Boats set sail to aid Gaza
31 May: Launch of Freedom Flotilla 2

Freedom Flotilla 2 hits the waves at the end of this month with 12 ships from 23 countries – including Canada, Ireland, Britain, Australia, Turkey, Tunisia, Algeria, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia and the US. Spearheaded by the Free Gaza Movement, which had previously sailed five successful missions to Gaza aboard two small adapted pleasure boats, last year’s flotilla had ended with boats attacked by Israeli commandos. Eight Turkish and one US civilian were killed, over 40 were injured and 700 were jailed as a result.

The UN fact-finding mission report on the incident, released last September, found evidence of grave breaches of the Geneva Convention, including wilful killing and torture committed by Israeli forces. Israel has justified its soldiers’ actions as self-defence and has said it will use snipers and attack-dogs to stop future flotillas.

Israel has vowed to stop this year’s flotilla, but activists are planning a co-ordinated defence using nonviolent direct action and anti-piracy tactics. Says writer and anti-war activist Fintan Lane of the Irish Boat to Gaza effort: ‘We’ll be doing everything in our power to prevent the Israeli army coming onto our boats, because if they board us they will kill us.’ …more

Bahrain: Bahraini authorities stormed the home of human rights defenders “Third stormed ”
May 27th, 2011

Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) is deeply concerned about Mr.Naji Fateel Member of the Board of Directors of the BYSHR.

Today( 27 May 2011 – 2 am) :Security forces stormed his house, “Third stormed ” looking for him,but could not be found.

Mr.Fateel , Previously arrested in 2007 and was released later.He subjected to torture in prison.

Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights calls for protection of human rights organizations and human rights defenders.

Ref: http://byshr.org/?p=423

Union Leaders Arrested in Bahrain Crackdown
Jane Slaughter – May 26, 2011

As the Arab Spring movements for democracy swept the Middle East, the tiny oil kingdom of Bahrain saw repeated demonstrations in its own version of Cairo’s Tahrir Square. In the kingdom’s Pearl Roundabout, union members were among those calling for constitutional reform. They’ve held two general strikes.

The government, with support from neighboring Saudi Arabia, cracked down violently, arresting and beating suspected protesters and firing more than 1,300 workers, including 12 of 15 officers of the oil union. Twenty-one political and human rights leaders are being tried in as a group in military court, charged with conspiracy to overthrow the government. The government wants to bring oil union leaders in front of the same court, where the death penalty is on the table.

Authorities are looking at photos from the marches and telling employers to fire people they can identify, targeting workers from the majority Shia Muslim population. AFL-CIO Solidarity Center staffer Shawna Bader-Blau and Greg Junemann, president of the Professional and Technical Engineers union (IFPTE), went to Bahrain May 10-12 to meet with members of the beleaguered General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions.

Labor Notes: What was the Bahrain labor movement like before the protests? Shawna Bader-Blau: It was the most activist and progressive labor movement in the Gulf, the unique gem of the labor movement. It’s horrifying to watch it attacked and threatened with being dismantled. Bahrain’s union federation has 25,000 members in 65 workplaces out of a workforce of 600,000. Of those, 400,000 or so are migrants, mostly from South Asia. The federation fought for migrants being allowed to join the unions and run for election.

They have unions in oil, telecom, aluminum, hotels, Gulf Air, ship repair. All of those have seen a majority or near majority of their leaders fired. The public sector doesn’t have organizing rights but they have “societies.” The entire leadership of the teachers’ society was arrested. One top leader of the nurses’ society appeared on TV in what appeared to be a forced confession.

There is a ferocious campaign in the state-run media, naming individual union leaders, showing pictures of people who demonstrated, with a circle around their faces.…more

Backstop Bahrain
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on May 26 14:15.
ft.com/alphaville
DIFC – Dubai, May 26, 2011
Thursday’s political risk datapoint:

The main driver underlying Moody’s decision to downgrade is the significant deterioration in Bahrain’s political environment since February. The government of Bahrain has forcibly suppressed an uprising by the Shi’ah-led opposition with the backing of an intervention of armed forces from other member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), most importantly from its neighbour Saudi Arabia. Political tensions in the country remain high and there seems little prospect of the underlying causes of the unrest being peaceably resolved, at least over the short term. The political outlook is therefore highly uncertain.

