Odds are the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of the current global conflicts are either the war in Ukraine or the war in Gaza. Less likely to be brought up is Sudan, where the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis is unfolding, unknown to most of the Western world. So where are the marches for the Sudanese or the mass social media campaigns? When it comes to Sudan, there is a harrowing silence within the Western activist community. Why that is has to do with a larger issue in global activism: a glaringly subconscious race problem that prioritizes eurocentric conflicts, bleeding even into Brown’s activism culture.
First, it’s important to put into context the scale of horror that is burning through Sudan right now. Sudan’s military-led government began a power struggle in 2023 between two generals that has since consumed the country. Estimates as early as June of 2024 had placed the predicted human loss at two million due to hunger-related causes if no additional humanitarian aid were to be provided. Not two million displaced or injured, but two million men, women and children who would lose their lives. Women and young girls have also been subject to inhumane acts of sexual violence, including abduction and slavery, in a country that was already struggling to remedy domestic abuse. Millions of people have been displaced and are struggling to find asylum in neighboring countries or Europe.
Despite the magnitude of the conflict and its potential impact on Africa and Europe, there has been little support from the international community. Only about 60% of the country’s appeal for global funding was met. This circles back to my original question, why? To put it simply, Sudan is in Africa. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom said himself, “I think race is in the play here… Especially in Africa, I think the attention is really, really low.” A simple search of the hashtag #sudan on Instagram comes up with 1.9 million posts. Ukraine has nearly 40 million. At Brown in particular, there hasn’t been strong advocacy for Sudan like there has been for Ukraine or Gaza.
Sudan is only one of many atrocities that go ignored by Western activists in place of other conflicts. There is no uproar for the millions of Rohingya who have been forcibly displaced in Myanmar, no outcry for the violence and slavery in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and no disruption for the hundreds of thousands who continue to die in Yemen. The intuitive exception is Palestine, but even the war in Gaza receives special attention for its inherent involvement with the Western-inspired state of Israel.
Even domestically, American activism also fails to fully realize its goals for people of color and indigenous communities. For instance, the environmentalist movement has been successful in converting urban areas into green spaces, but has been failing to do so in Black communities and often ends up pushing out people of color from their neighborhoods. LGBTQ+ activists, who have historically been led by people of color, now often prioritize the goals of wealthy white communities while struggling to give voice to Black communities.
In light of, or rather despite the shadows cast over, these international and domestic failures, it is equally important for Brown to look intrinsically at our own community’s efforts. By virtue of the pervasiveness of a racist subconscious in American activism, social justice at Brown is also subject to the same biases. Therefore, we must be more cognizant of and deliberate with the issues that we give voice to, in order to make sure that we, as students, are not perpetuating a national ignorance. We should be more vocal for Sudan, for Myanmar and for any other marginalized humanitarian crisis that doesn’t get enough attention.
While all humanitarian crises and social issues deserve a voice, we need to recognize the racial inequality that exists in the attention economy of activism. As students of a University that benefits from operations in developing countries like India and has become a center for social advocacy, we have an indisputable responsibility to make sure that our subconscious biases are taken into account when we campaign for causes and to make sure that everyone is included in our goals. More broadly, as college students, we have an imperative to be educated and respectful. As one Economist article put it, “Western public opinion is quiescent: there were not many Sudanese flags flying from Ivy League encampments this year.” Let us not be an example to prove that point. Let us fly the flags of all oppressed people and recognize their struggles in our own activism.
Shayyan Ahmed ’27 can be reached at shayyan_ahmed@brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
