Bahrain Uprising 2011
The Bahrain Uprising of 2011 was a significant protest movement that began in February, fueled by widespread discontent with the country's autocratic monarchy. Demonstrators in the capital, Manama, called for political reforms aimed at increasing the power of the elected parliament, reflecting similar demands seen in protests across the Arab world. The protests were marked by violent clashes, with security forces responding to demonstrators with lethal force, leading to the imposition of martial law in mid-March after Saudi Arabian troops intervened. The unrest not only centered around demands for greater democratic representation but also highlighted the longstanding sectarian tensions between the ruling Sunni minority and the oppressed Shiite majority, who have historically faced economic and political marginalization.
The uprising was further complicated by the broader geopolitical context of the Gulf region, where tensions between Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia and Shiite-majority Iran could potentially exacerbate the conflict. The political atmosphere in Bahrain was charged following controversial parliamentary elections in 2010, during which many Shiite political leaders were arrested, stoking further unrest. As the protests unfolded, they were seen as part of a wider wave of democratic movements across the region, yet the unique sectarian dynamics in Bahrain added a complex layer to the situation. The implications of the uprising extended beyond Bahrain, involving global interests, particularly in relation to oil supply routes and the strategic presence of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet based in the country.
Bahrain Uprising 2011
Summary: A popular uprising against the autocratic rule of the king of Bahrain, a strategic island kingdom in the Gulf, erupted in February 2011. Demonstrators were repeatedly met by police and military bullets, and in mid-March the government declared martial law the day after troops from Saudi Arabia crossed the causeway that links Bahrain to the mainland. Although the protest demonstrations demanding a greater role for the elected Council of Representatives echoed many of the demands made by similar protests in Tunisia and Egypt earlier in 2011, the Bahrain unrest also reflected another element: a clash between the ruling, minority Sunnis (about 30% of the population) and the majority Shiites, who have long occupied the lower economic tiers of Bahraini society. This conflict has been ongoing for more than a decade, and introduced the prospective of a wider conflict between the two factions of Islam that is centered on the Gulf, with Shiite Iran to the east and Sunni Saudi Arabia to the west.
The uprising began in the streets of the capital, Manama, in the form of large-scale popular demonstrations demanding political reforms focused on giving more power to the elected parliament at the expense of the king. The protests often turned violent, with police and the military firing on demonstrators in the main square of Manama, and eventually led to the introduction of Saudi Arabian forces and the declaration of martial law.
Outside Bahrain, the demonstrations were widely viewed as part of a wave of protest movements that began in Tunisia in December 2010 that resulted in the overthrow of the governments in both Tunisia and Egypt. Many of the issues voiced by protesters in Bahrain were the same as those voiced in Tunisia and Egypt -- more power for democratic institutions and reforms that would lead to economic improvements for the lower economic tiers.
At the same time, the Bahrain uprising also represented a clash between the kingdom's Shiite majority and Sunni minority, which had long held a virtual monopoly on political power and occupied the upper economic tier. The 2011 protests were preceded by controversy surrounding parliamentary elections in October 2010. In advance of those elections, about 160 prominent Shiite political leaders were arrested and charged under a 2006 anti-terrorism law. They included Abduljalil Alsingace, the leader of Wifaq, the largest Shiite party, who was arrested on August 13, 2010, and was still imprisoned as of March 2011. Alsingace claimed to have been beaten while in custody. Despite Alsingace's arrest, Wifaq won 18 seats in the lower house of the Bahrain parliament, the Council of Representatives, one more than in 2006 and just three short of a majority.
The political turbulence in Bahrain had been forecast at least as early as July 2008, when the U.S. embassy's Charge d'Affaires, Christopher Henzel, wrote a confidential memorandum -- later made public via WikiLeaks -- that said "regional tensions may be adding to long-standing domestic tensions as well, contributing to the stridency of sectarian voices in Bahrain. The majority of Bahraini citizens are part of the Shia underclass, and their grievances, expressed both in legal political activity and in street skirmishes between youths and police, are at the center of all domestic politics here." The cable also said that "over the past two months the king has departed from his traditional detached style and intervened personally in several controversies arising from Bahrain's Shia-Sunni tensions. He has publicly, both personally and through his ministers, summoned communal leaders, newspaper editors and bloggers to warn them against crossing red lines against discussion of issues like royal family disputes and criticism of judges who have sentenced Shia rioters to prison terms."
The Bahrain uprising has regional and strategic implications, including:
- About one-fifth of the world's oil supply is delivered via tankers that set sail from ports in the Gulf, often under the watchful eye of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, whose home port is in Bahrain.*
- To the extent that the uprising was a clash between minority ruling Sunnis and majority Shiites, it appeared to offer an invitation to Iran to at least speak up on behalf of co-religionists in Bahrain.
- The intervention of Saudi Arabia served to underscore prospective unrest in that country, particularly in its Eastern Province, the site both of Saudi oil fields and also of a majority Shiite population, despite Saudi Arabia's role as the widely acknowledged home of Sunni Islam.
A condensed timeline of the Bahrain uprising includes: