The Sudanese Revolution has been an inspiration to workers, women and youth around the world. The women in particular have revealed tremendous revolutionary potential. All that was progressive in Sudanese society emerged to show the world that society can be changed. But there was also a darker side and this has now reared its ugly head in the most brutal manner possible. Why is this happening?

Sunday 19 May marked a new turning point in the Algerian Revolution, which is still growing day by day, when tens of thousands of students hit the streets of Algiers calling for a real change.

The Sudanese Revolution entered a new stage after carrying out a powerful general strike, which paralysed the whole country on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. The organisers are demanding that the Transitional Military Council (TMC), which usurped power in April, cede power to a civilian-led government, which is to be installed.

Negotiations between the Transitional Military Council (TMC) and representatives of the revolutionary movement in Sudan have been suspended. They should never have happened in the first place. Now is the time for the Sudanese workers to go on the offensive.

Election results can provide an important barometer of the mood in society. The results of the Sixth National and Provincial elections on 8 May confirm that there is a deep ferment in South African society. The sharp drop in voter turnout, together with the high abstention from the election process, especially by the youth, meant that, for the first time ever, a minority of the voting-age population voted in the elections. This is highly significant in a country where the working class conquered the right to vote from the ruling class only 25 years ago.

Libya is gripped by civil war. General Haftar has launched an offensive to oust President Fayez al-Serraj and his Government of National Accord (GNA), which is recognised by the UN. The offensive began on the same day that the General Secretary of the UN, António Guterres, arrived in Tripoli to secure a national reconciliation conference, scheduled on 14 April. His visit was useless, as the UN has been in Libya since 2011.

The removal of Sudan’s former dictator, Omar al-Bashir, on 11 April did not spell the end of the Sudanese Revolution. On the contrary, far from meeting the main demands of the revolution, the army power grab is an attempt to disorientate the masses and steal their accomplishment. However, the masses are not letting go of their hard-earned victory that easily.

After the removal of the now former President Omar al-Bashir from power yesterday by the military, the people of Sudan remain on the streets. They are rejecting the curfew and military transitional council led by Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf, the former First Vice President of Sudan. Yesterday, in response to the new transitional government formed by the regime old guard, chants could be heard saying “We won’t replace Koaz [An Islamist leader - ed] by another, Ibn Auf we will crush you, we are the generation that will not be fooled” and "the revolution has only just begun".

Yesterday, 11 April, on the back of a revolutionary movement that has lasted for more than four months, the Sudanese people have overthrown General Omar al-Bashir. The overthrow of Bashir, a man who had ruled Sudan with an iron fist for thirty years, is an important victory, not only for the Sudanese people, but for the whole region. However, it is important that this be only the first step in a revolutionary process, which must end with the overthrow of the regime as a whole.

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