Psychological Compensation in the Sudanese Personality
Author Unknown
TRANSLATED FROM STANDARD ARABIC
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| President Jaafar Nimeiry visits Sheik Zayed b. Sultan, president of the UAE, 1980 |
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[Comments of mine are in square brackets and colored red. All pictures and their captions are my contributions.]
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First Drama:
A Sudanese calls out to a Gulf Arab with the word zöl [Nubian Arabic for man]. The Gulf Arab responds that he is not a zöl. Then the Sudanese writes a long and electrifying poem, mentioning in it all the beautiful, lofty and exceptional attributes of the Sudanese people; mentioning in it: the morals...the history...the Nile...the civilization...the educated populace...the culture! This lofty poem has been gladdened with Whats-app groups for a long period of time, in joy and ecstasy for this response that has comforted the wronged souls, by making that Gulf Arab the only loser by being "not a zöl".
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| Not a zöl: a Gulf Arab |
Second Drama:
Affluent Saudi youths go out to the desert, videotape an honest Sudanese goat-herder, and upload it onto YouTube, impressed by his honesty. The result: the crowds of the Sudanese people in the desert and towns celebrate this great victory. Thousands of status updates were made on Facebook that evening, and Whats-app messages gushed forth heavily, extolling the praises of this event that forced that Arab channel to discuss it. This event provoked discussions that had the capacity to solve all of the crises of this ruined Ummah.
Third Drama:
A Saudi writer writes on a newspaper column, defending the Sudanese in it. He is shared on Facebook more than any Sudanese journalist.
And a fourth drama, and a fifth, and a sixth...that you know and I don't know.
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Have you noticed - my noble brother - what links between all this drama?
Right answer, yes, it is thirst - thirst in the Sudanese self for acceptance from the Gulf Arab other; the persistent desire for the Sudanese soul to earn the respect and love and appreciation of the Arab other; this desire that appears as an abyss without tranquility within the inside of the Sudanese individual, that is not healed except by expressions of compliment and praise and appreciation from this other.
This gaping hole pushes the Sudanese to extract friendliness aggressively, even if it costs him to become a strange and lost person contradicting (himself), even if the matter requires him to sacrifice his life.
What drives the thousands of this nation to restlessness and to assume the position of defending one's self, just because some "nobody" said he was "not a zöl"? Why does the Sudanese self fail to accept the announcement of the Gulf Arabs they are not zöl's with goodwill? Do they really have to be like that? Do you feel insulted by that? And would we have seen the same poems and the same emotional outburst and that defensive response, if that "nobody" was from the Central African Republic, for example?
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| Central African Muslims flee bloodthirsty militias, 2013 |
And, what calls for this patriotic frenzy, just because a Gulf Arab citizen complimented a Sudanese person doing his job, if that isn't just ego flattering?
Compensation is any behavior taken up by a person to compensate for another behavior, or to cover up a specific attribute, or to conceal a truth that cannot be changed. And it is widespread among people who do not accept themselves as they are, or do not acknowledge their reality as it is, or do not reconcile with the reality of their inner self, which becomes very obvious and demands a certain amount of time to acknowledge as well.
The Sudanese individual does not reconcile with the entity that his color is the color black without dust on it (without the influence of lighter colors), just as he is not accepting of the fact that there is an African component that dominates over the Arab component in all obviousness. And this pyschological illness - the bitter denial of the truth that everyone sees - has made the Sudanese act in compensation, as long as the plane lands him on Arab airports, which has made him strive by various means to earn the admiration from the Arab other. And it is not hard to specify the manifestations of compensation by the Sudanese in dealing with the Arabs.
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And I will mention some of them - being hopeful for you - any (form of) compensation by the Sudanese personality outside of Sudan that you've seen or heard:
Displaying the Racial Differences in the Sudan:
From the common methods: the contribution of the Sudanese individual by presenting a "scientific clarification" of the racial geography in the Sudan, where he clarifies in excitement - in thankfulness - that Sudan is filled with Arab and African tribes. By this clarification, he means to lend a bit of credibility in his talk, where he will mention after a short while that his tribe is one of the Arab tribes in Sudan. And sometimes, he will recite the family tree of his tribe, that without doubt would reach the Quraish tribe.
And here I remember the joke about the Sudanese who told a Saudi taxi driver that he was (descended from) the Sherifs (of Mecca), and you all know the rest of the story.
