Global Voices Online

Good. You're paying attention now so let's start this week's roundup with the mundane and progress from there:

Mahmood seems to have been branded a pervert for photographing wild parakeets having sex in one of his palm trees and have chosen to nest in his house's eaves. He's been warned; however, to quit this “bird-porn” business as some think that his site will be blocked by virtually the whole Gulf because of the terms used in that article.

Moving on… On the tenth day of Muharram, the first month in the Muslim calendar, an event that took place over 1,300 years ago is commemorated in Bahrain by its Shi'a population as do hundreds of millions of Shi'a Muslims around the world in remembrance of Imam Hussain.

In Bahrain, the commemorations have morphed into a cultural event that is now not just the usual expressions of grief which is exhibited by processions of men beating their chests. These events are now streamed on the internet^a, something that prompts Tawfiq Al-Rayyash to suggest calling this festival e-Ashoora.

However, some take this expression of grief to extremes by allowing an incision to be made in their scalp so that a copious flow of blood occurs^a. This bloody precession is called “Haidar” and is a very controversial subject even among leading clerics and Shi'a Marji' as Tawfiq Al-Rayyash argues^a and concludes that this act damages the reputation of not only the Shi'a, but Islam in general and needs to be stopped. Something that virtually all Bahraini bloggers agree with^a.

Michael Jackson after the break… (more…)

Dr. Abdulhadi Khalaf, the Bahraini dissident and member of the first parliament that was dissolved in 1975, now lives in Sweden and lectures at Lund University, posts a report about his Christmas visit to the island. He's not very impressed by how companies and individuals “show their love” and respect to the higher echelons of the political structure in Bahrain, concluding that:

I cannot help wondering who is the PR genius who convinced the three royals that billboards will make them loved? He/she must be a secret agent of the opposition who planted him to mislead the royal troika. And, apparently, he (or she?) has done a good job. For who would in his right mind would believe that he needs billboards to gain love or respect? The royal trio were really taken for an expensive ride. And counter-productive to boot.

Manama Republic has another excellent and insightful piece. This time he sheds a light of an insider on the unfortunate fatal accident that claimed one of the king's sons recently, and raises a very important point: Bahrain seems to specialise on squandering opportunities; opportunities which if used judiciously, could very much endear the Royals to their Bahraini subjects and puts the blame on the kingdom's dysfunctional PR machine. He contrasts Bahrain's missed opportunities with those that Kuwait makes a habit of winning.

Talking about cars, Mahmood posts another couple of vlogs (videoblogs); one about a recent visit with his son to the wildly popular Drag Races at the Bahrain International Circuit, the home of F1 in the Middle East, and in the second he takes you on a tour of his newly re-landscaped garden, in between he discusses the complete ineffectiveness of the Minster of Information who is rumoured to be on the way to be fired in a forthcoming cabinet reshuffle, and just like everyone else in the Arab and Muslim worlds this week, he puts forth his two cents regarding the blaspheming Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet.
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It's been a tragic week for the Arabian Gulf; several hundred pilgrims died while performing the Hajj, the 6th son of Bahrain's monarch died in a car crash and just yesterday Shaikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, the 13th ruler of Kuwait died at the age of 78 after a long illness. Needless to say Bahraini bloggers' commentary on these events were plentiful covering all three aspects, the most contentious of which was the pilgrimage disaster which was seen universally as avoidable:

The Joker starts the ball rolling and suggests that pilgrims are not treated equally as proscribed in Islam, where everyone should be equal. This is further demonstrated by the strict uniform and rites pilgrims undertake – but in actual fact they are treated according to their ethnicity, with 3rd world pilgrims treated in a much more derogatory fashion unlike the Saudis and other Arabs who perform the Hajj (Muslim pilgrimage). The solution he poses for this recurrent problem include the limitation of the numbers of people allowed to perform the Hajj - a theme universally taken by all commentors; hiring professional organisations to oversee crowd control and flow during the various stages of Hajj, and lastly the “ticket price” allowing people to perform the Hajj should be proportional to their prosperity.

