The Sudanese Communist Party

People of my generation carry a lot of respect for the Sudanese Communist Party.  When I was 10, the Sudanese Communist Party was the largest political party in the Arab world.  Imagine.  The largest political party in the Arab world.  And don't think its demise was accidental: it was an international conspiracy during the Cold War, executed at the hands of one of the worst charlatans in Arab politics, Ja`far Numayri, who brought Islamic fundamentalism into Sudan.  There is a book on that era: by Fu'ad Matar.  Numayri (and Saudi Arabia and US behind him) was brutal with the party.  This great song by `Adli Fakhri celebrates world communist figures and recognizes Sudanese communist figures, including Ash-Shafi`*, who is still alive.  Why am I talking about the party?  Because the lousy pathetic dictator of Sudan (one of the most unfunny of all clowns) has been cracking down against communists and closed down their newspaper, Al-Maydan.  I have met many communists from around the world in my life, but I hold a special spot for Sudanese communists. Unlike many other communists (East and West), they never thought that communists should not have fun or that a communist should be humorless.  I salute Sudanese communists today.

PS Alain Gresh corrects me.  Ash-Shafi` and Mahjub were both hanged by Numayri.  I saw a Shafi` of the SCP interviewed the other day on the Aljazeera's series on Arab leftists.  Was that his son?