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Finian Cunningham: Protesters brutally beaten facing military courts, others disappeared, interviewed by Timothy V. Gatto

Updated: June 7, 2011 added another video and an Action Alert

with Timothy V. Gatto and Finian Cunningham
Featured Writers
Dandelion Salad
June 6, 2011

Liberalpro – Blog Talk Radio

The pro-democracy movement in Bahrain that was met with beatings and outright murder by the Bahraini monarchy has been declared “over, with a return to normalcy” by the government. Continuing with its autocratic ways, they continue to “disappear” people that led to pro-democracy movement.

Even though the western press covers this as ‘sectarian strife”, the movement has both Shia and Sunni Bahrainis involved. The “Iranian involvement” hinted at by Barack Obama hasn’t been seen from reports of journalists on the ground in that tiny country that houses the U.S. 5th Fleet.

The promises of a dialogue with the protesters are a “hollow empty restricted dialogue” according to Finian Cunningham, a journalist who is currently in Bahrain. He says that “The opposition will not be welcomed into the dialogue”. Since over 200,000 Bahrainis took to the streets to protest strict autocratic rule, out of a nation of only 800,000, that is a third of the country! The west is trying to cast the democracy movement in Bahrain as a sectarian issue between the minority Sunni’s which rule the nation, and the majority Shia. While the movement does have a Shia majority, that is only because 65% of the population are Shia.

American should be asking their government what their policies towards democracies and fledgling democratic movements in the Middle East really are. We are practically involved in a full-fledged war in Libya, supporting a movement that we know nothing of. Meanwhile we are carrying out military missions that are quite beyond the scope of what the UN approved (meanwhile Congress wasn’t even consulted, and that is an impeachable offense). The World body gave the U.S. and the other NATO powers no authorization to target Gadhafi family homes or to escalate the violence by launching military missions against the Libyan government troops. We seem to be a nation gone mad with military power.

It seems as if Obama was cut from the same cloth as George W. Bush. When the American people voted for “change”, that wasn’t a plea to change the venue of the latest war. With an economy in shambles and a nation that is on the balls of its ass, should we be spending money trying to remake the world into our image?

Only time will tell.

(starts at 5 minutes in)

Finian Cunningham is a journalist and musician www.myspace.com/finiancunninghammusic.

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[DS added the videos.]

with Ralph Schoenman
Guest Writer
Dandelion Salad
3 June, 2011

on Jun 3, 2011

Bahrainis continue anti-government rallies in the Persian Gulf sheikdom amid widespread deployment of Saudi-backed forces across the country.
Press TV interviews Ralph Schoenman, a political analyst in Berkeley, California, and author of The Hidden History of Zionism, regarding the continuing armed crackdown on the Bahraini protesters.

‘Bahraini regime totally isolated’

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PressTV – ‘Al Khalifa dialogue entirely cosmetic’

http://www.presstv.ir

Jun 1, 2011

[…] Schoenman: The dialogue is entirely cosmetic. It has no root in any prospect of transforming the dictatorship or the terrorizing of its population.

With respect to Nabeel Rajab, he has been explicit in every respect about what has been done to him and his family and to the people of Bahrain. “The dawn of May 21, 2011, specifically during our sleep at around 3:15 a.m. [Bahrain timing], our home was attacked [by Bahraini security forces] for the second time in a row [between the period from April 18 to May 21]. But [the attack] this time was different [from the previous attack, as] the tear-gas bombs were not thrown by hand, but fired by a weapon towards our window. The bombs shattered the window and several packs entered the apartment of my brother Nader Rajab [while he and his family were asleep]. It is an attempted murder by exposing my family to suffocation during sleep! This attack intended to silence me and terrorize my family [in order to] pressure me to stop carrying out my duties and human rights activities”. It’s a long statement, it’s a precise statement and it’s a detailed statement.

There isn’t scintilla of evidence to suggest that Nabeel Rajab is considered as a partner of negotiation with this regime, he is a passionate and ardent opponent of every aspect of its repression, and he doesn’t lose a moment or a day to articulate this reality and to document what has been done to the people and to the doctors, and to the wives of the doctors, who are doctors themselves, and to their families. […]

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Updated

on Jun 7, 2011

The Saudi-backed Bahraini government charges doctors, nurses, and civilians in military courts, an act which is a clear violation of international human rights, says an analyst.
Interview with Mohammed Al-Maskati, head of the Youth Society on Human Rights, from Manama

‘Bahrain trials violate human rights’

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Action Alert

End Unfair Trial For Opposition Leaders in Bahrain

The current trial of 21 total opposition figures, seven in absentia, in Bahrain is politically motivated and unjust. Many of the defendants are likely to be prisoners of conscience detained solely for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly, who should be released immediately and unconditionally. Urge Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to speak out about these human rights abuses and to send an observer to the trial. […]

via Take Action Now – Amnesty International USA

see

Finian Cunningham: Live from Bahrain, interviewed by Timothy V. Gatto

Nabeel Rajab: Bahrain situation beyond explanation + Protesters sentenced to death