Sudanese blogs increase in response to censorship
Sudanese blogs increase in response to censorship
1,648 words
2 April 2008
09:08 am GMT
BBC Monitoring Middle East
English
(c) 2008 The British Broadcasting Corporation. All Rights Reserved. No material may be reproduced except with the express permission of The British Broadcasting Corporation.
By Mariantonietta Peru of BBC Monitoring
When President Umar Al-Bashir declared press censorship over in 2003, transferring the responsibility for overseeing newspapers from the National Security Agency to the National Press Council, he said “On the issue of press censorship, we have lifted it completely… Whoever wants to say whatever he wants, let him do so, whether it is in the press or even through the government television itself.”
However, the reality is quite different today: journalists still get arrested and independent newspapers are censored every now and then. This may be the reason why blogs and discussion forums are mushrooming on the internet.
Comments posted on blogs do not spare anyone, whether it is the northern government or the semi-autonomous Government of Southern Sudan. Bloggers touch on topics such as the Darfur conflict, the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace agreement between the Arab government and the southern rebels in 2005, the situation of the internally displaced in Khartoum and the “Arabness” of Sudan.
Most blogs in English are written by Sudanese nationals studying overseas, mainly in the USA, the UAE and Canada. Some of the blogs deal with the everyday student life, others concentrate on poetry and philosophy. Some bloggers even comment on international issues such as the 2007 teddy bear controversy and the recent Anti-Islam film by Dutch MP Geert Wilders. BBC Monitoring sampled some of the most vocal blogs.
Darfur crisis
wholehearteddly-sudaniya.blogspot.com wrote on 8 March 2008 that President Al-Bashir deserves to be jailed for failing to solve the Darfur crisis. The blogger wrote: “Dear Mr. President, I really can’t tolerate your government any longer. It’s a criminal regime in every single way. For the last 19 years, you’ve tortured, killed, looted, traumatized and you’ve failed to stabilize the country….You can’t solve the Darfur problem. You don’t belong in the presidential palace, you should be in Kober (a jail in Khartoum North).”
Another Darfur comment on the same blog said, “Last year, the president of Sudan swore that he will divorce his wife if the UN forces came to Sudan. They are in Sudan. What should be done Mr President?” “What does his wife have to do with UN forces?”, the following comment says “Irrational, idiotic man… He should stop focusing on finding new wives and focus on solving our problems. I hate him!”
Southern Sudan
sudanforum.net, a discussion forum in English and Arabic has different discussion topics. A recent entry discussed the issue of the north and south returning to war. “chameleon”, a contributor, blamed “corrupt officials” in the Southern Sudan government saying, “War is inevitable, however, it is not the choice of the northerners, but they are being dragged into it by the greedy attitude of GOSS [Government of Southern Sudan] and their frequent violations of the CPA [Comprehensive Peace Agreement]. GOSS needs a war to cover up its internal horrific failure. After three years of peace, the ordinary man in the street in southern Sudan is running out of patience as he sees his oil money pouring into the bellies of senior GOSS corrupt officials.”
On the same forum on 23 March “Thonmajuk” commented on the alleged “assassination” attempt on former Foreign Minister Lam Akol. He wrote, “Lam deserves death… Lam deserves death penalty by Junubian [southerners] because he is a pure traitor to our cause.”
Some of the comments on Gurtong.net, another discussion forum, deal with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. One published in February 2008 discussed a comment by SPLM Secretary-General Pagan Amum, that the SPLM would not mind renegotiating the Comprehensive Peace Agreement to facilitate a political solution for the crisis in Darfur. “Awak” wrote: “Re-negotiating the CPA is the wrong approach and a very dangerous one at that because it will surely lead to its demise”.
Islam
Issues touching on Islam also get a good mention. One blogger, “sharqawi” [the one who comes from the east], recently commented on “Fitna”, the anti-Islam film by Dutch MP Geert Wilders. He wrote in Arabic , “In my opinion, the film will open the gates to hell for the Dutch people in particular, and the Europeans in general. It will kindle violence against them and it will strengthen the cause of Muslims in general and that of Al-Qa’idah followers in particular. He added in English: “I don’t know why some people have the desire to propagate hatred while they have a very limited time to stay on this earth.”