Implicit rejection of the color black:
The Sudanese individual focuses closely on (the fact) that the Sudan has all (shades of) colors LOL: white and black and all grades (of color) in between. And he doesn't forget to say that the Sudan has Coptic Christians, with something of bliss and relief. All this is compensation to evade the stain of the Sudanese people from the color black, which would distance them from the Arabs. And he knows - in truth - that 99 percent of the Sudanese have black skin.
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| Coptic Christians in a church in Khartoum |
The Turkish Grandmother and the Egyptian Roots:
And when the Sudanese discovers that it is impossible to save the Sudan in total from the stain of the color black or the African composition, he adopts a pathological compensation to save just himself, when he mentions to his Arab listener - without any reason - that his grandmother is Turkish and his paternal grandfather is (descended) from the old Egypt migrants.
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| Kamal Hanafi, journalist and descendant of 19th century migrants from Egypt |
Morals:
The most widespread and pattern of behavior: the Sudanese frequently exaggerate in the liberality in their morals and (good) attributes towards the Arabic peoples in specific, and not towards all the people - the Ethiopians, for example. This pathetic situation confirms nothing but: that these morals are nothing but a method to extract admiration and acceptance from the Arab people, and that this is to satisfy a voracious inferiority complex.
Vernacular Sudanese Arabic:
The Sudanese individual reiterates constantly that "the studies" show that the Sudanese vernacular (Arabic) is closest dialect to Classical Arabic. And the point of reiterating that is not a scientific purpose, as is obvious. The point is an attempt to prove the origins of the Sudanese as Arabs, the likes of them being the likes of the rest of the Arabs. And this manner that looks for recognition may be more pathological than the individual looking up the dictionaries to prove that such-and-such word is found in the old eloquent language [Classical Arabic].
The Sudanese generally adhere to the teachings of the Islamic faith more closely in the religious societies in the (Persian) Gulf (countries). And the thing itself is not caused by direct influence as it appears, but is an attempt to assimilate into and to extract admiration from that Arab other.
Passion for Arab Causes:
The Sudanese are the most in consciousness of and in reaction to and in solidarity with the internal affairs of the Arabs. This excessive concern and sticking-one's-nose-in aims to disseminate the spirit of solidarity between Arabs. This concern takes practical steps that say, "We care for your condition, we are one people - as you know - so care for our condition."
But psychological frustration reaches its peak when the Arabs do not care for the internal condition of the Sudanese. Then the Sudanese individual resorts to another approach, and that is by cramming into their space and informing them compulsively of the details of the reality in Sudan, then blames them afterwards for not caring about Sudan and not knowing much about it. So the thing demanded - in truth - is the care of the Arabs for us.
The Sudanese might point out to you an unknown old saying, and that is "Beirut publishes, Cairo writes and Khartoum reads". He might point out to you that Nizar Qabbani was fond of Sudanese poets. He might point out to you of an Arab summit held in Khartoum that he calls "The Three No's". He might point out to you Umm Kulthum's visit to Khartoum in the sixties. He might point out to you that King Fahd studied in Khartoum.
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| Nizar Qabbani, best known Syrian poet |
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| From the Arab summit in Khartoum, 1967 |
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| Umm Kulthum in Nubian dress, performing in Khartoum, 1967 |
All these desperate and heroic attempts and all this vindication are ways to prove that the Sudanese are not less in importance than their Arab associates, and it makes obvious the fact of the extent to which the Sudanese person debases himself.
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All this has made the Sudanese personality in the Persian Gulf states: bizarre, funny, inharmonious, serious, agreeable, emotional, violent, laid-back, honest, educated, criminal, that everyone is terrified of, and that everyone mocks as well. This is because the Sudanese personality does not accept itself, and does not reconcile with its reality, which creates a distorted, misunderstood and unpredictable freak.
So, my dear zöl, you are not required to prove anything, and you have no need to extract anyone's admiration. Be as you are, and do not pretend to anything. Do not exaggerate in the showing of your generosity. Do not exaggerate in showing your anger, and do not exaggerate in confirming your Arabness and Africanness. Because there is no one in the universe to whom you owe anything. Do not exaggerate in anything, except your work...or just don't exaggerate. With how much you work comes your uplifting. Be only you.
END.
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The whole article is addressed to people like
And the likes of the following persons were left out
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