violent echos rage
despairing tears down my face
stories retold survey
bloody thursday
the pain
the shock
the anger
the fear
the betrayal
the silence

the silence that roars
a revolution
calling liberty
calling justice
calling freedom
ever calling
all who will listen

those who have ears
let them hear
those who have eyes
let them see
the unjust cannot hide
the wicked cannot hide

their shame
of rape
of torture
of murder
of brutality

their dark hearts
confuse greed
as light
as wealth
as righteousness

they oppress
the weak
the poor
the blind
the old
the infant
the young
themselves

this is their fault
this is their weakness
this is their demise
this is their blindness

self-treachery
they stumble about
already defeated
as they rush to their fall

Congressman McGovern Denounces Bahraini Government’s Use of Force
16 February, 2012 – POMED

In a statement released yesterday, Congressman James P. McGovern (D-MA) denounced the use of force by Bahraini authorities preventing Bahrainis from assembling to commemorate the one-year anniversary of mass demonstrations. The use of tear gas, armored personnel carriers, and other forceful actions by security forces to impede Bahrainis from freely gathering in public spaces is “inconsistent with the fundamental human rights to assemble peaceable and express one’s views.” The Congressman went on to urge the Bahrain government to make lasting reforms that ensure greater freedom, address the human rights abuses, and implement all of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry’s recommendations. “Bahrain will be a stronger country when the rights of all of its citizens are fully respected,” said McGovern.

The one-year anniversary was marked by arrests and over 120 protesters injured, with medics reporting some of the casualties had been hit by birdshot – a controversial ammunition Bahraini police deny using. The Bahrain Center for Human Rights said the Bahraini authorities were working to “brutally suppress the protests,” and cited excessive use of tear gas, stun grenades, and shotguns. Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa stated on his website, “the heightened security presence at this time aims to spread security and reassure all citizens and residents… Expressing opinion must be within the space allowed by the law.” Meanwhile, Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of the U.N., released a statement urging all parties to exercise “maximum restraint and expects the Bahraini authorities to act in accordance with their international human rights obligations.”

In related news, the Washington Times has reported that secret talks took place between senior government officials and the top opposition bloc to discuss resuming formal talks. “If we notice that there is serious will by the government to have a dialogue and that the main things we demanded will be put on the agenda … we will welcome such a serious dialogue,” said Jawa Fairoz, a former Wefaq lawmaker jailed during last year’s unrest. …more

Over 11,000 hit by job loss’
16 February, 2012 – Raji Unnikrishnan – Daily Tribune

The sacking of employees in the country during the past one year has indirectly affected a total of 10,988 individuals, according to trade union statistics.
The figure – as per the official records of the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU) – includes the families of 1,641 employees who are yet to be reinstated in the private sector, said GFBTU representative Karim Radhi.

According to GFBTU statistics, 157 private companies out of the 200 registered with the union are yet to even initiate their reinstatement, despite royal and ministerial orders.

Labour Minister Jameel Humaidan had earlier announced that 1,400 dismissed employees will benefit from the Insurance Against Unemployment scheme. “We appreciate the government’s decision to give the insurance coverage, but we still differ with them on the number of employees to be reinstated,” said Mr Radhi.

The list of reinstated employees provided by the Government and the employers included those who were taken back even before they were dismissed,” he said.
They explained that the employers had ‘intended’ to dismiss these employees, and later decided otherwise, added Mr Radhi.

He expressed his disagreement over this and also stated that most of the employees under this category could not be contacted to verify the status. “A few whom we could reach said they were not even aware of such a move,” he said.

The GFBTU expects the government to act on the reliable list of employees who have registered with GFBTU demanding a dignified reinstatement.
The Labour Ministry’s move to include trade unionists under insurance cover – for the first time, is a welcome move, he added.

“The Government sent letters to the companies on February 9, 2012 ordering them to reinstate the remaining dismissed workers without conditions, before Feb 16,” said Labour Ministry Undersecretary Subah Salim Al Dossary.

“Any worker who is still not reinstated after that date can raise the case with the Ministry and necessary action as per the labour law will be ensured,” said Mr Al Dossary. “The minister said some 1,350 dismissed workers received unemployment benefits last October. The remaining 50 will receive soon.”

