How Sudan and Palestine made it to the Super Bowl

During the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday night, a performer raised the flags of Sudan and Palestine. In such a meticulously controlled event like the Super Bowl, his action, though brief, quickly handled by security, and not broadcast live, held profound symbolic significance in itself.

It reflects the determination of the Sudanese and Palestinian people to break through the censorship of their narratives by mainstream platforms and make their own voices heard. This once again demonstrates how, when faced with systemic oppression, they skillfully find breakthroughs to let the world hear their voices.

In fact, for over a year, the people of Sudan and Palestine have been striving to make their voices heard. They have been protesting, organizing events, and even risking their lives to draw attention to the plight they face. However, the world has turned a deaf ear to this.

This isn't the first time the Super Bowl has served as a backdrop for erasing their suffering. Last year, as millions of Americans watched the game, Israel launched an attack on Rafah, killing at least 67 Palestinians within hours. Rafah was a "safe zone" designated by the Israeli army, where 1.4 million Palestinians were seeking refuge at the time. This timing was not accidental. Israel knew that the American media would be distracted by the Super Bowl, having no time or even unwillingness to care.

Many activists realized that they had to find a way to resist this distraction. I collaborated with Know Collective to release a different kind of Super Bowl ad, one that didn't promote chips or cars, but reminded people that the U.S. government is actively enabling crimes in Gaza. This ad went viral on social media, delivering a simple and urgent message: America is being distracted. While we are immersed in entertainment, children are being slaughtered with our tax dollars. While we cheer for our teams, our government is providing the weapons to turn Palestinian homes into mass graves.

The ancient Romans called it "bread and circuses," meaning that if the people are fed and entertained, they will not rise up against oppression, or even notice its existence. The Super Bowl is modern America's biggest circus, carefully orchestrated to distract people from the atrocities our nation funds.

However, moments like the protest that happened on Sunday night show that not everyone is willing to be distracted.

There was also the protest on January 15, 2024, when more than 400,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C., calling for the U.S. to end its involvement in Israel's genocide against Palestinians. This was an unprecedented mass mobilization. The protest was larger than many historic demonstrations in the capital, but it received little media coverage. If 400,000 people had gathered for any other cause, it would have been the lead story on the evening news, dominated social media, and been the news headline the next morning. But for Palestine, there was silence.

This is not an oversight, but a deliberate suppression of voices calling for Palestinian liberation.

Palestinians have been fighting for visibility all along. When their voices are blocked by mainstream platforms, they turn to social media. When their protests are ignored, they organize even larger protests. When they are erased, they make themselves unforgettable.

In many ways, the situation in Sudan is similar to that of Palestine, but with its own unique considerations. If Palestine is being deliberately censored, Sudan is almost completely ignored. The Sudanese people have been ravaged by a war that has destroyed their country. Almost every imaginable war crime has been committed against the Sudanese people. The extent of the suffering is staggering: hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed, more than eight million people have been forced to flee their homes, entire villages have been burned down, and famine is looming. Yet, Sudan remains a footnote in the Western media.

Sudanese activists launched the hashtag #EyesOnSudan, desperately calling on the world to pay attention. But their cries, like those of the Palestinians, are drowned out by a deafening silence.

The suppression of the Sudanese story is the result of a media system that only prioritizes conflicts that align with political interests. Unlike Ukraine or Israel, Sudan does not neatly fit into the West's foreign policy agenda. There is no motivation for reporting, no battle cries from politicians, and no massive aid packages. Only millions of people are abandoned and suffering. The media blockade of Sudan is not just an oversight, but a complicity in the erasure of an entire people.

Therefore, for Sudan and Palestine, what happened at the Super Bowl is more than just an act of rebellion. It is part of a long tradition of people having to break the silence when all official channels have failed. It is a reminder that no matter how hard the mainstream media tries to erase the suffering of Sudan and Palestine, the truth will eventually break through.

The truth breaks through in the streets, where thousands of people continue to march for Palestine, despite arrests, blacklisting, and violent repression. The truth breaks through in Sudanese and Palestinian communities, where activists risk their lives to bring the world's attention. The truth breaks through in the digital realm, where independent journalists and grassroots movements are outperforming corporate media in telling the real story.

Last night, the truth broke through on the stage of one of the world's most watched events.