Moody’s believes that these events are likely to have damaged economic growth significantly, especially in services sectors such as tourism, trade and financial services. These sectors had previously been championed by the government in its effort to diversify the economy away from oil. The timing and pace of any economic recovery will very much depend on political developments. In any case, the negative effect on consumer and investor confidence will likely linger.

The crisis has also affected Bahrain’s public finances. In February, the government announced cash transfers to families, and in May the parliament approved an expansionary budget for 2011-12. The resulting rise in current expenditure is reducing fiscal flexibility.

Even as the Bahraini government is set to lift martial law at long last, Saudi and other Gulf military forces show no signs of leaving, for example.

So it’s a weird kind of backstop. More like a brutal embrace. But if we are talking backstops, isn’t interesting to note that Bahrain government paper has traded at around 100bps tighter than Dubai debt during the Arab Spring?

And that’s even counting the big rally in Dubai bonds this year, a significant reason for which was the United Arab Emirates’ own backstop of Dubai companies’ debt restructuring.…more

Bahrain falls 51 places in Global Peace Index 2011 on unrest

Bahrain’s score deteriorated by the second-largest margin after Libya
26 May 2011

Bahrain’s global peace ranking has dropped 51 places to 123 out of 153 countries according to a report by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).

The Gulf state, which faced a wave of Shi’ite-led protests in February and March that left at least 29 people dead, was the second biggest fall after Libya which declined 83 places to 143 position.

The uprising in Bahrain and the dramatic escalation of violence by the army against protesters in mid-February is reflected in sharp deteriorations in most of the country’s measures of societal safety and security.

Bahrain Detailed Report
Bahrain Rank: 123
Change in score 2010-11: 0.429
Change in rank 2010-11: -47

Protests in Bahrain calling for economic and political reform began on February 14th 2011 and gathered momentum after two protesters were shot in the first two days. In an extraordinary escalation, on February 18th, the army was deployed on the streets of central Manama, the capital. Troops fired live ammunition at protesters who gathered there – a sudden escalation of violence in a small, peaceful country with a low crime rate that was reflected in its position around the midpoint of the GPI in previous years. The dramatic events of February and March, inspired by the unprecedented “Arab Spring”, led to sharp increases to most of the qualitative indicators of conflict and safety and security in society, precipitating a slide in the rankings to 123rd position. The drop would have been even more pronounced but for improvements to three of Bahrain’s GPI indicators from last year: a reduction in military capability and sophistication, a fall number of armed service personnel and a slight improvement in the Political Terror Scale tally (to 1.5). …more

Bahrain Meets Majority of International Standards for Human Development; Aims to be First Arab Country to Upgrade Millennium Development Goals
* Reuters is not responsible for the content in this press release.

Thu May 26, 2011 5:39pm EDT

Bahrain Meets Majority of International Standards for Human Development; Aims to be First Arab Country to Upgrade Millennium Development Goals

PR Newswire

MANAMA, Bahrain, May 26, 2011

MANAMA, Bahrain, May 26, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — As Bahrain nears its international targets for human development, the country should expand its Millennium Development Goals while incorporating the Economic Vision 2030 plan, says UN Resident Coordinator Sayed Aqa. If accomplished, Bahrain would be the first Arab country to meet its current targets and upgrade its Millennium Development Goals, according to Gulf Daily News..

“Bahrain has met almost all of the international goals and standards with the exception of environment and women and we are proceeding there,” he said. “All goals should be upscaled and additional goals for Bahrain should be put according to the vision and government plans to make Bahrain an example in the region because no Arab country has done what we call MDG plus or upscale MDG targets.”

