Arkamani.ARCHAEOLOGY · ANTHROPOLOGY

Sudan Journal of Archaeology & AnthropologyThe Arkamani archive

Research article

Since our specific request is to examine and evaluate that decision, assuming that it represents, in light of the question posed, a possible type of ideological treatment of the concept

Modern history & documents

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(12/1) And since our specific request is to examine and evaluate that decision, assuming that it represents, in light of the question posed, a possible type of ideological treatment of the concept (New Sudan), and because the objective criterion, in our opinion, to satisfy any ideological proposal must be the extent to which it is consistent with its load of objective cognitive facts, otherwise it turns into a kind of illusion or wishful thinking; We will try to present examples of the most prominent facts of the linguistic reality of the ethnic composition of the Nuba people, in terms of its diversity, multiplicity, and complexity, and the position occupied by the Arabic language, which was deleted by the aforementioned administrative decision with the stroke of a pen, relying in this, primarily, on the classifications of some linguists of the Nuba languages, such as Joseph Greenberg and Karl Meinhof, whose merit was noted and which some Nuba writers relied on. The Nuba themselves, in addition to the most reliable scientific effort made so far, to our knowledge, which is the (linguistic survey) conducted by the Institute of Afro-Asian Studies in Khartoum in the late 1970s.

(12/2) However, perhaps we must begin, in this direction, to clarify the concept of (language) itself. We do not mean, of course, the (foreign) language that a person may learn for scientific or commercial purposes, or the like, but rather that which was created in the context of producing the authentic cultural structure of a particular people, as a system of signs and symbols that is formed in the course of work, not only a tool for knowledge, but also a tool for preserving and restoring the products of spiritual culture, that is, a main tool for social memory. With this understanding, language is closely linked to thinking, since ideas themselves, even esoteric ones, cannot be produced outside language, meaning that they only gain their realistic existence in language. Without it, cognitive activity would be impossible. Through language, thinking takes on its general character and its ability to explore the properties of things and the laws of their movement and development. Thanks to it, the products of mental activity become accessible to everyone and are preserved for future generations as a condition for the development of knowledge (Blauberg and Pantin, 1986). This is because language, by its nature, is the product of people’s innate need to communicate through their social material activity, or to extend themselves to others, in the words of Christopher Caudwell, as one of the most important institutions of society’s superstructure, an image of its thought, a moral reflector of its relationships, an objective equivalent to all material existence, and even one of the most important factors influencing, necessarily, In shaping social consciousness itself. Therefore, it has a collective nature and relative independence in time and place. Although it is subject to processes of change and development, growth and decline, like all historical social phenomena, none of this occurs without the fulfillment of its objective conditions, which are difficult to achieve. Rather, they are completely precluded from purely subjective assessments and purely private desires, even if these assessments and desires emanate from positions of political authority in society. Language, in the end, is not made by decisions or decrees (see our research episodes on the word “succession” and the plight of the constitutional text, entitled: “The Failure of the Learned Master and the Failure of the Eloquent Servant,” in the Sudanese “Al-Rai Al-Akhir” and the London-based “Al-Fajr” newspapers, 1998).

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(13/1) The Nuba Mountains, located in South Kordofan to the southeast of Greater West Sudan, on an area of about 30,000 square miles between latitudes 29-31 west and longitudes 9-13, are considered one of the densest parts of Africa in terms of linguistic diversity, rivaled only by the Nigerian plains of Jos (Dr. Omar Mustafa Sharkian; Sudanile 3/16/04). While some Nuba researchers attribute their tribes to the Nubian national formation in the far north bordering Egypt and intersecting with its south (same source), foreign writers insist on (purifying!) the Nuba tribes from any (suspicion!) of such a connection, ruling that they represent a “bewildering combination” of cultures in more than fifty languages ​​(see Roger Winter on the US Committee for Refugees website). These writers rely on ancient historians such as the Greek Herodotus, for example (Histories, Edinburgh, 1954, Herodotus, The, ibid.).

