Why blog?

It is no mystery in Sudanese circles, including sympathisers and friends, that press censorship practically curtails serious public debate, even more so that we are approaching elections next February 2010 and a referendum on the future of Southern Sudan 2011. However the internet has remained relatively free of effective state censorship till now. They do try to block a site or another from time to time with little success.

So, I thought I could write a few notes on the status of this country and its peoples before it possibly ceases to exist as a single polity in consequence of the upcoming referendum in Southern Sudan, and more gravely as a result of the overwhelming political havoc.

I also chose to write in English because I do otherwise write in Arabic and run an Arabic speaking blog to publish a column that never manages to make it in the paper version of the newspaper Midan (midanphoenix.blogspot.com), and because it seems my type of political arguments rarely feature in the English speaking debates on Sudan, and simple because the fate of Sudan is being largely determined currently in the capitals of the Empire and not within its borders, and the Empire, in essence, only recognises its own language.