During Aqa’s tenure, Bahrain improved in categories such as human rights, women’s empowerment, political development and trade. Successful initiatives like trade negotiation programs for the Industry and Commerce Ministry, Free Trade Agreements, UNDP capacity development and strategic planning, and information management programs for parliament and the Shura Council have led to the country’s progress. In addition, Bahrain has seen success in microfinance and NGO training.

“The most significant achievement I would say is that as a result of that pilot program now two banks have been created in Bahrain, the Family Bank and Ebdaa Bank,” he said. “They both now give loans to small business and that is a result of the success, so now we can reduce our engagement and have a true national process.” ..more

Bahrain: 9 demonstrators were sentenced because of the freedom of assembly
May 26th, 2011

Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) is deeply concerned about sentencing of 9 demonstrators Today in National Safety court ( Military court) .

Today 26 May 2011 , 9 demonstrators sentenced :

1- Fadhel Abbas Ahmed was sentenced to one year imprisonment for taking part in illegal protests and disrupting public order.

2-Salman Abbas Ahmed was sentenced to one year imprisonment for taking part in illegal protests and disrupting public order.

3-Nasser Hood Ebrahim was sentenced to one year imprisonment for taking part in illegal protests and disrupting public order.

4-Ali Mohammad Abdullah was sentenced to one year imprisonment for taking part in illegal protests and disrupting public order.

5-Mohammed Adel Ahmed was sentenced to one year imprisonment for taking part in illegal protests and disrupting public order.

6-Abdullah Yousif Ali was sentenced to one year imprisonment for taking part in illegal protests and disrupting public order.

7-Jaafar Mahdi Hassan was sentenced to one year imprisonment for taking part in illegal protests and disrupting public order.

8-Abdulsalam Mohammed Jassim was sentenced to two year imprisonment for taking part in illegal protests and disrupting public order.

9-Ali Khalifa Hassan was sentenced to Four year imprisonment for taking part in illegal protests and disrupting public order and The obtaining of publications that contain content inciting the overthrow of the regime. …source

Bahrain’s abuse of dissenters: four detailed cases

A pattern of widespread abuse emerges from these cases, including detention without trial, beatings, and lack of access to lawyers and family.

By Roy Gutman, McClatchy Newspapers / May 26, 2011
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The first sign that Bahrain’s security forces were going to detain former Bahraini parliamentarian Jawad Fairooz came at 8:30 p.m. May 2, when about 30 masked men carrying submachine guns broke down the front door of his house.

“What are you doing in my house?” Fairooz’s wife screamed as the men, some in military uniforms, flooded into the front hall. One pointed a submachine gun at her head. “Where is Jawad?” he demanded.

Fairooz, a graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso, had been elected to the Bahraini parliament in 2006 and again in November 2010, but he’d resigned in February to protest police violence against peaceful demonstrators who were demanding democratic reform, Bahrain’s response to the “Arab spring” toppling of dictatorial regimes in Egypt and Tunisia.

RECOMMENDED: Bahrain protests: 5 key facts

Now he was about to feel the brutal force of Bahrain’s crackdown on the opposition.

Fairooz is one of about a dozen prominent opposition leaders and human rights advocates now behind bars in the island kingdom, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet. President Barack Obama referred to them in his speech last week on the Middle East, in which he pointedly told Bahrain that “you can’t have a real dialogue when parts of the peaceful opposition are in jail.”

A detailed examination of Bahrain’s arrest and treatment of the dissidents shows widespread and systematic abuse that raises questions about whether the country’s Sunni Muslim government has crossed a line beyond which it can’t restore social peace in the predominantly Shiite Muslim country.

