SUDAN – Hundreds of anti-government protests since mid-December have swelled into a nationwide strike on March 6 and a nationwide day of civil disobedience on March 13. “This is not just protests over bread and fuel, it is a revolution,” declared one of the leading groups.
But what kind of revolution? A democratic revolution for “Freedom, Peace and Justice” that will leave the masses in misery? Or a communist revolution for a society where all will work for the common good and all will share the fruits of our labor?
Amidst a growing economic crisis, a shortage of bread in the city of Atbara sparked the initial demonstrations. They quickly spread. The government declared a “state of emergency” and began beating, arresting and killing people.
Neither repression nor promises of increased salaries for civil workers have stopped the masses. One question now is whether support from 23 different opposition parties will succeed in channeling the rebellion into upcoming elections.
But the bigger question is whether members and friends of ICWP will be able to spread communist ideas, even in a small way, among the youth and workers who are on the move in Sudan. We must make every effort to do this.
The People are the Only Heroes
ALGERIA: Escalating mass protests, including a five-day general strike, forced President Bouteflika to withdraw his bid for a 5th term. But they are not stopping there.
“The people have been asking to bring down the whole system,” said an organizer.
That has to mean fighting for something very different from the “democratic, modern and prosperous Algeria” that some young leaders call for. It means bringing down capitalism.
The capitalist system is at the root of the widespread unemployment, housing shortage, growing inequality and corruption that enrage the masses.
Bringing down capitalism means mobilizing for communism and nothing less. It means armed struggle, not peaceful protests. It means an internationalist class perspective.
The ruling party came to power fifty years ago in a historic fight for national liberation from French imperialism. Its nationalist politics led to the present crisis. Nationalism is, literally, a dead end for the working class.
As in Chavez’s Venezuela, the government has held down unrest with social spending funded by oil revenues that have declined significantly in recent years. Reformism, too, is a dead end for the working class.
The young women and men who are leading the Algerian rebellion have tasted their power. They see the possibility of change. Now they must rise to the task of imagining, fighting for, and creating a communist world.