What I lack in freedom of expression, I make up on this blog.

Previous Posts

• Letter to Abdullah
• Bahraini blogger and activist arrested
• Why we are in a gloomy mood...
• Arab generosity
• A source tells me there is a field in thepassport/...
• (Not online, excerpt from magazine) Interviewer: W...
• My mother's cooking. A very useful site for this t...
• Julia Botros (Intasara Loubnan)
• Boycott Israel Medical Association
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Good articles on Bahrain:

Bahrain's Sectarian Challenge in The International Crisis Group

Bahrain: the royals rule in Le Monde Diplomatique

Royal Flush in The Wall Street Journal

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Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Papparazi Bahrania

Having lunch earlier on, I quickly took this shot of Steve Job, founder of Apple sitting on the table next to us. I had a good mind to go up to him and tell him I dont think the ipod is gona last 2 years.


And it really is him, as verified by this description in an article I found online:

Everyone knows Parisians are snobs. So it probably shouldn't have come as a surprise that an unshaven, middle-aged American, speaking English and dressed in cuffed jeans, sneakers, and a worn black T-shirt, was rudely turned away from the bar at a lavish fete inside Paris's Musee d'Orsay on September 16, 2003.

Except that the man was Steven P. Jobs, the cofounder and chief executive of Apple Computer Inc.

Ok Ok, big deal...sorry, i just wanted to prove to myself that it is useful carrying your camera everywhere, shame I didn't have it when I bumped into Madonna, Hugh Grant, and D-list like Jordan, Rebecca Loos and a host of arab celebs. This week the sequel to Basic Instinct is being filmed in my uni, wohooo, i'll keep an eye out for Sharon Stone... i really think i have a budding future in the paparazzi...there is a gem of a photo i'm hiding of an arab popstar in a charity concert whose brief appearance on stage exposed more than just a bad voice.. now where do i go to sell this photo?

Gift Ideas

I thought i'd use this blog for something vaguely useful instead of letting it lie dormantly in cyberspace today. I have to get a graduation present for a close friend of mine and my boss’s birthday is coming up this week too. Let me just say that both are materially well-endowed, that is putting it mildly since they are probably worth half of Bahrain’s GDP collectively.

any suggestions for something cheap and cheerful, that won’t strain my limited resources and serve as a decent gift too?

(PS no one say a 'good book', I thought of that one already, but I ruled it out)

Monday, May 23, 2005

.

• There's just something about a guy who can kick a ball about well that makes a girl tick. This kid is called Soufiane Touzani.

• The opposition has come up with a practical suggestion for proportional representation as outlined in the diagram below. Each voter has 3 votes, for local, county and national representatives. They'll pass it onto the King, I hope he likes diagrams and colours.
  

• The United Nation's Committee Against Torture in Geneva concludes its 34th session with the following recommendations to the Bahraini government:

"The Committee was concerned about the persistent gap between the legislative framework and its practical implementation with regard to the obligations of the Convention; the lack of a comprehensive definition of torture in the domestic law as set out in article 1 of the Convention; the large number of allegations of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of detainees committed prior to 2001; the apparent failure to investigate promptly, impartially and fully the numerous allegations of torture and ill-treatment and to prosecute alleged offenders; the inadequate availability in practice of civil compensation for victims of torture prior to 2001; lack of access by independent monitors to visit and inspect places of detention without prior notice; and the rejection of the House of Deputies in March 2005 of the establishment of an independent National Human Rights Commission.

The Committee recommended, among other things, that Bahrain adopt in its domestic penal law a definition of torture in terms consistent with article 1 of the Convention; respect the absolute nature of article 3 in all circumstances and fully incorporate it into domestic law; consider steps to amend Decree 56 of 2002 to ensure there was no impunity to officials who had perpetrated or acquiesced in torture or other cruel and inhuman or degrading punishment; ensure that any measure taken to combat terrorism, including the draft law, be in accordance with Security Council resolutions; fully ensure the independence of the judiciary; and consider adopting a Family Code including measures to prevent and punish violence against women."

The local press seemed to have totally overlooked these recommendations, and concentrated on the ceremonial praise that such reports begin with on the King's reform initiative. I'm not sure how binding these recommendations are, but it constitutes further international pressure on the regime to reform.


• Since Chan'ad and I have been nominated for Freedom Blog Awards, there is an interview with us in the Italian Peace Reporter. Chan'ad is obviously way too modest to publicize himself in this way so i'll do it for both of us shamelessly! I never realized that the whole thing would be published UNCUT, but I thank Naoki in taking interest in publicizing Bahraini bloggers.

