BFHR’s webinar highlights the undermining of the cultural rights of the indigenous Bahrainis

Entitled “The Reality of Cultural Rights in Bahrain,” the Bahrain Forum for Human Rights (BFHR)’s has organised a webinar, in which researcher Abbas Al-Murshid, critic Dr. Ali Al-Dairi, Al-Wefaq’s associate Youssef Rabie, and dissident Ali Al-Fayez, have took part emphasising the importance of the cultural right, which is stipulated in international charters as it enshrines a constructive societal identity that combats discrimination and exclusion.

The Bahraini researcher, Abbas Al-Murshed commenced the discussion by dissecting the fallacy in defining the concept of “culture” stressing that it includes the identity of the individuals & their habits, not merely their knowledge. He also stressed that the ruling family in Bahrain does not recognise the culture of the other components, which causes a state of conflict. According to him, it practices systematic exclusion, which prompts the secluded groups to defend their culture, indicating that cultural rights reflect the specificity and distinction of any society.  Al-Murshed also pointed out that this systematic cultural marginalisation amounts to the status of occupation rather than establishing a status of equal citizenship. He recalled the conference that was held in December 1983 under the pretext of studying the history of Bahrain accentuating that the real goal of it was to fabricate a new history that is consistent with the interests of the ruling family; it is remarkable that it coincided with the 200^th anniversary of Al Khalifa’s taking over the country. He added that the conference caused a cultural genocide, and was followed by the liquidation of the educational curricula of everything that confirms the authenticity of the Shiite presence, their prominent figures and scholars, as well as purifying the media of everything that highlights their cultural identity. Intense measures were also taken to obliterate the spoken dialect and disdain it in the local soap opera & shows. Al-Murshed also recalled the petitions that were submitted, in November 1922, to the British administration, which referred to cultural persecution, as the ruling family robbed them of their rights & enslaved them, as well as forcing them to work during two religious occasions, Tasu’a and A’ashura, and those who violated had to pay a tax. Al-Murshed confirmed that the British administration helped the ruler in the 1930s to confiscate & vandalise Al-Khamis Mosque just as what is currently happening to the Sasa’a Mosque, pointing out that the political movement - historically - is linked to cultural persecution and fighting the prevailing narratives.  He added that the seizure of the Ja’afari endowments comes in the context of the cultural war that the regime is practicing today to obliterate the country’s cultural identity. Likewise, the goal of intervening in the affairs of Ma-atems and preachers in a bid to frame the culture of the population, underlining that this is part of the state of non-recognition practiced by the government. The Bahraini researcher added that the state-books teaches a provocative history that distorts the indigenous’ sectarian foundations. The official media also pursues a policy of sabotaging their cultural identity in line with the interests of the Manama’s Western allies, which asserts the involvement of these major powers in supporting the regime’s exclusionary policy.  He pointed out that the aim of presenting Bahrain as a pluralistic state is to obliterate the authentic societal identity in a manner that intersects with the goals of political naturalisation, concluding that the way to confront this is by stripping recognition despite all exclusionary practices.

In turn, critic Dr. Ali Al-Dairi mentioned that the Baharna of Al-Muhammarah have faced and are still going through multiple cultural challenges; they have been subjected to ethnic and linguistic persecution despite their openness, tolerance and cultural flexibility.  Dr. Al-Dairi emphasised that this cultural group havevlong faced a clear cultural alienation and needs to be assimilated and recognised in Bahrain for its cultural originality.

The political activist & dissent, Ali Al-Fayez, for his part confirmed that the reality of cultural rights adds salt to the people of Bahrain’s open wounds referring to the tireless attempts of the authorities to strip them of their authentic culture, which largely controls their behaviors and principles. Historically, he said, the Bahrainis have voluntarily converted to Islam, and have been known for their brotherhood, coexistence, religiosity and Islamism, and for their adherence to the line of scholars and jurists. Al-Fayez added that the struggle of the people of Bahrain today is linked to the failure of the ruling family, which occupied it in 1783, to integrate with them as it imposed forced labour, pillage and aggressive policies. It deceptively claims that it has brought Islam to Bahrain turning it into an Arab & Islamic community.  Al-Fayez continued that what was announced recently by one of the pro-regime’s pulpits reflects the cultural hegemony exercised by the government, and what it is doing in terms of marginalising the other component, i.e. the Shiites, until it has recently cancelled the titles of families from official documents with the aim of dismembering and alienating them. Al-Fayez went on by saying that, in parallel with the political naturalisation, the authority has worked to hybridise Bahrain with the aim of changing the dialect, customs and traditions, and reducing the state of religiosity among the citizens.  It also imposes religious teachings of what contradicts their beliefs, and it is working today to impose normalisation with the Zionists through the curricula and create a state of identification with the apartheid regime, stressing that the regime has established a security situation to terrorise the population, and sought to demonise the clerics, drop their nationalities, arrest and displace them, as happened with Ayatollah Qassim. It has also obliterated the traditional professions of agriculture and fishing & worked to restrict the poor and their livelihoods, as its influentials have seized most of the coasts & national riches. Al-Fayez likened the ruling policies to the Zionists’ liquidation of the original inhabitants of Palestine through naturalisation, discrimination, impoverishment, spreading unemployment and all kinds of oppression, underlining the necessity of the people’s steadfastness in their rightful demand to participate in governance in order to preserve their identity, and if the authority did not respond, then the uprising must be carried out no matter what the sacrifices cost, otherwise their presence and culture would vanish.

Al-Wefaq’s associate, Yusuf Rabie, pointed out the authority’s mouthpieces persistently promote that Bahrain has pluralism, while deliberately obscuring the systematic cultural persecution practiced against Shiite citizens.  He continued that in addition to obliterating the historical identity of the Al-Khamis Mosque and turning it into a tourist attraction, the authority has falsified the date of its construction in order to target the authentic Shiite presence, in clear violation of the two international covenants. Rabie pointed out that the regime has too worked to obliterate the history of the Al-Mubarakiya Alawi School and the Sa’asa Mosque with the aim of obscuring the historical precedence of the Shiites, and the jurist Kamal Al-Din Maitham Al-Bahrani, Sheikh Al-Asfoor and other names are not mentioned in any books. He further referred to the systematic official incitement in the school curricula, which constitutes a clear infringement of Bahrain’s indigenous culture whereby Shiites are considered infidels, their beliefs are rejected, and their patriotism is questioned, in clear violation of the constitution.  He also stressed that Bahrain assigns teachers carrying Wahhabi doctrines and thesis to teach religious education courses, even in schools located in Shiite areas.