"The Battle of Karbala' still rages between the two sides in the present and in the future. It is being held within the soul, at home and in all areas of life and society. People will remain divided and they are either in the Hussain camp or in the Yazid camp. So choose your camp." — 'Ashura' banner in Manama, 2006
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Government Inaction
I'm still writing away on soon-to-be-due papers and book chapters. (On the other hand, apart from continued protests and lingering rumors of "dialogue," I'm not sure what is new in the past two weeks anyway.) In the meantime, there's at least one other site on Bahrain with a good sense of humor. A spoof on the recently-launched govactions.bh meant to highlight the state's supposed implementations of BICI recommendations, a new group calling itself Bahrain Watch has launched a website of its own titled "Government Inaction." See what they did there?
The other interesting item I'll pass along comes via the so-called "Pearl Revolution Political Center," which, as you'll gather from the amusing banner below, "announces its first operation Code Name 'Countering the Counter-Revolution,'" which for a code-name does not leave a lot to the imagination. The inspiration is apparently the one-year anniversary of the Saudi involvement in the Bahrain uprising.
Among the groups with more stylish banners that are also organizing "resistance activities" (which include some good old-fashioned U.S. flag-burning) are the Sitra Youth:
And al-Wafa':
And the February 14th Coalition:
I'm sure the Peninsula Shield and the Fifth Fleet are manning their battle stations.
Finally, if you're looking to keep up with the full week's festivities:
Update: Bahrain has made the Internet gods angry.
Fascinating to see that quickly following the departure of Talal AL Zain at Mumtalakat, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Essa of the EDB has now been made to move on by Royal Decree! Justin, would do you think it means? Are they re-shuffling the seats to make some room for the opposition? Or is this merely a breakdown of the CPs realm??
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard about the move to be honest. That said, I imagine the opposition is more interested in securing more seats in (a functional) parliament and/or more cabinet-level positions in important ministries than in running sovereign wealth funds. And somehow I doubt the government is prepared to, say, pluck Ebrahim Sharif out of prison and stick him at Mumtalakat.
ReplyDeleteFunny you say that because as a former banker he is in fact well suited for such a role! Interesting thought!
DeleteYes, that was supposed to be the joke.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm
ReplyDelete