What is happening in Bahrain now with the various retributive acts will damage this country a lot more than all the killings and demonstrations it has ever endured throughout its modern history. This must stop, for the sake of the country.
Bahrainis waging war on fellow Bahrainis because of political views is absolutely heinous and shameful.
Enough!
What we have are political problems that can only be solved politically through dialogue and compromise. How many more lives and livelihoods need to be lost before this fact is finally understood by both sides?
Comments
Only wish more people would adhere to your point of view, everyone seems dead-set on getting “vengeance” for those who have been killed, and both sides have casualties, and the acts of vengeance themselves generate more casualties than the original killings, which generates a vicious circle that will suck life from Bahrain :/
No need for comment –
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/13/world/middleeast/13bahrain.html
Mahmood
Why cannot you be head of Bahrain instead of Al-Khalifa. What special quality he has that you don’t have, perhaps God created you both equal.I think without wasting any moment he has to announce, I did enough, now Mahmood or Muhammad or Mukarram has to do it. Why one person or a family is so important to manage the society,when million of equal human being are also created by God living on the same land.
After all every body is heading to grave where there will be no police or foreign troops to save or to give special protocols.
I don’t think this reply is relevant to what mahmood is talking about.
Mahmood: Bahrainis waging war on fellow Bahrainis because of political views is absolutely heinous and shameful.
I say that what is going on is a war waged from one side… against armless people…
True, but what I am concerned with here is people-people rather than government-people dynamics. The personal attacks, threats, labels and insults levied by both sides on Twitter was what inspired me to write this.
Mahmood,
In this regard i couldn’t agree more with you
Just read this, which must be relevant: Zainab al-Khawaja, a Bahraini woman on hunger strike demanding her father and husband be released:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/13/bahraini-woman-willing-to-die
Twitter is like a shock magazine read or something. I was watching #bahraindebate today and could not belive some of the things I was reading as each side tore into the other. I lived in Bahrain 23 years and I knew first hand that Shiias and Sunnis had differences and issues…but now it seems they were just waiting for The Moment to let it all rise to the surface and turn everyone into hateful creatures. As I said, shocking to say the least.
maybe because the issues were neglected for so long?, plus the effect of the official media and military forces in angering some and supporting some to be more polarized and lets not forget the effect of some extremists in the gulf that want to ensure their benefits and inflames all of it.
Or the fact that protestors got selfish and disregarded a huge part of bahraini people and their wants. nationalism and loyalty to the regime is a personal thing. by going against something so personal to the other side, making them unheard and unimportant is what started the sectarianism. I for one dont have a sect/religion. I just hate what the protestors did to this country regardless of their religion – even though I supported them in the beginning for asking for reform. But understanding their plan to overthrow the regime with the veil of “wanting reform”, I took personal offense and went 180 degrees to the other side.
oh please go on and please provide us with links to what your saying
A bit difficult to have dialogue when there’s no one left to participate.
http://bahrainipolitics.blogspot.com/2011/04/and-then-there-were-none.html
Forgive them, for they know not what they do.
not our fult
the started secterian revolt
http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/182233_105014596244148_100002068242122_48176_2959734_n.jpg
your poly failed ,now it is our turn to kick you back to karabala,Qom,mashad
no worries i will pay for your one way[no return] trip
You realize Mahmoud is pointing his fingers towards people like you who are part of the problem, right?
So much hatred, it can only eat you from the inside out.
ps. Do you believe any image you see?
do YOU?
If I saw a duck and someone told me it laid eggs a day before I’ll believe it, if I saw a picture of a it giving birth to a cow I won’t, is that fair enough? 🙂
If I saw a duck and someone told me it laid eggs a day before I’ll believe it, if I saw a picture of it giving birth to a cow I won’t, is that fair enough? 🙂
seriously? at least pay for someone who is good in Photoshop to fake it in a better way :), I apologize for the rest of readers I know I shouldn’t reply to such comments.
The writing in the picture is super imposed, you can tell from the creases on the paper are not affecting the writing.
Can’t help thinking there has been some mjor backpeddling over the Al Wifaq dissolution under international pressure. The US, UK & EU all expressed disapproval and poof, the BNA announce that Al Wifaq can basically continue to operate as normal under another name. I’m glad of that, not because I rate Al Wifaq particularly but they did get the largest share of the popular vote so it seemed like an action that would only close doors.
I hear Catherine Ashton is also due to visit next week.
I’m holding my breath for a few days where nothing dreadful happens so that the dialogue starts up!!! Surely everyone realises this is long overdue and is the only way out of this hell. People biting their tongues and refraining from getting into mud-slinging matches like you describe would go a long way to help.