(13/2) On the other hand, estimates also vary regarding the population of the mountains, as in some specialized Nuba studies it reached two million people, while government sources estimated it in 1993 at 1.1 million people, and not far from that was Yusuf Kawa’s estimate in August 1995 of 1.2 million people, including 350,000 people in areas under the administration of the SPLM, which is consistent with the estimates of the movement itself in 1992 (Roger Winter, Same previous source).

(13/3) Dr. follows. Sharkian linguists' classifications of the Nubian languages, as Karl Meinhof classified them into three groups: the language of the Six Mountains, the Sudanese languages, and the languages ​​that use a prefix in their words; Greenberg also classified it into two groups: the Kordofan group, which is a branch of Niger-Kordofan that differs from the Congolese Niger, and the Shari-Nile group (previous source). In the same source, the author concludes that the Nuba can be classified into ten linguistic groups:

A/ The Al-Ajanq group, which includes the six mountain tribes: Al-Dayer, Kadur, Kadru, Dilling, Galfan, and Karko, in addition to Abu Januk, Tabak, Kasha, Shifer, Venda, and Kujuriya.

B/ The Taqali group, which includes the tribes of Taqali, Rashad, Kijakja, Taqwa, Tumli, Moreb, and Turjok.

C/ Nyimang group, which includes the Nyimang, Mendel, and Afiti tribes.

D/ Katla group, which includes the Katla, Jalda, and Tema tribes.

E/ The Talshi-Karungu group, which includes the tribes of Talshi, Kiqa, Meri, Kadugli, Kacha, Karungu, and part of Abu Sinun.

And / the Temen group, which includes the tribes of Temen, Kiqa Jero, Tissi Um Daneb, and part of the Wali, which is branched into: the Wali of Bubay, the Wali of Al-Suk, the Wali of Umm Karam, the Wali of Karandu, and the Wali of Abu Saida.

G/ The Kwalib Moro group, which includes the Kwalib, Heiban, Shuai, Moro, Aturu, and Tira tribes, which are divided into: Al-Akhdar, Mandi, and Lemon. This group also includes the Fangor, Kao, Nyaru, and Warni.

H/ Talodi-Masakin group, which includes the Talodi, Liri, and Maskaine tribes, which are divided into tall and short, in addition to the Ashron, Tako, Toruna, and Koko-Lamun.

i/ Lafua group, which includes the Lafua and Amira tribes.

E/ Dajo group, which includes the Dajo, Laghuri, Saburi, Talo, and Shat tribes, which branch out into Dammam, Safiya, and Tabaliya, in addition to small groups in Abu Hashim and Abu Sinun.

(13/4) Perhaps surprising, at first glance, is this clear contradiction between population size and the density of linguistic diversity. However, astonishment soon becomes apparent when we learn that the number of speakers of some of these languages ​​does not exceed hundreds, and that there are even villages that are not more than a few miles away from each other, but they speak different languages ​​(same source). Perhaps what explains this is the nature of the mountainous region itself, as geographical and historical studies have proven that the denser people settled in such areas, the more their languages ​​became numerous and diverse, and were distributed among small groups, as in the borders between Nigeria, Cameroon, and Chad, for example. Mountainous regions are easier to defend, and thus people are able to preserve their languages ​​from extinction (Africa Today, London 1996 - cited in the same source).

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(14/1) As for the detailed cognitive facts that are indispensable for any research in this field, they are provided by the (linguistic survey) conducted by the Institute of Afro-Asian Studies in the Nuba Mountains starting from the year 1972-1973, and it was published in 1978 under the title:

Language Survey of the Sudan, Southern Kordofan,the Nuba Mountains, Institute of African and Asian Studies, University of Khartoum

Due to the magnitude and abundance of the material, we will suffice, for the purposes of this article, with extracting the following examples from these facts revealed by the survey results:

A/ The Krongo language is the most widespread among the local languages used in the southern part of the mountains, which is inhabited by different linguistic groups. The Dinka language is also used by 1 in 30 citizens, and Hausa by 2.5% of the sample studied. However, the Arabic language is the lingua franca, or major medium of communication between these groups (No 2, p. 2-3). The study noted that 1 out of every 50 Dinka speakers also speaks Krungo and Arabic, as Krunko tends to learn Dinka even more than other neighboring Nuba languages, such as the Misakin, but it also noted that every person speaks two languages, Arabic being one of them (p. 3). Thus, the majority speaks Arabic along with Krongo (p. 7), although 9 out of 10 do not consider Arabic to be a mother tongue, as it is subject to many linguistic modifications in such circumstances (p. 2).

