New Sudan
Indicators and milestones on the road map
Sherif El-Dashouni
- Quoted from Al-Rai Al-Aam newspaper -
Conclusion:
This contribution looks to the future and presents an important and basic thesis related to the future of the nation, the fate of its people, and their aspirations that cannot be overlooked or postponed, and as such it does not direct criticism at any specific political party, in or outside the government.
All it aims to do is present some post-war development issues, in a realistic and strict abstraction. On the contrary, all this contribution seeks is for all the people of Sudan to move towards building a new Sudan whose policies, strategies and plans are based on the participation of citizens. Since the declaration of independence, fifty years ago, the Sudanese people have been suffering and struggling, in bitter suffering, in order to give their independence aspiration and meaning, but disasters of every shape and color began to descend upon them while they were steadfast, rising up and displacing some of them to bring another, more painful and ordeal. Today, he is achieving one of his greatest contemporary achievements... he was able to impose peace between his north and south. The war, along with other factors, cost him a lot of suffering, and he paid a heavy price for it in the blood of his people: dead, displaced, and refugees wandering around in Dakhla and in diaspora sites around the world. Now, after stopping the destructive, losing war, the people of Sudan are entering a turbulent phase in which the battle for social and economic development represents the greatest challenge. This stage will be critical and decisive in the present and future of Sudan. The situation, after the war has ended, is present, and all national forces must unite to identify issues, research and find solutions to multiple, overlapping and crucial issues: poverty, democracy, fair distribution among all citizens wherever they are, deterioration of human and natural resources, agricultural and industrial collapse, destruction of the fields of education and health, rural development, popular participation... etc. Therefore, the question that imposes itself: Then what after the signing of the peace document? The clarity of the objective and practical answer to this crucial question determines the fate of Sudan, present and future. This contribution does not have more than fleeting effects, with hints of some tasks in this coming short phase. I see it as extremely important in the battle to establish the cause of peace in all parts of Sudan and build the united Sudanese nation. But the whole matter here, in any case, is no more than just indications of some issues. The Sudanese people are the only ones capable of realizing themselves, building their united, interconnected nation, defining their issues, and arranging their priorities.
Introduction In the 1870s, the (possessions) of colonial powers included only a small part of the overseas territories. In 1876, the area seized by the colonial powers was only about 10% of the area of Africa and 50% of Asia. Thus, large areas have not yet fallen under the control of these invading forces. But during the last two decades of the aforementioned century, a major, radical change occurred in the world map. The advanced capitalist countries followed the example of England, the oldest colonial power, and began to seize regions of the world. In the period 1876-1914, the major imperial powers seized about 25 million km2, practically all of Africa (almost twice the area of Europe). A large part of Asia and Latin America have become colonies of a few colonial countries: Britain, France, the United States of America, Germany, Japan, in addition to other small parasites such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. On the eve of World War I, the world had been divided, and it had become impossible to annex additional areas without the use of military force... so there was war.
The British colonial project in our country has caused complex distortions in the economic and social arenas and our situation in general. The traditional structures have been subjected to a lot of neglect, without disappearing completely, and semi-modern structures have been created, without being allowed to develop further. The traditional political structure, which was symbolized by the caliph, sultan, prince, tribal sheikh, etc., was greatly reduced, with the transfer of real power to the hands of representatives of the colonial administration. However, the symbols of the traditional structure continued as a legitimate façade that was actually displaced, fabricated, or imposed. The colonial administration, along with the traditional structure, created semi-modern structures to facilitate its tasks in exploiting available local resources (government agencies, civil service, rural and municipal councils, etc.). The same happened with the economic and educational structure. The traditional economy depends on agriculture and pastoralism throughout the countryside and the desert, and traditional industrial crafts that have been developed throughout history, with the aim of directly satisfying the basic needs of the population. It has been greatly undermined but not urgently and directly eliminated. The capitalist project has transformed the largest part of the national economy into a dependent economy as a whole, integrated into its global capitalist system, with the aim of exporting raw materials to its factories in the mother country. Importing manufactured goods from there under unfair conditions. The result was the gradual elimination of the national economy's ability to integrate and grow independently, and the depletion of surplus value, despite the presence of urban, commercial, banking, and communication centers that are semi-prosperous at home, but limited, and linked to the outside world more than to the countryside and the desert.
