As protests marking the first anniversary of the crushing of the wide scale pro-democracy uprising are taking place in Bahrain one finds upon reflection of the past year's events that the future of the island kingdom is very difficult to gauge; as both hopeful and dire horizons lie on the road ahead.
From Tahrir Square to Pearl Roundabout
The events in the Middle East and North Africa—the Arab Spring—that began in early 2011 have been compared by many to the revolutionary events in Europe in 1989, or even in some cases to the upheavals of 1848. The 1989 allusion works in the broad sense, given the fact that as in Czechoslovakia and East Germany back then popular uprisings and opposition forced two dictators to capitulate relatively peacefully (Ben Ali in Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt) while another one went down after a bloody fight and a violent insurrection (Mu'ammar Gaddafi) in a manner reminiscent to how Nicole Ceausescu was forced to capitulate in the Romanian Revolution in late December of 1989.
In the midst of this present ongoing 'Arab Spring' lies a rather complicated struggle—the revolutionary struggle on the tiny Persian Gulf island of Bahrain where an overwhelmingly popular revolution has been put down by sheer and brute force. This situation begun unfolding early in February 2011 when the revolutionary situation in Egypt was gaining momentum. At this time several hundred Bahraini citizens openly showed their support and solidarity for the Egyptian people by gathering outside of the Egyptian embassy in Manama.
That was the 4th of February.
By mid February the Egyptian dictator of 29 years Hosni Mubarak was finally forced to capitulate his rule. For days the Egyptian people had stood in their hundreds of thousands in Tahrir Square in Cairo surrounded as they were by military vehicles and deafened by Air Force F-16 fighter jets which screamed at deafening low levels above their heads. But regardless of all this they stood firm in their opposition leaving Mubarak with only two choices: to either step down or to give the order for the military to engage civilians and essentially engage them in battle en masse. Finally realizing that wasn't an option he stood down 18 days after the Square-centered revolt begun.
This was on the 11th of February.
A mere three days later the people of Bahrain would come to vent their discontent with the monarchy there in a similar manner to their Egyptian counterparts.
Their central focal place of protest was the Pearl Roundabout in Manama. Police helicopters circled over the city in anticipation for such a gathering; the police also increased its presence and force among the predominately Shia villages and dispersed protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets. The worse excesses of police brutality that day were in the south-western predominately Shia village of Nuwaidrat where fourteen people were injured. Following this clash a young man named Ali Abdul Hadi Mushaima was killed.
By the next day thousands of protesters would flood into the Pearl Roundabout and take control of it; in a manner reminiscent to how the Egyptians were gathering in Tahrir Square they used it as the centralized point of the country-wide protest, showing the world that they too stood shoulder-to- shoulder in their opposition to the monarchy there. They set up tents and camped in the square overnight, again in a manner similar to how the Egyptians had done so only days beforehand.
The next day (February 16th) would see hundreds more joining the protesters occupying the Pearl Roundabout, as in Egypt where just five days before Mubarak had stepped down due to strikingly similar popular opposition. It appeared that their plight was gaining rapid momentum as even members of parliament announced their intentions to remove the royal family from their official positions.
However it was not something the monarchy was going to tolerate, as they clearly demonstrated at 3 a.m the next day when riot police attacked the protest gathering brutally employing tear gas, riot batons and live ammunition, killing four people, including a little two-year-old girl whom they shot several times.
The fact that that baby girl died of multiple gunshot wounds is testament to the fact that the police didn't discriminate and used sheer and brute force and terror to disperse everyone, destroying the entire encampment and driving out its occupants, injuring over 200 of them.
The army then proceeded to put all of Manama under lock-down dispatching tanks and APC's and set up military checkpoints all across the city. By that evening hospitals around Manama were busy treating the large influx of people injured in that assault.