Amjad http://amjad248.blogspot.com/ , a blog by “an 18-years-old Sudanese male born in Khartoum, raised in Oman, and currently doing Petroleum Engineering somewhere in North America” had a comment on the arrest last year of the British teacher Gillian Gibbons, for suggesting that a teddy bear be named Muhammad. Amjad wrote on 28 November that: “This whole thing is a political issue. Once again, Sudan is just putting itself in complicated issues raised from petty things like this.” It added on 29 November, “Our Islam is much greater than that. It’s just us whom are making it look ridiculous, while it’s really great! Lots of educated Muslim Sudanese, some of whom have Ph.Ds in Islamic Studies, are really pissed at the way the Sudanese authorities reacted.”
Israel
Some blogs also discuss relations with Israel. sudanesethinker.com, a “socio-political blog on Sudan, the ‘crazy’ Middle East, Africa, the United States, Islam and new media” operated by “a full-time Sudanese-born college student and a part-time multi-genre music producing freak” had some comments on the decision by Darfur rebel leader Abd al-Wahid Muhammad Nur to open an office in Israel: “The government thinks that we will be upset about this because Israel has killed Arabs. But we don’t care. We’re not Arabs. Not very diplomatic… but again, the people of Darfur seem to feel very little loyalty to or identity with the Khartoum government. Oh, and the religious manipulation didn’t seem to get very far either.”
He goes to say, “I think it’s interesting that Arabized African Muslims in Darfur are increasingly shedding their political Arab identity. It’s expected anyway. The policies of forced Arabization carried out by Khartoum governments for many years since Sudan’s independence will continue to increasingly backfire if the regime keeps up what it’s doing in places like Darfur.”
On 4 March 2008, Peter Aarai says: “Hahahahahah, very funny for Sudan government to react very stupidly for the opening of the SLM office in Tel Aviv. Darfurians have a right to open any office in Israel or in any other country… I support the SLM for opening the way for Sudan to have good relationship with Israel. Sudan is African country, not a Middle Eastern state. Thanks to Israel for giving the Darfuris a right to open the office.”
“Furdungonkoai” concurred on 6 March 2008: “I want to say congratulations to Abdulwahid for the new office of SLM in Tel Aviv…I think the period of deceiving Sudanese this way has gone and this relationship it means that Abdulwahid believes that the human is human but the religious is the connection between human and God so Israelis are human beings and they are not Darfurian enemies . So why not an SLM office there?”
Sudan Tribune website, which is based in Paris, France, also has a discussion forum, which gives its readers a platform to discuss controversial subjects. This was the case on Monday 3 March 2008 when it published a report entitled “Rebel commanders, Darfur IDPs support Israel office.”
On 3 March 2008, “emadven” wrote on the blog hailing Israel for accepting Darfuri refugees: “Israel is the only country in the Middle [East] that’s accepting Sudanese people and not discriminating against them at all.”
On 3 March 2008 Oricllo Taylor disagreed, saying “Israel accepts Sudanese people do they? I think not. Israel is a racist state; it is using the Darfur issue as an agent of imperialism in Sudan. It’s all about the oil.”
Weapons
www.shamarat.net had a particularly interesting report on 27 November 2007 headlined “Khartoum’s Military Arms Industry”, where the blogger explained in details (including photos) “how far the government of Bashir has gone down the path of military and arms production”. No one commented on the piece, prompting the author to say: “I’m still surprised at why no one has commented yet on this article!?! Maybe because most are lost between the sense of pride and that of shame. Pride for having our country produce arms to protect itself, its citizens and neighbours and shame for what they are actually being used for. At the same time there is the whole opportunity cost of producing such arms at a time when most Sudanese are in a dire need of a better economic situation. At least we know where ‘some’ of the oil money is going! I wonder how the SPLA is viewing such a race to arms and how the world is viewing [it] in terms of Darfur…. ” http://ww.shamarat.net/db/viewtopic.php?t=9293377 http://ww.shamarat.net/db/viewforum.php?f=1
Spielberg
When American film director Steven Spielberg withdrew from his position as artistic adviser to the 2008 Beijing Olympics citing China’s human rights record, “Angry African” posted a comment on the Sudan Tribune website saying :” I would like to nominate Spielberg as an honorary Angry African for the day. He did not have to do it. He wasn’t under a lot of pressure. But he did it in any case. And we applaud him for doing that. Steven, you make us proud. You are now one of us!”
Source: BBC Monitoring research in English 2 Apr 08