Revolution in Bahrain: Defying the Conspiracy of Convenience

Revolution in Bahrain: Defying the Conspiracy of Convenience
Friday 8 July 2011
by: Umar Farooq, Truthout | News Analysis

An unlikely alliance is the latest obstacle for Bahrainis in their struggle for self-determination.

Centuries of distrust between Sunnis and Shiites were reignited by another mass movement for freedom in Iran 30 years ago. The fallout of that revolution – shaped by the painful memory of a tyrannical king backed by the West and a long, brutal war with its neighbors – continues to color much of the Middle East.

Israel may have reached a shaky peace with the Arabs, but it refuses to see Iran as anything but an existential threat. And the United States has found a great market for its high-tech killing machines. Meanwhile, the struggles for self-determination in nations like Bahrain continue to fall victim to campaigns of delegitimization.

“Bahrain Is a Rich Country, Why Are They Rising Up?”

“People think, Bahrain is a rich country, why are they rising up?” Haider*, a Shiite from the eastern Bahraini island of Sitra explains, as he begins to lay out Bahrain’s history. “It’s not about being poor, it’s about our heritage, our history of demanding our rights.”

The current Al-Khalifa dynasty traces its origins in Bahrain to the invasion and conquest by Ahmed ibn Muhammad ibn Khalifa, who expanded his emirate beyond modern-day Qatar, Kuwait and eastern Saudi Arabia in 1783. Most of the natives were adherents to Shiite Islam, principally brought to the region when it came under the Persian Safavid dynasty’s control in the 17th century.

The Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty spent the next two centuries allying with regional powers to keep, at various times, Egyptian, Ottoman, Persian, Omani and British forces at bay. When oil was discovered in the 1930s, the British Royal Navy moved its regional command to Manama.[1] When the British left Bahrain in 1971, the United States began leasing their base in Manama for $4 million a year.[2] …more