Women Lead Protests Against Military Rule in Sudan

 

Mervat al-Neel was one of the many women whose protests helped oust¹ Sudan’s long-time leader, Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

Now he is out of power, but Neel still wants to be heard. She is urging the Sudanese generals who replaced Bashir to give power to elected officials.

For many years, women had few rights under Sudan's Islamist government. If a man did not like a woman's clothing they could bring her to the police.

Now women want to have more control over the country.

That was Neel's message to the generals who are talking with her and others in the opposition² movement.

Army officers ousted³ Bashir from power on April 11. One of the officers made the mistake of showing little respect to Neel when he spoke⁴ with her. So she hit back.

"You are here in a position of power because of us," she said.

Women took part in large protests that led to the fall of Sudan’s president.

Neel is one of two women in a group negotiating with the army. She studied information technology and mathematics at Khartoum University. Neel said that she was firm in talks between the opposition and Transitional Military Council at the presidential palace.

Women suffered the most under Bashir's dictatorship. There were no women in his cabinet. Women could hold only 25 percent of the seats in parliament.

Al Rashid Saied is a spokesperson for the Sudanese Professionals Association, which organized the protests. Saied said the fact that women were demonstrating made them more successful.

Political activist⁵ Sara Mubarak is a member of the Communist Party. She worked for women's rights for years under Bashir. Now that he is gone, she is even braver.

Here to the end

Last year, people in Sudan protested about high prices. At that time Mubarak hid her political ideas when intelligence agents stopped and questioned her. Officials also detained her for a short time during the most recent unrest.

"This time I told the truth, that I was leading a protest,” she said.

Mubarak added that she had to take 10 bus rides from her home town of Singa, south of Khartoum, to join a sit-in protest near the offices of Sudan’s Ministry⁶ of Defense⁷.

At the sit-in, Mubarak has slept on the street under a tent. A nearby poster showed Sudan's first woman member of parliament. Former Communist Party leader Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim was elected in 1965. The sign gives Mubarak hope that she will also be successful.

Hope for the future

Under Sudan’s Islamic laws during the rule of Bashir, men were given rights to control all parts of women's lives - even their clothing. Bashir survived armed rebellions, economic crises and United States measures aimed at punishing his government. But today he is in a high-security prison in Khartoum. In the past, he sent thousands of political prisoners to that same prison.

Sudanese women were not only angry at the control Bashir had over their lives. In 2012, they beat on pots and other cookware in the street to protest economic conditions.

Accountant Sonia Seddik has a 23-year-old unemployed⁸ daughter who also studied financial record keeping. The security forces arrested her daughter and beat her for two days last December. Seddick hopes the changes will give her daughter a brighter future.

"We want a democratic Sudan in which women get their rights and have a larger role to play," she said.

Now, female protesters enjoy huge support. In the past, government officials called them bad names.

When women join the sit-in these days, cheering men call them "Kendaka" - the old Sudanese term for a female ruler or queen.

Both women and men have decided⁹ to continue demanding that the military give power to civilians¹⁰. They are willing to wait for a short time.

People at the sit-in seemed happy earlier this week. A group of young musicians performed a Bob Marley song as politicians promise a new period of democracy. Many women removed the cloths covering their heads.

"We have to live freely, not like before," said 14-year-old Malak Magdi, standing¹¹ next to her mother Amira.

"We have a lot of hope that in the near future we will have our freedom," said Amira, whose husband has taken part in the demonstrations¹².

I’m Jill Robbins.

Words in This Story

sit-in – n. a strike or protest in which people sit or stay in a place and refuse to leave until they are given what they demand

tent – n. a temporary shelter made of cloth

accountant – n. a person whose job is to keep or inspect financial records

1 oust   

vt.剥夺，取代，驱逐

参考例句：

• The committee wanted to oust him from the union.委员会想把他从工会中驱逐出去。
• The leaders have been ousted from power by nationalists.这些领导人被民族主义者赶下了台。

2 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

3 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

6 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

11 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

12 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。