What’s gone wrong
For a month, thousands of Bahrainis occupied the central square of Manama, their capital, in a protest partly inspired by the wave of unrest sweeping the Arab world but also deeply rooted in their nation’s past. Unlike their neighbours along the eastern flank of Saudi Arabia, they were determined to loosen the grasp of their autocratic king and his uncle, who has been prime minister longer than most of his people have been alive.
Then, with the help of Saudi troops who’d arrived on Monday, the regime of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa unleashed a violent attack, driving protesters from Pearl Square with guns and tanks, killing several in the process. A three-month state of emergency has been declared, opposition leaders have been thrown into jail and revolutionaries who’d dared to dream of repeating Egypt’s outcome now face the spectre of a Libya-style civil war.
Meanwhile, the superpowers, especially the United States, are pressing for a peaceful end to the showdown. Bahrain is the Arab world’s tiniest state, but it’s also special.
As University of London historian Nelida Fuccaro puts it: “This small island is a microcosm of the Middle East – you have sectarianism, class issues, poverty, repression and a young generation coming up.”
Even more important, she adds: “Bahrain sits in the region that provides the most oil to the global economy – and it’s the most volatile country there.”
Why it matters
Although minuscule – a patch of desert that, at 760 square kilometres, is only slightly larger than Calgary – Bahrain casts a long shadow. It has largely exhausted its own petroleum reserves, but sits in the heart of the Persian Gulf oil patch, linked to Saudi Arabia by the 25-kilometre King Fahd Causeway since 1986. Iran, with which it has a long history, sits just 200 kilometres across the water to the northeast.
A former British protectorate that will mark 40 years of independence in August, the nation of 1.2 million is strategically important both to its neighbours – since replacing battered Beirut as the region’s banking centre in the 1980s – and to the United States, as the home base of its Fifth Fleet and an important foothold from which to keep tabs on U.S. interests and rivals in the area.
But its nearest neighbour has the greatest stake in Bahrain’s future – especially if the popular upheaval were to succeed and have a ripple effect.
“Bahrain could be the breach in the Saudi Arabian wall when it comes to democracy,” says Michael Byers, a political scientist and Middle East expert at the University of British Columbia. “If you’re a Saudi ruler, you’re very nervous today.”
How it got to this
Bahrain is no stranger to foreign rule. From ancient times, its freshwater springs, lucrative pearling industry (to which the square so central to the uprising owes its name) and vital location made the islands wealthy and attracted the attention of empires – especially the one across the Gulf.
Over the years, ownership changed repeatedly – at one point, Portugal was in control – before the current rulers, the Al Khalifas, arrived from Qatar in the late 18th century after defeating a Persian vassal then in control of the island. To stay in power, the family turned to Britain, agreeing to serve as a base for the Royal Navy in exchange for its protection.
Iran, however, continued to press its claim until finally, in the 1960s, it agreed with the British to let the Bahrainis decide their own future. In a plebiscite, they voted to become independent, rather than another of the Shah’s provinces. The day after Britain withdrew in 1971, the United States moved in, and relied heavily on the Manama base during the 1991 and 2003 invasions of Iraq.