First: The development framework: Decades of poverty, fear, a suffocating civil society, ignorant military dictatorships, autocratic rule, decrepit political parties...etc., coinciding with a deteriorating economy, accumulating debt burdens, astonishing services, and an increasing reduction in foreign aid. As well as increasing marginalization within the framework of a more brutal and complex global division of labor in the face of severe challenges in this transitional phase, which is surrounded by many turbulent interrelated variables. Not only Sudan, but the entire African continent is sliding on a spiral chain that heads vertically downward: poverty and hunger that lead to environmental degradation, agricultural collapse leading to more poverty and hunger, negative savings that are eroding, deficits and neglect of new investments in a context of worsening poverty, population rates that are on the rise, an uncontrolled escape from hunger and rural poverty to fires in the cities, leading to a population explosion in the already besieged urban areas. Nests of tin, cardboard, and crime walls. In condensed expression: Not only the current structure of domestic production, but also the main trend of economic/social development on which the economic and political conditions are based, works to spread and deepen the nation’s backwardness and restrict the movement of its progress. All of these negative phenomena together breed frustration, alienation, unemployment, inflation, social division and its erosion, insult to human rights, corruption, abuse of the prestige of official employment, neglect of the countryside, erosion of infrastructure and the bitter suffering we suffer from today. The inevitable result of this way of life is regional clashes and frictions, civil wars and general instability. Many explanations have been offered to explain the reasons for this overwhelming failure. Many factors and causes have been identified: colonial legacy, social diversity, corruption, discouraged work spirit, lack of productive middle class skills, poverty of independent and creative planning and management, confusion in economic/social policies, a low level of technical and technological levels, a decline in the flow of foreign capital, unfair trade conditions, low levels of saving and investment...etc. These technical aspects should not be ignored. Individually or together, they have a huge impact, both negatively and positively, on the development process and its path. However, addressing the issue of development through these techniques only does not usually have a significant impact. What is worse is that almost all development strategies simply assume that the problem of development is represented by the citizens themselves (the people) and their ways of life, so that an attack on the problem of development becomes an attack on (the people) and their traditional ways of living. When the people themselves become the problem more than the development process, the path of this (development) becomes bankrupt. At this point, addressing development issues becomes an exercise in alienation in the best of circumstances, and a violent attack. And it harms citizens, at its worst. This is a trend that we do not want. In order to address various development issues, we must introduce profound and radical changes in our policies and the way we deal with economic and social issues internally. Unless the basic structure of the economy changes (more rational industrialization, narrowing income differences between rural and urban workers, a steady rise in the level of general productivity), the economy will remain vulnerable to internal and external shocks. In light of such a situation, the fires of regional hatreds are kindled, and their flames devour the unity of society and burn the threads of its fabric.
Second: Development strategy: The basic direction of healthy and well-being development efforts must be determined categorically through a clear, specific, objective strategy that is cross-cutting, without slackness or confusion, and above all, advocating and committed to the participation of citizens. It also aims to meet the basic needs of families: food, housing, clothing, health, education, transportation, media, etc. And above all, human rights in all their types and forms, which prohibit and forbid discrimination of citizens on the basis of gender, religion, affiliation, color, etc. This necessarily means the need, which should not be avoided, to establish appropriate and necessary social economic structures for this trend. This is in order to satisfy the basic needs of life that we referred to previously. The foundations of these structures must rely on a vibrant and prosperous industrial sector, the basis of which is an agricultural sector that is constantly productive and growing, while not neglecting other productive and service sectors. However, social economic development cannot, in most cases, be independent, comprehensive, and sustainable if it does not rely on an expanding internal market. This does not mean self-reliance. I only aim to emphasize the importance of directing export revenues in order to basically cover the basic import costs of inputs required for further development, and these necessary inputs should be replaced gradually through the exploitation of local resources and the increasing reduction of lavish consumption.
Third: Establishing the development process: Sudan has become one of the few countries located in the weakest links of the global economy. The issues of social economic development represent the greatest challenge to the fate of this honest country: extreme poverty, structural economic weakness, paralyzed economic and social capabilities...etc. All of this is done in the context of loss of honesty and responsibility, lack of interest that amounts to recklessness, self-esteem to the point of corruption...etc. Our country is exposed to flowing chains of naked exposure, obstacles and barriers that prevent us from catching up with others, even with our African brothers (without disdain), almost complete paralysis of human, institutional and productive energy, wide exposure and increasing susceptibility to receiving external shocks and natural disasters in all their ways. All kinds, including deadly diseases that cross continents and borders, poor infrastructure, and deprivation of opportunities to obtain basic social services such as education, health, training, etc. The same is true of access to natural resources, an almost complete isolation from the flow of information internally and externally and from its modern technological sources.
