Bahraini activists continue to defy tyranny

Oppressive Arab regimes in league with their malignant & mightily-armed allies in the UK, US, Saudi Arabia, & elsewhere have been able to disorient the Arab uprisings & in some places derail them (at least for a while). But in Bahrain the popular movement has continued with democratic ferocity against extreme police violence & political repression--despite the absence of media coverage under the rubric “if we don’t report it, it isn’t happening”.

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights reported 89 deaths as of February 2013--with the regime continuing to blanket villages & protestors with tear gas & using torture, disappearances, incarceration, house raids, beatings at checkpoints, & denial of medical care to deter social protest. 


Of course the deaths didn’t stop in February 2013; they’re just not being reported. In the past week alone two funerals were held for protestors killed by riot cops. In Bahrain, funerals for those who defied tyranny become political protests--which has always been true in democratic uprisings from Chile to Northern Ireland to Palestine. The gravity & solemnity of a funeral does not deter riot cops from attack because “wherever two or more of you are gathered” in the name of democracy threatens tyranny.

Here Bahraini protestors clash with riot cops at the funeral of 20-year-old Mohammed Abdul Jalil in the village of Daih (near Manama) on Thursday. May young Mohammed RIP. Our fullest solidarity with the protestors of Bahrain.

No US aid to Bahrain!

(P.S. Those who denounce the niqab should note that women leading the Bahraini uprising are not deterred in rebellion by its use, that it has proven invaluable in hiding their identities from police & in protecting them from the excessive use of tear gas. It is being adapted for combat by protestors around the world, including the young man here.)

(Photo by Mohammed Al-Shaikh/AFP/Getty Images)