Sudan, Remember Us!

How can the spirit of the Sudanese revolution shape its future?

In the spring of 2019, director Hind Meddeb visits the capital, Khartoum, for the first time. There, she meets young artists and activists – Shajane, Muzamil, Maha, Rufaida, Hamza, and Eros – in a remarkably optimistic mood. The dictatorial regime has just been overthrown, and through strikes and prolonged sit-ins they are fighting for freedom and democracy. Sudan, Remember Us follows how these young people, despite arrests and brutally suppressed protests, strengthen their revolution with poetry and music. ‘Words are stronger than bullets’ is their mantra. For a long time, fear is drowned out by hope but in this film, Meddeb brings together fragments of that hope once again.

In this programme Ahmed Muzamil Member of resistance committees & member of the mortal mural initiative Fatima Zainalabdin Pharmacist, entrepreneur, and founder of the Sudan Futures Platform Imad Babbiker Non-violence civil society campaigner & human rights defender Mohammed Abdulrahman Journalist

The film serves as the starting point for an in-depth conversation with members of the Sudanese diaspora in the Netherlands, who experienced the revolution from within: Ahmed Muzamil, who was a member of one of the ‘resistance committees’ in Khartoum that shaped the revolution and who also appears in the film. Fatima Zainalabdin, entrepreneur and founder of the Sudan Futures Platform, who facilitated access to essential medicines. Imad Babbiker, a dedicated activist who trained young people in nonviolent resistance and Mohammed Abdulrahman, a prominent journalist who was appointed during Hamdok’s transitional government to reform the news service SUNA (Sudan News Agency). The moderator of the dialogue is Osama Idries, who is a strategic advisor at the FNV Academy in the Netherlands and a facilitator on themes of social justice and societal change.

What lessons can we draw from that hopeful moment in 2018–19? How are these young people who led the revolution continuing their struggle today? How can we better center their experiences, perspectives, and knowledge? And how can Sudanese people – both within Sudan and across the diaspora – build on these experiences to prepare for a peaceful and just future once the war comes to an end?

More about the speakers

Ahmed Muzamil is a member of one of the resistance committees in Khartoum and of the mortal mural initiative. He is one of the protagonists in the documentary: Sudan Remember Us.

Fatima Zainalabdin is a pharmacist, entrepreneur, and founder of the Sudan Futures Platform. During the Sudanese revolution, she was actively involved in supporting communities by facilitating access to essential medicines and contributing to local civic initiatives. Currently, she is committed to humanitarian aid, policy, and initiatives for the Sudanese diaspora in the Netherlands to promote a future-oriented approach for Sudan.

Imad Babbiker is an activist for nonviolent resistance within civil society and a human rights defender. In the mid-eighties, when he worked as a manager for the catering service of Sudan Airways, he was active in the Sudanese trade union movement. For the past twenty years, until the outbreak of the war in April 2023, Imad was actively involved in the nonviolent resistance movement in Sudan.

Mohammed Abdulrahman is a prominent journalist who was appointed to reform the main news service SUNA (Sudan News Agency) during Hamdok’s transitional government.

Osama Idries is a strategic advisor at the FNV Academy and a facilitator on themes of social justice and societal change. As an activist, he is committed to human rights, diversity & inclusion, and international peace, with a focus on connection and dialogue.