B/ In the area of Habila and Kadru, in the northern part of the mountains between Dilling and Dalami, almost everyone also uses modified Arabic as a tool of communication, along with Galvan/Kedro, Dilling/Habila, Kawalib, Nyimang, Barqo/Maba, Sanqur, and Tama (No. 3, p. 1,2,3). The study compares, for example, the percentage of Arabic speakers, which is 99.3%, and the percentage of speakers of Barqo/Maba, which is 0.5% (p.8).

A/ Also, in the Liri region, located in the far south of the mountains, almost everyone speaks Arabic in some way as a means of communication, while half of the studied sample speaks the Lafua language, while smaller groups speak Liri by 18%, and Talassa by 13.7%, in addition to a small minority who speak Chalkawiya and Dinkawi (No 4, p. 2). Even in the rare cases in which a person speaks three languages, Arabic is one of them, as the study noted that 1 out of every 26 speaks Liri and Lafua in addition to Arabic. In fact, residents of the areas adjacent to the Lafua and Liri linguistic areas find it difficult to use the local languages ​​alone without seeking help from Arabic (p. 3).

D/ As for the Kadr and Wangarko groups that live to the southwest of the mountains, north and south of the city of Dilling, a third of the sample studied considered the modified Arabic to be either their original language, or one of its original languages (No. 5, p. 2), while almost all groups speak this modified Arabic as a tool of communication (p. 3), in addition to Gholfan/Dair, which is spoken by 7.7 out of 10, and Dilling, which is spoken by 7.4 out of 10. every 10, while Taemin speaks no more than 1 in 10 (p. 2).

E/ As for the area of Umm Durin and Marta, located to the southwest of the mountains, northeast and southeast of the city of Kadugli towards Talodi, in addition to Moro, which is spoken by three tenths of the sample studied as a local language, 97.3% of them speak modified Arabic in some way as a means of communication, although 42% of them did not consider it an original language (No. 6, p. 1). However, the study noted that communicating in Arabic is easier with men than with women and children (p. 5). In addition to Arabic and Moro, there are also Kadugli/Marta, and Kwalib (p. 2). Other Nuba languages, such as Liri, Shaft, Jeru, Dilling, Lafua, Liquri, and Masakin, are not found here except in small percentages, in addition to some southern languages, such as Dinka and Nogosiri, in smaller percentages (p. 4).

(14/2) Thus, the survey, and in almost all its parts:

