Why won't pro-Palestinian protesters turn their attention to Darfur?

[DavidDvorkin]

An American ally is funding mass slaughter in Sudan. American protesters are nowhere to be found.

Here’s a stark fact: More people may have been killed in Sudan in just the past week than in Gaza in the past two years.

https://forward.com/opinion/782902/sudan-conflict-united-states-protests-darfur/

[SocialDemocrat61]

3. Darfur doesn't get the same media attention

[SunSeeker]

6. Are you suggesting that the folks who were screaming "Genocide Joe" at Biden don't know about Darfur? nt

[SocialDemocrat61]

9. No

I'm suggesting that they are not protesting because they won't get the same coverage

[SunSeeker]

19. Seems like circular logic.

If they don't protest AEU-supplied US arms in Darfur slaughtering civilians, then the media is not going to talk about it.

[SocialDemocrat61]

20. If the media is not covering

Darfur, but is covering Gaza; what are they going to protest to get more attention? Because it’s all about getting attention.

[SunSeeker]

21. We protest to get media to pay attention to a cause we cared about that is being ignored.

Protest is supposed to elevate attention to a cause.

[SocialDemocrat61]

22. True, that's what sincere protestors do

Not protestors who’s goal is just to embrace the latest cool cause and get attention. Or those who just want to demonize those they don’t like (i.e. democrats).

[SunSeeker]

4. Good question.

All I hear about Darfur from the pro-Palestinian folks who were screaming "Genocide Joe" at Biden is...

[sarisataka]

5. It isn't even the pro Palestinian protesters per se

But the many who claimed it had nothing to do with Jews or even necessarily Israel but that they were opposed to genocide.

It is their silence that is now deafening.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. I'd love to see more DUers mention Darfur without whining about pro-Palestinian protesters

It would make the posts look a lot more authentic.

[sarisataka]

10. There is a strange phenomenon

That if Sudan is mentioned on its own , the thread drops like a stone

For example I posted this thread yesterday without any reference to I/P
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220799773
The observant will notice. It received less views in over 24 hours than this thread has in less than an hour.

[Violet_Crumble]

14. I posted about Sudan a while back and the same thing happened.

Strange that the regulars who always complain about Sudan not getting the same amount of attention as Palestine never appear in Sudan threads. Same goes for any thread about settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. Its almost like to be labelled a terrorist, they must be Palestinian

Successive US government's haven't funded and supported what's happening in Sudan. And Sudan has the misfortune of being in Africa, where if bad things aren't happening to white South Africans then most media don't pay attention.

Another thing. Is the expectation that if we protest what's happening in Gaza (which I have), that we must also protest what's happening in Sudan? Why stop there? What about Ukraine? Should we expect anyone who protests about Ukraine to also protest about Gaza? Also, how do we know what people are or aren't protesting about or caring about? Its all a bit ridiculous, imho.

[comradebillyboy]

26. Our dear ally Qatar is funding the terror in Darfur and

elsewhere.

But there aren't any Jews in Qatar to be angry with.

[muriel_volestrangler]

48. Other Arab countries are more involved

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/07/africa/sudan-conflict-foreign-influence-intl-cmd
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/powers-reported-backing-sudans-warring-sides-helps-fuel-127284847
https://ecfr.eu/article/sudan-a-war-europe-cannot-stop-but-cannot-ignore/

Pro-RSF: UAE
Pro-government: Saudi Arabia, Egypt (plus Russia and Turkey)

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/sudans-deadly-divide-the-rsf-and-safs-reign-of-terror/ does add Qatar, and Iran, to the pro-government list.

[leftstreet]

42. +1

[Kaleva]

45. 135 views for your OP. Over 900 for this one.

[biocube]

8. Are we giving Sudan 2000-pound bombs to carry out the slaughter?

NM

[maxsolomon]

11. Because they know there is nothing to be done?

America has no juice in that conflict. We've never been an ally of Sudan's dictators and warlords and militias and juntas.

Whereas Israel has been called "the 51st State" my entire life.

[DavidDvorkin]

12. The article explains why the US does have juice in this case, too.

[maxsolomon]

16. Because the UAE is supplying weapons.

It's juice, but it's not equivalent juice.

[SunSeeker]

17. And where does the UAE get its weapons?

Hint:

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/05/13/us-state-department-has-authorized-the-sale-of-1-4-billion-worth-of-weapons-to-the-united-arab-emirates_6741209_4.html

[questionseverything]

23. The difference is we are selling them weapons

With Israel we are giving them tons of money and have been doing that for decades

////

But I personally have been complaining that we should of stopped the murderous gangs since the janajanaweed were riding and murdering from village to village on camels and horses ( so decades)

[SunSeeker]

28. So it's ok because we're making money off it?

No reason to "divest"?

[questionseverything]

40. We ( as the American people) aren't making money off selling weapons

Weapons manufacturers are and sadly weapons seem to be on of (our) biggest exports

So while we are loosely connected our relationship with the uae is nothing compared to the USA’s connection to Israel

Meanwhile murders of Palestinians by “settlers “ is so brazen and out of control even Israel’s government is condemning it for the first time.

[SunSeeker]

50. We ( as the American people) aren't making money off the investments the student protesters wanted divested either.

Under Trump, our connection to the UAE seems to be at least as tight as it is to Israel, or West Bank Israeli settlers. We have a military base in the UAE.