Interviews and email exchanges with relatives of four of the jailed politicians yielded startlingly similar stories of dramatic and humiliating middle-of-the-night raids by 30 to 40 masked gunmen, followed by weeks of beatings and abuse in custody. None of the men has been charged with a crime. …more

Bahrain: Formula One Should Take Account of Rights Crisis
Arrests, Detentions Should Raise Questions for Racing Officials
May 26, 2011

Letter to Federation Internationale de l’Automobile and Formula One Teams Association Regarding Sadly, serious violations like arbitrary arrest, incommunicado detention, and alleged torture by Bahraini authorities pre-date the imposition of martial law in mid-March. There is little reason to think that ending martial law on June 1 will make much difference in Bahrain’s menacing human rights climate. Tom Porteous, deputy program director at Human Rights Watch

(Washington, DC) – The international racing bodies responsible for scheduling Formula One events should take full account of continuing serious human rights violations when they consider rescheduling a 2011 race in Bahrain, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch expressed its concerns in a letter sent jointly to the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA).

The government cancelled the 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix, which had been scheduled for March, due to widespread pro-democracy and anti-government protests. On June 3, at a meeting in Barcelona, the FIA is expected to decide whether to reschedule the event for later in the year. Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa recently decreed that martial law, imposed on March 15, would be lifted on June 1, a few days before the FIA meeting.

“Sadly, serious violations like arbitrary arrest, incommunicado detention, and alleged torture by Bahraini authorities pre-date the imposition of martial law in mid-March,” said Tom Porteous, deputy program director at Human Rights Watch. “There is little reason to think that ending martial law on June 1 will make much difference in Bahrain’s menacing human rights climate.”

Human Rights Watch questioned whether a successful Formula One event could be held in an environment characterized by large-scale arbitrary arrests, prolonged incommunicado detentions, credible allegations of torture, and mass dismissals of workers, in violation of Bahraini as well as international law. According to recent news reports, those dismissals and arrests include about a quarter of the staff of the government-owned Bahrain International Circuit, the site of the annual Bahrain Grand Prix. …more

Query about missing car lands Bahraini activist in jail

By ROY GUTMAN
McClatchy Newspapers

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Mohammed Hassan Jawad was missing his car – he’d left it at Pearl Roundabout in Manama, Bahrain, during anti-government protests in mid-March – so he did the logical thing: He visited the Bahrain police to inquire where they’d taken it when crews demolished the intersection.

That was the last his family heard of him for 45 days, until his name and photo flashed across government television. He was about to go on trial for taking part in a conspiracy to topple the Bahraini monarchy.

The arrest of Jawad, a human rights activist who’s campaigned on his own for the rights of detainees and prisoners but isn’t affiliated with any major political group, illustrates the arbitrariness of the judicial process that the Sunni Muslim minority regime has introduced under martial law.

Along with Ebrahim Sharif and Hassan Mushaima, Jawad was charged May 16 with “conspiring to topple the regime forcibly and collaborating with a terrorist organization working for a foreign country,” according to the government-run Bahrain News Agency.

Jawad, 64, had been arrested once before: last December, when he took part in a demonstration demanding the release of political prisoners – and promptly got thrown in jail. Under the pressure of human rights organizations, he was released in January, according to a member of his family. He, along with tens of thousands of others, took part in the anti-government demonstrations that began Feb. 14. That seems to be the basis of the charges.

Family members were able to talk with him at his first court appearance, and they think he suffered abuse bordering on torture while in solitary confinement. They learned that he’d been hung by his hands for three weeks and subjected to electric shocks. He had pains in his pelvis and was missing teeth. His legs were swollen, he was covered in scrapes and he looked terrible, they said.

A family member pleaded with McClatchy Newspapers to publicize his case, writing in an email: “In this cruel situation we are going through, you are the only hope for us, to deliver our sounds and screams, our pains and suffering, to the world.” ...source

Tuesday, May 24, 2011
The Resistance in Obama Time

Over 2,600 Activists Arrested in the US Since Election

By BILL QUIGLEY Counterpunch

Since President Obama was inaugurated, there have been over two thousand six hundred arrests of activists protesting in the US. Research shows over 670 people have been arrested in protests inside the US already in 2011, over 1290 were arrested in 2010, and 665 arrested in 2009. These figures certainly underestimate the number actually arrested as arrests in US protests are rarely covered by the mainstream media outlets which focus so intently on arrests of protestors in other countries.