A/ Firstly, it emphasizes the reality of the richness that distinguishes the Nuba national and tribal formations in terms of diversity, pluralism, and linguistic overlap, which is supposed to be taken into account when planning any cultural or linguistic policy. If it is understood that this item is absent from the agenda of the (authoritarian/deconstructive) movement in the first place because it represents the opposite of its strategies, and that the (rationalist/theistic) democratic governments are prevented from seeing its side, let alone sensing its danger, then what excuse can be sought for revolutionaries from the radical margins in particular to deal with it with such lightness that ends up completely contradicting its goals, as in the example of the movement’s decision to change the language of communication in the mountains? Nuba from Arabic to English?! Did the movement base its decision on the facts of the linguistic reality in the mountains?! Was the decision issued as an expression of real popular will or the desires of super-elitist?! Or is the language of the people something that can be replaced at any moment by an administrative decision?! If the Popular Movement showed such humiliation over the issue of “unity” in the “Manifesto” in 1983 that it almost denied the reality of “diversity” at all, then how could it return twenty years later to make the reality of this “diversity” itself a knife with which to slaughter the issue of “unity”?! If the language of any people is its soul, how can a struggling movement like the popular movement be able to liberate its people by crushing their soul and erasing their conscience?! It was stated in paragraph (22) of (the Manifesto) that the separatists tickle the imagination of backward regions, and if they are not curbed, they, along with the regimes of the minority elites in Khartoum, will dismantle Sudan once and for all, and this is what the movement will fight to prevent from happening (Manifesto, p. 17). Has the movement achieved that noble goal to which it committed itself in 1983?! We ask out of humility, and our questions may take on a taste of bitterness, but there is something that is one of the questions, which is the tragic report that Dr. Al-Amin Abu Munqa in the hands of the Ninth World Conference on Nilotic and Saharan Languages, which was held in Khartoum from February 15 to 20, 2004. Its content is simply that these languages, which (occupied) a significant position on the Sudanese linguistic map, in terms of the number of their speakers and the extent of their geographical spread, especially in the Nuba Mountains, are now on the way to decline, and many of them have become inevitably destined for extinction, which necessitates... Seeking to write it down and document it as a human heritage, an important chapter in the history of humanity, and a great book in the history of languages in Sudan, the Nile Valley and neighboring countries” (Al-Adwaa 2/16/04). Isn’t this a true obituary for the people’s heritage as it perishes in our hands while we look on, and even contribute to breaking their eyes?!

B/ The survey also notes the prevalence of Arabic modified as a result of the interaction as a conversational language and a communication tool (lingua franca) among various linguistic groups, let alone some considering it to be their original language, with an emphasis on its use in market transactions in particular. Perhaps this is the result of the ancient influence of the jellaba commercial activity in those areas. Despite everything we mentioned above and much more that can be said about the negative historical role played by these segments that make up this commercial class in exacerbating ethnic relations through exploitation and superiority together, it is only the one-sided polemical mind that is unable to see more than one dimension of the phenomenon, and denies the merit of Al-Jalabi, despite all that, in carrying Arabic historically to various non-Arabized national formations, and distributing its vocabulary and formulas with his goods. So that it has become a valid tool for understanding at the basis of any project for desired national unity (see: Abdullah Ali Ibrahim, 2001). How miserable and exaggerated in its purpose was the American press report that contributed to stimulating this writing by saying, deliberately digging up longings and grudges from the depths of time immemorial, to insert their stick into the wheel of a nation that is painstakingly trying to bring its limbs together in order to create a humane and democratic form: “The Nuba people have begun to speak Arabic as a result of centuries of the slavery trade and forced displacement!” (The Washington Post, 12/16/03). What do you think this disgusting colonialist would say if he were asked, on the other hand, to ask about the “Englishness” of his black citizens?!

A/ The survey finally notes, despite any other claims, that the English language is limited to a narrow segment of Nuba learners and students, as no one claimed that it was his (original!) language, or even the language of communication between him and others!

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(15/1) But it is unfortunate that the facts of objective reality themselves may sometimes be subject to the approach of harsh arrogance in accordance with the requirement of immediate gain in political politics! Khartoum Monitor, for example, wrote in its editorial dated 4/29/04 that “the Arabic language failed, even in the days of the Mahdia, to be a national medium for communication”! And it "continued to be used only by some pro-Arab tribes that occupied areas in the Jazira, the White Nile, and some small enclaves in western Sudan"! As for the English language, it “became the language of communication in Sudan for a long period of time after the fall of the Mahdist revolution”! This was while the “newly acquired Arabic failed miserably to spread across all walks of life before Sudan gained its independence from the British and Egyptians”! Even during the period following independence, Ibrahim Abboud found it difficult to implement Arabization policies in the south “because both southerners and northerners were in love with the English language”! In fact, “the Northerners went further and composed their poems in English”! “Arabic could not achieve a qualitative leap in the social, economic, scientific and cultural fields in Sudan except under the rule of salvation!” This was at a time when “the country abandoned the wealth of expertise and minds that constituted its source of pride due to its owners’ lack of mastery of the Arabic language, which was recently imposed by the rescue”!

