Protests against authoritarianism and military regimes are not new to Sudan. Even the revolution that overthrew Omar al-Bashir’s regime in 2019 was decades in the making.
Today, just over two years later, a military coup carried out on 25 October is threatening to roll back the gains of the 2019 revolution. What can we learn from the history of struggles against the previous regime in Sudan? And how are the groups that made the revolution possible two years ago, especially women’s groups, reacting to the coup?
Sudanese opposition against al-Bashir’s regime dates back to the first day of his rule in 1989. For 30 years, the regime met any dissent with brutal repression in efforts to prevent any organized resistance. It targeted trade and professional unions, and worked to weaken and divide political parties.