Economic growth and development are difficult, if not impossible, to achieve within the framework of outdated, inherited social economic structures. This does not mean replacing them with (imported) modernization from developed countries. What I am aiming at here is the process of comprehensive social change. Although the concepts of development and modernization there is no way to isolate one from the other, in the sense that there is an organic bond between them to the point of integration. There is a clear distinction between them. The concept of development is more comprehensive and broader than the concept of modernization. The first (development) reflects a process of profound social transformation, economically, socially, culturally, and environmentally. The second (modernization) can only refer to modern (islands) in an ocean of backwardness. Regarding this (modernity), there are two observations that should shed some light on them. Firstly, it is clear that this (modernization counterpart) represents a model characterized by a detrimental simplification of development that lacks two basic components: sufficient historical richness and a structural perspective. Historically, this theory neglects a wealth of visible evidence that indicates that the process of economic growth cannot be packaged (encapsulated) in vague ideas. We talk about developing (dimensions) traditional value systems and institutions and replacing them with (modern) ones. Structurally, it lacks sensitivity and sensitivity towards the specific circumstances within which factors of economic growth, such as technology, markets, etc., can be translated, adapted or contained within the framework of local social relations. This is a rootless update. This leads us to another very important matter. I mean the absence of a social actor in this modernization process. Modernity in the West was not imposed from above on society, but rather came as a slow development in the economic, social and cultural structures of society in general. That is, modernity came as a development from within society itself. That is, from the ground of reality during the struggle that was going on between the rising bourgeoisie, whose overall activity represented modernity against feudalism and its influence and backward traditions. The latter fell along with all value and established its old, traditional systems, and modern bourgeois society arose on its ruins. Our advocacy takes place in the absence of this (social interaction), that is, the absence of the productive middle class, whose interests cannot be achieved without modernizing society. Thus, the activity of our advocates of modernity was limited to the pure theoretical and intellectual advocacy of some intellectuals, which did not greatly affect the ordinary simple man in the street. Don't you see here also a strong reason for the recurrence of military coups in our country?
There is a key factor in establishing the sustainable development process, in establishing continuous progressive economic and social growth, related to the institutional framework. That is, the framework regarding the appropriate and correct relationship between the various forms of ownership in production enterprises. For example, the public and private sectors, cooperatives, small cohesive communities, local authorities. The importance of these relationships comes from the fact that they decide, or determine to a high degree, the degree to which each of these institutions is encouraged to either be more or less productive...the subject of incentives and self-motivation. In addition, these relations are accompanied by an important issue related to establishing appropriate regulatory mechanisms and methods, such as markets, prices, planning, government intervention, etc. Moreover, it is a trend of a long-term nature, related to current consumption patterns, especially in urban areas. These patterns, which (imitate) consumer values belonging to more advanced societies, reflect a kind of dependency and represent an obstacle to the production of local consumer goods that could have been produced locally, independently. This outward consumption provides evidence of the failure of the (import substitution) policy that has been followed since the early sixties of the last century. That is, replacing wrong consumption with wrong imports.
Social economic development is usually accompanied by a high spirit of work and economic initiative (initiative), internal capital formation, improvement of production methods, as well as improvement and development of the economic qualities and productive capacity of the labor force. Despite the difficulty or even impossibility of singling out any of these factors as a single major driver in the process of social economic development and social change, it seems clear that the position or impact of capital accumulation is above other factors, relatively speaking. Saving and investing in the private sector is important and necessary for the formation and accumulation of internal or local capital. Inventions and possessing an entrepreneurial spirit in production, meaning creating or exploiting economic opportunities with a profitable return that are absent from others, whoever discovers them and practices productive economic activity on them has created a positive impact on the overall economic process. Nafta: We have to reward him with a halal profit. There is no doubt that the material progress of society can greatly benefit from such economic creativity. The productive spirit and desire for change and seizing productive opportunities based on economic feasibility studies and aversion to the usual traditional methods and practices inherited from the private sector is something that should receive every encouragement. The ability of individuals to discover new opportunities for profit and the ability and desire to exploit them positively. Important factors in pushing forward economic and social development. The activities of those who discover entrances to new crops, production methods, or new outlets in trade or in agricultural areas, as well as the activities of those who respect new ideas and modern methods while localizing them all help raise the level of the economy. However, there are many obstacles to such good qualities. The force of habit, the fossilization of social movement, the absolute rejection of new ideas, and the absence of the spirit of searching for knowledge - all combine to create climates for experimentation and invention. Obstacles also include lack of discipline with law and order, destabilization of the political situation and economic conditions in general, lack of continuity and stability of development projects, outdated agricultural methods - all of these factors, along with others, harm the issues of saving and investment, and thus impede the path of development.