Friday, April 20, 2012

Bahrain: Formula None



"Stop Racing on Our Blood"

by RANNIE AMIRI

CounterPunch

"Bahrain’s royal family hopes you too will believe the 14-month uprising that began (or more properly stated, resumed) last February in the tiny Gulf nation, is now over.

Order, peace, tranquility and the legitimacy of monarchal rule are what they desperately want the international community to think have been restored. The unrest that followed last year’s violent eviction of peaceful protestors encamped in Manama’s Pearl Roundabout by Bahrain’s imported security force and Saudi troops is a thing of the past. The majority’s demand for serious democratic reform, proportional representation, equality between Sunni and Shia, and an end to the policies of sectarian gerrymandering are issues best left for another day.

The reason for the public relations push is that Bahrain’s showcase event, the Formula One Grand Prix, is set to begin this Sunday. Last year it was cancelled due to widespread clashes......

But let the royals have their day. Let them think their reign is secure. Let the voices of their cheering partisans, their American and European enablers, and the roar of engines drown out the cries of the oppressed and make inaudible the chants of “Leave Hamad, leave.”

The rest of Bahrain will instead stand behind the quiet dignity of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja’s 10-week-old hunger strike, a single day of which is nobler than all 228 years of al-Khalifa rule."

No comments: