COVID: Sudan Between Contagion and the Enemy (The Self as a Social Process)* *Captain Mohammed Hassan Al-Tahir
*Date: September 25, 2025*
At a critical historical moment, Sudan stands at a crossroads, where threats intertwine and identities are reshaped. Society becomes a battleground between contagion and the enemy. This article explores how biopower and authoritarian life manifest in confronting three major threats:
– War, ideas, and disease,
Drawing on philosophical and sociological analysis inspired by George Herbert Mead’s book _Mind and Society_.
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*🧬 COVID: Contagion and the Enemy*
– _Contagion_ is not merely the transmission of disease, but the spread of ideas, behaviors, or lifestyles from one individual to another—often unconsciously.
– _The enemy_ is any entity perceived as a direct threat to identity or stability, whether external or internal.
The relationship between them lies in the fact that contagion can be a tool used by the enemy to infiltrate society:
– A destructive idea, once it spreads, becomes an intellectual contagion.
– Disease, when used as a means of control, becomes biological contagion.
– Even war, when wrapped in mobilizing rhetoric, can infect souls before it claims lives.
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*🏛️ Biopower and Authoritarian Life*
According to Michel Foucault:
– _Biopower_ is exercised over life itself—health, the body, and populations.
– _Authoritarian life_ is a mode of existence under control, where individuals are reshaped to serve the interests of power.
In Sudan, we see:
– Biopower in epidemic management, food distribution, and mobility control.
– Authoritarian life in censorship and the orchestration of public discourse.
Both are used to confront threats, but without ethical grounding, they risk becoming instruments of subjugation.
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*⚠️ The Three Threats*
*1. War – The External Enemy*
War is not only armed conflict but a persistent state of threat. In Sudan, war is used to justify authority and reshape society around fear and division. It becomes the enemy that legitimizes everything—from repression to displacement.
*2. Destructive Ideas – The Internal Enemy*
Ideas that undermine social cohesion infect minds before they threaten systems.
In _Mind and Society_, Mead emphasizes that the self is formed through interaction, and ideas reshape identity. When seeds of division and hatred are planted, society becomes an arena of internal conflict, where individuals turn into enemies of one another.
*3. Disease – The Biological Enemy*
Disease is not just a health threat—it is a political tool. Biopower is exercised through epidemic control and used to justify isolation, surveillance, and even urban restructuring. In Sudan, epidemics reorder priorities, expose infrastructural fragility, and are sometimes used to excuse political failure.
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*🧠 The Self and Society*
In _Mind and Society_, George Herbert Mead argues that the self is not formed in isolation but through social interaction. Sudanese society, therefore, is not merely a collection of individuals, but a network of interacting selves. When this network is infected—intellectually or biologically—or attacked by external enemies, the collective self begins to unravel.
Yet Mead offers hope: the self is capable of renewal. Through dialogue, interaction, and empathy, society can reshape itself and overcome its threats.
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*🧩 Conclusion: Sudan Between Resistance and Renewal*
Sudan is not a victim of contagion or enemy—it is a society capable of resistance and regeneration.
– Power, when exercised with reason and ethics, can protect without oppressing.
– Ideas, when purified of hatred, can build rather than destroy.
– Disease is a call to rethink life—not a pretext for control.
Ultimately, Sudan needs a new collective self—one that understands contagion and enemy not as destiny, but as challenges to be overcome.
As Mead says, “The self is a social process,” and Sudanese society can reshape itself—if it chooses interaction over division, and life over fear.