A Snake with a Grasshopper in Its Mouth

Dr Al-Haitham Al-Kindi Yousif
Darfur’s local culture is rich in popular proverbs that can express even the most complex situations and events. The proverb I have chosen as the title of this article is one vivid example.
The full proverb is:
“Dabi fi khashmu jaradaya ma ba‘addi” — “A snake with a grasshopper in its mouth cannot bite.”
I have deliberately written it in the local vernacular, exactly as it is spoken by the people who use it, so that it reaches the reader fresh, enjoyable and expressive, just as it exists in its original cultural environment.
When a snake becomes preoccupied with swallowing a small grasshopper, it automatically loses its ability to bite or defend itself. It becomes temporarily harmless, absorbed entirely in its minor struggle.
The relevance of this proverb to the present situation lies in the view that an entity seeks to suppress public awareness and cloud collective understanding by distracting us with manufactured social media trends.
We are left chasing these trends, talking about them and endlessly debating them, instead of asking urgent questions, seriously examining where current developments are leading, and searching for convincing answers to difficult questions such as: Why did this happen in the first place, and what comes next?
By doing so, this entity achieves a strategic objective while simultaneously settling scores with its opponents as a tactical objective.
Time and again, it has passed the ball between our feet while we rush to our keyboards, desperately trying to keep pace with the latest trends.
This entity recognised the importance of social media trends and the role of digital platforms in shaping public opinion and directing attention to particular issues.
It understood this especially after witnessing the role social media played in mobilising popular demonstrations that contributed significantly and decisively to creating the political conditions that eventually brought down the Ingaz regime.
For this reason, the entity decided to reverse the equation.
Instead of fighting platforms that promote public awareness or confronting them directly, it intelligently contained and redirected them through organised electronic operations rooms created specifically for that purpose.
As a result, we are now being directed and driven from one trend to another: from Sally, to Al-Asjad, to the Kabashi–Boulos meeting—and tomorrow there will be another trend.
Meanwhile, we fail to ask the more important question:
Why, in the first place, are there Sally, Al-Asjad or Boulos?
According to the argument I have presented, we are the snake, and the trend is the grasshopper placed in our mouths.
The forces driving these trends therefore have no reason to fear being bitten or exhausted by resistance.
Most likely, substantial sums of money are allocated to these operations, while certain writers, influencers and opinion-makers are mobilised to serve their objectives.
It is the politics of the herd mentality—the same politics that previously deceived people with the illusion of the December Revolution before those who operated the political control rooms and manufactured the propaganda harvested its fruits.
Why, then, do we refuse to learn?
The situation continues to deteriorate. No hope appears on the horizon, and no pathway towards a solution capable of restoring the country and its people to normal life seems to be opening.
Is it not time for these mouths to spit out the grasshopper?
Is it not time for this snake to recover its bite?
We must move forward to resolve our real battle: restoring the dignity of the nation and its citizens.
The future does not wait for those who remain inattentive, manipulated and distracted by the mirage of manufactured trends.

Shortlink: https://sudanhorizon.com/?p=15794