The Birth of Red Card Movement and other Civil Society Activism: Demonstrations or Not, The March Against the SPLM Party is Unstoppable in South Sudan

By Malith Alier, Kalgoorlie, Australia

Tuesday, August 24, 2021 (PW) — Politics is a bizarre game. Some people called it a “dirty game.” Our politics in the nascent state of South Sudan is anyone or both of the above even to a layman. What is this that really makes politics a dirty game: Treachery, deceit, underhand tactics, bickering, brinkmanship, subversion, or backpedaling?

South Sudan had been bedeviled by the big four: corruption, war, tribalism, and militarism from the get-go. From the moment the rebel group, the SPLM/A, took over Southern Sudan in 2005, to begin with, it did not shed the old skin of militarism. The generals just crossed over to the new realm not only in uniforms but also in military thoughts. Today, states as administrative units, continued to be dictated upon by the generals in unmistakable military fatigues and thoughts. This was the case during ten states then 32 states and now back to ten states.

The military governors in various restive states are utilizing the power of the gun to try to quell, often without success, the agitated youth. The classical examples are to be found in Warrap and Lakes states where the modicum rule of law had recently been replaced with deadly expediency punctuated by military stratagem.

Politics is not a dirty game per se. it is the people who perceive it to be so, depending on the extent of application. In countries like South Sudan that are fairly new in the art of politics, things can get out of hand and often become very ugly, especially with the uncontrolled force of arms. This is where the gun class is inclined to answer every question imaginable with gunpower. They think that the solution to fighting fire is fire (Swahili saying, Dawa ya moto ni moto)!

South Sudan youth wherever they are; have gradually become disillusioned and now enraged by the ongoing political mismanagement in the country. The youth in the country bear testimony to the unimaginable carnage of conflict and those outside on the other hand, only watch the unfolding horrors helplessly in disbelieve. War and the resultant displacement and famine top the list of the confronting horrors the unfortunate power struggle in the SPLM unleashed.

It is the youth who are executing the war on both sides and on behalf of proponents of the conflict. White army, Gelweng, and other proxies are fighting the war that has no end in sight. This fratricidal war had no benefit to the country either.

War and conflict in South Sudan have become like crocodile dentals that never stop replacing the old ones! All in all, it is the youth who bear the brunt. Jeopardizing their future so to speak.

Having realized that their perspective and valuable future is getting destroyed by callous older people and warlords, the youth are now making attempts to alter the course of the ugly history of perpetual war and deprivation. Various organizations often spearheaded by the hard-working youth are trying to bring about a peaceful change of power from the current generation of liberators to the youth.

Early around 2018 or thereabout, the Red Card movement came out in the open and declared intention to express displeasure with the SPLM led government. it called for demonstrations in Juba and other towns against the continued state of war in the country despite the peace agreement between the warring factions of the SPLM. It was the treachery and bickering overpower that drove the SPLM not to implement the agreement in letter and spirit despite many attempts by the international community exhorting the parties to stick to the agreement they signed.

Early this month another pressure group has come out to clearly call for more pressure to be exerted on the current SPLM leaders to give way to the views of the suffering people in South Sudan. People’s Coalition for Civil Action, PCCA, made and signed a declaration for people to come out on the streets to express their opposition to the current regime that has totally become incorrigible politically and economically. Such calls are only intensifying and there will be no going back.

South Sudanese in their various walks are having a political conversation about the future of their young country. Some of this conversation was initiated by the very government that had been in power for the last 16 years. The National Dialogue, ND, that is languishing on the shelves in the presidential palace was such a noble search for peace in the country. Unfortunately, it may not be dusted and implemented any time soon because of brinkmanship and vested interests by the old guard.

the Jieng Council of Elders, JCE, erroneously believed to be a tacit advisory body to the president came out last year and declared that the country had been led down by leadership failure. It lent its support to ND and called for the current leadership to step down in the interest of the country. It declared that Neither Kiir nor Riek has something to offer the country any longer.

The SPLM led government in Juba has proven its immunity to pressure from any direction. Pressure from east, west, north, or south has no bearing on the party. Kiir’s spokesman, Ateny Wek, put it bluntly that no “power under-earth” can sway the president to do anything that is not in his interest!

