The Bahraini government claims to listen to protesters yet mobilises armed thugs and now a Saudi army against them
A GOOD COMMENT
A GOOD COMMENT
Tahiyya Lulu
(Tahiyya Lulu is the pen-name of a Bahraini woman and independent commentator.)
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 15 March 2011
"The international community is taking weeks to decide whether to impose a no-fly zone over Libya. Meanwhile, in the eerie quiet of a Bahraini afternoon a deployment of 1,000 soldiers from the Saudi Arabia who are part of the Pensinsula Shield Force entered the country....
....the regime has implemented a soft-talk big-stick strategy. Its security personnel killed two protesters, and the king appeared on national television to speak of his regret, promising an independent investigation to hold those responsible accountable. Two days later, government security personnel stormed the encampment of protesters at the now-famous Pearl roundabout, killing four more. Later the same day, the crown prince appeared on TV urging calm, while the Bahraini army opened fire on unarmed demonstrators, killing another two......
Sure enough, almost immediately after announcing the invitation to dialogue, top figures in the government held talks with their counterparts in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the US, and the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC). In 1965 the British RAF helped the regime oppress its population; today that dishonour belongs to Saudi Arabia and other GCC states.....
Presumably to impress an international audience, protesters are now being described as "terrorists", "gangsters" and "foreign elements" among government officials and loyalists on web forums......
But for all the talk and big tanks, the regime's strategy has one major failing; its stubborn myopia. The Bahraini youth it criminalises with false talk and disingenuous action are not terrorists: they are educated, open-minded children of a time in which information is free.
They do not want sweet words, they do not want foreign military intervention, nor a system of Makramah and privileges. What they want is what they know they were born with: rights. And the Bahraini regime would do well to rethink its strategy of good PR and bad policies, because for now the voices of their youthful opposition resonate louder than the rumble of foreign tanks destroying Bahrain's sovereignty and threatening the lives of Bahraini dissenters, because it seems they too have said "kefaya" – enough."
(Tahiyya Lulu is the pen-name of a Bahraini woman and independent commentator.)
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 15 March 2011
"The international community is taking weeks to decide whether to impose a no-fly zone over Libya. Meanwhile, in the eerie quiet of a Bahraini afternoon a deployment of 1,000 soldiers from the Saudi Arabia who are part of the Pensinsula Shield Force entered the country....
....the regime has implemented a soft-talk big-stick strategy. Its security personnel killed two protesters, and the king appeared on national television to speak of his regret, promising an independent investigation to hold those responsible accountable. Two days later, government security personnel stormed the encampment of protesters at the now-famous Pearl roundabout, killing four more. Later the same day, the crown prince appeared on TV urging calm, while the Bahraini army opened fire on unarmed demonstrators, killing another two......
Sure enough, almost immediately after announcing the invitation to dialogue, top figures in the government held talks with their counterparts in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the US, and the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC). In 1965 the British RAF helped the regime oppress its population; today that dishonour belongs to Saudi Arabia and other GCC states.....
Presumably to impress an international audience, protesters are now being described as "terrorists", "gangsters" and "foreign elements" among government officials and loyalists on web forums......
But for all the talk and big tanks, the regime's strategy has one major failing; its stubborn myopia. The Bahraini youth it criminalises with false talk and disingenuous action are not terrorists: they are educated, open-minded children of a time in which information is free.
They do not want sweet words, they do not want foreign military intervention, nor a system of Makramah and privileges. What they want is what they know they were born with: rights. And the Bahraini regime would do well to rethink its strategy of good PR and bad policies, because for now the voices of their youthful opposition resonate louder than the rumble of foreign tanks destroying Bahrain's sovereignty and threatening the lives of Bahraini dissenters, because it seems they too have said "kefaya" – enough."
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