Posted on 06/06/2004 10:41:24 AM PDT by BenLurkin
MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) - Bahrain may be small but its aspirations are big, and this week it gets a world spotlight - the Group of Eight summit - to showcase its democratic reforms. The country's king will be at the summit of the world's major industrial nations opening Tuesday in Georgia, along with the new president of Iraq and the leaders of Algeria, Jordan and Yemen. They were all invited by President Bush as part of his effort to promote democracy, human rights and economic liberalization in the region.
It's a delicate maneuver in which the United States is caught between opposing arguments. There are Arabs who welcome the Bush initiative, saying U.S. administrations have been propping up Arab dictatorships for too long. And there are those who say its push for democracy is an intrusion into internal Arab affairs.
Two of the region's powerhouses, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, have chosen not to attend the summit. The countries don't want to appear supportive of U.S.-backed reform packages amid increasing Arab mistrust of the Bush administration over the occupation of Iraq, Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip and the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by some Americans.
Egypt and Saudi Arabia were the first countries to criticize the U.S. proposed reforms, saying such changes should come from within. A recent summit of Middle East leaders designed to discuss reform was marred by sharp differences and the absence of a number of leaders.
Bahrain's king, Sheik Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, will use the G-8 summit at Sea Island, Ga., to showcase his country's reform efforts since he took office five years ago. His country typifies the Arab states which have tinkered with democracy without fully embracing it.
Adel Al Abbasi, a Bahraini human rights activist, said Bahrainis can speak their minds and their island, about the size and population of Austin, Texas, may be the best model the Arab world can offer.
"Bahrain managed to get out of dictatorship to some kind of a relative democracy," he said.
Bahrain is tucked between Saudi Arabia and another small but richer Gulf state, Qatar. A U.S. official here said the island is a good platform to test reforms, in part because its leadership asks for help.
Bahrain, whose oil production is the smallest in the region, is looking to diversify its economy and is concluding a free trade agreement with the United States, the first such in the Gulf.
Bahraini women voted and ran for office in the 2002 parliamentary elections, the first after the king restored Parliament and the constitution following a three-decade freeze. The election yielded a chamber almost equally divided between secular and religious Muslims.
The king retains ultimate authority and political parties are banned. Still, Bahrain's strides have put it well ahead of its neighbors. Kuwaiti reformers have failed to persuade Muslim hard-liners to give women the vote, and women in Saudi Arabia, which has no elected bodies, can't even drive.
Bahrain, home to the U.S. 5th fleet, still has to balance modernity and religious conservatism. Conservatives drove out a "Big Brother"- style reality show because it featured young women and men living in the same house. But women need not cloak themselves in public, and there are cinemas, theaters, night clubs and liquor stores.
Unlike most Muslim countries, Bahrain has a Shiite majority. But the royal family is Sunni - a source of tension since the country won independence from Britain in 1971. Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, the main Shiite group, boycotted the 2002 election, saying democracy was developing too slowly.
Yet striking changes have emerged in recent weeks.
Last month 15 Al-Wefaq members were arrested for collecting signatures on a petition calling for constitutional amendments. They could have been imprisoned for life, but the king pardoned them and called for dialogue.
Days later police fired tear gas and shotgun pellets to disperse a crowd of 5,000 rallied by Al-Wefaq to protest U.S. operations in Iraq. At least two demonstrators were seriously injured.
Again, the 54-year-old king stepped in, firing his interior minister and saying the march should have been allowed. "What happened between the police and the protesters didn't please us," a royal statement said.
Al-Wefaq's leader, Sheik Ali Salman, supports Bush promoting Arab democracy. "Political reform and safeguarding human rights are all positive things, regardless of the motives," he said.
"Democratic King" is oxymoronic.
Give credit for effort.
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