Unite Palestine and Sudan movements, photographer urges

Photographer, activist and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Misan Harriman has said that anti-genocide activists must unite over Palestine and Sudan. Harriman was speaking to Drop Site News about the imperial horrors inflicted on both people.

The three-year war between UAE-backed Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese government has displaced millions and killed up to 150,000 people. Israel’s genocide in Palestine has rightly received global attention. The brutal, under-reported war in Sudan deserves it too.

Drop Site senior reporter Ryan Grim asked Harriman on 19 May:

as somebody who has been trying to kind of draw attention to this conflict between the UAE backed RSF and then the Sudanese army in Sudan as it has unfolded for years now … what do you see as the kind of leverage points?

Harriman said:

[I] think it’s a coalition of voices that need to cut through, and I’ll be frank, the ethno-supremacist viewpoint of the lack of value that Sudanese lives have across the board.

The highly-regarded photographer said his work on Ukraine attracted interest from many humanitarian NGOs, but his work on Sudan had been taken up much less:

I think it’s really really important now for both activists and media professionals in your world, Ryan, to really figure out um the cadence and language that cuts through because it certainly hasn’t.

If you if you look at the biggest potential loss of life on this planet, it is only one country. It is Sudan.

Adding that the potential loss of life in Sudan could be “millions of children”:

I don’t think [Sudan] is being represented in the way that it could do. And that may well cut through to a lot of people.

Collective liberation, not white saviourism

Harriman said it was vital to get big names onboard, noting several globally known sports brands and teams were owned by UAE. But also that it was vital to avoid white saviour-type activism around African crises.

The renowned activist – who recently fell foul of pro-Israel propaganda himself – said that movements for solidarity and collective liberation around Gaza, Iran and other issues must also include Sudan:

It is all of these different talking points because if I think of a Sudan protest that I photographed, and I photographed many, they are tiny. They are absolutely tiny relative to Iran or Palestine or Black Lives Matter or women’s rights.

He urged the Palestine solidarity movement to bring in Sudan as part of their aims:

And I think some of these movements need to bring in Sudan into the Palestine movement, for example, and have this shared sense of collective liberation beyond posts on Instagram but actually within the actual direct action in the protest movement.

Adding:

We need to see Sudanese leaders … talking about Gaza and then swiftly moving on to Sudan with well-armed information on what’s happening to the human beings there.

The three-year war has killed thousands and displaced millions. RSF, backed by the UAE, is fighting the Sudanese government. Gold interests and regional influence are at stake. Numerous foreign actors, including the UK, have caused the war to fester through active participation and/or outright passivity. Israel, too, is a major player in the war.

As the Canary has reported, the war in Sudan is theoretically between Arab-majority RSF and the Sudanese government. But foreign states pursuing their own interests are backing the combatants.

Egypt backs the government, alongside Russia, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Israel has backed both sides at different times. RSF has killed Sudanese civilians in vast numbers. And some estimates say 150,000 people have died overall, with over 10mn displaced by fighting.

And Harriman is absolutely right to point out that we must all move beyond single or separate issue politics. As in Gaza, so in Sudan. It is a moral duty as journalists and activists to develop and sharpen our language, that we might bring more people with us in our opposition to genocide and neocolonialism.

Featured image via Drop Site News