{"id":61811,"date":"2026-06-05T12:44:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T09:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/?p=61811"},"modified":"2026-06-05T12:44:44","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T09:44:44","slug":"the-dilemma-of-priorities-in-sudans-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/05\/the-dilemma-of-priorities-in-sudans-war\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dilemma of Priorities in Sudan\u2019s War"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moatasim Agraa<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Broadly speaking, the liberal, modernist, and pro-democracy camp\u2014whether liberal or leftist\u2014has split into two distinct positions. One faction openly or covertly supports the foreign-backed Janjaweed invasion, viewing it either as the last available path to democracy or as the lesser of two evils compared to military rule. I commend this group for the clarity of its position, even though I have no respect for those who support foreign aggression while pretending to be neutral.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is, however, another faction within the modernist and pro-democracy camp\u2014both liberals and leftists\u2014that sincerely opposes both the Janjaweed\u2019s foreign-backed aggression and the military government. In principle, this is the correct stance, as we should always strive for democratic governance under the rule of law. Yet framing the issue this way and stopping there is the easy part.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The difficult question\u2014one this faction avoids confronting publicly\u2014is this: What should take priority now: opposing foreign aggression or opposing the de facto government? Sudan is facing one of the fiercest cases of foreign aggression in post-colonial Africa. The state is being shaken to its foundations and struggling for survival. Civilian infrastructure is being bombed by neighboring states. Mercenaries from various regions are descending upon Sudan to kill its people. Externally funded Janjaweed militias are committing widespread sexual violence, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes. Under such circumstances, what should be the priority?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I understand the argument that our duty is to oppose both foreign aggression and military rule once the war ends. But what about now, while bombs are falling, drones are destroying power stations and hospitals, and the very existence of the Sudanese state\u2014not merely the government\u2014is under threat? The question of priorities is not a theoretical abstraction; it directly shapes the tone and focus of daily political and media discourse.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I understand the position that we can oppose both aggression and military rule after the war. But what about now, while bombs continue to fall, drones destroy critical infrastructure, and the state’s survival hangs in the balance? The liberal-left faction that genuinely opposes the Janjaweed\u2019s foreign-backed aggression continues to evade this issue, acting as though no challenge of prioritization exists. They prefer the easy position of opposing both sides simultaneously, believing this preserves their moral integrity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yet this is a false integrity. Foreign intervention was always present\u2014politically and militarily\u2014during the rule of Omar al-Bashir\u2019s Islamist government. At that time, prioritizing the overthrow of the military regime was a position shared by virtually everyone.<\/strong><\/p>\n

No one feared being accused of siding with foreign intervention, which included harsh economic sanctions, significant political pressure, and even the arming of rebel movements against the government. Today, however, this same faction has become paralyzed, terrified that prioritizing resistance to foreign aggression in order to preserve Sudan\u2019s state institutions will lead to accusations of supporting military rule.<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the years of opposition to Bashir, when foreign pressure against his government was largely ignored\u2014or even welcomed\u2014by liberals and leftists, no one worried about being branded an agent of foreign intervention.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The realities of that period clearly favored overthrowing the regime and working toward democratic civilian governance. Today, however, anyone who prioritizes defending the Sudanese state against a fierce foreign assault is immediately accused of siding with military rule.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This persuasive form of moral intimidation frightens many liberals and leftists and effectively removes them from the sphere of meaningful resistance to imperial aggression. In practice, it places them on the side of that aggression through silent complicity or through the habit of condemning \u201cboth sides of the conflict\u201d with equal intensity, regardless of their stated intentions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a recent article published in Jacobin magazine titled \u201cFor Iranians, Despair Is Not a Strategy,\u201d the young Iranian radical Hoda Katebi wrote: \u201cOur future cannot truly be in our own hands unless Iran is freed from the constant threat of external annihilation.\u201d Perhaps Katebi\u2019s observation\u2014that a people cannot determine their own destiny while living under the threat of destruction from abroad\u2014offers a useful starting point for unpacking the question of priorities.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It goes without saying that foreign aggression does not produce democracy or human dignity. History consistently demonstrates this fact. It is for the same reason that Leon Trotsky once argued that if democratic Britain were to attack a fascist Brazilian government, he would not hesitate to defend Brazil. Quite simply, Britain\u2019s democratic system would not magically generate democracy in Brazil. Instead, the likely outcome would be a new dictatorship, adding yet another layer of exploitation. The Brazilian citizen, already exploited by a military government, would then also be exploited by an external power across the ocean.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And since it has become fashionable these days to associate Marxists with Islamists, it is perhaps only fair to balance our references to Trotsky and the leftist Hoda Katebi with a quotation from the Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, who famously said: <\/strong>\u201cThe wise person is not the one who merely distinguishes good from evil, but the one who knows the better of two goods and the lesser of two evils.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Moatasim Agraa Broadly speaking, the liberal, modernist, and pro-democracy camp\u2014whether liberal or leftist\u2014has split into two distinct positions. One faction openly or covertly supports the foreign-backed Janjaweed invasion, viewing it either as the last available path to democracy or as the lesser of two evils compared to military rule. I commend this group for the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61811"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61813,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61811\/revisions\/61813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}