4. Bahrain: The Frozen Arab Spring
4.巴林:阿拉伯之春遭遇倒春寒
Throughout the Middle East, 2011 was a year of revolution and uprising as the Arab Spring pushed from Tunisia to Egypt, Yemen and Libya to Syria. But when it reached the Gulf, the forces of freedom and democracy faced an aggressive push-back from the oil-rich monarchs. Nowhere was the backlash more brutal than in the tiny Kingdom of Bahrain, whose Shi'ite majority came out in protest to demand greater freedom and equality from the island's ruling Sunni royal family. They were answered by a violent crackdown orchestrated by neighboring Saudi Arabia, which blamed Iran for stoking the protests and sent troops to help clear the streets of Manama. The crackdown led to an estimated 36 deaths and more than 500 injuries, as well as numerous accounts of torture — confirmed by the report of Bahrain's official Independent Commission of Inquiry, which also found no evidence to back the claim that Iran was behind the protests. But the Bahrain crackdown got far less media attention than the dramatic events elsewhere. For one thing, the Qatari news channel Al-Jazeera, which had been the media mainstay of the Arab Spring, showed a lot less enthusiasm for covering the turmoil in the fellow monarchy next door.
随着阿拉伯之春从突尼斯波及至埃及和也门,以及从利比亚到叙利亚,2011年对于整中东地区来说都是革命和起义的一年。但当这股春潮到达海湾地区时,民主进程遭到了把持着石油红利的君主的强烈抵制。阿拉伯之春中任何一个地方的反应都没有这个不大的巴林王国中的情形残暴,当地占大多数的什叶派民众上街抗议,要求从逊尼派的皇室统治者那里获得更多的自由和公平。然而他们遭到了暴力镇压,邻国沙特也参与了镇压,沙特指责伊朗煽动了抗议,沙特同时还派出部队帮助肃清巴林首都麦纳麦的街道。镇压导致了估计36人死亡,另有500多人受伤,以及无数严刑拷打——以上事实都由巴林独立调查委员会的报告所证实,这份报告还证实并未找到伊朗是此次抗议活动幕后主使的证据。但是巴林的镇压却没有得到其他引人注目的事件所获得的媒体关注。首先就是,半岛电视台作为此次阿拉伯之春运动的主要媒体支持者,都显得对这个君主制邻邦中所发生的动乱进行报道的兴趣不大。
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