Sudan: revolution of the 3%?

I'm impressed with how many of the protesters in Sudan own cars. Just this morning on the CBC news we heard that protesters were coordinating the tooting of their car horns to the rhythm of protest chants. What a heart-warming story! I wonder if that's a resistance strategy promoted by one of those "civil society" initiatives the Nations of Virtue are forever pushing on the lesser peoples?

Car caravans of protesters are ubiquitous in media coverage of the protests.



This imagery seems at odds with common perceptions of Sudan as one of the worlds' most pathetic economic basket cases. So I looked up the vehicle ownership stats for Sudan.

Sudan has 33 cars per thousand population. Canada has over 600 per thousand. Obviously, Sudan's elite are spearheading the move to dump Omar al-Bashir.

Here's a list of projects the US government's NGO the National Endowment for Democracy has funded in Sudan over the last twenty years or so;

• Babiker Badri Scientific Association for Women's Studies (1996, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004)
• Badya Center for Integrated Development Service (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005)
• Badya Centre for Integrated Development (1999)
• Center for Documentation and Advocacy (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)
• Center for Sudanese Studies (1993, 1994)
• Center for the Strategic Initiatives of Women (2000)
• Community Development Center (2002, 2004)
• Democracy Development Center (2003)
• Environmentalists Society (2000, 2001, 2002, 2004)
• Equatoria Relief and Development Association (2003)
• Freedom Equality Peace Society (2003, 2004)
• Fund for Peace (1992, 1993, 1994, 1996)
• Fund for Peace channelled to Sudan Democratic Gazette (1995, 1996, 1997, 1998)
• Fund for Peace channelled to Six Sudanese Activist Organizations (1998)
• Gender Center for Research and Training (2002)
• Grand Africa Media Service Company – The Khartoum Monitor (2005)
• International Republican Institute (2002)
• Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies (1991)
• Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies channelled to Sudan Democratic Gazette (1992)
• Justice Africa (2002)
• KharSummary Toum MoniSummary Tor (2001)
• Khartoum Monitor (2002, 2004)
• KwoSummary To Popular Theater Group (2001)
• Kwoto Cultural Center (2002, 2003, 2005)
• Kwoto Popular Theatre Group (1999, 2000)
• Mohamed Omer Beshir Centre for Sudanese Studies, Omdurman Ahlia University (2001)
• Mutawinat Benevolent Co. (2002)
• Mutawinat Benevolent Company (1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003)
• Mutawinat (Women Cooperating) (2004)
• National Center for Peace and Development (2003, 2005)
• National Democratic Institute (2003, 2004)
• New Sudan Council of Churches (2000)
• Nile Institution for Strategic Policy and Development Studies (2004)
• Southern Women Group for Peace (2003)
• Sudan Council of Churches (2004)
• Sudan Democratic Gazette (1996, 1999, 2000, 2001)
• Sudan Human Rights Association (1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004)
• Sudan Human Rights Association - Uganda (2002)
• Sudan Human Rights Organization (Cairo) (1999, 2001, 2003, 2005)
• Sudan Inter-Religious Council (2005)
• Sudan Organization Against Torture (2003)
• Sudan Self-Help Foundation (2004, 2005)
• Sudanese Studies Center (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005)  (per sourcewatch)

Unfortunately, as is the case with all too many American democracy promotion initiatives, NED is going to need a little help from a man in uniform. Meet the guy who's going to midwife the birth of Sudanese democracy!

                               Lt. General Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf

Good luck, folks!