I don't usually blog spontaneously and reactively - I try to make time for this, to compose my thoughts and to write rationally and reasonably. But news reports today have dismayed me, and three articles which I read in quick succession have made me want to react, immediately.
Firstly, leading headlines this morning were dedicated to Obama's speech on the Middle East last night, generally complimenting (at least if you read the "liberal" press like I do, being a weak-willed, jelly-kneed, bleeding-heart liberal and all) a shift in policy away from support to autocratic regimes in favour of the pro-democracy movements of the Arab spring. The extent to which a realignment of rhetoric will really change effective US policy in the Middle East (US military bases, supply of military equipment, political partnership) remains debatable, but some of the phrases in his speech, to me, were remarkable and typically eloquent."So we face an historic opportunity. We have embraced the chance to show that America values the dignity of the street vendor in Tunisia more than the raw power of the dictator ... After decades of accepting the world as it is in the region, we have a chance to pursue the world as it should be" ... "The status quo is not sustainable," Obama said.
Following on the imposition of sanctions against Syria by the US this week, the Guardian wrote that "the tone of the speech at the state department in Washington, the first major one on the Middle East since Cairo in 2009, was intended to suggest that the US is turning its back on its long-term policy of supporting dictatorships in the Middle East to guarantee oil supplies and instead will embrace democracy and commitment to human rights.
Yet on the same day, newspapers in the UK carried pictures of David Cameron welcoming the Crown Prince of Bahrain to 10 Downing Street, shaking hands in front of that iconic doorway. The Independent led with the headline, "Cameron embraces tyranny".
A Downing Street spokesman said last night: "The Prime Minister raised concerns about the situation in Bahrain and stressed the importance of the government moving to a policy of reform rather than repression." Mr Cameron said grievances on all sides should be addressed "through constructive dialogue". The spokesman added: "The Prime Minister emphasised his support for the Crown Prince's long-standing work to achieve political and economic progress in Bahrain."
I don't normally get outraged by politics on this level. I don't usually throw around words like duplicity or hypocrisy or outrage, and because I am at least resigned to the real politik of the real world, I usually subsist into disappointment and hopelessness about matters like this. But today, not long after I read those headlines I read this brilliant piece of writing by my former colleague at Front Line, Deputy Director Andrew Anderson. And I knew that I had to repost it immediately. We all need more writing like this - concise, measured, the opposite of hysterical but with a clear sense of purpose and immense feeling.
Let us welcome President Obama's condemnation of repression in Bahrain even if it is long overdue and was qualified by weasel words about legitimate Government concerns and Iranian interference. He rightly said "mass arrests and brute force are at odds with the universal rights of Bahrain's citizens." Talking more generally he also said "the truth cannot be hidden," and "repression will fail, and tyrants will fall."David Cameron's unwise decision to welcome Bahrain's Crown Prince to Downing Street may also turn out to have a positive side. There was widespread criticism across the UK media from the Telegraph and Mail to the Guardian. The highlight was the Independent's front page banner headline "Cameron embraces tyranny" over a picture of him shaking hands with the Prince on the steps of 10 Downing Street.
One must hope that the media coverage delivered a blunt message to Bahrain's rulers in a way that British and US Government diplomacy has so far failed to do. The Crown Prince had previously been positioned as an advocate of dialogue and reform and might still play a positive role. But not before there is an end to mass arrests, torture, show trials, mass sackings and brutal attempts to silence human rights defenders, independent journalists and all those who support peaceful change. There can be no dialogue whilst those the regime must speak with are in jail. Talk of "reform" is meaningless without respect for basic human rights.
My friend and former colleague at Front Line Abdulhadi Alkhawaja has been brutally tortured in the last weeks and there was an attempt to sexually assault him because of his refusal to apologise to the King on camera. My friend and prominent blogger and freedom of expression campaigner Ali Abdulemam is currently being tried in absentia alongside Abdulhadi. He was detained and tortured during a previous show trial last year. He was released in February but has not been seen since March.
These two gentle men, colleagues I have worked with, friends I have played football with, are demonised in the Bahraini Government controlled media as religious extremists engaged in a terrorist conspiracy on behalf of Iran. It is as absurd as the detentions of doctors, poets and Bahraini football players. And the mass loyalty pledges which are apparently to be engraved on gold swords.
Obama spoke of "shouts of dignity" and we have heard these in Bahrain, followed by shouts from the torture chambers. It is time to put an end to the madness and the US and UK must exert their influence more forcefully to avert the sectarian disaster which the current Bahraini and Saudi rulers seem to be determined to provoke. Free Abdulhadi Alkhawaja and the other detainees, end the show trials, and allow Ali Abdulemam and the other disappeared to return to their families in safety.
You can support imprisoned human rights defender Abdulhadi Alkhawaja here.
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