Breaking the Silence – A Bahraini protester speaks…

Breaking the Silence – A Bahraini protester speaks…
by MaianewleyFollow 02 February, 2012 – Daily KOS

The 14th February sees the first anniversary of the Bahraini protests and yet, despite the ongoing nature of these protests and despite the increasing reports of violence, torture and random imprisonment of the protesters, we still see relatively little about it in our mainstream media.

The U.S. has made a lot of noise this week when talking about the situation in Syria, Secretary Clinton has made a personal pledge to do ‘more’ to ensure the rights of the protesters in that country. Indeed, she even went so far as to say

“Every member of the Council has to make a decision: Whose side are you on? Are you on the side of the Syrian people? Are you on the side of the Arab League? Are you on the side of the people of the Middle East and North Africa who have during this past year spoken out courageously and often for their rights? Or are you on the side of a brutal, dictatorial regime? It is absolutely imperative that we all be on the right side of history.”

And yet, she remains strangely reticent when it comes to Bahrain. True, she has made statements in the past urging the Bahraini Government to display restraint but, in comparison to the strength of her words this week about Syria, Bahrain does not appear to be at the top of her agenda. In fact, to be honest, I sometimes wonder if it figures at all on the agenda in the U.S. I don’t go much for conspiracy theories, neither do I believe in hidden agendas in this case as I think the ‘agenda’ is so blatantly obvious! The U.S. has massive military investment in Bahrain, along with similar levels of investment in Saudi Arabia who, for the record, have assisted the Bahraini regime in attempting to put an end to the protests. In the above-linked article they claim that the Saudi-led military force crossed into Bahrain with the express purpose of “propping up the monarchy against widening demonstrations”.

In the words of Elie Wiesel

“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

The U.S. moors its 5th fleet in Bahrain and, as Lamees Dhaif noted in the interview I conducted with her last week, the Bahraini people have welcomed the American forces into their country and have never had any kind of problem with them. …more