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Student Prayer

اللهم نفعني بما علمتني وعلمني ما ينفعني اللهم إني أسألك فهم النبيين وحفظ المٌرسلين والمقُربين اللهم

اجعل لساني ذاكراَ بأمرك وقلبي بخشيتك إنك على ماتشاءُ قدير وانت حسبنا الله ونعم الوكيل

...........................................................

الدعاء عند المطالعة العصبة

اللهم لا سهل إلا ما جعلتهُ سهلاَ إنك تجل العصب إذا ما شئت سهلاَ إنك على ماتشاء قدير و أنت حسبنا الله

ونعم الوكيل

..........................................................

الدعاء بعد المطالعة

اللهم إني استودعٌك ما قرائتهٌ فرٌدها الي عند حاجتي اللهم إنك على ماتشاءُ قدير وأنت حسبُنا الله ونعم الوكيل

..........................................................

الدعاء قبل الامتحان

ربِ أشرح لي صدري ويسر لي أمري واحلل عُقدت من لساني يفقهُ قولي وأنت اللهم ربي ومُعيني عليك توكلت

وإليك أنيب اللهم اجعل في قلبي بصراَ ونوراَ وفهماَ وعلماَ برحمتك يا ارحم الراحمين

نسألكم الدعاء

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Noble or outrageous?

This photo of a women washing cars outside a shopping mall was published in Alwasat newspaper last year.

Alot of people were outraged that a 'Bahraini' woman has to resort to this kind of work for money. Its not the sort of image u'd expect to see in the 'oil-rich Gulf'.

To be fair, after the story was broken, this lady did get offered another job. I don't know how many other women work in hard-labour jobs, but I heard that many work in factories in terrible conditions too. This reminded me of one of the first posts I made 6 months ago about Bahrain's star volleyball player collecting tin cans for a living.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Keepin' it short & sweet

No shortage of interesting material on the planet to blog on, though i'm suffering from a severe bout of CBA* Syndrome right now so i'll be quick:

• On the philosophy of Bullshitting

"Bullshit is unavoidable whenever circumstances require someone to talk without knowing what he is talking about. Thus the production of bullshit is stimulated whenever a person's obligations or opportunities to speak about some topic exceed his knowledge of the facts that are relevant to that topic."


• I'm starting to get the hang of flickr. Albeit with a cheap camera and no photographic dexterity whatsoever, any tips?

• Whoever thought it was funny to sign me up to this. You see me laughing?

• Never thought Mahmood would have a change of heart. I am genuinely surprised. Patience is a virtue indeed.

• A rather odd yet talented Bahraini blogger joins the scene.

• To the malicious snooper spying on my email: Spin on it u bugger, how do u get off reading other people's emails? Take you're trojans and patches somewhere else, goodfornothingsonofa***** I say this after running an Anti-virus for the first time on my laptop, which detected 211 virus thingies. I sat there for 4.5 hours watching this program scan and exterminate these foreign bodies that have impregnated my gateway to the universe.
  

• Orlando bloom. Nuff said... well actually no...I have a great offer for you Orly, I can just about envision an epic remake of the movie called "Kingdom of Bahrain" starring Orlando Gloom and debuting Bahrania? We can put all the rest of the bloggers as background extras...Mahmood as court jester, Chan'ad as the loyal sidekick, DIB as the leader of the Knight Templars...(sorry SBG no other female roles in the film ;)..."the AlKhalifa crusades and the fight for Manama"... but who should take the role of Salahaldeen?
  

• $260 million in total revenue for Bapco (Bahrain's oil company), and only $40 million reported in the state budget!!! MPs hope King will intervene and sort out the shortfall, how democratic.I'm sure Bapco will come up with the dodgy accounts to make up for the missing $220 million somehow in the next few days...Oh I dunno, a random hunch tells me they should ask around in Switzerland where most swindled petro-dollars end up.

As u can tell i'm in a vibrantly good mood today.

*Can't Be Arsed

Sunday, May 08, 2005

Blog Quiz #2 - Answers

The main source of information for the quiz was the paper "Patrons, immigrants and ma'tams in Pre-modern Bahrain", by Nellida Fuccaro, and a series of papers written by Hasan Abdulla here and here. The former uses a book by Abdulla Sayf as its source. The answers are open to debate, and any input or corrections i'm sure would be useful to the authors of the papers. A few of you did manage to get some write, well done!

