July 2010

Abdullahi An-Na’im and the Dalai Lama, two mystics, make an interesting appearance together that I enjoyed watching.

While a lot of what An-Na’im says may seem like the “la la land, let’s get together and sing kumbaya” sort of message, I do believe it has its important place in the grand scheme of things, but it’s not so simple or straight forward as he makes it seem.

Damn is he pissed, and rightly so. He’s basically ranting about how he had to leave Sudan and move to Libya so he can live a decent life and raise his kids. I’m sure many of us in the Sudanese Diaspora can resonate with his frustrations, especially the older generation.

The gutsy part is when he goes on a rant about how all political parties responsible for screwing up Sudan should be put on trial. Very ballsy of him to say such a thing so openly like that on Sudanese TV. I doubt he got in trouble, since there was tolerance of such views before the “monumental” elections took place. Now that the elections are over, tight scrutiny is back again however and there’s less freedom of speech.

But yeah, keep dreaming Uncle Frustrated. Inta bita7lam ya 3ammo.

Anyway, I just found the video super hilarious and watched it like ten times already. If you’re Sudanese, you probably will too.