Bahrain’s Al Khalifa, a dishonoured monarchy

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Constitutional monarchies refrain from intervening in politics and concentrate on representing what the people have in common. As long as they do that, they can be honoured. Indeed, in times of crisis, a constitutional monarchy is a valuable rallying point which can become a repository of the people’s hopes and desire for salvation.However, when a monarchy treats the country as its personal fiefdom, rules autocratically, and represents the interests of only a tiny percentage of the population, it becomes an oppressor. In no time at all it degenerates into tyranny.Which is the case in Bahrain, where the Al Khalifa royal family has no concept of, nor intent to be, a constitutional monarchy.Consider that dreadful night in March 2011 when unarmed protesters, sleeping in Pearl Square, were roused, beaten up, and, in some cases, at short range, shot in the face with lead pellets. All that for just wanting to vote.The Al Khalifas were also using dum-dum bullets (expanding bullets, banned by international law, which make large, gruesome wounds). This is known because the doctors and nurses who helped wounded people were arrested and some of the nurses were tortured in the attempt to make them admit that they had put their hands into wounds and pulled apart to make the wounds bigger. This torture was done because the regime was trying to hide the fact that it was behaving with medieval ferocity.Very soon funeral processions were being attacked and over thirty mosques bulldozed. The destruction of religious places is how the ancient Romans behaved.And this was happening in what, in clearly expressed desire, could be the most democratic country in the world. Bahrain is a tiny country but it gets out onto the streets, as a percentage of the population, huge democratic demonstrations. Iran also has such demonstrations, and Syria has had at least one such demonstration, but the Bahraini democrats do so under the most repressive conditions. We salute their bravery.    Not content with the destruction of the mosques the Al Khalifa regime had revealed its moral and political bankruptcy by calling in foreign troops from Saudi Arabia to occupy the country. This is because it could never trust Bahraini soldiers to maintain its despotism. Pakistani troops, in addition to the Saudis, now do the dirty work and top policemen from the UK and USA organise the depredations. Today the largest employer in Bahrain is the Interior Ministry and the security forces.Moreover, always willing to learn evil from history if not from the ancient Romans then from the German Nazis, the regime has been doing some collective punishment. In the village of al-Eker, innocent citizens as a group have been punished for some individual’s alleged crime. This is against international law.Behind all this is the American Fifth fleet which is based in Bahrain. There are six thousand American military personnel who need only put on their caps and march down the road and that would be the end of the Al Khalifa regime. This assumes, of course, that the USA wants democracy in the Middle East, which is in the highest degree unlikely because it continually does everything it can to suppress it.Truly the Al Khalifas, held in contempt by the world, would be despised outcasts if it were not for the extensive foreign forces suppressing the people and the regular supply from abroad of arms and ‘intelligence.’ Amongst the ‘intelligence’ is the knowledge of torture techniques coming from the UK police officer, Colonel Ian Henderson, as is alleged by Human Rights Watch. George Galloway. MP, called Henderson the “butcher of Bahrain.”But, to be fair, the Al Khalifa regime does not leave all its torturing to others. As recounted by the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, it is known that Crown Prince Nasser Al Khalifa is partial to donning a mask and having his fun with powerless prisoners.    Then there was that Day of Infamy when the Pearl Monument was pulled to the ground. As with the destruction of the mosques, the regime thought it could end opposition by eliminating physical meeting places and symbols of love and pride.    Which is a big mistake, because such destruction only hardens people’s determination that, one day, those symbols of love and pride will be restored.To cap it all, the Al Khalifa regime commits the greatest crime that a monarch can commit by deliberately stimulating sectarian forces so as to divide Sunni and Shia Muslims. This is, of course, an old colonial trick learnt from the British, but old tricks need to be unlearnt and the problem with the Al Khalifa regime is that they are daily regressing into the past so that they are beginning to exhibit the marks of some medieval, feudal regime. Apart from the autocracy, and the viciousness, there is the creepy-crawling to the British royal family, which receives presents of jewels, and the blatant willingness to make deals with anybody who will support the regime to suppress its own people.Yet, when the present King came into power, he made lofty promises of reform, none of which have happened. Which can only be explained by his having read Machiavelli’s The Prince containing cynical advice for autocratic rulers including that rulers should take advantage of a people’s willingness to think well of them when first they come into power and, it can be added, as indicated at the beginning of this article, a people’s willingness to accept a constitutional monarchy.But while constitutional monarchs can hold high their heads, how could the Al Khalifas ever do so? They have imprisoned, tortured and killed so that dishonour is their lot forever.However, let nobody think that the Al Khalifas will reign forever. The great Middle East movement for democracy is not standing still. Moreover, at some point, it is likely that the USA and the UK will wake up to the fact that it is not in their long term interests to be hated by everybody throughout the Middle East and maybe those six thousand military personnel really will put on their caps and walk down the road.Indeed, it should be remembered that the USA and the UK are quite capable of betraying anybody and the Al Khalifas should consider whether it might be an idea to get out now, while they still have the chance. /129