The Pearl Roundabout was cordoned off; the actual Pearl Monument – the square's namesake – was destroyed a month later under the pretext that it had been “violated” by the protesters whom were described as being vile, therefore the square needed to be “cleansed” via the monuments destruction. It was so carelessly and hastily demolished that a falling cement arch crushed a migrant worker. Its destruction was also symbolic, showing the people at large that such protests and gatherings in protest, even if peaceful in nature would not be tolerated. It also symbolized the destruction of the central focal point of the island-wide protests—meaning that under the auspices of the military crackdown protesters would be dispersed over wider areas, making it harder for them to organize future protests and conglomerations where they would be able to vocalize their heartfelt grievances with the oppressive policies of the monarchy.
Sectarian Violence?
The horrific scenes of government mercenaries at the Salmaniya Medical Complex following Bloody Thursday (the brutal attack by security forces on the conglomerate around the Pearl Roundabout on February 17th of last year) abusing doctors and nurses helping the injured don't attest to an instigation of sectarian violence by those who were protesters. To the contrary, doctors and nurses helping the injured didn't discriminate by what sect they adhered to. They were all Bahraini's during those horrific and fateful few days.
Whilst one of the predominate aims of the protests is for equal status and rights for the Shiite population they certainly don't constitute an “Iranian fifth column” whose only aim was to meddle in Bahrain's internal affairs. Such sentiments were propagated by Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu who asserted that the Saudi led GCC intervention into the country was justified. Stating they - the Saudis - were protecting their interests and didn't want to see Iran “effectively within spitting distance of the Arabian Peninsula.”
Putting down a democratic insurrection was certainly in the interests of the House of Saud. As they fear the protests spreading across the causeway and leading to democratic insurrections in the Saudi Kingdom (particularly among the Shiite minorities in eastern parts of the country). Which explains why they are offering billions of dollars in concessions in a bid to quell protests and the growing discontentment.
Interestingly the Shiites that make up the majority of the population of Iraq are showing their solidarity with the majority of the Bahraini's. Like Bahrain today they too were oppressed by a highly sectarian dictatorial rule under Saddam Hussein during his supreme and brutal reign over Iraq.
1st Anniversary Protests
February 14th 2012 marked the one year anniversary of the beginning of this uprising. In anticipation of fresh protests large parts of Manama were sealed off; in particular, the previous focal gathering site the Pearl Roundabout represented in particular was completely cordoned off and clashes took place in several predominately Shia villages.
However, the protests are much more disorganized, dispersed and decentralized, whilst the security forces are much more organized and exercise much more restraint than they did a year ago. Some foreign observers have stated that whilst these villagers have genuine political grievances many in Bahrain are becoming disenchanted with them, feeling that they are undermining their cause and case through petty vandalism. Masked youths in particular have drawn a lot of ire among many in Bahrain today as they are capitalizing on the unrest, turning meaningful acts of protest and defiance into violent and destructive riots.
What Does the Future Hold?
The future is uncertain, and it would certainly be unwise to try and accurately predict it.
The government seems to be coming to terms with the fact that the widespread disenfranchisement and disillusionment that is prevalent among the country's youth in particular will have damaging long term effects and are accordingly edging towards open public discussion and debate. A noteworthy example being the Bahrain Debate. One of its organizers referred to the youth as “the country's future because they have the power to change things. They are extremely dynamic and energetic but have felt that they don't have a platform to express their opinions."
If anything, the monarchy must have learned from the past years events that turning the island kingdom of Bahrain into a military and police state that rules with sectarian prejudices is certain to be a regressive policy, that is bound to be fatal for the country and the vast majority of its inhabitants in the long run.
Sources
- Arab spring: an interactive timeline of Middle East Protests Guardian
- Bahrain: Shouting in the Dark Al Jazeera (documentary)
- Iraqi Shiites wave flag for Bahrain, reminded of their plight under Saddam The National
- Bahrain restricts protests on uprising anniversary BBC News
Paul Iddon - Paul Iddon is a freelance journalist who has an avid interest in history, politics and current affairs.
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