Maryam al-Khawaja on the protests in Bahrain
Maryam al-Khawaja on the protests in Bahrain
27 March, 2012 – The Daily Autocrat
Maryam al-Khawaja is currently the Head of Foreign Relations for the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and recently the Gulf Center for Human Rights, and a former Fulbright Scholar at Brown University. In Bahrain, al-Khawaja played an instrumental role in the democratic protests taking place in the Pearl Roundabout in February 2011, which triggered a government response of widespread arrest, discrimination, and fear to suppress dissent and quell voices for reform. She is also the daughter of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, the founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, who was among a group of high-profile activists and opposition leaders recently sentenced to life imprisonment.
As you may have noticed, things are going incredibly well in Bahrain. Over the past year, protests in the country have been met with a ruthless government response. Today, opposition groups continue to face a brutal crackdown by the ruling al-Khalifa family, which has been able to so far successfully fend off a popular revolt. The United States, our fearless democracy-promoter worldwide, has yet to take on this problem because, as your mother will tell you, it’s much easier to take on the identical problem when it is occurring in countries you don’t like (Syria) or countries where it becomes too big to ignore (Egypt) than it is to do so in countries that, let’s say, house your navy’s Fifth Fleet for instance, or act as a bulwark against regional powers you don’t like. Indeed, democracy promotion isn’t so simple in the case of important allies like Bahrain. It’s incredibly simple everywhere else though, just to be clear. Maryam sat with your correspondent to discuss the worsening situation in Bahrain and the options facing the country at this critical moment.
TDA: Thank you for taking the time to speak with us, Mayram. Of course, a lot has been happening in Bahrain of late. Let’s start by understanding how we got to where we are. In 2001, Bahrain’s ruling Sunni minority oversaw the country’s transformation to a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. Seems like the King was being a terrific guy. What has gone wrong?
To begin with I must point out that I find it problematic when the monarchy is referred to as the “Sunni” monarchy or when the protesters as being “Shia”. This gives a wrong indication that the problem in Bahrain is along sectarian lines, which it isn’t. People are not protesting because they are Shiaa, nor are they protesting because the monarchy is Sunni. In reality it is a classic case of oppressors vs oppressed, loyalists vs non-loyalists, with the regime pushing the sectarian card as a means of divide and conquer.
In regards to the happenings in 2001, the issue of reform was quickly put an almost complete stop when the King decided to unilaterally change the constitution. This was despite promises that he would not do so. He crowned himself King, and changed the name of the country to Kingdom of Bahrain. This new constitution instituted an elected lower house with no legislative power, and which also suffers from gerrymandering. It also instituted an upper house, completely assigned by the King.
“People are not protesting because they are Shia, nor are they protesting because the monarchy is Sunni. In reality it is a classic case of oppressors vs oppressed, loyalists vs non-loyalists, with the regime pushing the sectarian card as a means of divide and conquer.”
Basically, long story short, the new regime and constitution built an authoritarian government with the King as head of all government institutions. He issued Decree 56 which granted impunity to all government officials who committed horrific crimes of torture and killings in the 1990’s, some of whom still hold high positions today. Did the human rights situation get better for a little while? Yes, the little while it took for the regime to build up Bahrain as a financial hub, while continuing to repress dissent. Then things went back to the former situation, (there was a violent crackdown which started in August 2010, right before the spark of protests in Tunisia) which led us to where we are today. …more
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