Mutual Aid as Resistance in Sudan and Congo
Illustration: Rory Robertson-Shaw.
As I write, Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militants have stormed the Zamzam refugee camp, home to over 400,000 displaced people, setting fire to shelters and systematically dismantling one of Sudan’s largest camps. It marks yet another atrocity in a civil war where the RSF and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have carved up the country. As is so often the case, those without guns are the ones to suffer most. According to the UN, in 2025, over 30 million people, approximately two-thirds of the population, will require humanitarian aid. Of this, 16 million are children. Around 12 million women and girls (and a growing number of men/boys) are at risk of sexual violence. Since the start of the major escalation in April 2023, more than 12 million people have begun a grim life fleeing war.
But this is no local war. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Russia are supplying the RSF with weapons. Both countries deny their involvement, but Russian paramilitaries are in Sudan, funnelling Sudanese gold to Russia to ease some of the sanctions Russia faces from the West. Meanwhile, the UAE is involved in a regional power game with the Gulf States, utilising Sudan as a linchpin as part of a broader geopolitical strategy. They just have to step on the wretched of the earth first…
Illustration: Rory Robertson-Shaw
Democratic Republic of the Congo.
At the same time, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), minerals are plundered for our bright shining new world, as envisioned by the neo-liberal elites. The DRC powers the world’s phones, laptops and EV batteries. Its leaders serve as middle management in the global finance extraction plans for Africa. They are backed by Western powers, who have a history of ruthless military coups that have overthrown leaders like Lumumba, and via deliberately engineered colonial divisions, have responsibility for the Rwandan genocide, which also hugely affected the DRC. In short, the DRC is a place with rare earth mineral deposits worth trillions that can power capitalism through its death throes, commodifying more of the earth to maintain its existence, living off the resilience and courage of the people and planet.
As of January 2025, the areas around Goma and Lake Kivu in eastern Congo are controlled by the March 23 Movement (M23), a proxy of Rwanda. There are 7.8 million internally displaced people, with the majority around the Lake Kivu area. Millions of these people have now been forced out into neighbouring African states, subject to the state machinery in burgeoning industrial markets. Since January, M23 has killed more than 7,000 people in the east of the country, and they have been systematically dismantling displacement camps.
As dark as all this gets, there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel in shining Central and East Africa, in the form of true bottom-up, non-hierarchical organising. These initiatives stand in sharp contrast to the usual slew of government agencies, charities, and political actors that surround calamities like vultures and accomplish nothing.
The Emergency Response Rooms in Sudan
The Emergency Response Rooms in Sudan (ERR) come from the same organising tradition that toppled former Sudanese President Bashir in 2019. The “rooms” are WhatsApp group chats - a digital crowd. They coordinate responses to atrocities, connect people with essential goods and services, and help ensure everyone meets their basic needs. Of course, this doesn’t mean in-person organising doesn’t happen; there’s no way to work with all those people without being in direct community with them. The ERRs trust each other, and things get done, utilising local knowledge. For example, where to find the best possible vegetables or access medical assistance.
This autonomous movement has been courageous from the onset of the war and now exists all over Sudan, all in the face of arrests, assaults, rapes and murder. Despite helping over 11.5 million people in 2024, most ERRs are informal. They are local people working together to help those fleeing conflict, maintaining water and communication lines despite the impending drought set to hit Sudan, providing medical aid, and distributing food to those in need. This is a fantastic example of people's resilience and the effectiveness of mutual aid efforts in the direst situations. The ERRs have been nominated for the 2025 Nobel Prize, and while liberal accolades don’t count for anything, it would nevertheless be impressive for the biggest one to be snatched from a would-be Suu-Kyi or Obama.
Illustration: Rory Robertson-Shaw
GOMA ACTIF in Congo
GOMA ACTIF are a bit more rough and ready than their East African comrades, but with the same tenacity of will and bigness of heart to take on the job in Congo. After the eruption of Mount Nyiragongo near Goma in May 2021, people got together, working on moving those affected from active danger zones and creating aid centres for the dispossessed to access. With the arrival of M23, Goma ACTIF took it to the next level. Every day, people, from artists to local tradespeople, came together to fill a void that was so lacking, even in the state-aid, NGO-rich Goma region. Why are all these NGOs so ineffective? Not only do they swallow aid money on overheads, but they’re often slow to get off the ground and get involved. Goma ACTIF originates from a more recent tradition, one that emerged with the COVID-19 pandemic's global spread and the rise of mutual aid groups worldwide.
But despite being new, it’s already doing great work. They don’t have an office, they barely have a website, but whenever food is needed at a displacement camp, they’re there with the resources and the knowledge, from breastfeeding tips to care of the elderly. They’ve been offered the formal recognition of being an NGO but have declined. After all, they’ve seen NGOs in their community and have seen that they don’t work. Why get caught up in all the nonsense when you’re already making stuff happen?
Both groups aren’t looking for band-aids from the sky, they’re not looking to the West or their so-called leaders, who only give unreliable, condition-laden handouts anyway. They’re getting it out of the mud in real time. We must show solidarity with these organisations, because despite the wars, something special is going down in Africa that we can all learn from. We can all take a lesson from how they’re handling their issues to deal with our own back home.
The Sudanese Anarchists Gathering are looking for people to aid those who have been displaced. You can donate to the Zamzam displacement camp emergency by getting in touch with the Sudanese Anarchists Gathering on Facebook
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