Political Participation

In terms of political participation, I actually participated in mobilizing the Southern Sudanese here in Qld to vote for the referendum that was conducted on the 9th Jan, 2011 at Brisbane Convention Center.

In order to understand what the referendum is about, I would like to give some context to help understand why it was necessary to participate in the first place.
The Southern Sudan back in 2005 9th Jan signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) with the ruling government of the Sudan the National Congress Party (NCP) putting an end to a two decade brutal civil war that claimed more than 2 million lives.

In that Agreement, the Southern Sudanese had two options. To vote for unity or secession in a referendum after a six year period (9th Jan 2011). In this context, myself just like any other Southern Sudanese were heavily campaigning for the southerners to vote for secession because of our bitter history with the Sudan government. Since independence in 1956, we were being marginalized, oppressed and discriminated on racial grounds and as such, I saw that was no need to maintain unity with such an oppressive regime.

To this effect, we spoke to people in churches and social gatherings about the importance of independence from the Sudan government.  I even joined a a political website known as "Sudan Tribune" to participate on forums and articles published on the general political, economic, cultural and social situation of the country.

I believe this sums up my political participation part.