'Months after its brief exposure to the Arab spring, Bahrain's cat-and-mouse routine of protest and repression continues
Ian Black in Sitra
guardian.co.uk, Monday 8 August 2011
"....Bahrain is far quieter now than during its brief exposure to the winds of the Arab spring in February and March, but unrest continues. Every night cries of "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) echo through the villages of a Shia underclass that has chafed under the Sunni Al Khalifa dynasty since the country's independence from Britain in 1971.
"We go up on to the roofs and shout and then try to march to the entrance of our village," said Abu Ali, a thirtysomething accountant and former prisoner from Karzakan who supports al-Wifaq, the Islamist movement demanding democracy and equal rights for all. "The repression is getting worse."....
Dismissals of some 2,000 people who stayed away from work during the unrest began at the same time. The destruction of around 30 Shia mosques has sharpened the sense of sectarian polarisation......
Two things seem certain: repression without reform will not solve Bahrain's problems and its citizen journalists will keep the story alive. "They are doing our job for us," said a local photographer who works for international news agencies. "They set up webcams in the villages where there are clashes. It's hard to get in and if you do you risk being arrested or hit by a tear gas grenade or worse. If the police catch you they make you erase your pictures. It happened to me once. After all, they are the ones with the guns.""
Ian Black in Sitra
guardian.co.uk, Monday 8 August 2011
"....Bahrain is far quieter now than during its brief exposure to the winds of the Arab spring in February and March, but unrest continues. Every night cries of "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) echo through the villages of a Shia underclass that has chafed under the Sunni Al Khalifa dynasty since the country's independence from Britain in 1971.
"We go up on to the roofs and shout and then try to march to the entrance of our village," said Abu Ali, a thirtysomething accountant and former prisoner from Karzakan who supports al-Wifaq, the Islamist movement demanding democracy and equal rights for all. "The repression is getting worse."....
Dismissals of some 2,000 people who stayed away from work during the unrest began at the same time. The destruction of around 30 Shia mosques has sharpened the sense of sectarian polarisation......
Two things seem certain: repression without reform will not solve Bahrain's problems and its citizen journalists will keep the story alive. "They are doing our job for us," said a local photographer who works for international news agencies. "They set up webcams in the villages where there are clashes. It's hard to get in and if you do you risk being arrested or hit by a tear gas grenade or worse. If the police catch you they make you erase your pictures. It happened to me once. After all, they are the ones with the guns.""
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