US-backed regime crushes protest in Bahrain
By Bill Van Auken – 15 February 2012 – WSWS

The US-backed monarchy in the island Gulf state of Bahrain unleashed intense repression on Monday and Tuesday to break up demonstrations by thousands of workers and youth marking the first anniversary of the brutally crushed pro-democracy protests that began on February 14, 2011.

The Bahraini protesters have demanded an end to the dictatorial rule of the al-Khalifa a regime, a Sunni monarchy, as well as jobs and equal rights for the country’s Shia majority, 70 percent of the population, which is subject to systematic discrimination.

Bahrain’s capital of Manama and its surrounding suburbs were placed under a tightened de facto state of siege with armored anti-riot cars lining the streets, thousands of police and troops deployed and barbed wire strung around the iconic Pearl Roundabout, the equivalent of Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

Demonstrators had camped out in the roundabout for a month until the monarchy of King Hamad al-Khalifa used armed force to disperse them. Troops and tanks from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait were brought in over the causeway linking Bahrain to the mainland and initiated a military crackdown that included the demolition of the monument in the Pearl Roundabout, for 30 years a landmark in Bahrain.

Monday’s clashes began when thousands of demonstrators broke off from a regime-sanctioned protest of over 10,000 on the outskirts of Manama organized by Al Wefaq, the Shia opposition party, whose 18 parliamentary delegates resigned last year to protest the repression.

Police attacked the demonstrators with tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades. Some of the demonstrators reportedly responded by hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails at the security forces.

The police also laid siege to predominantly Shia villages around the country, including Bilad al-Qadim.

On Tuesday, intense repression continued, with police making pre-emptive arrests aimed at stopping a planned march on the Pearl Roundabout and staging raids on homes suspected of harboring anti-regime demonstrators.

Among those arrested in the crackdown were two human rights lawyers from the United States, who were promptly deported. …more

His Excellency,
The Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Denmark

Dear Sir,

Subject: My case as a Bahraini Dane detained in Bahrain

Firstly, allow me to thank you and other Danish officials, especially at the Danish embassy, for your concern in my case since I was arrested in Bahrain on 8 April, 2011. My gratitude is extended to every Danish citizen who heard about my case and sympathised with me, including members of the parliament, media and human rights defenders.

Secondly, I would like to stress the positive influence on me of the 12 years that I had spent in Denmark, along with my beloved wife and brave four daughters, during the period from March 1989 until June 2001 when we returned to Bahrain following a general amnesty. At the beginning of that period I received my first professional training in human rights by the Danish Centre for Human Rights, which took place at the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Copenhagen. This training and other forms of indirect support had an important impact on my voluntary work as the director of the Bahrain Human Rights Organisation (BHRO), based in Copenhagen, which played an important role in the positive developments that took place in Bahrain a decade ago. More important, living in Denmark and experiencing first hand its social and political system inspired my work for democracy and human rights in Bahrain and the MENA region during the last 10 years, as an activist, researcher and trainer; in Bahrain as the director of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), from 2002 until 2008, and at the regional level, as the MENA regional field coordinator for Front Line, the international foundation for the protection of human rights defenders, based in Dublin, Ireland, (Aug. 2008 until Feb, 2011).

Thirdly, I have no regrets that I had to pay a price for my work to promote human rights. It is a serious business to address issues such as corruption, inequality, and discrimination in order to promote the interests of members of the ruling family, and documenting arbitrary detention and torture by the brutal National Security Apparatus. So, as much as it was unfair, it was no real surprise when I was detained in 2004, severely beaten during peaceful protests in 2005 and 2006, subjected to unfair trials, travel ban and continuous defamation campaigns in official and semi-official media, and eventually, as a part of the crackdown on the wide popular protests since 14 February, 2011, I was severely beaten, arbitrarily detained, held in solitary confinement and subjected to torture for more than two months, brought before a military court on charges faked by the National Security Apparatus, such as “instigating hatred against the regime” and “planning to overthrow it” and eventually being sentenced to life imprisonment, a sentence which I have been serving to date.

