Bahrain’s parliament lashed out in outrage last night over newspaper cartoons insulting Prophet Mohammed and Islam.
They demanded official apologies from Denmark, where the cartoons were first published and Norway, where they were republished by a magazine earlier this month.
MPs also demanded action by Bahrain’s government against Denmark and called for mass protests all over the country, after Friday prayers.
Bahrain’s parliament last night demanded an apology from Denmark over newspaper cartoons insulting Prophet Mohammed and Islam.
They also called for mass protests all over the country, after Friday prayers.
MPs broke off from holiday to meet in an emergency session, during which they also demanded action against Denmark by the Bahrain government, including possibly halting oil exports. They also passed a resolution urging Bahrain’s business community to boycott all products from Denmark and Norway, where a magazine re-published some of the cartoons earlier this month.
An apology from the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which published the 12 cartoons last September, was too little, too late, said MPs. They said the apology should come from head of state Queen Margrethe and from the Danish government.
Here are a few tricks that this impotent parliament is perfecting:
Do you see any contradictions here?
What else did they do? They didn’t look at any possible knock on effects emanating from their stupid actions: by demanding that people and businesses boycott Danish products, traders are cashing in big time because they have increased competitive or replacement products’ prices!
So who suffers because of their actions? The poor! They have to dig deeper now to buy things like cheese and the like, and of course businesses who have been here for tens of years like the Danish Dairy and others.
All for what? A bunch of cartoons that cannot – under ANY circumstance – denigrate the great Prophet, peace be upon him. He is MUCH bigger than those cartoons and depictions and WE, Muslims, know that and nothing will change our image of the great man.
No, they’re just throwing a wobbly for the heck of it, or worse, because they want to prove to us that they are more Muslims than Islam itself. The stupid pricks.
تأسيس لجنة للدفاع عن الرسول يرأسها السعيديأعلن مساء أمس في الرفاع الشرقي تأسيس لجنة شعبية، وذلك للتعبير عن سخط الاهالي من الاساءة الى النبي الكريم عبر الصحف الدنماركية ومن موقف حكومتها من صحافتها المحلية، وتم تشكيل اللجنة تحت مسمى «لجنة الرفاع للدفاع عن الرسول الكريم» وتم اختيار النائب جاسم السعيدي رئيسا لها، وناصر السندي أميناً للسر، وطه الشميري منسقاً عاماً لها، وستقوم اللجنة بجمع حملة من التوقيعات من أجل الاستنكار للاساءة والتطاول على الرسول الكريم، ولم تغفل اللجنة دور المرأة في الحملة إذ تم تعيين ام مصعب للاشراف على الجانب النسائي.Al-Wasat
الحين إنتوا ما حصلتو أحد يدافع عن نبينا الكريم إلا الي أساء و يسيء إلى أهل بيته؟ ليش يا ناس؟ ما في الديره رياييل؟
حسبي الله عليكم!
I’ve had a good meeting with Martin Whitaker, BIC’s general manager, last night in which we touched upon the various things the BIC is doing to address its perceived shortcomings. I am thrilled to say that they seem to have answered almost every point of the 19 raised here previously; here are some of their answers which I have no doubt they will expose to the local and international press soon:
1. Absence of availability of transport from various cities to the BIC.
2. Requirement of public involvement in the motorsports activities and the BIC, access to pits and paddock cited.
3. Access to track for people to race on using their own cars.
4. Absence of proper advertising. More advertising recommended.
5. Timing of events should be carefully chosen.
6. Absence of motorsporting culture in Bahrain.
7. Failure of media coverage to create the required “buzz”.
They are also actively engaging media companies and motivating them to create more coverage of BIC’s events.
8. Absence of alcoholic beverages.
9. Food thought to be expensive and not enough food outlets.
10. Absence of “big names/stars”
11. Public “Ownership” of the BIC and its events.
12. The BIC hosts elitist sports which naturally alienate the “normal” people.
13. Clash with Friday prayer and inavailability of a mosque at the BIC
14. People need to know the purpose of the race.
15. There are too many events at the BIC.
One thing that he mentioned with I am very excited about is that Ferrari and Honda are arriving here in a couple of weeks to do their technical testing of their 2006 cars at the circuit. More important, probably, is that corporate guests can book lunch at the circuit and watch the cars being tested while they eat a sumptuous 5-star meal!
