THE NEW SYSTEM OF THE TURKIYA (النظام الجديد) AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE INTERNAL CONTRADICTIONS IN OUR LAND.- By Cpt. Mabior Garang de Mabior

Without understanding the slave trade in our land and the history of the Turco-Egyptian, followed by the Anglo-Egyptian rule in our land (the Turkiya in Junubeen vernacular). It will be impossible to understand the contradictions in our society today. What we are currently suffering from as Junubeen societies resulted from the trauma suffered in that period of our history. It is not a problem that can be solved overnight. It also can not be blamed on one person.

Those who studied in the old Sudan curriculum may remember what I am talking about. However, it was being learned under a colonial curriculum, and the connections may not have been made. In addition, a colonial curriculum would never give the colonized a liberating education. The system, which in the literature of the Tomato Renaissance, we call the barbaric status quo, is seen by our naive civil population as our culture. This erroneous belief is reinforced by the traditional elite, the beneficiaries of this system established during the Turkiya.

The colonial system, which replaced our shared cultural values as Junubeen, was called "The New System," (النظام الجديد) by the colonising Ottoman Empire It was a slave trade economy that devastated our societies and replaced our traditional economies with slave trade economies. Those who have a basic understanding of economics are aware of the inextricable link between the economy and society. If we have a slave trading economy, it follows that there will be a slave society that accompanies it.

After the British took over the Turco-Egyptian Sudan, it became the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium. The British were no longer in the slave trade and were now abolitionists. In 1924, the slave trade was officially abolished by the British; however, there were no reparations for the descendants of the former slave societies. The societies imposed by our oppressors were not transformed after slavery was abolished. Furthermore, the traditional elites in the north and the south of the old Sudan resisted the abolition of the slave trade. They were the beneficiaries of the new system established by the Ottoman Empire (النظام الجديد), and would not give it up without a fight. They have been resisting change up to modern times. The revolutionary vision of the new Sudan was a threat to the traditional elite in the old Sudan. Both in the north and in the south.

The failure to establish a revolutionary government in Khartoum has resulted in two Sudans, in which the civil populations of both states continue to suffer, while the traditional elite have never had it better in the two Sudans. The establishment of a revolutionary government in Khartoum was sold to the people of South Sudan as a betrayal by the revolutionary forces of their aspirations.

This was, of course, mischief!

There was no contradiction between the establishment of a revolutionary government in Khartoum and the right of self-determination for the people of the then, southern Sudan. In fact, it was the only way to guarantee it in the event our brothers in the north failed to make unity attractive. It is unfortunate that the southern traditional elite sold the idea of the new Sudan to our people as a betrayal of their aspirations. In the end, we got an independent Republic of South Sudan, but our civil population is still far from self-determination. The beneficiaries of secession in the end have been the traditional elite. What was fulfilled was their aspirations for a state in which they would divide their own national cake without interference from the northern elite.

Compatriots,

The issue is not who will be president. The issue is not who will be governor or commissioner. The issue is not to change the minister of finance until we get the one who gets it right. The problem is a systemic one. We can replace these leaders until the cows come home, as such. However, if the new system of the Turkiya (النظام الجديد), which is now archaic, is not transformed, our civil population will continue to suffer without an end in sight

We have lost countless generations to the struggle for our dignity and the restoration of the greatness of our people. From the anti slave wars to the anti colonial wars, down to the liberation wars.

These wars have devastated our societies beyond recognition. The children are the future for any cultural continuity. This is true for the entire human family. Unfortunately, our traumatic experiences of colonialism and slavery have made us not value children. At the mature age of 47 and above, many of us are still called boys by our elders, a legacy of the slave trade.

This is mischief!

If we do not change this system, there will be no socio-economic development for our people. We shall remain at the same level of social development, which was imposed on us by the Ottoman Empire, who were at that time called the sick man of Europe! It was a very archaic civilization with its roots in the Eastern Roman Empire.

Compatriots,

The solution is to invest in raising a new generation that is correctly educated. A generation not affected by the trauma we have experienced during colonialism and slavery and by the wars of liberation. When this generation rises up, they will be able to establish a revolutionary government and a revolutionary army to transform our society.

The traditional elite, who are the beneficiaries of the barbaric status quo, have an advantage over the revolutionary forces in our country. This is why they have gained the upper hand in our affairs. The revolutionary forces who waged the war of liberation came into the new political dispensation divided and thus weak. They have been outmanoeuvred by the traditional elite.

These elites are incensed when they hear the Tomato Renaissance watchword, "We must be united!" This is because the unity of our revolutionary forces is our strength. There is no value in the struggle for power. It will only retard the historical struggle of our people. The second liberation, which we are already in, can not be fought through the barrel of the gun. This will only breed inter communal violence. Which is in the vested interests of the traditional elite.

Fellow countrymen and countrywomen,

The second liberation must be waged with ideas. In the war of ideas, we must be heavily armed with information. Our unity is also important. The greatest weakness of the revolutionary forces has always been lack of internal cohesion. It is only when we have been united that we have been victorious. It is through unity that we have achieved progressions in our history. When we have been divided, we have only achieved regression. It is only through our unity that we will be able to be victorious and finally solve the contradictions in our societies, which resulted from the days of colonialism and slavery.

Compatriots,

"We must be united!"