Bahrain rally continues

NY Times:

Thousands of demonstrators poured into this nation’s symbolic center, Pearl Square, late Tuesday in a raucous rally that again demonstrated the power of popular movements that are transforming the political landscape of the Middle East.

In a matter of hours, this small, strategically important monarchy experienced the now familiar sequence of events that has rocked the Arab world. What started as an on-line call for a “Day of Rage,” progressed within 24 hours to an exuberant group of demonstrators, cheering, waving flags, setting up tents and taking over the grassy traffic circle beneath the towering monument of a pearl in the heart of the capital city.

The crowd grew bolder as it grew larger, and as in Tunisia and Egypt, modest concessions from the government only raised expectations among the protesters, who by day’s end were talking about tearing the whole system down, monarchy and all.

Then as momentum built up behind the protests on Tuesday, the 18 members of parliament from the Islamic National Accord Association, the traditional opposition, announced they were suspending participation in the legislature.

The mood of exhilaration stood in marked contrast to a day that began in sorrow and violence, when mourners who gathered to bury a young man killed the night before by police clashed again with the security forces.

In that melee, a second young man was killed, also by police.

“We are going to get our demands,” said Hussein Ramadan, 32, a political activist and organizer who helped lead the crowds from the burial to Pearl Square. “The people are angry, but we will control our anger, we will not burn a single tire, or throw a single rock. We will not go home until we succeed. They want us to be violent. We will not.”

Bahrain is a small, strategically important nation in the Persian Gulf best known as a base for the United States Navy’s 5th Fleet and a playground for residents of Saudi Arabia who can drive over a causeway to enjoy the nightclubs and bars of the far more permissive kingdom. Its ruler, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, is an important ally of the United States in fighting terrorism and countering Iranian influence in the region.

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The question I do not see being answered yet is what are these people going to do with what they get after the demonstrations are over with. I am not sure they have thought much about it either. Do they have a constitution in mind? Do the want an alliance with the religious bigots ruling Iran?

Obviously they have not had much time for deep thoughts since they thought they had an opportunity to make demands. Freedom is a wonderful thing and I hope they get it and have the responsibility to do something worthwhile with it.