How young Sudanese are still fighting for democracy

Civil-society activism in Africa can sometimes seem like an exercise in empty sloganeering: “mobilising the grassroots”, “empowering the youth”, and so on. Not in Sudan, where in recent years thousands of neighbourhood “resistance committees” have sprung up throughout the country. Forged in 2018 in the , they began as autonomous networks of local protesters aimed at toppling Omar al-Bashir, an Islamist despot by the International Criminal Court, and at shepherding the country towards democracy.Four years on, their revolution is unfinished. In 2019, after protesters had taken to the streets for months, Sudan’s generals gave Mr Bashir a final shove and seized power. They have clung to it ever since. Nonetheless, the committees offer a glimpse of how ordinary people were able to come together to fight for freedom.