capital Khartoum and other cities on Saturday, demanding the reinstatement of ousted Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok.
Although the interior ministry denied that live rounds were fired, activists say around 100 people were injured.
The military also imposed a state of emergency, claiming its actions were justified to avoid ‘civil war’ and stop political infighting.
Thousands of demonstrators are now marching around the clock in Khartoum waving Sudanese flags and chanting, ‘No to military rule!’
Until last Monday’s coup, civilian and military leaders had been in an uneasy power-sharing agreement ever since long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir was overthrown in 2019.
This deal was designed to steer Sudan towards a form of bourgeois democracy, but this proved to be impossible, with the masses demanding that they hold the real power.
Sudan’s security forces have fired live rounds and tear gas at pro-democracy protesters, killing at least three people, a doctors’ committee says.
The military takeover has drawn widespread international condemnation, while the demonstrators in Khartoum carried Sudanese flags and chanted: ‘No to military rule!’ and ‘This country is ours, and our government is civilian!’ as they marched in neighbourhoods across the capital.
The protesters are calling for a return to rule by the people, they reject military measures and are demanding the release of detainees.
According to Sudan TV, Sudanese security forces closed the majority of main roads and bridges in Khartoum, with the exception of the Halfaya and Soba bridges.
People also took to the streets in cities in central, eastern, northern and western Sudan. Crowds swelled to the hundreds of thousands in Khartoum.
‘The people have delivered their message, that retreat is impossible and power belongs to the people,’ said protester Haitham Mohamed.
‘This has been a miscalculation from the start and misunderstanding of the level of commitment, bravery, and concern the street has about the future of Sudan,’ said Jonas Horner of the International Crisis Group.
Civilian-appointed cabinet ministers have supported the protests in a statement, and said the military ‘will not find free Sudanese or true democratic revolutionary forces to be their partners in power.’
In central Khartoum on Saturday, there was a heavy military deployment of armed troops that included the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces as tens of thousands of Sudanese protested against General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s removal of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s cabinet last Monday.
‘We will not be ruled by the military. That is the message we will convey’ said rights activist Tahani Abbas. ‘The military forces are bloody and unjust and we are anticipating what is about to happen on the streets,’ Abbas added. ‘But we are no longer afraid.’
An activist, who only gave his name as Mohamed, said: ‘The army should go back to its barracks and give the leadership to Hamdok. Our demand is a civilian country, a democratic country, nothing less than that.’
There is only one way forward for the millions of Sudanese workers and youth. They must organise to take the power and establish a workers state that will have the support of the vast majority of the Sudanese people.
The need for the working class to take the power is the main lesson that has been hammered home every day since the 2019 coup. UK workers and trade unions must give the Sudanese people every possible political, financial and physical support. There is not a moment to lose!
