South Sudan: The Generation Exit Paradigm
Malith Alier Deng, South Sudanese Australian Political Analyst and Cultural Critic
By Malith Alier Deng, Kalgoorlie, Australia
Monday, December 20, 2021 (PW) — A week or so ago, the masses of the country called South Sudan, were treated to something close to shocking. Actually, some people suffered shock as a result of a distractive proposal of a name change. Those who suffered the “shock episode” thought that name change at the moment is not or in the near future, a priority. It is also shocking because those who dared to call for a change of the country’s name preside over political organisations with questionable names.
The name SPLM IO is neither here nor there. SPLM IO adherents would be accorded due respect if they start by renaming their beleaguered party and then proceed to that of the country. We all know when the SPLM started but for now, we have no idea where it is heading to.
The 1984 SPLM movement was formed to liberate Sudanese people from a situation those people were in before 1983. The war of liberation ensued, and the country got partitioned in two. It’s incredulous that the SPLM generation clung to a relic epithet that is no longer in existence especially after separation. The notion that the SPLM IO is trying to superficially remake the country they intentionally destroyed is a welle. These people constituted the generation who made and soon destroyed a country at the same time.
A generation takes about thirty years to accomplish something. Say, for example, to establish a business or family and have offspring. The liberation struggle waged in Sudan by South Sudanese took two-third of a generational lifespan. SPLM war went on for 21 years nonstop.
In his 1928, “Das Problem Der Generationen,” also translated into English in 1952 as “Problem of Generations” Karl Mannheim, contents that young people are significantly influenced by the socio-historical environment of their youth. A notable event that involved people actively at a young age is likely to shape their consciousness and create influence in the next generation.
The SPLM created and promoted the concept of the Red Army, RA, during the liberation struggle. This RA cohort would be considered a generation because it shared a historical location or exposure to a common era.
In their common era, 1983 – 2005, the Red Army was exposed to the top leadership who promoted the idea that the RA were the seeds of New Sudan. Therefore, the precious seeds of the future nation were to be preserved, planted and allow to germinate and be nurtured by the determined leadership of the movement. The inability of the current SPLM leadership to allow or to have a semblance of preparedness for the RA has rankled some members. The politically conscious members of RA, who are now in their forties and above, have begun to agitate for what they called a generational exit plan from power in the new country.
Nobody acknowledges that the formation of the various activist organisations such as Red Card, People’s Coalition for Civil Action, among many more came about because the generation that nurtured and guided RA has failed at many fronts. They had lost the New Sudan vision. The New Sudan vision was one of the ideals worth fighting for. Immediately after gaining independence through the referendum, in which all South Sudanese participated, they took the country back to war. The country is now bogged down in an enviable state: the economy attests to this fact.
The name change proposal for South Sudan is a perfect distraction from the pertinent issues the country faces. The 2018 peace agreement implementation which currently lurks behind by several months should be given 120% per cent momentum. Second, the parties which are agitating to replace the South Sudan name should start with their own name. in the Political Parties Act, no more than one party can share the same name in the country.
The Red Army or all the young people agitating for the generational exit paradigm from power must corral, unite and form a credible mass organisation with actionable vision like the original SPLM of John Garang et al. forming various weak organisations is a recipe to fall in the same rabbit hole the SPLM fell into after Garang. We have hope that the American Congress realised that South Sudan is ripe for a new paradigm beyond the warlords who are now bickering over a peace agreement in Juba.
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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