Human rights abuses continue to get uglier in
Bahrain as its government has
banned all protests and rallies in the name of security. In a statement by Interior Minister Sheik Rashid ibn Abdullah Khalifa, Bahrain’s government has also pledged that any one who calls for protests, or participating within them will face legal actions. Human rights advocates counter that the government is continuing to imprison, torture and murder those who believe the majority of the people in Bahrain should have a shot at political and economic opportunities--which is the truth in nearby Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
For Bahrainis exhausted from a government and corrupt royal family, their hope certainly will not lie in the United States. Bahrain is a close Middle East ally and the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet is based on the small island nation. With Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner saying that all the U.S. can do to protect the protesters is that “
our best role is to be a quiet supportive voice on the outside,” the best Bahrainis can expect from America is, well, nothing.
Meanwhile other nations in the region are preoccupied with Syria and have their own precarious political scenes--offering a loud voice to the persecuted Bahrainis is not in their interest.
Businesses should step in and exert the most effective pressure a stubborn, oppressive and murderous government should face--
stop doing business with Bahrain. Conducting business with Bahrain means heaping more money on the Al Khalifa royal family, and will hardly affect most Bahrainis because they do not receive the economic benefits.
A peaceful people deserve better. If governments are going to respond meekly and with a quiet voice, then businesses can speak loudly by cutting ties with Bahrain. It is time for multinationals to take a stand and stop dealing with Bahrain’s government, which really is just a tightly knit group of thugs, stops harassing and abusing its most precious resource: its people.
Got thoughts? Share them with Leon on
Twitter.
Photo of Manama courtesy Leon Kaye
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About The Author
Leon Kaye
Leon Kaye is the founder and editor of GreenGoPost.com and its advisory division,
GGP Media.
Contact him to discuss how he can work with your organization or event.
His focus is making the business case for sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR).
He writes for San Francisco-based
Triple Pundit,
Inhabitat and now
The Guardian, for which he writes about corporate responsibility, water, and green building. He has also written for AIA's
Architect Magazine.
Leon works out of Fresno and Silicon Valley, California, and when he has free time, he enjoys hiking, gardening, cooking, weightlifting, and planning his next trip to one of the 60 countries he has visited. He has an MBA from USC's Marshall School of Business and is also a proud graduate of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) and Cal State-Fresno.
Human rights abuses continue to get uglier in Bahrain as its government has banned all protests and rallies in the name of security. In a statement by Interior Minister Sheik Rashid ibn Abdullah Khalifa, Bahrain’s government has also pledged that any one who calls for protests, or participating within them will face legal actions. Human rights advocates counter that the government is continuing to imprison, torture and murder those who believe the majority of the people in Bahrain should have a shot at political and economic opportunities--which is the truth in nearby Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
For Bahrainis exhausted from a government and corrupt royal family, their hope certainly will not lie in the United States. Bahrain is a close Middle East ally and the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet is based on the small island nation. With Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner saying that all the U.S. can do to protect the protesters is that “our best role is to be a quiet supportive voice on the outside,” the best Bahrainis can expect from America is, well, nothing.
Meanwhile other nations in the region are preoccupied with Syria and have their own precarious political scenes--offering a loud voice to the persecuted Bahrainis is not in their interest.
Businesses should step in and exert the most effective pressure a stubborn, oppressive and murderous government should face--stop doing business with Bahrain. Conducting business with Bahrain means heaping more money on the Al Khalifa royal family, and will hardly affect most Bahrainis because they do not receive the economic benefits.
A peaceful people deserve better. If governments are going to respond meekly and with a quiet voice, then businesses can speak loudly by cutting ties with Bahrain. It is time for multinationals to take a stand and stop dealing with Bahrain’s government, which really is just a tightly knit group of thugs, stops harassing and abusing its most precious resource: its people.
Got thoughts? Share them with Leon on Twitter.
Photo of Manama courtesy Leon Kaye
