Challenging political order
Monday, December 27, 2004
So Bahrain's "National Day" was celebrated here just over a week ago. Along with all of the nice lights on the buildings, our streets have also been lined with billboards displaying the mugs of the ruling family. They all look something like the one shown in the photo above.
This year however I came across one billboard which was unlike any of its kind I've seen in all my years living here. See how long it takes you to spot the crucial difference:
Indeed, the Prime Minister (the King's uncle) has displaced the King from the all-important central position on the billboard. For those who aren't from Bahrain, normally we would see the King's mug occupying the centre, flanked by the faces of the Crown Prince and the Prime Minister, as seen in the photo at the top of this post. Many government and private institutions hang the rulers' portraits in their buildings, and there also the order is always the same (the King being in the middle). A few times I have even heard that it is a punishable offence to hang the portraits in a different order... that might just be a rumour, but it shows how the issue is viewed here.
So I was obviously surprised to see this order shuffled around. But I suspect there was a reason behind it; it's possibly a piece of brown-nosing left over from the wave of ass-kissing that was initially sparked by the Al-Khawaja affair. Maybe I'm reading far too much into this one billboard, but I think it's significant that it is located in the same area where one of the (attempted, but failed) "loyalty to the PM" demonstrations took place.
That some individuals are willing to replace the King with the PM (on a mere billboard albeit) gives some credence to the "Old Guard vs Reformist" theory of modelling Bahraini regime politics. I certainly feel that the internal rift has deepened in recent years and months, and it seems set to continue in the future. Let's see what happens.
Oh and if you're interested in this type of "regime art", then maybe read this post about another political billboard that I wrote a long time back .
This entry was posted
on Monday, December 27, 2004 at 12/27/2004 03:25:00 pm. Permalink
12/27/2004 04:09:00 pm
I wouldn't give much credance to the Old Guard New Guard theory at all. At the end of the day, one ruling family one tribe, same shit different toilet.
Watch this video of an ad-hoc demonstration that took place on the 17th december. Can the anti-khalifa slogans get any louder? "Tana7a ya khalifa". Its kinda scary.