Gaza commanded our attention. Why hasn't Sudan?

Code Switch

NPR

Society & Culture

4.6 • 14.9K Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2026

⏱️ 36 minutes

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Summary

What makes people pay a lot of attention to some wars and crises, but not others? And what does that attention actually do for the people in those situations? We're looking at Sudan, which has entered its fourth year of a civil war this week. But, unlike in Gaza, the violence and famine there has struggled to break through headlines in the U.S. We talk to Sudanese journalist Isma'il Kushkush, political scientist Scott Straus, Sudan expert Alex de Waal, and political scientist Mai Hassan.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Just the heads up, y'all.
0:01.8	This episode is going to contain descriptions of violence.
0:04.8	Just be forewarned.
0:06.4	All right.
0:07.4	On to the show.
0:11.7	What's good?
0:12.4	You're listening to Code Switch.
0:13.8	I'm Gene Demby, and I'm here today with our senior editor, Leah Thanella.
0:17.1	What's good with you, Leah?
0:18.3	Hey, Gene.
0:19.4	Okay, friend, talk to me.
0:21.3	What's been troubling your spirit? What's on your mind? Okay, well, as you know, back in the fall,
0:26.4	we did an episode about the word genocide, and specifically the discussions around what it
0:32.1	meant to label Israel's actions in Gaza a genocide. Yeah, remember this, okay?
0:37.4	Right. Well, shortly remember this, okay?
0:38.0	Right.
0:44.8	Well, shortly after we published that episode, we got an email from a listener that I have not been able to stop thinking about.
0:52.4	His name is Ajae Nelson, and he's been listening to Code Switch since he was a freshman in high school, more than eight years ago.
0:55.3	Oh, my God, I feel so old, though.
0:56.5	I do too.
1:04.2	And Ajay pointed out that in that genocide episode, we had very briefly mentioned the idea of there being ongoing genocide in Sudan.
1:07.5	I know very little about this genocide in Sudan, which apparently is the second genocide there in the last 30 years, but the U.S. government determined in January that it is a genocide.
	...

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