(15/2) Now, does a person not have the right, as soon as he finishes reading this strange talk, to wonder whether his subject is really (Sudan) or (another country) that did not know Arabic until only fifteen years ago! Whether the authors of this (editorial) are aware, at all, of the complex nature of the problem of the political conflict arising over Sudan’s multiple and diverse ethnic composition, racially, culturally, and linguistically, or whether they are coming from pure “perceptions” in which ideological truth occupies the position of epistemological truth! And whether the source of their Sudanese knowledge is the movement of the living historical reality of the masses of national and tribal formations in the country or the desires of some segments of the elite intelligentsia in the south as well as in the north! Otherwise, what English became the language of communication between people in all of Sudan after the entry of colonialism?! What kind of poetry are these that the northerners (thus with an alif and a lam!) have begun to compose in English?! What kind of love for English did Ibrahim Abboud find that all northerners and southerners were falling into?! What minds and experiences are these that left the country due to their lack of familiarity with the Arabic language imposed by the rescue (recently)?!

(15/3) We do not doubt at all that many southern groups in the Popular Movement, Khartoum Monitor, and others are activists, have a cause, and influence the mentality of broad sections and sectors of the southern intelligentsia. But, in this regard, we certainly differ from them in thought, in the perception of the nature of the issue, in the method of struggle that they follow, and therefore in the value of awareness that they promote. There is a huge difference between awareness of the destructive role historically played by the supremacist (authoritarian/deconstructive) movement among the Muslim Arabized group, which British colonialism exploited to its advantage, and the call to destroy the culture and language of this group itself, that is, its existence at all. And if there is a democratic (rational/theistic) movement among this group that hates arrogance and senses its danger, it is hostile to it, and confronts its war from within the group’s culture, primarily defending it, clearing its name, and purifying it from this historical insult, and that is a great step in the struggle, then it is an illusion to imagine that this same democratic movement can accept the practice of “counter-supremacy” against this group, and even to the extent of calling for the erasure of its identity from the world. (The Sudanese presence) is a solution to the problem! This is something that does not make sense, does not make sense logically, and no one should engage in it unless he is calling for a new sedition or trying to lead to another destruction. The solution that replaces arrogance with arrogance is not a solution at all, but is, by all standards, a means of reproducing the crisis in another context! If we understand the motives of the collective reactions of the oppressed, and their social psychology, then this is no excuse for the institutions responsible for crystallizing public opinion and influencing social awareness intellectually and politically, especially those that claim to start from revolutionary positions, when they fail to perform their role in revolutionizing this psychology and its reactions, let alone that they themselves confront and direct these reactions in the wrong direction.

(15/4) The existence of the Muslim Mozarab community in Sudan, with its religious, linguistic and cultural identity, is not a (proposal) up for discussion, but rather it is one of the facts of Sudanese life that should not be discounted in any peaceful democratic solution to our national problem, just like the fact of the existence of other non-Mozarab and non-Muslim ethnic formations. However, there are two opposing entrances to awareness of this fact: on the one hand there is the entrance of (objective awareness), the entrance of (rationalists/theists) from all the ethnic formations of the countries, who aspire to build above this truth the edifice of a prestigious, voluntary and attractive unity, in which the rights and duties of all are equal as the teeth of a comb are equal, and they are brought up, generation after generation, to spontaneously and loudly acknowledge each other’s identities, so that no race among them is superior to them. Race, religion upon religion, culture upon culture, and language upon language, without the price of this awareness being (the resignation) of the Muslim Arabized group from (existence), or (its withdrawal) from the (history) movement, or (its erasure) from the Sudanese (diversity) system. The (diversity) debate itself presupposes the existence of this group as an absolute blow. As for the other side, there is the entrance to (false awareness), which is the entrance to the (authoritarians/deconstructionists) in this group, flying with wings of wax under the bright sun of this truth, imagining that there is provision to perpetuate their power without justification, and supplies to perpetuate their superiority without merit. It is the duty of democratic patriots of various ethnic formations to stand in solidarity to confront them with integrity, not to distort the conflict by creating or encouraging (counter-arrogance) which we fear is now spreading like an epidemic throughout the body of the entire struggling margin, not in the mountains alone or the south alone. We have noted that Dr. Sherif Harir, who participated on behalf of the Federal Alliance in the N'Djamena ceasefire negotiations with the government on 4/10/04, deliberately presented the Fur demands... in English!

