The uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt may have mixed results thus far, but they had an authenticity to them. Then, the cynical manipulators, always looking to ride popular waves to personal gain, latched on. And we had big oil and big intelligence giving a huge boost to dissenters in Libya. And now in Syria.
But there are other uprisings where those interests are not invested. In fact, they want them to fail.
Real journalism does not take sides. But it does try and accurately cover everything that is going on—not just those examples that serve one particular agenda.
Some time back, we told you about the uprising in Saudi Arabia that the media ignores. That continues. Another is in Bahrain. And another is in Yemen.
Let’s check in with the Unauthorized Arab Spring, Saudi style:
SAUDI SPRING
Recently, we heard from someone in the area. He wrote (in good but imprecise English, so the following has been minimally edited for clarity):
Hello Russ,
This is Hussain. I’m from Qatif, east Saudi Arabia. I read your article ”The Saudi Arab Spring Nobody Noticed” and I thought that you would be interested following the updates of the pro-democracy protest. Because nobody, or few non-Arabs, know details about Qatif, we recently opened an English page in Facebook for updating international community.
Of course, since you published the article, the protests didn’t stop. Recently, 4 more people were martyred in Qatif by the live bullets of Saudi Forces. They don’t use water or tear gas to stop the protestors, they use live bullets, shooting with a kalashnikov! They didn’t come to my beloved city with police, they came with tanks as if they were going to war!
As you know, Shi’a is a minority comparing to the whole country. But, they are a majority in the Eastern rich-oil Province where their population is almost 4-5 million.
Unfortunately, ministry of interior is always lying, always, to smokescreen their crimes with stupid reasons. They said there were wounded policemen. There weren’t! Because, logically, they are the only side which is armed. They don’t even come near protestors unless inside their tanks. Protestors are armed by the bravery of shouting the word, holding the banners.
Please, watch these videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr0yr8V7IVw&feature=youtube_gdata_player
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PTSjzJhMmk&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Regards,
Hussain
By the way, Occupy Qatif says its Twitter account was suspended, and that it had to start a new one. Hmmm. Nothing to do with that Saudi prince buying $300 million in Twitter insider shares?
Oh, and be sure and check out this Facebook page for Occupy Qatif. You can read claims (and see possible supporting evidence) that activists and civilians are being arrested, kidnapped, shot. Where is the world press on this? What does the State Department have to say?
A lighter note from their Facebook page: The activists in Eastern Saudi Arabia, perhaps surprisingly (and perhaps not!) like the work of the late comedian and social commentator George Carlin. So do we. Wonder how popular Carlin’s critique, and his skepticism toward authority and organized religion, is with the Saudi royals? Hey, now that’s the kind of soft feature the corporate media might enjoy covering.
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