Mohammed Al-Maskati blogging at emoodZ agrees and further amplifies on the theme by stating that once again, the Saudi authorities put the blame unfairly on pilgrims' disorganisation and impatience, rather than the Saudi Hajj authorities' incompetence. He goes further in suggesting that Sunni clerics should follow their Shi'a colleagues in re-interpreting some of the set tasks of the Hajj and making them more flexible, especially that the main bottleneck has been the “stoning of the devil” task. The Shi'a allow their followers to stone the devil at any time at the end of the Hajj, while the Sunnis only allow their followers to do so after the point of noon on the last day of the pilgrimage and has a time limit associated with the task. As all rites must be performed in strict sequence, if any pilgrim does not finish all these tasks, his or her pilgrimage would be regarded as null and void if these tasks are not completed. This interpretation adds to the frustration and hastiness of the pilgrims as they literally fight against time to finish their Fifth Pillar of Islam.

Mahmood finds himself in complete agreement with both of the above, and argues for more drastic measures: Hajj should be declared optional rather than mandatory, and clerics should find other ways in which Muslims can atone themselves of sins. He receives a lot of flack and some support for his thoughts.

Practically every Bahraini blog offered condolences to his majesty the king of Bahrain on the tragic death of his 6th son: Shaikh Faisal, who was just 14 and died as a result of a car accident. Shaikh Faisal is remembered by his friends as an avid equestrian and is full of life. Some commentors however wanted to break the norm and politicise this tragic event, especially as controversial forums like the recently lauded BahrainOnline.org, which mysteriously is on a 4 day maintenance regime! Hassan Al-Khozai (Arabic) was disgusted by some of the black-hearted comments on “some” Bahraini forums who seemed to revel in the extinguished young life just because it belonged to a royal, and this comes from someone who could only be described as opposition. However Hassan is certainly not unique in this respect, he has proven his humility just as other traditional government opponents have: Abdulhadi Khalaf, and Manama Republic have conveyed their condolences with the politeness, respect and humility this situation demands.

The sympathies were extended universally once again to the Kuwaiti people and royal family on the death of their 13th Amir; Shaikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, after a long illness. Shaikh Jaber was much loved in Bahrain not only for the various infrastructural and community projects he and his government have done in Bahrain through the Kuwaiti Development Fund, but also for the shared history of the two countries and the closeness of their peoples.

In other activism news, non other than GV's MENA Uber Editor Haitham Sabbah launched a campaign to include the country name Palestine in the drop-down lists of online blogging services. He has met with some success so far in at least getting the blogging services to listen to his point of view and effect the required changes. While Strav highlights RSF's latest campaign targeting conrporate responsibility. Tawfiq Al-Rayyash (Arabic) recalls the troubles and civil unrest that Bahrain went through in the 1990s and questions whether those methods are still applicable today in civil disobedience demonstrations. He concludes that those methods most definitely will not work to put pressure on the establishment, and asks what method would be most effective in this day and age. He was also in a reminiscing mood last week offering us a glimpse of Bahrain in 1954 showing a picture of one of the Hussaini processions, and tells us about Sami Yusuf, who is a “devout practicing British Muslim who sees songs as a means of promoting the message of Islam and encouraging the youth to be proud of their religion and identity.“

Silver Girl declares her love and admiration for Israel and suggests that Arab leaders should emulate Sharon. She also touches upon the very thorny Bahraini subject of what is regarded as illegal naturalisation when she highlights a column by Reem Khalifa, a journalist at Al-Wasat Newspaper (Arabic).

Homesickness is a very powerful emotion, as copiously discovered by a very Silly Bahraini Girl, no matter how much she protests that she's not and quite likes the weather in Toronto, Canada, where she has exiled herself for the time being! However, that doesn't stop her from highlighting alleged corruption within the justice system in Bahrain.

