Contemplating a Bahraini Civil War

There is a “dangerous possibility” of civil war in Bahrain unless the government starts opening a dialogue to democracy and discussing the serious qualms of the people, an analyst tells us.

Bahrain uprising may lead to civil war
ABNA – 22 February, 2012

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – The comments come a few days after the first anniversary of popular protests in Bahrain that have been repressed by the Saudi-backed regime forces.

Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds more arrested or fired from their jobs since the beginning of Bahrain’s popular uprising in February 2011.

We have conducted an interview with Dominic Kavakeb, coordinator for Bahrain Justice and Development movement from London to discuss the situation.

The video also offers the opinions of two other guests, Beirut-based political analysts Sara Marusek and Jihad Mouracadeh. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview:

Q: I want to ask you about the importance of your campaign, what you are doing of course in the case of the Bahraini people, the fact that international organizations, human rights organizations have said that the regime, the Bahraini Kingdom has not lived up to its promises.

What can you tell us about that and how come you don’t see more efforts to pressure the Bahraini Kingdom as we see for example in the case of Syria?

Kavakeb: Well, in terms of the work we do here in London, we try very hard to convince politicians- to work with the different politicians, the media people, to try and convince them that there does need to be some action taken on Bahrain.

I think there quite clearly does. The problem we’ve seen so far is that as the previous person alluded to the western governments are trying to basically create stability in Bahrain at any cost. That seems to be their main concern.

And I think there has been a sustained attempt to try and pull the will over the eyes by the Bahraini government, of the rest of the world to try and portray this conflict as being, you know, two equal sides or a sectarian divide, when I think the reality is the people in Bahrain are looking for democracy.

It’s not a question of just Tunisia; it’s not a question of Iran involvement as has been said in this discussion; it’s a question of democracy and that’s the real issue. That’s what the people are looking for in Bahrain. They’re looking to have an elected government.

Bahrain has got the same prime minister for the last 42 years. This is not appropriate in 2012. This needs to be changed. They need to have a complete overhaul, a democratic system. And I think that’s what the Bahraini people are looking for.

I think we need to try and make that clear, here in the West or anywhere else, to our politicians, to the media, that that’s the real antagonism that exists in Bahraini society. …more