The Rookery

Yesterday I shared in our morning message that Sudan was on it's fourth "president" in a week.  Sudan had had caught the students' attention during our geography work because of the newness of South Sudan as a country – a country younger than they were!  Here was another expectation shattered – how could it be that a country could have four leaders in a week.

Today, when the Internet went out just before we were supposed to take the MCAs, I knew just what to do with that hour.  I had printed out the Sudanese Declaration of Freedom and Change that had been written on January 1 of this year.  It was a unifying document for the non-violent protesters who had propelled al-Bashir out of office.  And it was still the driving force for the protesters who had refused to accept the subsequent military strongmen who filled Bashir's place.

We broke into pairs to parse the challenging language and ideas.  Within moments students called out "It starts with 'We the people' just like the preamble."  They then sang the entire pre-amble (thank you School House Rock!)  As they continued reading they found more and more connections with the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the constitution.

As more and more connections emerged (the numbers at left refer to the 9 goals of the transitional government.)  The Herons were interested in what would have prompted number 8 – "Empower Sudanese women and strive to end all forms of discrimination and oppressive practices against them."  Women's rights were decidedly not mentioned in the U.S. Declaration of Independence (much to Angelica Schuyler's chargrine)

They were also interested in why there wasn't much mention of establishing a common defense.  We did note that they write a lot about the Civil War and its "root causes."  Luckily, Simon was walking by and he was able to share what he knows about the conflict.  His son, Matt, came to the United States at ten as refugee from the Sudanese civil war.

We ended by noting one of the biggest difference between today's Sudanese protesters (many of whom are a part of a group called the Sudanese Professionals Association) and the Sons of Liberty.  The Sudanese protesters have pledged to "continue taking to the streets and leading the nonviolent struggle, until our demands are met."  The Sons of Liberty responded to repression with violence (at least eventually.)

The Herons were full of more questions – what happens when a country doesn't have a leader?  Why don't they just hold elections?  What makes an election fair?  How do you organize elections?  How long does it take to organize elections (how do you make sure they're fair?) . Who decides what goes into a constitution if the Constitution tells you how to elect people and you don't have a constitution?

Some excellent questions, indeed.