Al Qiyadah Nights

Throughout Omer Al Bashir’s three-decade rule, Sudanese culture and the arts were heavily suppressed, and the right to freedom of expression and free thinking was nonexistent. Artists were

persecuted and marginalised.

During the revolution, at the sit-in, we took it upon ourselves to reclaim the public spaces that we

had lost access to due to Khartoum being a strictly controlled military state.

The area in front of the military headquarters was filled with protesters from different professions occupying tents. However, there were no inclusive cultural spaces where the young creatives leading

the revolution could set up their own space. The only available space we found was a pre-existing

open air dump filled with piles of garbage.

We took the initiative to clean, sanitise & rehabilitate the space, turning it into what happened to

become Al Qiyadah’s most celebrated space, bringing together people from all walks of life - artists, writers, professionals, musicians etc. All these people came together, attending our event series, Al Qiyadah Nights, where they would break their fast, singalong and drive discussions on the

themes of revolution and our newfound collective hope for a better future.

Notable figures like Alaa Satir, Galal Yourif, Asil Diab, Mohamed Kordofani, Hajooj Kuka, Yousra El

Bagir, Mohammed Mattar (the soul that inspired “Blue for Sudan” and who was assassinated

footsteps away from our space) and many more.

What we managed to achieve in Al Qiyadah not only allowed us to discover and realise our own

power, it also inspired the community to create similar initiatives, state-wide.