In the mid-2000s City University’s Journalism school — well me, to be precise — had a number of conversations with the Bahraini authorities about journalism education, in the context of a more open and robust political culture. The conversations began with an approach by a junior member of the ruling family, a former academic of liberal inclination who wanted to do something to support change.
As a journalist with CBS News, I was deported from Bahrain back in 1992 so I was a little wary of their enthusiasm. (The Information Minister Dr Tariq Alomoayyed summoned me to his office and asked why I had entered Bahrain on a tourist visa: “No one comes to Bahrain as a tourist, Mr Monck.”)
But in the mid-2000s, the small kingdom seemed to be slowly opening up. The old king and his ministers were gone. Exiles had been recalled.
One of the more encouraging signs was a tolerance of digital dissent, embodied by bloggers like Ali Abdulemam, who ran bahrainonline.org . The Wall Street Journal (article here) noted Abdulemam’s blog as a pointer to progress in the Gulf. He was part of the Global Voices network.
The conversation about journalism education carried on for a year or two, went up the official chain of command, and eventually went cold. The promise of a more robust political culture cooled too. That chill brought not only silence, it also brought arrest and imprisonment for some.
Today Ali Abdulemam is on trial, having been arrested for “diffusing fabricated and malicious news on Bahrain’s internal situation to spread rumours and subvert the Kingdom’s security and stability.” (http://english.bna.bh/?ID=89532 ). I know the progressive and enlightened people I met in Bahrain’s government will be embarrassed and saddened by this trial, and that their public silence will not reflect their private views. They will also know that their efforts to promote Bahrain as a modern and business friendly state risk being undermined by the actions of the security apparatus. In building a better future for Bahrain enabling dissent — and integrating it — is as important as international advertising campaigns.
You can read more about Ali Abdulemam in the WSJ, The Atlantic and on Global Voices.
Ali Abdulemam’s trial is scheduled for today (Thursday 28, October). His case is but one of many, yet it stands for what many people hoped blogs and the digital revolution might achieve, and his imprisonment is testimony to another broken tech-topian promise. And he deserves better.