What the Sudan war took away
This was the title of one of the most powerful images in the exhibition. Resistance in Memory: Visions of Sudan, which I visited a few days ago at the Sura gallery, in the magnificent Balqís bookstore in Madrid. Looking at it, I was struck by a mixture of pain and recognition. April 15 marked two years since the start of the armed conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Far from being a civil war spontaneous, has been fueled by multiple external actors—among them, and most notably, the United Arab Emirates. The filing, on April 10, of a genocide case against the Emirates before the International Court of Justice by the Sudanese government marks a turning point. The text of the complaint denounces Abu Dhabi's direct involvement in military and logistical support to the SRF, including the supply of weapons, intelligence, and transportation.
But beyond the geopolitical dimension—crucial and reportable—what has been lost in Sudan is not just peace. A revolution has been lost. Or perhaps, better said, the opportunity to consolidate it has been lost. Because what happened in 2019 was historic: men and women—largely women—took to the streets to demand dignity, justice, and a different future. Despite repression, the weight of weapons, the inertia of the military elites, and attempts at foreign interference, the Sudanese people managed to overthrow a decades-long dictatorship. For a brief moment, Sudan was a symbol of what was possible on a continent so often silenced.
Today, this symbol has been shattered, though not entirely. Amid exile, hunger, and fear, an active memory persists, a form of resistance that lives in images, in voices, in divided families. The war has displaced millions of people, destroyed communities, and transformed what was once a horizon into urgency. Even if the army were to win the war, as is being proposed in some diplomatic circles today, nothing guarantees that the dignity of the people will be restored.
The Sudanese revolution has not disappeared. It has been cornered, forced to retreat, transformed into memory, into words, into a living archive. As the United Arab Emirates consolidates its position as a regional power and Europe cowers in silence, the least we can do is remember that Sudan is not just a war or a number. It's a people who wanted to live differently. And they still do.