Brown nosing
Thursday, September 30, 2004It's quite nauseating to see the reports in the newspapers of "crowds" of supporters affirming their loyalty to the Premier in response to the Al Khawaja affair. Apparently, tomorrow there will be a rally tomorrow in Budaiya to pledge support to the ruling regime. It's all well to praise the leadership when they do something right, but it seems ridiculous to be celebrating the leadership right after it has banned a human rights group. But I don't really believe that the people who are pledging their support are doing it out of their love for the ruling regime, but rather because certain individuals have been able to identify an opportunity to further their careers by kissing ass.
Word on the street is that those opposed to the closure of the BCHR will also be holding rallies or protests tomorrow after Friday prayers. I really have no idea where it might be held, but the Ras Rumman mosque is a typical venue for these types of events. I do hope that there is no violence tomorrow, and that the police are able to keep their fingers off the trigger unlike other times.
Finally, I want to echo the demands made by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International (and Mahmood) to immediately release Abdulhadi Al Khawaja, rescind the ban on the BCHR, and to scrap the society laws which are a remnant of the old State Security laws.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, September 30, 2004 at 9/30/2004 09:44:00 pm. Permalink
10/01/2004 01:50:00 am
The brown nosing is completely sickening – you know that if the wind starts blowing in the other direction these same people kissing arse will be claiming that they supported Al Khawaja all along. This obsequiousness sends the message that nothing succeeds like success, encouraging both sides to go for broke escalating all the way.
One of the reasons despotism is so easy in the Arab world is because the middle classes don’t stand up to protest – the other reason is because those who do stand up are usually Islamists (as in the people leading tomorrow’s rallies) and reasonably enough no one wants to see Iran/Taliban/Sudan repeated.
Incidentally, while ostensibly this crisis was prompted by the Oruba Club meeting, what really threatened the old guard was the CP’s McKinsey report, which would end the low skills low wage economy, wrecking their chances to make a quick buck.