Arrests at protest have been increasing each year since 2009. Those arrested include people protesting US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Guantanamo, strip mining, home foreclosures, nuclear weapons, immigration policies, police brutality, mistreatment of hotel workers, budget cutbacks, Blackwater, the mistreatment of Bradley Manning, and right wing efforts to cut back collective bargaining.

These arrests illustrate that resistance to the injustices in and committed by the US is alive and well. Certainly there could and should be more, but it is important to recognize that people are fighting back against injustice.

Information on these arrests has been taken primarily from the newsletter The Nuclear Resister, which has been publishing reports of anti-nuclear resistance arrests since 1980, and anti-war actions since 1990.

Jack Cohen-Joppa, who with his partner Felice, edits The Nuclear Resister, told me “Over the last three decades, in the course of chronicling more than 100,000 arrests for nonviolent protest and resistance to nuclear power, nuclear weapons, torture, and war, we’ve noted a quadrennial decline as support for protest and resistance gets swallowed up by Presidential politicking. It has taken a couple of years, but the Hopeian addicts of 2008 are finally getting into recovery. We’re again reporting a steady if slow rise in the numbers willing to risk arrest and imprisonment for acts of civil resistance. Today, for instance, there are more Americans serving time in prison for nuclear weapons protest than at any time in more than a decade.”

In the list below I give the date of the protest arrest and a brief summary of the reason for the protest. After each date I have included the name of the organization which sponsored the protest. Check them out. Remember, they can jail the resisters but they cannot jail the resistance! …more

Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Tacoma Leonard Peltier March and Rally Reportback

THE MAY 21ST REGIONAL LEONARD PELTIER MARCH AND RALLY IN TACOMA
March web site has photos http://leonardpeltiermarch.wordpress.com/

The sound of drums could be heard from miles around, as a few hundred marched for Leonard Peltier in Tacoma. Most of the marchers were Native people, many Puyallups and other Salish people, the Native Student Alliance, Portland America Indian Movement, other Native people and Tacoma, Puyallup and Portland Chapters of the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee. Along with non-Native allies from the Jericho Movement, Industrial Workers of the World, Jobs With Justice, peace and justice activists, labor activists and a few anarchists. Once the march reached downtown, the drums and the Leonard Peltier Honor song vibrated off the buildings. The march was a long one from Puyallup land to downtown Tacoma, with the all Native security team looking out for the well-being of all
the marchers.

The police were out in force, again, trying to make some kind of political statement against the march. They threaten anyone who lagged behind and to that I explained that we had a permit to arch, even those that might be a little slow. Even though, as we had done in the past, only marched in one lane of the street, the police blocked both lands. So those who were in cars that could not get by, only have the police to blame. Near the court house the police tired to move the march on to the sidewalk, but we marched around them. When they told me to move on to the sidewalk, I told
them we had a permit to march from Portland Ave. Park to the court house and that is what we were going to do and that is what we did. I heard reports of the police calling Native people “Chief” and “Tonto” and other harassing remarks. They gave out a number of traffic tickets, including to people who parked in two hour zones, some of them had been parked there for less than two hours. We just did what we came there to do and viewed the police actions as proving our point. …more

Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Update on Amelia Nicol, Anti-Police Terror Prisoner
May 25, 2011 by denverabc
Denver, CO

[excerpt]

On Friday May 6th, over one hundred people, mostly young, poor, and angry, took to the streets in defiance of the Denver Police Department. They participated in a march, called to confront “police terror” in the Denver Metro area. Specifically, they marched to remember the deaths of Marvin Booker and Oleg Gidenko, two people murdered by area police departments in the last year.

As the the march ended, a small firework was set off in the street. Police used this act as a justification to chase one alleged participant down an alley, where she was tackled and beaten by police. This person would later be identified as Amelia Nicol, a 20 year old Colorado resident. She now faces outlandish charges including attempted murder.

