While there have been numerous uprisings/protests in Sudan over the years, the most recent protests that were started by students in December 2018 appear to be the most serious and engaging. Initially students went out to protest an increase in bread price. But the anger over years of authoritarian rule, civil wars, corruption, constant attack on civil society, and a possible amendment of the constitution to extend El Bashir’s rule led to the growth of these protests across Sudan. The response from the government has been swift and deadly. There has been an almost total media blockage on the recent events in Sudan, largely due to El Bashir’s imposed restrictions on freedom of press and foreign media.

Yet, the Sudanese, men and women, keep taking to the streets even after being jailed and released from jails; they use innovative strategies to continue their struggle and document and share the protest. They chant for the removal of El Bashir and for “freedom, Justice, and peace”

Come Join us to learn more about the Sudanese struggle for freedom and justice, specially as our media has largely been silent. Hear from Isma’il KushKush, a Sudanese American free-lance journalist, who has reported from Sudan for the New York Times and others.

Also hear directly from Women Human Rights Defenders on the history of the feminist movement and about what they are fighting for and the challenges they face on the streets and when arrested. Mai Azzam will join us directly from Sudan. Fahima Hashim will also join us remotely.

Ismail Kushkush is a journalist who has contributed to The New York Times, CNN, the Associated Press (AP), Reuters, Guernica Magazine, Voice of America and Al Jazeera English. He was based in Khartoum, Sudan, for eight years, and for two three-month periods in 2014 and again in 2015, he was acting bureau
chief for The New York Times in East Africa based in Nairobi, Kenya. He has covered political, economic, social and cultural stories from Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Burundi, Sweden, Israel the Palestinian territories and the United States. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and international relations from the University of California, Davis, with a focus on Africa and the Middle East and a Master of Arts degree in journalism from Columbia Journalism School in New York with a focus on politics and global affairs.

Mai Azzam is an activist and researcher focusing on youth, women, religion, and social movements. She is currently doing her PhD and researching activism and social movements in Sudan.

Fahima Hashim is a long time women’s rights activist and executive director of Salmmah Women’s Resource Center in Sudan. She has over 25 years of experience in gender and development, violence against women, and peace and conflict resolution. She is a member of the advisory committee of the International Campaign to Stop Rape and Gender Violence in Conflict led by the Nobel Women’s Initiative and is a council member of Women Living Under Muslim Laws Network (WULML).

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Tags: Chicago, Fahima Hashim, Illinois, Ismail Kushkush, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, Mai Azzam, near west side, Sudan: The Struggle for Justice and Freedom