I’m not in Bahrain so finding it difficult to follow the recent political developments if any, it seems like nothing at all is actually happening politically… I read and heard before about some US brokered (Feltman) backdoor negotiations which were very close to bearing fruit just hours before the peninsula shield entered – is there any sign of similar happenings now?
Also, a friend linked me to this journal article exploring constitutional options for Bahrain – I am no expert on these things and am only just beginning to look into them but I thought I’d share it in case any other readers were interested and might like to offer a more informed opinion
Probably helps to actually give a link…
ok I don’t why it’s not appearing and as you can see I am technologically challenged/retarded – google it if you’re interested, it’s called constitutional options for Bahrain by Chibli Mallat and Jason Gelbort in the Virginia Journal of International Law
“The right to own weapons is the right to be free.”
Pajamas Media April 14 has an article by Ryan Mauro “Is Proxy War about to erupt in Bahrain?”. It’s all looking a bit messy.
I saw the same article. I hope that Iran (and others) keep their fingers out of Bahrain’s problems.
Like you bro, I have been saying this from day one. I was so hopeful when the CP called for dialogue. Then some opposers went overboard and then all this started and now only HM can stop this mercifully.
Unbelievable !!
Still “almost” everybody is talking about “BOTH” attacking each other and “BOTH” sides should stop ???!!!
Who is being targeted?
Who is being jailed?
Who is being harassed?
Who is being killed?
it is always ONE SIDE not “BOTH” !
The three rules [of compromise]listed below are by no means exhaustive; they are merely the first leads to the understanding of a vast subject.
1.In any conflict between two men (or two groups) who hold the same basic principles, it is the more consistent one who wins.
2.In any collaboration between two men (or two groups) who hold different basic principles, it is the more evil or irrational one who wins.
3.When opposite basic principles are clearly and openly defined, it works to the advantage of the rational side; when they are not clearly defined, but are hidden or evaded, it works to the advantage of the irrational side.
—“The Anatomy of Compromise,” Ayn Rand
http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/compromise.html
Reader911,
The problem is that a lot of people had fallen into this “trap” because of believing the official media here.
I had always been a one sided assault, and I guarantee that it will remain so in the future.
I’ve read a quote a few days ago in one of those dialogue:
My Sunni brother, I’ll fight for our rights and freedom and I’ll face all the brutality, you just sleep in peace and safety.
Reader911,
The problem is that a lot of people had fallen into this “trap” because of believing the official media here.
It had always been a one sided assault, and I guarantee that it will remain so in the future.
I’ve read a quote a few days ago in one of those dialogue:
My Sunni brother, I’ll fight for our rights and freedom and I’ll face all the brutality, you just sleep in peace and safety.
Dear Exclamation Mark,
The quote you put forward is heartbreaking. Please stop this “fight”. The slow path of dialogue and reform will take you further in the end – however humiliating it may be from day to day. “Silmeya” didn’t last long and violence projects the wrong kind of people into power – as we’ve all seen. The thing you’re forgetting about the old school is that they are mortal.
Hello Mahmood, correct me if im wrong but i thought i saw a post regarding Shia marja3eeyas on your blog recently? It doesnt seem to be here anymore but it did seem interesting.
Anonny,
The people today just project how peaceful their protests are. And if something would have happened it would had started from the first assault and attack on the mosques and “matams” by the Govt.
Peaceful protests still continue… And i still assure you that the violence was from one side only
Dear exclamation mark,
I may disagree with what you are saying, but I admire the incredible dignity that most of the Ba7arna are maintaining in the face of such humiliation and oppression. Before I abandoned Twitter, I saw the foul language, taunting and mean-spirited hate that came from some posters – and so does the rest of the world. If you can hold on to the long, slow, painful path of peace and dignity under oppression, you will one day triumph and transcend all of this crap you’re getting.
I don’t know if I could endure what some of my friends are enduring right now. And I salute your courage forever.
In any protest, there are always some percentage of bad elements no matter where you go
You do not judge a protest by Twitter or Facebook, they are just tools
You judge it by what happens on the ground and by living it on a daily basis
Read this…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/16/bahrain-eyewitness-riot-police
nice fabracation drama
you made my day
I am starting to hate the word “fabrication,” I sometimes think I am now fabricated!
ajax, people only beleive what they want to beleive in. 10s of experienced professional Reporters from 4 different Continents are giving the exact same story, why would be beleiving the official story?
BTV/BNA are government entities. Protestors wanted to overthrow the government. i.e. Protestors wanted to overthrow the head of BTV/BNA. Conflict of Interest – Plain simple. Now, why would I be beleiving their stories?
@Ajax,
Which aspects of the Guardian story do you feel to be untrue?