16. There are clashing international events during the same weekend (Horse Endurance, Golf, Tennis, etc.)
17. The supposition that as the F1 is an elitist sport, then all events at the BIC must be the same.
18. Need to develop the racing personalities to create affinity.
19. No motorsporting awareness on the island.
All in all, I am quite happy that these concerns are being addressed, sure some of the answers are still vague, but at least they are seriously being looked into.
Everything needs improvement, and with the BIC continuing to listen to its fans, I’m sure over time we will only expect better out of them.
I can’t wait for the first race of the season!
This article first appeared on Global Voices. This is a weekly Bahrain blogs roundup which I contribute to Global Voices every Monday.
Dr. Abdulhadi Khalaf, the Bahraini dissident and member of the first parliament that was dissolved in 1975, now lives in Sweden and lectures at Lund University, posts a report about his Christmas visit to the island. He’s not very impressed by how companies and individuals “show their love” and respect to the higher echelons of the political structure in Bahrain, concluding that “I cannot help wondering who is the PR genius who convinced the three royals that billboards will make them loved? He/she must be a secret agent of the opposition who planted him to mislead the royal troika. And, apparently, he (or she?) has done a good job. For who would in his right mind would believe that he needs billboards to gain love or respect? The royal trio were really taken for an expensive ride. And counter-productive to boot.”
Manama Republic has another excellent and insightful piece. This time he sheds a light of an insider on the unfortunate fatal accident that claimed one of the king’s sons recently, and raises a very important point: Bahrain seems to specialise on squandering opportunities; opportunities which if used judiciously, could very much endear the Royals to their Bahraini subjects and puts the blame on the kingdom’s dysfunctional PR machine. He contrasts Bahrain’s missed opportunities with those that Kuwait makes a habit of winning.
Talking about cars, Mahmood posts another couple of vlogs (videoblogs); one about a recent visit with his son to the wildly popular Drag Races at the Bahrain International Circuit, the home of F1 in the Middle East, and in the second he takes you on a tour of his newly re-landscaped garden, in between he discusses the complete ineffectiveness of the Minster of Information who is rumoured to be on the way to be fired in a forthcoming cabinet reshuffle, and just like everyone else in the Arab and Muslim worlds this week, he puts forth his two cents regarding the blaspheming Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet.
The other hot topic in the area is the Palestinian elections and the subsequent landslide by Hamas. eMoodz provides his insight into this phenomenon and blames Bush for the increase in Islamists’ wins across the Middle East; he states that: “Such uneducated policies lead extreme Muslim fundamentalists to power, Shiite’s have taken over the Iraqi parliament, have boosted Hizbullah’s in Lebanon, brought radical Ahmedinjad to head Iran, gave the opportunity to the Muslim Brotherhood act to even shine more, and now, Hamas’s victory in the recent Palestinian elections.”
Haitham Sabbah on the other hand has a different take on Hamas’ win; he is despondent and pessimistic on the next four years of Hamas rule. Haitham, incidentally, is taking part in the Al-Jazeera 2nd Forum in neighbouring Doha, Qatar, where he is joined by Global Voices co-founder Ethan Zuckerman where they are both participating in the The New Media: Bloggers and Participatory Journalism panel.
We have another blog to welcome to the Bahraini blogosphere, Mohammed Neama so far writes exclusively in Arabic about things Bahraini.
Onto Silly Things now where an insomniac Silly Bahraini Girl who misses her country to bits, reflects on the injustice of the judicial system where she is aghast at a very light sentence passed on a policeman who was inciting youth to go on a stealing spree on his behalf!
Strav turns his attention on health matters and tracks ‘bird flue’ in the area.
We started this round-up with an ex-MP, so let’s end it with a prospective one! Tawfiq Al-Rayyash who was recently elected to the board of the largest political party in Bahrain Al-Wefaq’s Steering Committee, reflects on politics and how it could be a noble pursuit if applied with honesty. He argues that instead of violence to replace a regime, political means must be utiltised to the full to do so for almost all Arab regimes suffer from an incurable corruption. (in Arabic)
The Joker meanwhile objects on another cartoon and the continued unwanted presence of Michael Jackson in Bahrain, and beaches the powers that be to throw him and his entourage out.
Tomorrow, Jan 31st, 2006 coincides with the Muslim Hijra New Year of 1427. May I take this opportunity, on behalf of my Bahraini blogging colleagues, and wish the whole world a very happy, healthy, peaceful and prosperous New Muslim Year.