Routine and structured ways of life is reflected upon by Mo at Random Blog. Mo is a final year medical student in Ireland who loves football, Xbox and PlayStation games which he sometimes writes about. It is a very random blog, but thankfully it provides us with a glimpse of what goes on with medical trainees in foreign lands! He even has some fashion advice to “manly” men this time: “They're plain and black, by the way. Just the way they should be. *manly grunt* ” he says in describing how he succumbed to the cold finally and bought some garments he wouldn't have been seen dead in only a few months ago!

The Joker finds out that his feelings for Dr. Phil are anything but platonic; he riles against this “Colonel/Psychologist” because he was aghast at his temerity of exhibiting a family whose child has suffered at the hands of a pedophile to public display on one of his shows. He further explores the quality of these shows and concludes that they are nothing but entertainment with station managers having no regard to their viewing public by sandwiching irreverent adverts in between program segments which he thinks should be treated with better respect, considering the sensitivity of their content and subjects.

If you were a university that has doctoral studies, would you accept a PhD dissertation in which 200 leading intellectuals branded as heretic? Well, Jaffar Al-Omran continues to shine by bringing us controversial subjects which are worth discussing. He has unearthed one Sa'id ibn Nasser Al-Ghamdi whose doctoral dissertation was submitted and accepted at: “Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University. In his dissertation Al-Ghamdi made a list of 200 Arab intellectuals accused of heterodoxy and deviation, the accusation, which is punished by death in his doctrine.

Book signings? Yes, we have them in Bahrain too, thanks to our very own Ali Al-Saeed, the only Bahraini English-language novelist. Ali had a book signing event which took place at the most famous shopping malls in Bahrain in which he met with some of his admirers. He was good enough to also post some pictures of the event.

Bahraini Rants is back! I, for one, missed his rants, I'm sure those of you who peruse his archives will become as addicted to this gentleman's writings as I have; and if you're like me, a person who likes his or her food, then don't miss out on his excellent Argentine Asado recipe. You will most definitely forget your diet when you read his descriptions because you will want to fire your BBQ immediately to try it out!

Back to the present, BahrainiRants now takes us on a trip down his musical memory lane and reflects on the music he mixed himself with painstaking attention to detail, as well as the smells and sights that music conjures up when he re-listens to some of his recordings now.

Two new blogs have become active of late: Samir, a Pakistani gentleman who lives in Bahrain has a blog he calls 1Pakistan in which he discusses issues pertaining to both Bahrain and Pakistan. The other is Asish Gorde, an Indian gentleman who has lived almost all of his life in Bahrain I am told, and is a lecturer in media studies at the University of Bahrain. Ashish's blog is Eureka Express and is well worth your visit.

More next week! Have a good one.

It's been a very rough week for Bahrain, instead of reveling in end-of-year celebrations and hilarity, we've had demonstrations and public unrest instead, and that's not showing any signs of dissipating in the run up to the country's second parliamentary elections scheduled for October 2006.

This most recent spate of troubles started when the authorities apprehended a leading dissident cleric at the airport on his return to Bahrain from the holly Iranian city of Qum where he is now based. Ayatollah Shaikh Mohammed Sanad was also one of those exiled off the island due to his political dissent before the new King took the reigns and worked toward repatriating all exiled dissidents and released all political prisoners signaling the start of a new era in Bahrain, this of course resulted in a lot of good will at that time, particularly in 2001 with the various announcements of sweeping political, administrative and the promise of constitutional reforms.

Fast forwarding to 2005 unfortunately shows that the good will has almost completely dissipated, thus the rise in animosity between the people and their government highlighting various ills the country suffers from like the high figures of the unemployed, and the various subsequent laws which limit freedoms as is the case with Law 47 (Arabic) that deals with the Press, and Law 56 which equates torturers with their victims.

