Complete civil disobedience, and open political strike, to avoid chaos

Press Release:

Complete civil disobedience, and open political strike, to avoid chaos

 

Sudanese Professionals Association

 

June 4, 2019: The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) issued a statement that confirms the need for complete civil disobedience and open political strike, immediately, as the only measure left for the Sudanese people to hold the country from collapsing into total chaos and insecurity under the rule of the military coup council.

 

In just two days, Khartoum and other cities in Sudan have witnessed a good sample of life under the rule of the coup council: mass murders and extrajudicial killings by the army, security forces and paramilitary militias allied with them; pillaging of innocent civilians and their properties; sharp increase of victims of rape, assault and violence; terrorizing and beating people openly in the streets without discretion; forcing striking workers to work under threats on their lives or firing them without any due process; and other signs of a collapsing, extremely fragile state that will not only be vulnerable internally but also subject to external manipulation and exploitation at the highest level.

 

“Let the coup council know that they were the initiators of total chaos that they claimed to warn against and protect the people from, and that extremism and terrorism are now taking hold openly, which will also be met by more extremism and terrorism. Our country will be lost, and then regret and sorrow will not help. The risks that the coup council took, for the sake of usurping complete power, undermine national peace and would, eventually, affect regional and international peace,” said the SPA statement.

 

The current situation “is worse than any that came before it in time,” said the statement, and while the coup council claims to prepare for ‘general and fair elections’, it is clear to everyone that it is trying to legitimize the continuation of its own rule through such elections. “Any government that comes as a result of such arrangements would have no shred of legitimacy, will be managed through the military council members and their bloody agenda, and the country will not evade violence and counter violence.”

 

“Therefore, we at the SPA categorically reject all orders and decisions made public by and through the coup authority, and we call upon all states and international agencies to refrain from recognizing  the current ruling junta in Sudan and corner the members of the coup council, who are deep to their knees in the blood of the innocent in Darfur, Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile, in addition to  Khartoum and other cities and towns,” said the statement. The SPA also called upon the international community to focus on the violations and crimes committed these days everywhere in Sudan, to put an immediate stop to it through pressure to handover power without any conditions, and to form committees of investigation into the crimes that have been committed (recently and earlier). Such committees should coordinated by the forces of the Declaration of Freedom and Change and relevant international agencies. Additionally, there is a clear need for the isolating and dismantling the Janjaweed militia, national security armed forces, and all other paramilitary groups that belonged to the former regime (and now inherited by the coup council).

 

“We call upon our Sudanese people to be steadfast in their commitment to nonviolent resistance, as it is our strong fort and superior weapon, and to refuse the attempts of the coup council to draw the whole country towards violence and counter violence. We also reiterate the importance of documenting all violations and crimes committed by the militias of the ruling junta, in the streets of all cities and villages of Sudan, under the sponsorship of the coup council. The time of answering to all their crimes is nigh, whether they see it or not,” said the SPA statement.

 

The statement finished by calling upon the Sudanese people to continue their revolution, and escalate the resistance through four main directives:

• Complete civil disobedience; closing of all main streets, bridges and openings; and bringing public life to a general halt.
• Open political strike at all places of work and facilities, in the public and private sectors.
• Continuous work, coordination, and strong organization through neighborhood committees and strike committees.
• Holding to the principle of nonviolent resistance in all our direct actions, towards change.

 

The Sudanese Professionals Association

June 4, 2019