1. When did the first Ashoora procession take place in Bahrain?

In 1891 Muhammad Mirza Ismail, a Persian merchant, used his position as agent for the British India navigation company to lead the procession in front of the Ma’tam bin Rajab, one of the oldest of the city. This was a momentous event for Manama’s Shi’i communities. People flocked behind an heavily armed Mirza Ismail who confident of British protection made his way through Manama streets defying the veto imposed by the Sunni rulers on public manifestations of Shi’i devotion.



2. What ‘new’ tribal town was established in 1809?



Muharraq, was a ‘new’ tribal town established in 1809 on an island facing Manama.



3. Name a Bahraini who started off working as an as an interpreter for the British Agency in 1893 and then went on to become an extremely wealthy businessman.
   

For some foreign merchants political connections yielded spectacular results. Ahmad bin Yusuf Kanu, an Arab originally form southern Iran, started his career in 1893 as an interpreter for the British Agency. Acting as middlemen for the Agency and for British companies he became an enormously rich and influential businessmen, and adopted a cosmopolitan outlook and lifestyle. Shaykh ‘Isa resented so bitterly his association to the British that in 1920 Major Dickinson, the Politcal agent, remarked that ‘he undoubtedly would get into serious trouble if [the] British ever withdrew from Bahrain’. As Yusuf Kanu’s example suggests 19th Manama was a city of self-made immigrants where merchant capital and outside connections were far more important than decades of prominence on the local scene. Even when Manama’s notables like Yusuf sat on one of commercial councils convened by the ruler in Muharraq (particularly the majlis al-‘urf), their appointment did not automatically grant them access to new sources of wealth and influence. Rather, it expressed Shaykh ‘Isa’s recognition of their ability to control the material and human resources of Manama and to contribute to the often depleted treasury of the royal family, particularly with cash loans.




4. By 1905 Manama had 13 main ma’tam buildings , 11 controlled by the Baharna (Arab population of the city) and two by the Persian. What was the first ma’atam to be established in Manama and who established it?

Ma'atam Bin Rajab in the 1840s? was this the first. i'm not sure.




5. In what period of the 19th century did the collapse of the pearl industry occur with an ensuing poverty and famine decimating the urban population?
   

   In the late 1920s, beginning 1930s, as a result of the world depression, which reduced demand for Bahraini pearls, and as a result of the Japanese development of a cheaper way to “breed” pearls, or make cultured pearls.

6. Who gave this illustration of the 'intricate role of weapons of the weak' in local politics:

   '.... Bus- and taxi drivers went on strike. They copied the technique of the Beirut taxi-drivers who constantly went on strike. They caused an almost total dislocation of traffic by organising bands of small boys -and sometimes girls- who strewed the roads with nails, struck through Coca-Cola bottle tops, which punctured the tyres of hundreds of cars. The boys used to dash out from narrow lanes, lay a few nails and watch the results from dark alleys where they could easily retreat. It may sound absurd that the activity of lads and children caused such serious trouble, but it was very difficult for the police to catch them, and although a number of boys who were caught were suitably dealt with they were not deterred. The strike was to some extent due to the high premiums which were demanded by British and other insurance companies. When the Government gave permission to a local company to compete with the foreign companies most of the opposition died away and the strike ended. However having once learned 'the nail game' small boys found it such a fascinating occupation that they engaged in it whenever there was any trouble in Bahrain, and sometimes they played it for their amusement'.

While 'everyday forms of resistance were originally associated with peasants it is not strictly a peasantry affair. Susan Ekstien notes (1989: 8-9) that all subordinates social groups may resist conditions imposed by dominant groups in roughly similar ways. Sir Charles Belgrave (1960), the British advisor to the rulers of Bahrain 1926-57, gave the illustration above which is an example of this.



7. When was the first prolonged and organised industrial strike in the oil industry?

Although work conditions in the oil industry were by far better than those of their former occupations, oil workers carried sporadic work stoppages to demand improvements. The first prolonged and organised industrial strike was in December 1943. The strike was successful, partly because the British feared its influence on the war effort in the region. (See: Abdulla Khalid, 1979:104-121).


8. Which Sheikh was said to have had a Jewish prostitute called ‘Mas’ooda’ who was used to lure the sons of noblemen to her house after which the Sheikh’s men would blackmail them for large sums of money or expose the scandal and imprison them.

Abdulla bin Isa Alkhalifa, the rular of the Sanabis and Jidhafs fiefdoms. A letter written by the British Agent, Mr Daley (?) dated 3/1/1922 records some of this Sheikhs misdimeanours.

