Alienation in Bahrain

One of my earliest memories is of playing with the other children just out of our mothers' sights in a London-based community centre. This was a place where many Bahraini exiles and activists would congregate, discussing current affairs and handing out newsletters and pamphlets. It wasn't all about grim politics, but it's the grim politics that comes back to me right now. One type of pamphlet passed around a lot would have pictures of tortured men in them, evidence of the regime's crimes. I saw them over the years, though not very often. These sorts of things weren't for a child's eyes after all, but the few glimpses of bodies black and blue and bloody have remained with me.

I haven't dwelt on those memories in years, but they came back to me today while reading Human Rights Watch, watching CNN's reports and visiting the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (which is blocked by Bahraini ISPs). Some of the images, of people tortured and people injured by security forces, are shocking to say the least. My own first impression was that this looked like something straight from the 90s.

Checkpoint Guards

During Egypt's revolution, anti-Mubarak vigilantes set up checkpoints all over Cairo, looking to weed out pro-Mubarak protesters and plain-clothed police. Bahrain has checkpoints too, but these are run by the National Guard.

Most of these checkpoints are around the Pearl Roundabout, or what remains of it anyway. But there are other ones as well, roaming checkpoints. Army vehicles will be stationed outside one village, then the next day move to block the entrance of another. Most of these checkpointed villages are Shia villages, though whether or not this is prejudicial is difficult to say: most villages in Bahrain are Shia villages, after all.

Having said that, the location of these checkpoints is not the important factor: the treatment of people by the National Guard is.

“I don’t want to go anywhere now. I’ll stay in my home because there is no safety,” says Ibrahim, a university student who says he was recently beaten and held for 36 hours at a checkpoint, and has a deformed left ear and bruises elsewhere to prove it. He asked that his last name be withheld for his own safety. 

“While they were beating us, they said, ‘Where is your Mahdi now? Why isn’t he coming to save you?’ ” says Ibrahim, referring to a messianic figure in Shiite Islam. “They made us scream 'Mahdi.' They put my face in the ground, and told me to speak. Then they kicked dust in my mouth.” 

What was their crime?

“We are Shiite,” says Ibrahim. “They want to remove all Shia from Bahrain.”  

(source: csmonitor)

The Mahdi and the prophecies related to him, referred above, is a rough equivalent to the second coming of Jesus Christ in Christian belief. It's worth noting that though the Mahdi is given a greater importance in Shia Islam, he is also recognised by Sunni theologians. It gives an indication of the bigotry of the National Guard. One would hope that the beating described was a one-off affair, but tales of the security forces' prejudice are plentiful. Those stopped at checkpoints are commonly asked, "Are you a sunni or a son of a bitch?"

But it's not just at the Pearl Roundabout and outside villages that these checkpoints are set outside of.

The Hospital

Salmaniya Hospital is the biggest in the country, staffed by more than 5000 medical professionals. Before today's crisis, it used to treat over 1000 patients a day. Most of the doctors and nurses are Shia, and most of the patients admitted are Shia too. So inevitably, in the last two months the hospital has been politicised.

Road blocks are set up near the hospital as well, and here - as well as elsewhere - if the driver or passenger of a vehicle stopped shows signs of injuries sustained from security forces, such as the bumps of birdshot wounds, they are immediately detained. The lucky ones get treated at hospital first. Doctors and nurses are also detained by police, charged with conspiring with the protesters. While some are known to have taken part of the protests, it seems more like simply giving wounded protesters the time of day at hospital may be seen as a crime in itself. One New York Times article goes into greater depth and helps explain the reasons behind this heightened, paranoid security:

Bahraini doctors and international human rights workers say the purpose of the crackdown appears to be to instill terror in doctors, so they will not care for wounded demonstrators, and fear in dissidents, who might think twice about confronting the police if they know that being injured might mark them for arrest. 

(paragraph 8) 

One CNN report (graphic images) tells, amongst other stories, of one man with some 40 birdshot pellets embedded in his body. The National Guard is reported to be spraying the protesters with shotguns (loaded with rubber bullets) at very close range, leading to cases such as this. The fear of being detained is so great that the man in question preferred to remove the pellets at home rather than risk going to a clinic or the hospital. In this case, the man wasn't even a protester; he was a passer-by hit by the stray bullets. But the bullets mark him as a protester, and caught by the security forces he would be treated as such. The old numbers of over 1000 patients a day in Salmaniya has dwindled down to less than 500.

Job Losses

The numbers of people losing their jobs is sky rocketing. Early this month, CS Monitor reported that 500 have been put out of work by their companies, mostly Shia. The numbers have only swelled as the month continued and almost tripled at this point. In the article linked above, one man is quoted to have said "we're being punished" by the government with unemployment. Many were laid off for going on strike without any notice, however there are many who say they've been fired without cause. These people are all high-earning professionals, and it's likely more will follow.

Alienation

I've barely scratched the surface of what's going on in Bahrain right now. Those in power are savagely mistreating the greater part of the population. It is at times unbelievable that the monarchy, which ten years ago began its campaign of progress in human rights and democracy, has so viciously turned on its 21st century philosophies. They are alienating 70% of the population, punishing the Shia for being Shia.

One analysis predicts that the stability the government is trying to impose now will result in long term instability, and this statement only seems more likely as the crackdown progresses. The monarchy acts with extreme prejudice. What began as a non-sectarian movement for human rights and political freedom in February has become an all-out attack against the Shi'ite population.

While it is true that there has always been some amount of sectarianism and suspicion between the Shia and Sunnis of Bahrain, it has never been exacerbated to such an extent. The monarchy is forcefully creating an underclass out of the Shia. And it is doing so with the approval of Bahrain's neighbours and to the seeming ignorance of the international community.