Since October 7, 2023, and up until November 13, 2025, Israeli security forces and settlers have killed 1,017 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Just between January 1 and June 30, 2025, at least 3,384 civilians were killed in the conflict in Sudan, mostly in Darfur. In late October of this year, the Sudan Doctors Network reported that at least 1,500 people were killed in just three days as civilians tried to flee the besieged city of el-Fasher after it fell to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Other sources mention over 2,000 civilians killed during the RSF's invasion of the city.

[questionseverything]

58. *rump has definitely ramped things up between us

I don’t necessarily approve but no one asked me!

[Melon]

29. They buy from all the large arms making countries. Russia and France supply as well. US is not

The largest nor historically the big supplier in the region. Those guys carry Chinese, Egyptian, Russian, etc equipment. We are a bit player.

[SunSeeker]

52. The US is the UAE's largest arms supplier, especially under Trump.

We are definitely not a bit player. We have a military base in the UAE. The UAE purchased approximately $1.5 billion worth of military equipment from the United States in 2023. This includes a recent deal approved in May 2025 for $1.4 billion, which covers helicopters and F-16 parts, and a previous deal in October 2024 for $139 million for artillery, machine guns, and tanks. 

[Melon]

59. Sudan

[Samael13]

13. I've never heard it called the 51st state ever

Well until now I guess

[maxsolomon]

15. I can't help it if you live under a rock.

"Welcome to DU".

[SunSeeker]

18. I've never heard Israel called the "51st state," and I don't live under a rock.

And I'm not new to DU.

But I have heard that the US is the largest weapons supplier to the UAE, providing the UAE with a wide range of war equipment including bombs, missiles, and fighter jets.

[questionseverything]

27. We sell them weapons , sadly besides soybeans we sell more weapons than anything else

[JI7]

24. Because the protests are mostly about hatred of Jews

Even when criticizing the UAE or Saudi Arabia they are referred to as Zionist supporters.

They need to attach the Jews to it in order be critical.

[JI7]

32. Just as I said your criticism of what is happening in Sudan is towards Israel

[JI7]

36. Lame, the US is not the center of the world

[JI7]

41. Shit goes on without the US. The US has only existed

for a few hundred years and been a superpower for less.

Things were going on before the US.

[AnonymousUser]

44. The Gaza Holocaust was done through the complicity of the US.

America deserves to be scorn for their relentless backing of the apartheid state in West Asia. That is why many protestors came out in the streets in the last couple of years.

[tritsofme]

47. Israel is a Jewish state, Jerusalem is her eternal and indivisible capital

I am proud of the Democratic Party and America’s strong support of the Jewish state!

Welcome to DU!

[sarisataka]

38. Welcome to DU

Friendly advice- you may want to check your mask, it is slipping

[Arazi]

25. Because there's no Jews involved. And the 2024 election is over

No more need for Genocide Joe and Killer Kamala now that Traitor won

Been saying from the beginning of all of this that the singular focus of the protests on I/P is bullshit if their true goal was highlighting the slaughter of innocents, starvation and genocide with US complicity.

[nycbos]

30. Because when you can't blame Jews it's not news

[mcar]

33. Good question. nt

[themaguffin]

35. because they couldn't blame Biden or otherwise have an excuse to help trump

[EdmondDantes_]

37. What makes anything get the spotlight?

South Africa's government didn't start to suck when the anti-apartheid movement sprang up. What made the death of George Floyd cause mass protests instead of a similar black man before or after him? There's a different situation now. More issues at home, we've generally ignored issues in Africa, our lesser direct involvement on one, the impact of slavery and European colonization of Africa making our understanding of Africa being a backwards place, etc. There's also the time duration with the issue in Sudan having started much more recently in 2023 rather than having been an issue for decades.

There's also the lack of a local opposition. You can find plenty of people in the US who are openly on the side of an expansionist Israel. You don't have any groups openly supporting the RSF killing kids and commiting mass sexual assault. And yes that you have idiots supporting Hamas doing those things is part of why there's support for an expansionist Israel because nobody should be on the receiving end of war crimes and Hamas is committed to committing them. But having an opposing side makes it easier to make a coalition. Nobody is defending what the RSF, so it's harder to protest, it's just the default. We've even imposed sanctions on leaders in the war. We haven't done that to Israeli leaders. Could we do more? Of course, but the reality complicates the narrative you're portraying.

Also if your defense of a situation is "someone else is doing worse", you've lost the point that human rights aren't a race to just be better by degree than at least one other situation and you're good. By your logic, I don't care about people starving anywhere because I work on feeding people in my local community even though there are doubtless more people more at risk of starvation or malnutrition elsewhere. Possibly even I'm racist since obviously there are more black people starving in Africa than in my state, and what possible reason could there be other than racism since racism exists. What about you? How many posts have you made about the Uyghurs? If it's less than about the Israel Hamas war should we not so subtly suggest it's that you have something against the Uyghurs?

[questionseverything]

43. The janajanaweed have been terrorizing sudan since the mid 80s

[Kaleva]

46. Wrong religion and color

[AnonymousUser]

49. Sudan is a majority Muslim nation.

[Kaleva]

51. Black Muslims killing black Muslims doesn't attract attention

[enid602]

53. Why won't pro-Palestinian protesters turn their attention to Darfur?

Why won’t Israeli cheerleaders admit the war crimes that unfortunately will define their legacy in the future?

[jaymac]

54. Because

it's not about the slaughter or genocide in Gaza............it's something else....think

[msfiddlestix]

56. Strange question on the one hand.....n/t

[walkingman]

57. Why? Because Sudan does not get the media, political, or religious focus

than the Israeli/Palestinian war does. Also, Sudan has not been a player in US Foreign Policy or a US ally. And probably the most significant reason is the issue was never a topic in the recent Presidential election.