The SPLM leaders diverged and fought among themselves but nothing of consequence changed on the ground. International political pressure was exerted on the party by the world’s superpowers to no avail. The 2013 war tore through the country but the party seems intact! The party stalwarts stood squarely behind the party and their chairman in the face of unimaginable bloodshed.

The SPLM Chairman who is also the country’s president in the past express doubts about his stepping aside when his personal interests are not met. He claimed that he has no incentives to leave the government to the dismay of citizens who bore the brunt of SPLM misrule.

The military dictatorship which rules by decrees does not allow civil and personal freedoms guaranteed by the constitution to prosper. Freedom of assembly and of speech in particular is severely stifled.

The Red Card and other freedom-seeking organizations have no room to exercise free expressions on the streets or in the media. The so-called national security has notched up to deal with any suspected commotion during the day or in the pitch-dark night. When PCCA signed the declaration a fortnight ago, NSS came out and arrested one of the signatories. Their actions sent one other signatory into permanent hiding.

The tide has indeed turned against the SPLM at every corner no doubt. Young artists and musicians had joined the chorus denouncing the liberation movement that is now a shadow of it bush vision and mission. One Lason Angok, a musician, was a few months back sent into the dungeon of Blue House for one of his compositions challenging the SPLM over the jettisoning and abandonment of New Sudan vision.

The young associates of the movement, dabbed Red Army, were during the war of liberation promised the fruits of the struggle. Promises like “you are the leaders of tomorrow” were constantly on the lips of the movement leaders including Salva himself. In the 1990s while in the training camps in Ethiopia, John Garang used to encourage his visionary creation, the Red Army, to enroll in school because they were the seeds of the New Sudan! Decades later, these survivors of Africa’s longest war are farther away from the promises made to them at a tender age. The Red Army, I supposed, is the SPLM forgotten children according to Larson Angok.

One of the promising young people of this country, a Red Army also known as lost boys, was arrested by the notorious National Security Service for no clear crimes committed. Kerbino Wol was eventually murdered by the regime because he was considered a threat to their stranglehold on power. This demonstrated the extent to which the regime would want to protect its insatiable interests. It is prepared to detain opponents and liquidate them in cold blood.

In the region, only the former Ethiopian PM, Hailemariam Desalegn asked Kiir to give way to new leadership. Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, the backer of SPLM leadership has on many occasions identified South Sudan as a “factory of bad leadership!” this is not to say that many South Sudanese agreed with what he is doing in Uganda.

Nationally, some citizens believed that the original SPLM has been hijacked by the forces it fought for decades. This observation has merits. If you look at the state, the party, and the government you would conclude that greater forces had orchestrated a commendable work leading to distortion of vision and mission of the liberation.

Politics, the art or science of government is never a dirty game by itself. It is the group that practices or is in charge that makes it to be so. At times, politics can be deadly with the encroachment of dictatorship as we have now. Only meaningful change can alter the state of affairs and impart greater benefits to society.

The SPLM government of Salva Kiir and company no doubt led down the country from the start. It presided over the four cardinal sins of war, corruption, tribalism, and militarism. The world’s newest country had embarked on self-destruction while the leaders of the SPLM blindly continue to believe that they had what it takes to remain in charge of the nation. The SPLM imploded within. First, it was the militias who wreaked havoc. Now the civil society is taking over.

South Sudanese have concluded that the SPLM bunch had lost direction. The Garang party is now a shadow of its liberation credentials. The vision and mission of the SPLM probably died with John Garang in 2005.

The high hopes that independence generated in 2011 may not be fulfilled by the current SPLM party. It is 10 years after independence and if one adds 6 years interim period, a total of 16 years were wasted by the SPLM party. Is anyone there to notice the writing on the wall painted all over the country?

Forces for change will only grow louder and there will be no going back whether the august 30^th planned demonstration goes ahead or not.

The author, Malith Alier, is a concerned South Sudanese Australian public intellectual and political commentator who can be reached via his email address: alierjokdeng@gmail.com

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