Shaikh Mohammed Sanad highlighted these problems and demanded that the UN step in with a referendum to ascertain the populace views in the continued rule of Al-Khalifa family in Bahrain (Arabic). In this charged atmosphere his apprehension at the airport was all that is required to ignite this new wave of violence when more than 300 of his supporters congregated at the airport demanding his immediate release. The protest was peaceful and good natured to start but that soon gave way to violence which resulted in some airport property destruction and a scuffle between the security forces and demonstrators which resulted in the police using force to disperse the crowd.

Over the next few days those responsible for the violence at the airport were identified and presented to the Public Prosecutor to await trial. So far some 15 people have been arrested. Those arrest created even more demonstrations by their supporters to demand their immediate release. No more violence was reported. However all national papers carried denunciations of these latest troubles and Ayatollah Shaikh Sanad himself has denounced the violence at the airport and asked his supporters to abide by the law and not to resort to any violence in his support.

Needless to say, the majority of Bahraini blogs discussed this issue comprehensively:

Manama Republic highlights the fact that most of the nation's newspapers seem to be concerned with shattered glass rather than broken bones and bruised bodies and gives a good profile of Shaikh Sanad as well as his take on what happened at the airport.

Silly Bahraini Girl is not surprised by what's happened at the airport however, stating that what has happened is an indication of Bahrainis now entering a revolt phase against the government and Bahrainis “will take no nonsense from anyone, especially those uniformed mercenaries, who are threatening unarmed people with their batons, rubber bullets and tear gas.”

eMoodz however goes deeper and asks whether Bahrainis are ready for democracy as he sees them misinterpreting events and encourages them to concentrate on real problems the country faces.

Dreamer is livid and echos Manama Republic's concerns in that some Bahrainis along with newspapers seem to be more bothered by shattered glass rather than broken bones and shows pictures which did not make it into the national press coverage of the incident.

Ali Abdulemam who also runs the popular BahrainOnline.org forum (banned and blocked in Bahrain) and who was arrested in 2005 and jailed for 2 weeks along with his two sub-admins, has an interesting perspective on his blog which is written exclusively in Arabic in which he looks back at the last five years of the political situation in Bahrain and concludes that the king has successfully isolated the country's prime minister from effective rule, a state he has not experienced since he was appointed to that position by the late Amir of Bahrain more than 30 years ago.

Mahmood has a couple of articles reflecting on the state of affairs in Bahrain, in the first he laments the absence of the rule of law in reference to the Bahrain International Airport riot and gives a background summary of Shaikh Sanad's position and political demands, and then follow up with another connected article when the Shaikh Sanad, the person in whose behalf people rioted at the airport, gets a first class invitation to the Ministry of Islamic affairs and gets his demands met by the government. Thus he asks if this is the most effective way to get the government's attention.

In other news, Bahraini novelist Ali Al-Saeed attends the Golden Jubilee of the discovery of the Delmon Civilisation by a Danish Expedition. Ali encourages everyone to attend, because: “The exhibition is a marvel and I was surprisingly impressed with a) the exhibits, b) how they are displayed, and c) the information accompanying them. There were even multi-media sources with documentaries, television interviews and sound clips, complementing the various rare and fascinating items collected from the excavation team and the expedition.”

The Joker selects the Bahraini personality of the year: Ms. Ghada Jamsheer, a woman's right activist who has been in the news lately and had all but one case against her dropped for defaming Shari'a judges whom she claimed were corrupt and incompetent. The Joker also gives us his insight in the burgeoning stock market and the waves of IPOs hitting the Gulf countries throughout 2005 and invites us to imagine the repercussions if the bubble bursts.

We seem to have unfortunately lost a re-blogging site, News re-Blog Blog's team have announced their goodbyes and reflect on their journey with their blog and offer insights into the Bahraini blogosphere and main stream media. We would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their efforts and wish them much luck with their future endeavours.