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(1/16) Khartoum Monitor mixed up its call to restore the ancient interest in teaching the English language in schools and universities, as a tool for openness to Western sciences, and to restore what was caused by irrational rescue policies in this area, which is what we agree with it about in general, and the error of its call for English to replace Arabic as a medium of communication throughout Sudan, which implicitly indicates its support for the decision of the Popular Movement, not only to change the language of education, but The language of communication also varies from Arabic to English in its administration areas in the Nuba Mountains. (16/2) If we are talking about unity as a national democratic strategy, then one of its most important components is (language), which constitutes (the lingua franca tool of communication) between the various ethnic components. Perhaps what is easy to deduce from the aforementioned linguistic survey is that Arabic, modified by acculturation, which continued to play the role of a tool of communication between the various linguistic groups in the mountains themselves, not to mention that some there consider it their original language, is the same one that continued to play the same role between the linguistic groups of the mountains on the one hand, and the Mozarab formation on the other hand, and the rest of the ethnic formations with their similar conditions throughout the entire country on the third hand.

(16/3) Perhaps the linguistic situation among the national and tribal formations of the South also provides another shining example of the indigenization of a type of Arabic (Juba Arabic) as a tool for communication between these same formations, on the one hand, and between them collectively and the rest of the ethnic formations in the country, on the other hand. Dr. Paul Chol Deng, Head of the Arabic Language Department at the University of Juba, notes that Dr. Garang addresses his forces in Arabic, the language of the churches is Arabic, prayers are held in Arabic, and missionary societies carry out their activities in Arabic (Al-Rai Al-Aam, 5/12/04). The most important results of the study prepared by Professor Adam Saeed Kabawa, from the Mandari tribe, to obtain a master’s degree on the attitudes of southern youth and their choices towards intellectual and political issues, applied to 500 samples, reveal that the Arabic language is the language of communication between southerners (same source). Although Musa Al-Makor talks about the difficulties facing southerners with the Arabic language, as “...there are 14 Arabic letters that do not exist in the Dinka language, for example,” Adam Kabawa downplays the impact of these difficulties, attributing their causes, on the one hand, to the policies of the British and the national governments after independence, and stressing, on the other hand, that any southerner who came to Malakal, for example, learned Juba Arabic as a language of popular communication, as he put it (same source). Sheikh Ahmed Morgan, one of the founders of the Arabic School in Juba in 1945 and one of the participants for ten years in the Anyanya armed movement against the central government in Khartoum before the conclusion of the Addis Ababa Agreement of 1972, confirms that the Arabic language mixed with local languages was the tool of communication between warriors in the jungle. He also notes that there are more than 70,000 southerners who graduated or are still studying at the University of Juba in the Arabic language, which supports the spread of Arabic among southerners (same source).

(16/4) So, although the language spread as a result of various historical factors, such as religion, for example, or trade, or its adoption by rulers, etc., the concrete historical fact that is present and which it is not permissible to be arrogant about is that Arabic, whether eloquent, colloquial, or modified, and in the model of Omdurman, Juba, or Dilling, etc., has been established among us as a tool for the required communication, with certainty, on top of the elements that we need to achieve it. We dreamed of a democratic nation that was diverse in its unity. It is, before and after, an African language spoken by no less than 60% of the continent's population. What need do we need to replace English with a tool that does not help us connect what is between us, but rather separates what remains of our bonds?!

