’’Bahrain: The Possible victory of blood’’

By Ali Rizk

"Foreign occupation of Bahrain" that is what members of the Bahraini opposition parties are saying is the new problem with the ruling Khalifa family of Bahrain. After being able to finally contact Sheikh Mohammad Ali Mahfouz who heads the Islamic Action society (one of the three main opposition parties) he made it clear that this latest clampdown on the protestors will not make the opposition parties or the protesters for that matter, back down from their demands. In fact Sheikh Mahfouz even hints that the next step for the opposition will be to focus on the foreign occupation and the latest atrocities committed by the Bahraini and Saudi forces (the Saudi forces constitute the huge bulk of the occupation forces) to further corner the ruling Monarchy in Manama.

In another strategy which Sheikh Mahfouz speaks about and which clearly intends to expose the Saudi role in all of this, he says that there will also be a focus on the disagreements amongst the Gulf Cooperation council members."Look at the Kuwaiti position" he says, "the Kuwaiti leadership has come out against the violence against the protesters and has even said it intends to send doctors and medical staff to attend to the wounded". (One gets the sense here that the opposition plans to present what is going on as a joint Bahraini Saudi royal family plan aimed at silencing significant percentages of populations throughout the Persian gulf who feel they are subject to marginalization and discrimination).

Sheikh Mahfouz also points out in a somewhat optimistic way to the resignations of sunni ministers and close advisors to the King following the latest atrocities. Another senior opposition figure Ibrahim Sharif who heads the secular "Democratic Action Society" says that what is happening is something expected and is "the price to pay for freedom". He also says that it is necessary for the uprising to continue in order for the ruling family to cede to more demands to the people."The more the people continue to protest and the more these images of violence against protesters is seen around the world the more the ruling family will be forced to make concession to the demands of the people and the opposition".
 
Put in another way the recent violence against protesters will backfire on the regime and the blood of the Bahraini civilians who were killed and wounded will actually serve to realize the demands of the people and maybe in a quicker process. In this regard Sharif points to how these images made the front pages and leading headlines of world media outlets and how this will oblige the world to pay more attention to the situation in Bahrain and to the legitimate demands of the people.

So in brief after speaking to the high ranking members of the Bahraini opposition one does get the sense that they are optimistic that things will turn out in their favor. However one also gets the sense that in order for this to happen the protesters must not give up and must continue with their uprising which after all aims nothing more than to end the political and economic hegemony of the ruling family, bring about a better economic situation for the people of Bahrain and bring about a system where all citizens are treated equally regardless of religious affiliation.