Dispatches From Bahrain: The People’s Uprising
By Shozab Raza
Liberalism purports to uphold freedom and democracy, but Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, at the behest of Western liberal states, remains radically un-free for struggling for these values. Sentenced to life-imprisonment last year for his role in the Bahraini uprising against the monarchic despotism of King Hamad and his cronies, al-Khawaja has been on a hunger strike for more than two months now in protest of the continuing detentions of pro-democracy activists.
Since the uprising began last February, the Bahraini government has brazenly carried out extra-judicial killings, arbitrary arrests, torture, kidnappings, firings, student dismissals, and media harassment, according to the findings of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights. On March 9th of this year, as many as 250,000 people took part in a pro-democracy demonstration. This represented over 20 percent of the population, making it one of the largest demonstrations in history – and a demonstration which was eventually met with teargas and stun grenades fired by security forces. More specifically, the Bahraini uprising has recorded the second highest per-capita deaths and arrests of the Arab Spring.
Despite its magnitude, the uprisings, and the government’s brutal suppression of it, have been awarded little attention from the mainstream media. This is hardly surprising since what the situation in Bahrain exposes is the sinister skeleton that lurks beneath the rosy-pink flesh of Western liberalism, a skeleton the liberal media prefer be kept in the closet.
The mobilizations in Bahrain have been centred on demands for serious democratic reform and proportional representation, civil liberties, and an end to the socio-economic marginalization of the country’s Shia population. And yet Western liberal states such as the United States and Britain, who present themselves as beacons of democracy, freedom, and human rights – and often occupy countries to supposedly advance these virtues – have been aiding and abetting the tyrannical Bahraini government in quelling the pro-democracy movement.
Indeed, recent figures confirmed that Britain continued to sell arms to Bahrain despite knowing full well the pernicious – and anti-democratic – ways in which they would be put to use. According to the figures, the government approved the sale of military equipment valued at more than £1 million in the months following the violent crackdown on demonstrators a year ago. They included licences for gun silencers, rifles, artillery and components for military training aircraft.
Predictably, the Obama administration has also colluded with King Hamad’s clampdown on democracy and human rights. Not only does Bahrain host a US navy base (known as the Naval Support Activity Bahrain), it was also US-backed and funded Saudi troops who entered Bahrain last March to assist the government in subduing the uprising when it first began. In light of these realities, President Obama’s statement saying he was “deeply concerned” by the violence in Bahrain should be read as nothing more than a desperate attempt at salvaging the waning facade of liberalism – that is, a facade which insists that liberalism delivers genuine freedom, democracy, and human rights.
At least Vince Cable, Britain’s current Business Secretary, was more forthright in his recent admission to a committee of MPs: “We do trade with governments that are not democratic and have bad human rights records…We do business with repressive governments and there’s no denying that.”
Indeed, what Cable’s remarks pronounce is that, behind all its hollow rhetoric, Western liberalism really only cherishes one freedom: market freedom. As long as Western governments and companies enjoy the freedom to profit from lucrative arms deals, and have access to unfettered markets and abundant oil supplies, they have no qualms in maintaining amicable relations with undemocratic, despotic states. And Bahrain proves to be precisely such a state: while stringent restrictions on press freedom and democratic rights make it one of the world’s top 10 repressive countries, Bahrain is ranked highly by the World Bank for being “conducive to business operation”.
In short, so long as Bahrain remains open for business and money is to be made, Western liberal states will gladly assist a tyrannical government in stomping a democratic movement. All things considered, the gulf between tyranny and liberalism swiftly collapses.
PHOTO/Pan-Afrikan News Wire
Ahmed
05/05/2012 at 02:29
You know why mainstream media is not focusing on Bahrain? Cz they all know this is bullish*t, Its a sectarian movement masterminded by Iran.
Please stop calling them “peaceful pro-democratic protesters” cz what we are witnessing is riots and attacks on police and innocent bystanders. Al Wefaq who are the largest “opposition” party here in Bahrain are Hezbollah. Hezbollah are a terrorist organization, no one can deny this.
At the Gathering of National Unity in which we went to protest in Al Fateh Mosque, to denounce the sectarian movement and to show the world that the silent majority have spoken, which had over 350,000 of us Bahrainis in attendance was not mentioned in the media!
Its funny how in the UK people called what happened there riots from the first minute, but here the int’l media call them peaceful protesters! Hypocrisy at its best.
Its funny how they protest, calling for “freedom”, and when they finish they ride their Porsches and BMWs and go back to their HOMES!
Get ur facts right buddy.
Shozab Raza
05/05/2012 at 19:31
Hey Ahmed,
Just want to quickly respond to some of your points, in the order that you present them:
(1)Following complaints about the violent crackdown of the protests, King Hamad commissioned an independent inquiry into the uprising. For one, the report concluded that the Bahraini government’s repeated claims that the protests were “masterminded by Iran” were completely unfounded. The report can be read here: http://files.bici.org.bh/BICIreportEN.pdf (look at Chapter 9)
(Also keep in mind that this is a report solicited by King Hamad himself)
(2) In the article, I never described the pro-democracy protestors as “peaceful”. Nevertheless, the same report (see Chapter 6) and later reports by the Bahrain centre for human rights demonstrated that an overwhelming proportion of the total deaths and causalities came at the hands of security forces.
(3) Your implicit suggestion that Al Wefaq is a terrorist organization is completely untrue, even from the perspective of King Hamad. Al Wefaq is considered a legitimate political party by the king, having held more seats than any other party in the Bahraini parliament. True, both organizations are Shia-dominated but this hardly means that “Al Wefaq…are Hezbollah”.
(4) I definitely share your resentment with the contradictory ways in which the West tends to read protests: the Arab spring celebrated as a legitimate protest, while the London uprisings written off as a riot. I think both uprisings, in London and Bahrain, are legitimate responses to decades of experienced injustice. I unequivocally support both.
Hope some of this was helpful.
Christine
05/05/2012 at 20:05
Great article! I was just wondering where you got the 20% figure from? I’ve been looking around and I can’t find another source that says that anywhere. It’s not that I don’t believe you, because I do, it’s just that I’m writing a paper and I need to verify and double-check everything.
Shozab Raza
05/05/2012 at 21:28
Hey Christine,
Well I calculated the 20% figure myself.
According to CIA World Factbook estimates, the population of Bahrain in 2012 is 1,248,348. It was estimated that on March 9th 2012 as many as 250,000 people demonstrated. I took these two figures to calculate the percentage of the population that protested that day.
(For Bahrain population stats, see https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-e factbook/geos/ba.html)
Christine
05/05/2012 at 22:42
Okay, that’s brilliant! Thanks for letting me know!