We have interviewed Medea Benjamin, Co-founder of Code Pink and political activist in Washington who has been in Bahrain witnessing and participating in the protests and recently expelled from there by authorities. She discusses the current crackdown and situation happening in Bahrain from an on-the-ground perspective. What follows is an approximate transcript of the interview.
Q: We have on the screen now the latest pictures of protests taking place in Bahrain now and the crackdown by the regime intensifying.
Our guest in London, a Bahrain activist himself - he’s been telling us that the major reason why the Bahraini regime is able to resist this protest is the amount of support that it’s getting from the US and Britain. Let’s have your view on that.
Benjamin: I agree totally with that I think there is tremendous support that comes from silence and what we here from the US government is silence. I was shocked by my week in Bahrain and the level of repression that we found everywhere. It’s certainly in the village and of course anybody who tried to get close to the Pearl Roundabout.
And the complicity is really with the Western governments that are not doing more to demand support for the democracy movement in Bahrain. So I would agree totally and I returned having been deported for participating in a peaceful protest of women that were trying to just walk toward the Pearl Roundabout.
And the fact that all of these kinds of protests are met with teargas and concussion grenades and shooting directly teargas canisters as a weapon against peaceful protesters, is totally illegal.
Q: As someone who has been in Bahrain, who has seen the situation from up close, tell us what you saw in terms of the demands are people; what they want or if they are determined that they are going to get it and whether the international media is giving the world a fair picture of what’s happening in Bahrain?
Benjamin: It’s impossible for the international media to give a fair picture because most of them are not allowed into the country just as foreign observers are not allowed into the country.
We had to go in as tourists because it was the only way to get in and then of course we were deported because they said our activities were not consistent with tourist activities, so it’s a catch22 there.
This regime doesn’t want the world to see what’s going on. During our short stay there we were appalled at how the young people are being treated, particularly young boys, if they’re out on the street at night there are grabbed and beaten up by security police who are imported from other countries and have no allegiance to the Bahraini people, only to this repressive regime.
They are resorting to all kinds of torture including stabbing them with knives at this point and as your other guest said, it is really being done with the complicity of most of the outside world.
Q: What you saw briefly in Bahrain would you say that people in Bahrain are hopeful of achieving what they want and is what they want the fall of the al-Khalifa regime? Do they believe that the al-Khalifa regime can bring about reforms for them or do they want this regime just to go?
Benjamin: A year ago they were calling for reform, but as there calls for reform were met with such brutality, people became angrier and angrier and now everywhere you go you hear “Down Down Hamid” calling for the fall of the king and his regime.
It’s become a symbol that you hear people tooting on their car horns; you hear them getting out at night and shouting it. It’s coming from all corners of Bahrain. The people don’t believe this government is capable of reform anymore, but they are concerned about how transition happens because they know that the Saudis are so powerful and the Saudi government is propping up this regime.
And of course so many countries around the world are dependent on Saudi oil that they fall in line with the policies of the Saudi government. So, while people want to see a total change of the regime, they don’t see in the short term how that is going to happen.
Q: Again let’s refer to the role the US, your country, has had in this… Did you see any frustration or anger in the streets there towards the role of the international community - specifically the US the big powers like Britain have been playing in the Bahraini regime? Do people think that these are countries that are hindering the movement of this revolution?
Benjamin: Yes there was a poster in one of the marches that symbolized that sentiment and it showed Barak Obama and Hilary Clinton chastising the Syrian government for the atrocities and then on the other side showed Hilary Clinton and Barak Obama being silent in the face of atrocities carried out by the government of Bahrain.
There is also the ongoing military support while the 53 million dollars of military supplies to Bahrain is being suspended right now - it is only on hold, it hasn’t been cancelled.
And the US government has used the trick of selling under one million dollars worth of military supplied to Bahrain because when it’s under a million dollars it doesn’t need Congressional approval.
So, people are waiting for the US government to come out with much stronger policies that cuts of all military aid; that is much stronger in its condemnation of the ongoing abuses.
source : http://abna.ir