Fourthly, it was a great comfort to hear about the mounting support for my case from the people and activists in Bahrain and from the colleagues and friends on the regional and international levels, in addition to statements and campaigns calling for the release of myself and other activists, by the office of the UN High Commission for Human Rights and International organisations including Human Rights Watch, Front Line Defenders, Amnesty International and Human Rights First. It has also been of great comfort to get visits by Danish diplomats during court sessions and at Jaw Prison, especially by the kind assistant to the ambassador in Saudi-Arabia, who kept me and my family informed about the concern and efforts made by Danish officials regarding my case.

Fifthly, as a recommendation from a Danish citizen, I would appreciate it if my case would be legally researched to examine the numerous violations I have been subjected to and the legal basis for keeping me in prison. Based on such research the Danish authorities could take more actions regarding my case. Taking in consideration the findings of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), formed by the King, which documented my case and used it, along with some other cases, as a base for its final observations and recommendations related to the issues; arrests, arbitrary detention, torture and unfair trial. A summary of my case was published in the final report as case No.8 on page 426. Find also the relative general observations numbers; (1693) to (1706).

Sixthly, as a human rights defender, regardless of being a Danish citizen, I am entitled for protection by EU member states in accordance with the EU-guidelines on the protection of human rights defenders around the world. Hence, I would suggest that the Danish authorities kindly put forth more efforts, in coordination with other EU-state members, to take whatever possible actions at the regional level, such as in embassies, in Brussels institutions and at the UN in Geneva to address my case and the cases of other detained activists, and calling for the release, reparations and protection for human rights defenders in Bahrain, and detained activists, including my brother, Salah Al-Khawaja, and a Bahraini-Swedish activist, Mohammed Habib Al-Muqdad.

Finally, I thank you again and send my warm greetings to all Danish citizens. I hope that the good effort, including yours, would soon secure my release so that I can join my family and friends and resume my work as the director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) based in Beirut, that has recently started its work.

I wish you all the best.

Yours Sincerely,
Abdulhadi Abdulla Alkhawaja
Bahrain. 8 Feb. 2012

…more

Blood-Baath in Syria and proletarian direct action
by Anonymous – Anti-Capitalist Movement – 15 February, 2012

It was thirty years ago, in the city of Hama in Syria… On February 2nd, 1982, the population responded to calls for insurrection against the government, against misery and repression. The insurgents were joined by 150 officers of the army and seized control of the city; they destroyed centres of repression, they executed more than 300 mercenaries of the regime, as well as a first unit of paratroops sent to subdue the revolt. The state retaliated while besieging the city and bombing it with heavy artillery during 27 days; even cyanide gas was used. The final assault reminds us of the “bloody week” during the Commune of Paris when the last bursts of proletarian resistance were equal to the state terror: young “kamikaze” women exploded their bombs amidst tanks and soldiers sweeping district, house by house. The repression was terrible, a sheer bloodbath: between 25,000 and 50,000 are estimated to have died. Media didn’t relay the information about these events, or not much, no indignation rose abroad, especially as the thesis of Islamite plot was put forward everywhere to better hide the social nature of these struggles, like any struggle of our class.

This uprising was not a bolt from the blue: strikes, demonstrations, sabotages, riots, bomb attacks, executions of army officers and VIPs of the Baath regime, mutinies in jails, various massacres, it was since months and years that important clashes had been setting Syria ablaze. Moreover the country was situated in a region that was laid waste by many problems – the struggles of our class were mixed with conflicts between various bourgeois factions: let’s remind the Lebanon war in 1982, as well as the bloody repression in “Palestinian” refugees camps where proletarians were slaughtered once by the Israeli army, once by various militias, if not directly by the PLO cops and their “national liberation”; let’s remind the “Iranian revolution” from 1977 to 1979 and its transformation into an inter-bourgeois war between Iran and Iraq that will make about a million of dead in eight years; let’s also remind the struggles against this war, sabotages, revolutionary defeatism, army regiments of both belligerent countries that deserted their respective camps and got united to take actions against their own bourgeoisie, against both states; let’s remind the wave of proletarian struggle that swept through Egypt in 1977; let’s remind… …more

Sunni Extremists May Be Aiding Al Qaeda’s Ambitions in Syria, Analysts Say
By ERIC SCHMITT and THOM SHANKER – 15 February, 2012 – NYT

WASHINGTON — Sunni extremists, including fighters linked to Al Qaeda’s franchise in neighboring Iraq, are likely responsible for two big recent bombings in the Syrian capital as well as attacks on Friday in Aleppo, the country’s largest city, American officials said Wednesday.

