Diab Center for Arts holds symposium on “liberating minds”

Speaking at the Rashid Diab Center for Arts symposium, sponsored by Kenana Sugar Company Ltd, Professor Muhammad Abdul Qadir (Al-Jailani), Secretary of Sudanese intellectuals and Writers Union,  shed light on the concept of human intellect and thinking process in solving problems, connecting it to a quest for a solution to the Sudanese national project.

Prof.  Al-Jailani said that the human brain is a device that produces perceptions, plans, and drawing paths for human life, rejecting claims that Sudanese intellectuals tend to be unable to entertain ideas conducive to shaping a national state inclusive of cultural identity.

He acknowledged the reasons for criticism of the Sudanese intellectuals regarding their failure to come up with future projects for the Sudanese government. Prof. Al-Jailani believes that the genesis of Sudanese thinking is as ancient as the history of the nation dating back to times before Christ, a reference to

the Meroitic civilization.

Prof. Al-Jailani defines the brain and concepts as the cradle of several philosophers including Ibn Khaldun, Nietzsche, Descartes as well as other European philosophers,  adding that the Sudanese way of thinking is a blend of colonial and post-colonial influenced by Western civilization and Indigenous culture, calling on intellectuals to liberate themselves from the West and produce an integrated Sudanese national project,  adding Sudanese mind is likely to explode at any moment if liberated from foreign influence, to come up with ideas in the service of black and remedies for their political, economic, social and cultural ills.

In his comment, Professor Abdel Wahab Ahmed Othman, Deputy Chancellor of the University of Expatriates, said that the intellect in Europe was alienated by the Church in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, adding that the West did not rise until after its liberation from the Church.

He attributed our national culture to the sixteenth and the seventeenth century, explaining the usurpation of the Sudanese mind since childhood, referring to the parents’ influence over the child’s behavior, in addition to other external factors.

Professor Othman attributed the backwardness of the Sudanese person and his crippled national project to the ways of thinking. He said the Sudanese person tends to be sentimental and emotional, describing bonds in Sudan as unilateral unlike the West, in which reciprocal relations prevail, and therefore, according to him, Sudan has failed in all democratic governments to present an integrated national project. “Homogenous nationalism and self-criticism are needed to reform the situation and remedy all political and economic problems of Sudan through awareness,”  he concluded.

Meanwhile, Mr. Walid Omar Abbas, in his intervention, exposed the failure of the Gezira project under the Sudanese administration, adding that the project used to be the key pillar of the Sudanese economy during the British colonization and shortly after Sudan’s independence.

He blamed poor management and policies for the failure of the Gezira project, pointing out that Sudan is now suffering from struggles for power and conflicts over resources. Prof. Abbas called for the necessity of political management and the national will by the elites who run the helm of this country.

In his comment, Dr. Rashid Diab pointed at an imbalance in the make-up of the Sudanese personality, which he said stems from lacking self-criticism and objective criticism, however,  he noted that the Sudanese way of thinking has gone through fluctuations in different historical stages impacted by the West, which renders the county as a culture-consumer rather than a producer akin to several countries. Mr. Diab said the Sudanese cultural intellect has been considerably absent, evident in pervasive political thinking, which has been casting a shadow over all aspects of Sudanese life.

Eventually, Othman Al-Atrash, a musician, performed a variety of beautiful songs to entertain the audience.