@Reader911 On the ground?
Here’s where my empathy for the Ba7arna and the unjust cultural attack that they are enduring gives way to my lack of sympathy for their cause:
A few weeks back when the protests were in full swing and the King Faisal Highway – the main artery of Bahrain’s economy – was blocked, I was sitting with a Bahraini friend enjoying a coffee. She got a call from a little Asian guy in her employ. He was hiding on the roof of a building in Manama. Protestors were going through his area attacking and beating people they suspected had been attacking them. The beatings were ferocious and random. He was in tears. My friend sent a couple of Bahrainis in to collect him and bring him out of the area in their car! I didn’t want to say this because I don’t want to justify some of the tactics being used against Bahraini villagers, but there it is.
At that time Bahrain was close to anarchy. While I may deplore the live ammunition, the beatings at checkpoints, the killings, the demolition of houses of worship, I cannot say that the protests were all peaceful. My own family (mixed Bahraini and expat) were far too afraid for that description of ‘Silmiya’ to carry any weight. ‘Peaceful’ is not the same as ‘Peaceful until Provoked’.
I myself was attacked by opposition in the 90s. I bear no grudge and I even tried to find them again next day to talk things through, but I have enough knowledge of what things are like ‘on the ground’.
I hope that things improve for everyone in Bahrain. I respect your status as the original Bahrainis. I salute your incredible fortitude in the face of these last few weeks of real oppression, but I will not look at the two seas with one eye.
Mahmood,
I applause your “politically-correct” post, but Like many others, I think the war is “one-sided.” Opposition societies have taken the back seat and trying to calm down their populars despite all the pain and intimidation. They are only reporting with “sorrow” the human rights violations happening. On the other hand, a fierce retaliation campaign being raided to further instigate hate against the protestors.
The question is, how long can this last? I suggest you read this if you haven’t already: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/04/14/is_bahrain_creating_a_new_terrorist_threat
I personally think country leadership has the solution. Dialogue is not necessary, demands are clear, and HH the king could solve it all by one call. Justice has to be brought to everyone by cracking down extremists from both sides and bringing down to justice and putting behind bars every murder. What’s being spent to crush down the people could be redirected to heal Bahrain.
A serious question that needs to be answered, and I’m eager to hear an answer especially who claim that everything is fabricated…
A mosque or matam, that had existed even before HH King Hamad’r rule in Bahrain, in fact some existed before the late Amir Essa bin Salman, plus they’re licensed and registered under the “Al Awqaf Al Ja’afariya” with full legitimate documents to prove it, yet it is being destroyed. Why???
I don’t think this reply have anything to do with the original topic, nevertheless I would like to give you some info.
the new mosques licensing law was issued at 2008, many protested against it (protests were limited to religious figures and religion students based on their request)and it did go into action, HOWEVER in 2009 the “Al Awqaf Al Ja’afariya” issued an appeal to the rule which I didn’t receive any info that the court has sentenced yet and it was put on hold.
Even if the law was approved again, its time span is for the mosques built after 2008, all pre-licensed mosques are legal. if a mosque was built after that time or is unlicensed it must be filed for a license, but they will be given a warning period.
http://www.alwasatnews.com/2257/news/read/171270/1.html
http://www.alwasatnews.com/2488/news/read/5277/1.html
So another question is being raised, Why abolish the mosques instead of taking any action to correct the situation???
Many comments seem to advocate the “No sunni, no shia”-approach to this problem. Even then, religious messages or preferences shine through many af them.
History all over the world has shown that religious dogmas and divides have been the mothers of the most unforgiving and hateful fights we’ve seen.
Why not accept that categorically and move forward? Why not utter the words: Secular, secular and, once more, secular rule?
Why not abandon the imperative that one particular religion only contains the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth for all human beings for all times?
Why not try to learn a bit from South Africa and Desmond Tutu:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_and_Reconciliation_Commission_(South_Africa)
And, if that isn’t possible, then why?
Being an ex-sunni, I am glad to see that someone on this site shares my view regarding the “No sunni, no shia†slogan.
Secularism is the answer, but, not to people who are still basking in their 7th century utopian fantasies. I think its definition in the mind of an average Joe around here would be something like this:
{A set of moral decadents conjured by the evil west to stray our pious men from their faith and to unleash our women scantly clad in the streets}
It’s hopeless to argue for, hey, lots of questions are already answered, still, we try to reinvent the wheel.
What a sad dysfunctional society I was brought up in. meh, life goes on. FML
Isn’t this the country that called in, via the US, mercenary troops from Saudi Arabia, to “calm” the rebellion? And the one where these same US supported troops are rampaging through civilian neighborhoods killing at will?