Northern Sudan, which is currently known as Sudan, is governed by President Omar al-Bashir. He went live on Friday to announce tight measures over cultural institutions and media for speaking negatively on the country.
The head of state was just trying to fix the trending poetry that was published in almost every magazine. The poetic areas located along the Khartoum city have been cleaned up by police officers. There is much resistance over Arab and African differences.
Despite doing this, people have taken the matter to social media to speak their minds. There are minor online gatherings and some groups which are trending on Twitter.
Among the trending groups is the NWN, which started in 2016. The group has been hosting a spoken word poetry competition every year. It is able to donate funds to other minor poetry events across the country. That is where the Sudanese get a platform to express how they feel about everything. Most refer to it as ‘open mic’.
The NWN events have found many threats over the years, and at some point, they were almost handcuffed. The National Intelligence and Security Service(NISS) are at the forefront of investigating each poems released. The NISS has a mandate to dismiss any illegal gatherings as per the Sudanese constitution depicts.
One professor released a poem entitled more than pretty face’ which brought down many articulations. He talked about being unhappy on how women are showing off their artificial beauty rather than accepting themselves. He said the citizens of Sudan have got pretty faces that are just ready to get sold in return for nothing. They are like pictures mounted on walls which get distracted by police occasionally,
Many people did not understand the deep meaning of the poet. But it was an outstanding performance that drew the exact origin of the Sudanese people.
Aisha Al-Flatiya, the great World War II poet, supported the Sudanese officers who fought for self-independence. He motivated everyone to work towards achieving success on their own. The singer and songwriter was loved by most citizens for his inspirational words.
However, at some moment, he would provoke the government for their bad attitudes towards its citizens. That gave rise to free expression of liberty, where every artist can say what they feel the state is doing wrong. The poets currently are in fight with the Sudanese national identity.
The President’s acceptance to join the Arabian culture has brought many changes. The citizens have really embraced the Arabian culture, but some feel it’s too much pressure. Most of them have to go miles to force themselves on the things they don’t even like. For example, bleaching their skin color to look like Arabs.
Other great poets like Al-Sadding AL-Raddi have turned down to focus more on their heritage rather than embracing other people’s culture. He was once thrown in prison for criticizing the national government. He decided to move to London, but he is a living legend when it comes to African poets.
Things have changed, the poets are now focusing on fighting censorship. They want to be free and not under strict control rules.
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