The revolution is rising again, says Bahraini activist Fatema Abuidrees, strengthened by memories of past struggles against the British.
A year has passed by since Bahrain’s ‘Arab spring’ venture began. But February the 14th last year was not the first time Bahrain has been rocked by mass protests. A recent rally rightly honoured the martyrs of the 1965 March uprising.
The memory of their struggle and victory offered a confident optimism amongst the crowd. Over half the population came out on Friday the 9th March 2012 carrying placards which read ‘No Dialogue with Killers’, ‘No to Dictatorship’, and ‘No to Sectarianism’.
Although Bahrain is the smallest Arab state, it could very well be said that the 9th March rally has been the largest ‘Arab Spring’ protest in proportion to the country’s total population.
The Sheikhs of this Island are in an excruciating dilemma as the people of Bahrain persist to demonstrate in the face of cruel repression. Much of 2011 has been an attempt for this crumbling Al Khalifa monarchy to regain some stability. It took the prompt decision last year to wipe out its ‘bad memory’ of the revolution by demolishing the country’s national pearl monument, the main site of protest. It has militarily ‘cleansed’ the symbolic site of protesters.
If anything, such preposterous acts of tyranny have reinforced the peoples determination to seek change from a regime that has, quite frankly, lost it. As the days have passed by and the loud chants of “The people demand ” echo in almost every city, and every town, the Sheikh’s act in a manner that they know best: Time to call the British!
On the first February 14th anniversary of the Bahrain uprising, activists attempted to break through the heavily guarded site of the pearl roundabout to recentralise demonstrations that have been going on around the country throughout the year. For the authorities, that ‘bad memory’ of free speech at this site of protest was too painful for it to be played out again. They imposed a media block out, and the people were met with the customary brutality by the security forces.
Yet a week later, the government of Bahrain was keen to rekindle another memory. The UK’s Royal United Services Institute was invited to Manama, and a round-table on Bahrain-British relations was opened. One would have thought that a round-table on Al Khalifa -People relations would have been more of an appropriate. Yet the hard hitting reality of losing all legitimacy has inclined the autocracy to re-kindle the Sheikhdom’s long political and military ties to the UK.
After all, if you are a full-time failing autocrat, you drool over the memory of a colonial Britain that provided two centuries of legitimacy for your rule. It was Britain that gave Al-Khalifa tribe the title “Rulers of Bahrain” in an 1820 treaty. In signing this Bahrain became a British protectorate, and the people lost their independence. It is this ‘bad memory’ that the people of Bahrain have yet to forget. Besides, it’s hard to forget when the British Prime Minister continues to call the Al Khalifa’s ‘a close ally’, and ‘Made in the UK’ weaponry have been used in towns every day for an entire year now.
On the 9th March of this year, a few days after King Hamad of Bahrain referred to the protesters as an ‘insignificant cluster’, over half the population of Bahrain came out in a massive rally to remind his majesty that this ‘insignificant cluster’ was once able to defeat the British Empire, and claim independence. The real ‘insignificant cluster’ in Bahrain is the Al Khalifa tribe, who for centuries have monopolised the wealth and resources of the Kingdom to serve their select elite, while the depriving the people of this oil rich Kingdom. The message was loud and clear, ‘No to Dictatorship!’ ‘Down, Down Hamad!’ The islanders were to let know that the people have the capability of challenging and defeating not only the British, but also any other criminal ‘insignificant cluster’ on their land.
The rally was reminiscent of Bahrain’s 1965 March uprising, when workers went on strike complaining of unfair dismissals, and students marched alongside the workers in protest. ‘Down, Down with Colonialism!’, ‘Our Workers, Our Students, We Protect our Nation!’ they chanted. It didn’t take long for the British colonial forces, with the local police force, to unleash a brutal crackdown in which many unarmed activists died, many more were injured, and thousands were arrested and tortured.
Such cruelty by the British aggravated the already impoverished people from all over the island and they came out in their thousands to rid Bahrain of the British. A state of emergency was declared, and the crackdown intensified in brutality claiming many more lives. Men, women and children filled hospitals with injuries, and schools expelled dozens of students.
Just like today, the people were unarmed, and their ‘Peaceful! Peaceful!’ chants have been violently suppressed. Just like today, the arms used against them were made by countries that champion human-rights, freedom, and democracy. Just like today, the weapons used to suppress their movement ranged from rubber bullets, tear-gas, and shot-guns. Just like today, workers were unfairly sacked and still wait to be reinstated. Students were expelled, and still wait to be permitted to continue with their studies. Just like today, the prisons are crammed with political detainees who have been tortured. Just like today, hundreds have gone into exile. Just like today, the rising death toll gives little by way of closure to dozens of families. Just like today, opposition leaders and campaigners fight for change behind prison bars. And just like today, the Al Khalifa’s security and legitimacy depends on the British!
One does question if the events of 1965 are being revisited? Or if the problems of 1965 have lingered on unresolved to erupt at the first chance possible? I hesitate to say it, but was our 1971 independence a con?
Indeed, when the Al Khalifa’s refer to a ‘bad memory’, what they really mean is that the fragrance of sovereignty has been let loose in the air. Until this day, any celebration of independence from the British on the 14th August is prohibited. The British departure from Bahrain came as a disappointment for the Al-Khalifa’s – ‘a bad memory’ that is best to be erased from the public space, in the same way the Pearl monument was demolished. It is no wonder the Al Khalifa’s invited the Saudi’s to occupy Bahrain – who still have a military presence there. The Al Khalifa tribe were never interested in sovereignty. It is a lethal proposal for them. A sovereign Bahrain would really mean a Bahrain without the ‘insignificant cluster’ of the Al Khalifa’s. A sovereign Bahrain would be a victory for the people over the tribe.
March 13th marks the day Saudi troops entered Bahrain to assist in crushing the revolution. The February 14th Youth Coalition have designated this week as ‘The National Week of Resistance against the Occupier’. Pictures of the King Abdulla of Saudi Arabia, and King Hamad of Bahrain have been plastered by the regime on almost every street corner. As Saudi troops rolled into Bahrain, the people were massacred, and Bahrain’s state TV celebrated in music and dance. For the Al Khalifa’s, Bahrain was never about the peoples sovereignty. For them, it isn’t nationalism that defines Bahrain, it is tribalism. ‘Security’ was never about protecting the nation; it was about protecting the tribe. And when Britain declared Bahrain as a ‘British Protectorate’, it wasn’t really about protecting Bahrain, it was more about protecting the rule of the tribe to secure British colonial interests.
My last few words shall be directed to the totalitarian ‘insignificant cluster’ that currently governs Bahrain: this March, our march for sovereignty continues! As the people of 1965 had once chanted, ‘Oh Occupiers, Leave our Land!’.
