Political Will: The Vision and the Tool

Dr. Elshafie Khidir Saeid

The Sudanese political arena is almost fully saturated with many initiatives that claim they can appropriately address the current crisis in the country. But, when one looks at the reactions to these initiatives and takes note of the atmosphere in which they were launched, she/ or he may say, with confidence, that none of these initiatives can succeed.

The reason why they cannot reach success can be attributed to many factors including:

• The widespread differences and divergence of visions among the political & social actors, by the way, this is the nature of things concerning the political and social components in the country, are transformed into a state of mistrust, lack of recognition of the other, and accusations of treason.
•  The weakness, or maybe the absence, of the will, the vision, and the tool. The presence of this triad is mandatory among the Sudanese actors if they want to resolve the current crisis effectively.

Being the first component of this triad, the will is the engine and the driving force behind the social activities, as well as it is the thread that connects the different components of the political and social movement. It acts as an effective antidote against the negative impact of failure, alienation, frustration, depression, and individual disappointments. With the will, the people will acknowledge and feel the importance of their presence and the vitality of their role in the battle for political and social change.

The second component of the triad is the vision, which is the embodiment of the futuristic image; which aspires to be as it is, including all the strategic plans that will proceed accordingly. It is crystallized and developed through a conscious collective action that starts from the base and comes as a product of the wide and deep discussions of all the details and rules. From the vision emerge the programs for the social changes that preserve the country’s geographical and historical composition and its social fabric, and preserve the dignity of every individual in this country, providing him/ or her with food, shelter, security, and life services, as well as enjoying citizenship under the roof of peace, security and democracy.

The tool, is the third component of the triad and it can be defined as the means to embody the will and the vision, it is the widest popular mass, or block, that accomplishes and protects the act of change. The idea of ​​a broad popular bloc is not entirely new to the Sudanese political scene. Rather, it has been tackled by several groups throughout Sudanese political history. I think a consensus on the vision will facilitate the building of such a broad bloc. This consensus is possible, as the drafting of the vision will not start from scratch, but will be based on a vast legacy of visions that have saturated the political arena during the past decades.

It can be drafted as a Declaration of Principles agreed upon through a dynamic dialogue involving the Forces of Freedom and Changes & other political forces, the Resistance Committees, the armed movements, and the civil society. Already, almost all these forces have written their political theses and charters which can be summarized in the Declaration of Principles. I do believe that the Resistance Committees are in a position to take the initiative and call for this dialogue, and if necessary, they can ask the tripartite mechanism, UNITAMS, the African Union, and the IGAD, to facilitate this process. Also, such a process should receive direct and tangible political support from the international community.