Saturday, November 27, 2004
Updated: The Opposition view on Dubai TV
It is timely that the issue of the Opposition in Bahrain, and Al-Wefaq in particular, being the major opposition society which boycotted the elections in 2002 has been raised, since tomorrow, Almaqaal programme is hosting Sheikh Ali Salman, the President of Al-Wefaq on Dubai TV- in arabic of course. He will discuss the Opposition view on the political situation in Bahrain, freedom of speech, human rights, sectarianism in the country. I think you can phone in and raise any issues you want directly- segregation, revolution, BCHR, whatever you want. So you can get off my case, since I aint no spokesmen for Wefaq.
التوقيت: يوم الأحد 28/11/2004 م الساعة 23:30 بتوقيت الإمارات 22:30 بتوقيت السعودية
يعاد يوم الجمعة 03/12/2004 م الساعة 15:30 بتوقيت الإمارات 14:30 بتوقيت السعودية
Sunday 28th November at 22.30 UAE, 21.30 Bahrain, 18.30 GMT.
Repeated Friday 3rd December at 15.30 UAE time and 14.30 Bahrain time.
To watch online:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 3
Listen
It will also be interesting to see how far Dubai TV will allow criticism of the Bahraini government, whether the program will be edited or live etc.
Read or Post a Comment
Bahraniat, thanks for the announcement of the TV prog by al-wefaq... on my behalf, pls pose the following question to the Prez during the TV sHow:
What ia Al Wefaq's stance on gender segregation in Bahrain's Universities & education institutions? Apart from an Islamic point of view, how advantageous is the proposal of gender segregation in university's? Do the advantages outnumber the disadvantages and Why Segregation Now?
Obviously i can't converse in Arabic and if someone were to pose that question for me and get me a reply on here it will be most appreciated.
Thanks in advance. :-)
I wasn't able to watch the show unfortunately. If you saw it, could you tell us how it went?
Oops. Just noticed that the repeat is on Friday... pshh... I'll surely forget by then
Hi guys thanks for that.
I will summarise the main points of the interview very soon. But my general impression, and the impression of all that I spoke to, was that this was an excellent interview, so much so that the presenter himself praised Sheikh Ali Salman for his composed, cool and eloquent manner and that of the Opposition as a whole. This was Ali Salman, the politician talking, not Ali Salman the cleric.
It was extremely flattering to Opposition, especially when the presenter described that it has proven over history to be the most exemplary example of a civilised, coherent, and moderate movement in the Middle-East. This was in the words of the presenter at the very end if you listen.
The big bomb that Sheikh Ali Salman dropped in the interview, was that the current membership for Al-Wefaq is 70,000 !!!!! This is massive, massive, massive. The presenter constantly probed Sheikh Ali as to how the society became this big following the slogan of "Sign and Sign again" when the Opposition societies launched a petition rejecting the new 2002 ammended constitution of Bahrain. Sheikh Ali explained that this was due to the fact that the government, by trying to hinder the societies popular petition and threatening to close down the societies, led the masses to go out and join Al-Wefaq to sign the petition.
Overall, this was a very optimistic and positive interview, in that it was very factual, down-to-earth, diplomatic and urged the need for further reconciliation between the Opposition and government, to end the political stalemate. He emphasized that this is not an issue of sectarian rights, or the rights of the Shia specifically, this is an issue of CITIZEN rights first and foremost.
Sorry I can go on forever, there is so much more, but I hope you can get to listen to the interview from the link above, or watch the repeat, or the extremely poor video camera recorded version above.
I'll appreciate the views from those who have listened or watched it.
aaahhhh, what gushing flattery for Salman Bahraini. I could almost envision you with pigtails, cuddling a pillow on your bed whispering "salman, salman, our saviour!" with eyes clouded with affection.
get over it girl, it doesn't become you. he is a polititian yes. no matter what you do or say, and no matter how moderate he seems to be, he will always put religion over and above the people, he will always interpret laws with a sharia view.
and who is this presenter that you vouch for? is he a world-wide political analyst in order for you to take so much of his flattery to heart as well? It was him that suggested 70,000 strong membership of al-wefaq and not Salman. Salman was busy trying to analyse to his own disbelief how they got that figure continuously repeating the municipal elections and how al-wefaq then had 55k - 60k supporters, why? because we elected their candidates by chance? al-wefaq was an unknown entity then and although I voted for one of their candidates in the muni elections because he was the best of the bunch then, salman and al-wefaq shouldn't count me as one of their supporters, and nor should they count the 55-60k by salman's calculations.
70k card-carrying wefaqis are fine and I hope they get to get bigger in the future, but watch the majority run when the society asks them for some money, even 5 dinars, to renew their membership for next year.
Geez Mahmood, and I actually thought you would eventually sign up to the Salman fan club, im so sorry they havent got any promotional offers on right now :) But the free lollipops they were giving away managed to lure me in !! i'll suggest the free Gillete razors for next the next campaign.
Im afraid its just the phobia of beards and turbans. I dont know if there are any drop-in clinics for that in the local medical centre that you could visit.
running away from the crux of the matter are you?
what has salman and al-wefaq got that turns you on so much? I just fail to see it.
as a man, I would probably benefit a lot more than you would IF they come to power. If al-saidi and co, AND al-a'ali and co are any indication, you're in for a big slap across the face. I hope that you will at least respond rather than just turn the other cheek. only then I think you will wake up!
Firstly, I am not turning the other cheek, I just dont like you're attempts at pushing me into a corner and defending my beliefs. Did I ever question your secular views Mahmood and make you defend them? I accept and respect your view. So even if you fail to understand my view, I refuse to give in to your attacks. At the end of the day, I can't reconcile my religious beliefs with your secular one so i'd rather not get into a futile debate.
We live in a society where it is not about WHAT you say but about WHO says it. You people never critically analyse what comes out of peoples mouth before you jump into your suspicious all-encompassing prejudices that you have - even if that means putting everyone into a single basket and not judging them on individual merit, chrisma, experience, personality, political view, political stances.
Im not pro-3amama at all...with all the sanctimonious resonance of the holier-than-thou status they have in our society. What matters to me is the politics and who I choose to represent me in public life - whether an MP , a journalist, the leader of a political society. To me, Alnuaimi and Salman are the faces of the politics i believe in, those still demanding a resolve to the constitutional crisis. With the latter, being closer to the social group I belong to.
If you fail to understand this, all I can say is that I believe you are looking at the situation through completed distorted secular looking-glass.
Hallejah! I've become "you people" yippeeee!
Sorry if I punched your goat too hard Bahrania. I *do* respect Ali Salman quite a lot more than you think. He is doing the thing he believes in and ultimately it is going to be for the better of the country as a whole, I am very glad however that Al-Noami is with him and acts as a balance, as the latter represents my political views closer than the former.
Ok, you don't seem to be in a mood to talk, so I'll leave you alone. For now. ;)