Remembering the Bahrain Uprising of 2011

Interesting recap of the events that took place in Bahrain in 2011. Another thugish regime, basically running a country like a family business. As far as I can recall, the regime was even imprisoning and torturing doctors and medical personnel that aided injured protestors. 

Bahrain is a strategic platform in the region for US and British imperialism, the ruling family being an important ally willing to share the booty with their western benefactors. The crushing of this uprising that apparently began simply with demands for democratic reforms and against religious persecution was aided by the intervention of Saudi Arabia at the behest of the UK and US. The violent response to peaceful protests occurred under the watchful eye of 15,000 US troops stationed there. The Saudi regime along with other Gulf states and Israel, are the most reliable allies of western imperialism in the region and the chief cause of the neverending instability of the region.

There is no doubt, as a majority Shia state, the backward Mullah's in Tehran, themselves an undemocratic bunch of torturers would have supported the protests but that does not mean that they created them or that the uprising wasn't justified. That is the same old argument that the bosses' use to discredit striking workers, it's always "outside agitators". 

The tragic story in all of this is that ordinary people, workers and the middle class that make up the bulk of any society that go to work every day, have literally no voice, no say in these events that affect us in the most harmful way. The ruling classes have no principles other than maintaining their class positions and their economic interests that flow from that. US President, Joe (Worker Joe) Biden's refusal to sanction or punish the Saudi Prince Salman for ordering the murder and dismembering of Saudi dissident and US citizen Jamal Khashoggi reveals the brutal reality and hypocrisy of so called capitalist democracy and love of human rights. 

Until we as workers reject the false loyalty of nationalism, and build an international organization of millions of us that can open up a new era in which we have a voice and that can also organize the global working class resistance to capitalist and imperialist aggression and war that is occurring throughout the globe in numerous nations, the slaughter will continue and the possibility of nuclear annihilation and the end of life as we know it will remain a threat.

Facts For Working People covered the Bahraini uprisings and the reader can read more about it by doing a search for Bahrain or under the Middle East tab.

Richard Mellor