Celebrating May Day: Trade unions as schools of democracy
At the heart of the protest movement in Sudan is a trade union. Proving again that democratic influence and change require collective participation and organization.
Image credit Miguel Angel Gómez via Flickr (CC).
It is telling that it was the work of a trade union, the newly established Sudan Professionals Association (SPA), rather than war, sanctions or charges by the International Criminal Court against President Omar al-Bashir, that ended his regime after 30 years. Proving once again that strong, mass and independent trade unions are schools of democracy and have been crucial in democracy building, from the workplace to the national level in Africa.
The SPA, a professional association of independent trade unions, was formed in 2016. The SPA is a reigniting the historically important role of trade unions in Sudanese politics, according to Sudanese-American journalist Isma’il Kushkush. Sudan’s trade union movement was crucial in revolutions against military regimes in 1964 and 1985. Wary of the power of trade unions’ power, when then-General al-Bashir took power in 1989, he not only dissolved the government and political parties, but also the trade unions. Then, in 1993, when Bashir introduced a nominally civilian regime, he set up his trade union federation he could control: the Sudanese Workers’ Trade Union Federation (SWTUF).
In its reporting of the ongoing protests in Sudan, The New York Times and Al Jazeera also emphasize the role of SPA as the leader of the protests. As the Times reports, “Led by doctors and engineers, the [SPA] harnessed the wave of fury that erupted during a protest over the soaring price of bread in December, and shaped it into a sustained mass movement.”
The SPA is now conducting negotiations with the military on the transition to a civilian, democratic regime. Although the outcome is uncertain, the ongoing protests—which have lasted for four months—have already had a greater impact than previous protests for democracy in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Those protests did show the potential for mass politics. In 2011, protests were driven by youth and student movements led by the middle classes, and 2012’s protests, via party youth organizations, gave protesters access to mosques. Nevertheless, these protesters were brutally repressed by the regime, followed by arrests and torture.
This time around, the repression did not manage to quell protests. AIAC’s Caitlin Chandler writes in Dissent Magazine how SPA mobilized people from different backgrounds to create a protest movement that is inclusive and rooted in working-class struggles.
There are several reasons why the ongoing protests have had greater impact than in the past: Anthropologist Nisrin Elamin and political scientist Zachariah Mampilly point to four key factors: First, they have reached outside the capital Khartoum; second, opposition parties participate; third, the regime was already fragmented; and “… Finally, there is the broader regional context. The ongoing protests are the latest in Africa’s third wave, which has been ongoing for more than a decade now and has claimed significant victories in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Tunisia and, most recently, in neighboring Ethiopia.” In addition: In 2018, an increase in bread and petrol prices added an economic dimension to democratic demands, and made ordinary people take to the streets.
