*This is not Hadia’s real name, but she does want you to know that she was in Bahrain when the protests began, though she is currently living abroad, and has been in for several months.
( I planned to write up a summary but this story was so beautiful that I wanted to keep it closest to its original form. Here is a first person narrative.)
"When I heard about the protests I honestly didn’t think they would be that big...
I didn’t go out until a few days after the 14th [the first day of the protest, in February 2011], right after someone had been killed.
The Bahraini Spring, The Bahraini Spring--we had all heard it online, but who knew what would happen?
I was asking everyone: are you going to go? And everyone said no. We had been excited by Egypt, but no one thought anything like that could actually happen in Bahrain...
The day we went we parked our car at the mall. This was our plan. This way, if the police started removing cars of protesters, we could say, no, no, we were just at the mall.
Driving to Pearl Roundabout, no one spoke a word. We didn’t know what would happen to us.
That’s how I first got there. After that day, I would go to work, and then go to the Roundabout. Almost every day. I wanted to start a woman’s movement within the protest.
I conducted a survey, nearly 200 men and women, asking them about rights, questions like: what do you think about the fact that a woman cannot pass her citizenship to her children? [ex: if a Bahraini woman marries a Saudi man, her children cannot have Bahraini citizenship]. For women, I asked them things like are you demonstrating today because you were given permission or did you come out of your own volition?
But I know that some people lied to that one. A long time ago I myself lied about not being able to travel abroad without male accompaniment because I was so embarrassed. So I am sure some people said they came because they wanted to when it wasn’t true...
After the crack down I had to get rid of all the answers, had to throw them all away. What a shame. I do remember some responses, like many men thought women should be able to pass their nationality to their children. And many woman answered that they shouldn’t be able to travel abroad without accompaniment.
My parents didn’t know I was at the protests, I couldn’t tell them. I couldn’t tell them because they are Sunni and they are more or less pro-government. They are actually more anti-Shia than pro-government...they know that the government is taking money from the people. [Bahrain is majority Shia but ruled by a Sunni monarchy.] But yes, they are anti-Shia.
This animonsity--between Shia and Sunni--it comes mostly from American and Bahraini propaganda! Iran is a Shia country and America is very anti-Iran! America wouldn’t want any Iranian influence in Bahrain, and they have good relationships with the Bahraini government and with Saudi [Arabia]. So everyone is fine with the Bahraini royal family because they do things like keep the Shia out of the military.
The country wasn’t always divided with animosity between Shia and Sunni. This is recent. If you want to keep Bahraini people quiet and hold power over them, what do you do? You divide them. That’s where the propaganda comes from.
I am quite sure the Bahraini government supports this kind of divisiveness because of American influence. The Bahraini gov can’t displease America! So they hold people [away] from being involved in their own country.
There are tons of American corporations in Bahrain! Tons of banks, and investments. If Bahraini people could really have a say in their own country I do not think they would want this to be the case!
And now, the US is selling weapons to the Bahraini government, which are being used to hold the protesters back. If the government changes in Bahrain America will loose a lot of its interest there!
I think this is because Bahrain is a really wealthy country. We have a lot of oil. The US has been very friendly with some very brutal dictators over this!
I asked many people about the US naval base and many don’t support it. No, no, they just don’t...
The beginning of the Bahrain Spring was so huge. But this aftermath is just so heartbreaking. They have removed the people, and they have torn down Pearl Monument. They want to remove our memory.
So many people are dead right now. Why? Because of bullets from the US.
But wow, it was so exciting when it was happening. We were speaking freely for the first time! We were learning about different people from many different parts of our country! We had never done that before!
What do I want the outcome to be? I think what I want is way too radical. I want people to be able to elect their own leaders. But really, this is too far from what we will get. Some are saying constitutional monarchy and maybe that’s what we’ll get. But I would just like so much if people could elect their own members of parliament, and for Shias to be able to serve in the military! There are so many of them without jobs, yet we bring in people from Yemen and Jordan for our army! I never even knew there were so many people without jobs until I met them at Pearl Roundabout. Oh, and I want women’s rights, of course! But that won’t happen in my lifetime, not with this kind of government.
I just want to say that the more information there is out there, the better. Some doctors from the UK stood up against the torturing of medics in Bahrain and there was enough press that the government had to stop. So it really makes a huge difference when people speak out. I mean, you [directed at me] come from one of the most important countries in the world. It’s you guys behind your own government. That’s amazing, that you can write about something, or make a video and it can make a difference.
This is why I am so excited to see the Occupy movement. It’s just so outrageous that America takes from Bahrain but then it doesn’t even really go down to the American people.
So your movements can affect our country--please realize that."
Just a quick parallel--here's some (slightly outdated) analysis on Syria. (http://www.cfr.org/middle-east/syrias-future-worries-us-allies/p24775)
ReplyDeleteI post it here because of these couple paragraphs, which are quite similar to some of Hadia's sentiments:
The near-term prospect is that the democratic politics of the Middle East will be much more skeptical of U.S intervention, will be much less willing to do things to accommodate the United States. The militaries remain strong; the militaries won't cut ties with the United States. But the overall tenor [if regime change favored democracy] will be towards much more skepticism towards the United States, and much more skepticism towards Israel...
The United States has economic policies, which don't help ordinary Arabs [...] So the public perception is that that's what we have from the United States.
The United States actively supports both militaries and the monarchs of the region who are responsible for the political repression. So the public perception is that [...] close ties aren't in the interest of the people but in the interest of the aggressive leadership.