The Sudanese war broke out in a coup in April 2023, and since then it is estimated that about 150,000 people have been killed. The conflict faces the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, which are supported and funded by the United Arab Emirates and are committing massacres, the bloody effects of which can be seen from space. This conflict has fallen buried under the rubble of the current tension. But for journalist and writer Nisreen Malik, Sudan’s war is very present. Born in Gartom 50 years ago, she traveled to the UK when she was 20, where she developed her career and is now a newspaper columnist. The Guardian. Malik explains how he was affected: “I felt very lucky to live a life in the West, but I had a home somewhere else, and I had the best of both worlds, so I didn’t cultivate much of my identity. When the war started I felt like I had finally arrived in the West, because I had nowhere else to go,” Malik said before participating in a debate at the Center for Contemporary Culture in Barcelona (CCCB).
In the Sudan war, as in the Gaza war or in Ukraine, narratives play an essential role. The book that Malik hates to know We need new stories. Challenging the toxic myths behind our age of discontent (We need new stories. In challenging the toxic myths of our era of dissatisfaction; without translation into Spanish), I wanted to explain the past, but I ended up giving a warning. The article, published in mid-2019, which opened the doors of the Royal Society of Literature, analyzes how politics and economics, especially since government, have created myths that present themselves as natural truths that have given rise to phenomena like Trump. The pandemic, the renewed rise of ultras, brutal wars, and a second Trump administration have done little more than confirm his thesis. If, in Mythologies, Roland Barthes considered that myths are so powerful that the only thing to do is to resign from them, Malick believes that there is a need to create new stories.
a question. Where do these legends come from and why is it so difficult to make the trip?
answer. Which in itself is not a bad thing, we need it to organize society. The problem is when it becomes corrupted and leads to a group feeling superior and excluded. He then empties hierarchy, racism, and isolation into the Tripos. Everything we consider inevitable is processed. It’s up to you to create your own stories.
p. Is creating these stories an unconscious process?
A. On the part of the ruling class, this is very conscious and tangible. The amount of money they have Think tanks and opinions The right to spend to support these stories is enormous, especially in the United States. I was in universities in the 1960s. Our progress We’re not very good at this.
p. Is it because they are less homogeneous?
A. One reason is that we simply don’t have the right kind of money. By definition, anyone who wants the world to become more conservative has an economic interest in it. The other is that right always works, even when popular and in government. I think that progressives have gained the cultural space, the social space, and the space of values in general. There is a certain amount of complacency on the left.
p. What do you think of Zahran Mamdani winning the New York City Council?
A. It’s a good example of how powerful these new stories can be. Brotherhood, brotherhood and solidarity are more motivating than cruelty. Mamdani appeals to the identity of our shared experiences. In the past, progressives have been mistaken in terms of identity, leading to representation: a black woman was needed in Casablanca or an LGBTQ representative in the State Department, mainly to integrate them into society. constructionBut not to change it, just to be a part of it.
p. Who do Trump and the right turn to?
A. For everyone. His message resonated with people of all origins, which is why the second Trump administration has become so persuasive, expanding the range of those who vote. It gives easy solutions and a sense of standing above the rest. Even if you are an immigrant, you are better than anyone else who just arrived. Enthusiasm because it breaks tradition and staid and abstract politics.
p. Are teens more legalistic today?
A. Try to take positions that give you a feeling of certainty. They are trying to find their place in the world, and they are the ideal customer. We are disappointed that clear and compelling insights into brotherhood, kindness and solidarity, which can also be attractive, are not presented. But teens are more social than adults, go to school, and interact more with others. Your policy cannot be as insulated and insulated as adult policies.
p. What is the role of technology in creating myths?
A. Very relevant. The technocracy is also a multi-million dollar class, with a class interest in maintaining myths. On social media, they are concerned about the continuation of myths of division, hatred, fighting, and cruelty. Promote engagement, lead to trade, advertising and benefits. There is a whole mythical economy that traps us in virtual spaces with tools like… Rings In videos or Move Infinite. But few people talk in person as much as they do online.
p. How do myths work in extreme situations like the Gaza war?
A. One of the ways in which this genocide was carried out was to make people doubt their own eyes and ears, and not trust their own abilities, which is incredibly powerful. Since Zionism is part of the truth, there is doubt or denial of death and abandonment. This form of communication, essentially fascist, is allied with technology and networks.
p. Why does Gaza receive more attention than Sudan?
A. The war in Sudan is not funded by Western taxpayer money, as is happening in the United States with Gaza. Gaza is an internal matter for Western countries, with governments complicit with them, which is why people are more concerned and protesting. Responsibility in the Palestinian issue is global, as Israel believes that it is the cause of a European crime, the Jewish Holocaust. The case of Sudan, which spent years in isolation, is different: it is not a civil war, but rather between two armies, and the conflict is not closely linked to the West.
p. There are only links through third parties, such as the United Arab Emirates.
A. Yes, what is happening in Sudan is a recent development in global politics. The wealthy Gulf states are turning into small imperial powers in the region, reinforced by the European Union model and its transactional foreign policy vision, and Israel’s impunity in Gaza.
p. How do you feel as a Sudanese about this war?
A. It’s been years and I still don’t think it’s passing. It is an unusual and fast war. Imagine that fighter planes arrive, the airport is bombed, and by the afternoon all the planes at Barcelona Airport are burning. This is how it happened.
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