As the violence in Syria escalates, several analysts said, Al Qaeda is seeking to exploit the turmoil and reinvigorate its regional ambitions after being sidelined in the initial popular uprisings of the Arab Spring a year ago.

The precise role of the Iraqi branch of Al Qaeda in Syria is unclear. Some intelligence officials and diplomats in Washington, Baghdad and Beirut, Lebanon, said the Qaeda franchise was responsible for the deadly bombings in Aleppo last week and in Damascus, the capital, on Dec. 23 and Jan. 6, which killed scores of people. But they acknowledged that they did not have the forensic or electronic intercept evidence to prove it.

Other officials said Sunni fighters loosely affiliated with Al Qaeda but not directly controlled by the terrorist group may also have been involved, operating in common cause with but independently of pro-democracy forces seeking to topple the embattled government of President Bashar al-Assad.

“It appears to be a very complicated mixture of networks that are fighting the Syrian government, including individuals associated with Al Qaeda in Iraq,” said Seth G. Jones, a political scientist at the RAND Corporation and the author of the coming book “Hunting in the Shadows: The Pursuit of Al Qa’ida Since 9/11.”

Other experts agreed, saying Sunni extremists — some of whom have returned from Iraq to fight in Syria — also have the expertise to carry out large-scale bombings.

“There are plenty of people with that kind of know-how in Syria,” said Andrew Tabler, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the author of a recent book on Syrian-American relations. “The Assad regime helped invent the car bomb, and they have used it brilliantly to pursue their foreign policy goals. It could be Al Qaeda or simply those with a similar background carrying it out.”

Or as Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, put it during Senate testimony on Tuesday, “Those who would like to foment a Sunni-Shia standoff — and you know who they are — are all weighing in in Syria.”

The Syrian government has always argued that it was fighting foreign terrorists, including some from Al Qaeda, a charge dismissed as propaganda by the Syrian activists leading the uprising. …more

The Queasy Liberal
15 February, 2012 – by JOSHUA SPERBER – Counter Punch

Once in a blue moon, which is still far too often, one encounters the lie that Nazism was a manifestation of the left. A quick way to refute this myth is to note that Nazism’s immediate tasks upon taking power were destroying the German Communist Party, sending communists and socialists to concentration camps, banning unions, and resolving Germany’s business-labor arbitration crisis to the exclusive benefit of business. Nazism protected private property and improved conditions for profit, and the Nazis of course ultimately launched a genocidal crusade against the “JudeoBolshevist” Soviet Union. Purveyors of the Left-Nazism fallacy generally take the term “National Socialism” at face value, overlooking that this oxymoron was intended to lure members of the German left to a political party that saved capitalism through substituting national “racial” consciousness for class consciousness.

Whereas fascism – whose rise, as Karl Polanyi noted, always corresponded to crises in the market system – sought to destroy communism and received ruling class support in its efforts to do so, fascism’s relationship to non-revolutionary leftism, or liberalism, was far more ambiguous. It was, after all, the Social Democrats who crushed the 1919 German revolutionary uprising, deploying the Freikorps to murder Luxemburg and Liebknecht. Indeed, liberals have a long history of allying with counterrevolutionary movements during revolutionary upheavals, and fascism was counterrevolution par excellence. While liberals bristle at fascism’s contempt for the rule of law, when it comes to protecting their investments the bourgeoisie will choose the police state over communist appropriation any day of the week.

