Solidarity Conference in London:Sudan’s War Serves the Logic of Profit and the Arms Trade, Not Human Rights

Moatinoon
The Middle East and North Africa Solidarity Network (MENA Solidarity) is organizing the Sudan Solidarity Conference 2026 in London on Saturday, 17 January 2026, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Participation will be available both in person and online.
https://menasolidaritynetwork.com/2025/11/28/event-sudan-solidarity-conference-2026/

The conference is part of an annual tradition organized by the network, aimed at keeping Sudan’s cause alive in global political awareness and building effective and sustainable solidarity with the struggle of the Sudanese people.

MENA Solidarity is a network of trade unionists and activists in the United Kingdom dedicated to building effective, independent international solidarity between revolutionary and workers’ movements in the Middle East and North Africa and their counterparts in Britain and beyond. Our work is rooted in the belief that the struggle for social justice, workers’ rights, and democracy is shared, interconnected, and ongoing, and that real change is built from below, through grassroots organization, collective action, and international coordination.

Speakers at the conference include John McDonnell, Member of the British Parliament, alongside representatives of trade unions and organizations such as NEU, UCU, PCS, SUTR, and Equity, in addition to Sudanese and British activists and others of various nationalities, including members of doctors’, lawyers’, and journalists’ unions, feminist movements, and activists opposing war and the arms trade.

Maotinoon posed several questions about the conference, its objectives, and its program to Khalid Sidahmed, Member of the Editorial Board of MENA Solidarity. He is also Chair of the International Affairs Committee at the Trades Union Congress, a member of the British Socialist Workers Party, a member of the Sudanese Engineers Union in Britain, Equality Officer at Unite the Union, Britain’s largest trade union, and a representative of the Hampshire County Association of Trades Union Councils. He holds several leadership roles in human rights and trade union organizations active in Britain’s labour and political movements.

How do you view what is happening in Sudan?
Our position on the war in Sudan is rooted in a clear political analysis that we have articulated on our website and through our ongoing work. We offer unconditional support for the Sudanese revolution, and categorically reject all parties to the war—the army, the Rapid Support Forces, and all elements tied to the Islamist Front regime. We assert firmly that what is happening in Sudan is not an isolated “internal conflict.”
This war is the direct outcome of the counter-revolution that followed the December 2018 Revolution, the 2021 military coup, and the convergence of imperial interests and capitalist agendas that fueled the fighting, armed its parties, and turned a blind eye to crimes against civilians. It is a conflict that serves a global logic of profit, capitalism, and the arms trade, not the lives, rights, or dignity of the Sudanese people.

What are the main objectives of the conference scheduled to take place in the coming two weeks?
One of the core objectives of the conference is to make clear that Sudan’s war is not isolated from the rest of the world. It is organically connected to the genocide in Palestine, to the wave of imperialist wars raging across the globe, and to the same capitalist system that crushes workers’ rights, destroys the environment, and fuels racism and the rise of the far right.
Our analysis is that these crises are interconnected, and that confronting them requires a unified global movement against war, exploitation, and capitalism.
The conference aims to place Sudan at the centre of global attention, linking the struggle of the Sudanese people to the international anti-war, anti-racist, and anti-imperialist movement. We also seek to encourage Sudanese women and men in Britain and around the world to organize, build their political and trade union tools, and engage in struggle in the countries where they live, alongside workers and local social and political movements.
Breaking Sudan’s isolation and transforming solidarity into organized political action is a central part of the battle to stop the war, defend the revolution, and challenge the global systems of oppression.

How can MENA Solidarity put pressure on European governments to take a positive role in stopping the war in Sudan?
We stress that real change does not come from governments, but from the people, from below—from the streets, from trade unions, and from organized, cross-border mass movements. Coordination between struggles in Sudan, Britain, Europe, and across the globe is essential to exert genuine political pressure on governments that continue to fuel wars—whether through military support, political backing, or complicit silence.
This is not only a strategic necessity, but a collective duty: to stop the war, defend the Sudanese revolution, and build a movement capable of confronting the forces that sustain oppression and exploitation.

The conference is being held in London. What can it contribute to stopping the war in Sudan?
The conference will provide a platform for anti-war voices from Sudan, particularly trade unionists, resistance committees, and revolutionary activists. It will raise urgent demands to halt foreign governments’ support for the war machines of both the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, and to build solidarity against genocide in Sudan and Palestine, and to demand justice and accountability for the crimes committed.
It will also demand the opening of safe corridors for Sudanese refugees and an end to hateful rhetoric and policies in Britain. The conference seeks to unite trade unionists and activists from around the world to pursue these goals, while amplifying the revolution’s demands for civilian rule, democracy, social justice, and accountability.

Is the conference affiliated or jointly organized with Sudanese political parties or alliances?
I would like to state clearly that the Sudan Solidarity Conference is not affiliated with any Sudanese political party, alliance, partisan agenda, any of the warring forces, or the former regime. It does not serve as a platform for partisan politics.

At MENA Solidarity, we firmly believe that real change comes from below, not from above. True transformation is built by developing the power of the people and workers at the grassroots—through trade unions, resistance committees, and independent forms of popular organization.
We organize and support international solidarity with the struggles of people everywhere, working to build an independent movement capable of imposing its demands from below, confronting war, oppression, injustice, and the systems that sustain them. This is our duty, our responsibility, and the only path to stop the war and carry the revolution forward.

What is the nature of the conference program?
The conference opens with a plenary titled “Sudan’s War: Revolution, Counter-Revolution, and Imperialism”, which will examine the roots of the 2023 war in relation to the December 2018 Revolution and the 2021 military coup, the role of imperialism—including the British state—and the connections between Sudan, Palestine, the climate crisis, and global struggles of workers and oppressed peoples.
In parallel, three workshops will take place:
• “Women on the Frontlines: Violence, Resistance, and Survival” will highlight the central role of Sudanese women as leaders and organizers in the revolution, despite facing extreme violence and forced displacement. The session will explore how women’s bodies have been weaponized in the conflict and the decisive role women play in resistance and liberation.
• “Grassroots Power in a Collapsing State: Communities Organise to Survive and Resist” will examine the experiences of Sudan’s resistance committees and emergency response rooms, alongside Palestinian self-organization under bombardment. It will draw lessons from grassroots solidarity, collective resistance, and mutual aid under conditions of war and genocide.
• “Refugees, Racism, and the Struggle for Dignity” will focus on confronting systemic racism by governments and the far right, and the fight for rights, dignity, and safety for refugees and migrants.
The conference will close with a plenary titled “Building Solidarity: Organising Against Racism, War, and Destruction”, exploring how to unify struggles against war, oppression, and imperialism, and how to develop bold, grassroots, cross-border strategies that strengthen the global fight for justice and dignity.

Which organizations are supporting the conference?
The conference is supported by the national unions of the National Education Union (NEU), Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), University and College Union (UCU), and Equity; Hampshire County Association of Trades Union Councils; Unite the Union WM6070; Portsmouth Trades Council; Sudanese Women’s Union (UK & Ireland); United Tech & Allied Workers (UTAW); Stand Up To Racism (SUTR); Sudanese Doctors Union – UK; Doctors in Unite; Greater Manchester Mental Health UNISON Branch; Southampton Trades Union Council; Sudanese Journalists Forum – UK; Portsmouth City UNISON; Unite Community Portsmouth and District Branch; Sudanese Lawyers Democratic Front; and the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT); Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) union; Sudanese Women for Peace.