We call on all people to support Amelia as she fights these attempts at intimidation and repression, and the police’s broader attack on social movements in Denver.

Marvin Booker, a homeless street preacher, died at the hands of five sheriff’s deputies in the Van Cise-Simonet Detention Center in downtown Denver on July 9, 2010. He was tackled, beaten, placed into chokeholds, tazed, and kicked. He eventually succumbed to the officers’ brutal attack. He was murdered for refusing to leave his shoes in the booking area of the jail.

Oleg Gidenko was shot in the head by Aurora Police Officers. Oleg was in a truck with several friends. They had been hanging out, allegedly drinking in the truck while it was parked in a lonely industrial park in Aurora. Aurora Police Officers approached the truck, armed, supposedly because they suspected the occupants of breaking into cars in the area. As the police aimed their weapons at the truck, one officer shot Oleg in the head. Another occupant, Yevgeniy Straystar. was also shot, but would survive. With two occupants, including the driver, shot and a passenger trying to hide on the floor of the truck as it took repeated fire from police officers, the truck lurched forward, bumping into one of the officers. This action, though it took place after the firing had started, and after Oleg was dead, was used as the justification for the shooting.

Many other high profile cases of police terror have been documented in the metro area over the last year, including the beating of whole families, rape and child molestation, and mishandling of evidence. Few, if any, officers are ever punished.

On May 6th, the fourth in a series of marches was held to show direct opposition to the police terror plaguing the metro area. For several hours the crowd snaked through downtown and the arts district. The police response to this fourth march was much heavier than previous marches, and riot police flanked the march for a good portion of the route. Despite the heavy police presence and attempts at intimidation, Amelia would end up being the only arrest during the march. …more

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Students boycott University of Bahrain
By staff & agencies

TEHRAN — Hundreds of students have reportedly boycotted the University of Bahrain to protest against al-Khalifa regime’s brutal crackdown on the pro-democracy protesters.

The students have said that they are not attending classes due to the government’s so-called protection measures and extra security protocols practiced at the university campus.

According to Press TV, earlier this week, classes at the University of Bahrain resumed after authorities installed new surveillance cameras across the university.

The facility was ransacked around two months ago during the political unrest that has gripped the Persian Gulf state for over three months.

All students must now re-register with the university and sign a code of conduct. Each student is given a compulsory identification card that must be worn at all times on campus.

According to Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR), the University of Bahrain is planning to accept only pro-government students and those refusing to sign a pledge of loyalty to the government will be expelled from the only national higher education institution in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom.

Since the beginning of anti-regime protests in Bahrain in mid-February, Manama has launched a harsh crackdown on anti-government protesters, rounding up senior opposition figures and activists in dawn raids and arresting doctors, nurses, lawyers and journalists who have voiced support for the protest movement.

Scores of protesters have been killed and many others have gone missing ever since the protests broke out.

Bahrainis condemn death sentences

On Monday, hundreds of Bahrainis poured into the streets across the country to protest against the death sentences handed to two anti-government protesters.

The opposition condemned the verdict describing it as a political move aimed at suppressing the anti-government movement.

On Sunday, a military court upheld the death sentences for two anti-government protesters for their involvement in the killing of two police officers during anti-regime demonstrations.

“The National Safety Appeals Court upheld the death sentence Sunday against Ali Abdullah Hasan al-Singace and Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ibrahim Hussein,” BNA reported.

U.S. complicitous in regime’s crimes

The U.S. administration is not willing to reveal the truth about the Bahraini regime and its brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, says a Bahraini political activist.

Washington “would not really uncover the truth and the true face of the (Bahraini) regime. And this is why the Bahraini people consider the U.S. as an accomplice in what is going on in Bahrain,” Saeed al-Shehabi, a member of Bahrain Freedom Movement, told Press TV on Sunday.

The Americans “are aware of what is going on (in Bahrain) — the British embassy is there, the U.S. embassy is there in Manama. They saw how the trucks went and destroyed the mosques, how various villages were attacked and were ransacked,” al-Shehabi added. …source