Unrest in Bahrain

It is an amazing, disheartening, and surreal scene happening in Bahrain now. The stage of empowerment was set in Egypt and now the impetus for change has spread throughout the Middle East to the tiny country of Bahrain (1.2 million) which I called home for nearly two years. I wonder if Mark Zuckerberg had any idea how much his creation would actually change the world in just under 10 years. It has nothing to do with facebook really. Facebook just gives people a forum to which they can communicate. Most every paper in the Middle East and other Communist countries are state-run. So they are filled with propaganda. I was blessed to grow up in a country with what was a free press. The press in the states acted as the fourth branch of the government able to keep politicians and the judicial system in line by way of informing the public of the truth. I often wondered if someone growing up in a controlled media environment actually trusted their own country’s media. When I was in Bahrain I read the paper everyday with the knowledge that it was essentially 100% propaganda, a glorified national press release. I wondered, do people actually buy into this stuff? With the forum of facebook acting as a galvanizing force, you see that they really do not. Even the headlines in the Gulf Daily News are avoiding all topics of the insurrection. As if ignoring them will make it all go away.

So for my American and non-Bahraini friends let me synopsize the conflict. There is a vast divide between Sunni and Shia Muslims. This is not just Bahrain, but Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi, and Bahrain wherever there are Arabs there are conflicts between these two factions. It would be similar to Christians going up against the Mormons, or the Baptists going against Presbyterians. It all could have been avoided if the Prophet Muhammed would have left a will. Generally speaking, Sunni Muslims believe after the Prophet died that Islam should be carried on by his disciples. Shia Muslims believe that Islam should be carried on by his family. The two factions have been warring with each other since then. Bahrain is run by the Al-Khalifa family which is among the 30% Sunni minority. While 70% of the Shia Majority are the ones behind the conflict. The Shia do have a legitimate beef as they are discriminated against. History tells us over and over that the minority can only control the majority for a short period of time. Go ask any Brit, they will be glad to tell you. So it seems like the hold on Bahrain is a tenuous one for the Al-Khalifa-Sunni’s. The thing that the Khalifa’s have going for them is that they are very tight with the US and Britain. Bahrain is home to the 5^th fleet, the largest navy base outside of the continental US. It’s a very key presence in the Middle East region for the US. So if the Khalifa’s need to go to Big Brother, it will be interesting to see how the US gets involved. The US stayed out of the Egypt mess as well as it should have. Hopefully they will stay out of this mess as well.

This sort of conflict between Sunni and Shia in Bahrain has been going on for decades. I was witness to several demonstrations. They were rather simple displays of burning tires in the middle of the street, burning couches to block roadways or more seriously the occasional Molotov cocktail. Its human nature to blame someone else for your problems and the Shia seemed to content to blame the Khalifa/Sunni’s for their problems.

The escalation all started of course with Egypt. That sent a strong message that uprisings could topple governments no matter how wealthy the royal family. The escalations in Bahrain all started because a group of people were holding a funeral procession to honor someone killed in Egypt. A soldier inadvertently (or advertently I don’t know) shot a Bahraini protester. Then more Bahraini’s amassed to protest the shooting and another two were shot. Then more protesters and more people were shot. Soon they were gathered by the thousands in the Pearl Roundabout (a landmark) and tear gas and riot police were out in force trying to aggressively and physically quell the uprising. Don’t they realize that aggression is only going to unite the minority and galvanize (I like that word) them into action? If they just would have let the protests go on protesting peacefully they would have become either bored or hungry after awhile and have resumed their lifestyle. (Look at how many peaceful protests go on peacefully in the US without any violence. Of course the states have freedom of speech.) With the increased aggression by the government/military its giving the protestors something tangible to fight against. Its like they are backing the Shia into the corner. As I watch Youtube videos of tanks rolling into the streets and tear gassing the protestors, and outlawing any demonstrations, it seems like the conflict is escalating. They might be able to temporarily quell the uprising but thanks to facebook and twitter the protestors will still be able to communicate and coordinate with each other. Egypt showed them it can be done. Now unfortunately the Bahrainis seem to want to find out for themselves it can be done there too. My hearts and prayers go to all my friends Bahrain.