1- أن الشيخ عبد الله يحتفظ بعاهرة اسمها مسعودة، وهي يهودية استدرجها لذلك العمل و كانت خليلته لبعض الوقت، وكان له مع هذه المرأة ترتيب معين تقوم بمقتضاه باستدراج شباب من العوائل المحترمة إلى بيتها، و هناك يهجم عليهم فداوية الشيخ عبد الله ثم يطلب منهم دفع مبالغ كبيرة في مقابل عدم الكشف عن القضية و عدم سجنهم

2- خلال موجة الحر الماضية، اختطفت زوجة خياط من السنابس و احتجزت عدة أيام في بيت الشيخ عبد الله، و هدد الزوج، مع العلم بأنه لا يستطيع الشكوى إلا لدى الشيخ عبد الله نفسه ( حاكم السنابس المطلق).3- أن الشيخ عبد الله هو حاكم منطقة جدحفص و وزيره هناك شخص اسمه عبد الله بن رضي، و يقوم هو و زوجته بتصريف شئونه هناك، وقد اجبر العديد من النساء على زيارة الشيخ في بيت الوزير، وقد خطفت ابنة ##### و حبست عدة أيام، و كذلك ابنة ##### و في كل حالة تم تهديد الأباء مع العلم بأنهم لن يحصلوا على حكم عادل في كل الأحوال، وفضل الأباء كذلك عدم فضح المسألة حفاظا على شرف العائلة و سمعتها، و منذ ذلك الوقت قام أباء هاتين البنتين بإرسالهما إلى القطيف كل عام في موعد زيارة الشيخ عبد الله لجدحفص. ( القضية معروفة في
المنطقة لتاريخ نشر هذه الورقة ).

9. In what year were the first ever public calls for an elected legislative chamber (parliament), and reforms in the police and judicial courts?

Late 1930s read below for more details.

في سبتمبر 1938م سافر الشيخ حمد بن سلمان للعلاج في كشمير و خلف ابنه سلمان وليا للعهد، و كان السيد يوسف فخرو يجوب المناطق لتحبيب الشيخ سلمان ( في مقابل عمه عبد الله بن عيسى الذي لازال يطمع في الحكم ) للناس، و قد سعى الشيخ سلمان للتقرب من الشيعة، مما حدا بعدد من شخصيات الشيعية للتعاضد مع إخوانهم من أهل السنة و التقدم بالمطالب الإصلاحية و هي تكوين مجلس تشريعي منتخب ( برلمان ) و إصلاح الشرطة و المحاكم و غيرها، بالاضافه إلى مطالبتهم بتعين الشيخ سلمان وليا للعهد بصورة رسمية.

و كانت هذه الحركة هي أول حركة وطنية مطلبيه منظمه تطالب بإصلاح سياسي لتواكب الإصلاحات الإدارية السابقة، و قد تصدرت شخصيات وطنية سنية ( علي بن خليفة الفاضل، محمد الفاضل، خليل المؤيد، يوسف كانو، عبدالرحمن الزياني، سعد الشملان، احمد الشيراوي ) و شخصيات وطنية شيعية ( محسن التاجر، محمد علي التاجر، السيد سعيد السيد خلف، عبدعلي العليوات، منصور العريض، السيد احمد العلوي، الشيخ عبد الله بن محمد صالح، حاجي احمد بن خميس ).

10. One of the companions of the Prophet (swt) is buried in Bahrain after being banished from Kufa by Muawiya. What is his name and where is he buried?

Sa'sa'ah ibn Sowhan Al-abdi died in 60 hijri and is buried in Askar (see map below for other notable persons buring in Bahrain- the english is pretty poor translation of the arabic, but its a useful map)

عاش صعصعة فترة طويلة من الزمن وعاصر الرسول الأعظم والخلفاء الراشدين . وقد اصطدم في اكثر من موقف بالخلفاء الطغاة حتى جاء معاوية بن أبي سفيان وقال له : " والله لأجفين بك الوساد ، وأشردن بك في البلاد . " فأمر معاوية المغيرة بن شعبة بابعاده عن الكوفة ونفيه إلى جزيرة أوال ( البحرين حاليا ) . وعلى هذه الأرض ، أرض أجداده جاء أجله فدفن في قرية عسكر سنة 60 هـ وعمره 70 سنة .

وقد رثى صعصعة الإمام علي (ع) عند مماته بكلمات منها :

هل خبر الغبر سائليه أم قر عينا بزائريه

أم هل تراه احاط علما بالجسد المستكين فيه

لو علم القبر من يواري تاه على كل من يليه

يا موت ماذا أردت مني حققت ما كنت أتقيه

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