And it is this historical relationship between liberalism and fascism that helps elucidate Chris Hedges recent demonization of the Black Bloc, i.e. militant protest tactics. David Graeber and Peter Gelderloos have shown the abject fallaciousness of Hedges’ argument, as Hedges egregiously distorts the Black Bloc, attributing to it a monolithic and sociopathic purity that is belied in reality by activist fluidity and solidarity. And Hedges betrays a deep misunderstanding of his subject when asserting that the “feral” movement (Hedges concedes that he based his analysis not on the Black Bloc itself but on a few hours of John Zerzan’s radio program and some Green Anarchy articles) practices only spontaneous property destruction. The Black Bloc has deliberately targeted banks, multinational corporations, and the INS. More importantly, these protests more often than not begin as and restrict themselves to mere unpermitted marches. That is, the liberal conception of freedom is so narrow that protests that are not sanctioned by the state are seen as violent and criminal – a “cancer” to be eliminated.

Hedges’ denunciation of “violence” – which for him includes “the shouting of insulting messages to the police” – is a reflection of textbook liberal ideology since it diminishes the ubiquitous institutional violence that the (relatively) militant protests he disdains are responding to. Hedges of course asserts that he is concerned that OWS does not alienate the mainstream, but since the mainstream appears to be catatonically blasé about the slaughter of civilians abroad and mass police brutality and incarceration domestically, perhaps it might be more thoughtful to challenge rather than accommodate the mainstream’s presuppositions.

As Gelderloos writes, Hedges’ condemnation of political violence is based on an erroneous conception of the Civil Rights Movement. Whereas Hedges sees the Black Bloc as homogeneous, he isolates elements of the Black protest movement that in fact reinforced one another. Hedges’ assertion that the establishment was more threatened by Martin Luther King than Malcolm X ignores that it was precisely King’s ability to leverage the threat of Black militant violence that forced, for instance, the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce to accept desegregation. Violence – which considering disparate power relations and prevailing conditions is more accurately self-defense – is a historically effective political tactic.

That Hedges blames the failures of OWS on the Black Bloc is at first glance bizarre. Police departments did not need excuses to evacuate and arrest protestors, and what excuses were provided invoked health and other arbitrary regulations. Similarly, hostility to OWS – at least according to thousands of comments on national mainstream online news sources – has been based on ideas that protesters are indolent or filthy; there has not been a national cooling to OWS because of widespread national protester violence, because this violence has not occurred.

But the strangeness of Hedges’ discussion in fact reflects the contradictions of liberalism within capitalist crises. For on one hand, Hedges is interested in reforming a political-economic system that has little reason to respond to anything that cannot threaten its power. But on the other hand, he wants to purge OWS of its militancy because he is unwilling to challenge the system as a whole. But while liberalism here reaches a dead-end, the ongoing crisis in capitalism is unlikely to subside. And as the state removes its gloves and increases its repression of, among others, the small minority willing to put their necks on the line to try to improve the world, Chris Hedges has reminded us whose side liberals are on. …source

Sitra Village under seigh with CS Gas 16 February, 2012

Child in misery, injured by CS Gas with in the shelter of his home. Milk is routinely splashed on exposed area to sooth the effects of the gas.

Bahrain: Front Line Defenders calls for the release of Abdulhadi Alkhawaja and Zainab Alkhawaja as well as end to violence against peaceful protestors
Original Post: 20 December, 2011

Front Line Defenders today renews its call for the release of Abdulhadi Alkhawaja currently serving a life sentence after an unfair trial. The organisation also expresses its concern at the violent arrest of peaceful demonstrators including Abdulhadi’s daughter Zainab Alkhawaja who is currently in detention amid serious concerns for her well being.

Human rights defender Abdulhadi Alkhawaja has been in prison since 9 April 2011 and has been sentenced to life imprisonment after a grossly unfair trial. At the time of his arrest he was so badly beaten that he required a four hour operation in the military hospital. He was subsequently subjected to further torture. He was initially held incommunicado and denied access to his lawyer and family.

The concerns for his physical welfare and his right to a fair trial have been vindicated by the recently published report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Enquiry (BICI), chaired by Professor Bassiouni, which upheld allegations of torture and which clearly stated that the defendants, including Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, had been denied their right to a fair trial in line with international standards.

On that basis Front Line Defenders calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Abdulhadi Alkhawaja. …more