(16/5) Nevertheless, the movement’s decision was directed towards codifying and developing the languages ​​of the various Nubian groups to use them in the flourishing of their cultures, and as a tool for educating their children, even during the years of primary school, and to replace the most widespread of them with Arabic as the language of communication between the different mountain groups, while keeping Arabic, as it is, a language of communication between these formations collectively and between the rest of the Sudanese ethnic formations. This is at least a plan closer to the popular will that produced, received and used these languages, in addition to the fact that it pushes towards one of the noblest national democratic goals: adherence to unity while recognizing the right to cultural distinction. This declaration may sometimes be issued even by those who do not usually classify themselves within this trend. By applying the model of the South, for example, Musa Al-Makur believes in the ability of the southern local languages ​​to develop once political stability is achieved (Al-Rai Al-Aam, 5/12/04). In the same vein, Ramadan Chol holds the English and (northerners) responsible for the lack of development of these languages. “They banned the tribal languages ​​until they stopped” (same source), which means the possibility of reviving them if anything that hinders that is removed. As for Adam Kabawa, he asserts that any language can prevail if the necessary factors are available for that. “The Dinka language will become the link between southerners if the capital becomes in Rumbek” (same source). It is, in any case, not an out-of-the-box call. There is a model for it that was drawn up by the Ministry of Southern Affairs in the days of Joseph Garang, in the early 1970s, and it was interrupted by the liquidation of the ministry and the execution of its minister, who had urged his technical advisor for training and education to study the possibility of adopting one of the southern languages, such as Dinka for example, to be the region’s national language, and to determine the factors worthy of consideration for that goal, and to extrapolate the social, political and economic consequences that would result from it. This is in the country and in the region, and the expected reaction from southerners who speak other languages, and the possibility of choosing more than one language for this purpose should also be studied (Abdullah Ali Ibrahim, 2001). How did the decision-makers of the Popular Movement, and the writers of the Khartoum Monitor editorial who demonstrated it, miss the slightest specters of this effort in diligent consideration and action?! Wouldn’t this decision strip us of the only language of communication between our system of diversity and pluralism while working, at the same time, to bury the languages ​​that constitute the historical cultural memory of the national (marginal) formations that both institutions defend?! What kind of farmer is this?!

(16/6) In this conclusion, I wish I had found an answer less bitter than what is in Dr.’s thesis. Abdullah Ali Ibrahim, “Marxism and the Language Question in Sudan,” in which he sees that the cultural component of our non-Arab national/tribal groups is the least self-aware element in the process of awakening, and this is evidenced by the insignificant importance of local languages among the elite who speak them, who have proven on more than one occasion their complete reluctance to them, to the point of sometimes even thinking about replacing them with Swahili, as one of the aspects of their real disconnection from the democratic ambition. basic for these groups. Abdullah's answer is complete, and anyone who wants more information can seek it from the source.

The disgrace of these languages among their elites has resulted in them being neglected even by regional forums concerned with the right to multilingualism in the countries of the region. During the period between 19 and 22 March 2004, the first civil forum parallel to the Arab summit that was supposed to be held in Tunisia on or around that date was held in Beirut, and it issued its recommendations under the title “The Second Independence: Towards an Initiative for Political Reform in the Arab Countries.” While not a single word was mentioned in it about Sudanese languages ​​and cultures, his entire attention was focused on “the necessity of recognizing Amazigh linguistic and cultural rights in the countries of the Arab Maghreb, and considering them as one of the components of national culture, on the basis of equality, the right to citizenship, respect for human rights, and partnership in the homeland.” There is no blame on the forum, as a movement has risen in Amazigh to defend its menstruation, while our marginal movement is busy replacing Arabic with English!

Footnotes:

* It is often common in the (jalabi) tradition to use this word and its counterpart (national or patriotic) in an ambiguous manner, and with ambiguous connotations, especially in the field of politics, and especially more so when the aim is to blackmail the mind and conscience of the public in order to market abnormal conditions (national reconciliation, national costume, national figures, etc.).

* Dr. uses Osama uses the term “ethnocentrism,” while others - Imam Sadiq al-Mahdi, for example — use the term “cultural centrism,” and we prefer to use the term “ethnocentrism.”

* Abdullah was still a full-time member of the Communist Party when he completed his valuable research entitled “Marxism and the Language Question in Sudan,” the first edition of which was published in the “Katib al-Shouna” series among the Sudanese Communist Party’s publications in 1977.

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