The Pain in Bahrain is Always the Same!

There has been much consternation this week about David Cameron meeting with the king of Bahrain. This is of course because of the dismal human rights record this country has. It has marginalised the Shia Muslim population using torture, and often uses violence against its own people to quash any demonstrations against the ruling class.

People are asking should we be seen to do business with such a country. Of course we should!

Do you really think that this is the first dodgy regime that we have ever done business with? Who do you think armed Gaddaffi or Saddam Hussein? 

In the seventies, when the British Government was condemning the IRA they were in secret talks with them at the time, just as we are now with countries all over the world.

Trade is a dirty business; don’t believe that all shopkeepers like their customers - that is not the way trade works. You smile and nod until the sale is done. We are in an economic crisis at the moment, in case the self-righteous out there haven’t noticed. This tiny little island of ours needs trade now more than we have ever needed it, and as much as I don’t like Cameron, he knows that it’s the job of the PM to bring in trade.

If you have read any of my previous blogs you will be aware of my views on freedom of speech and that every person has a fundamental right to education. I abhor restrictive religious ideologies that keep the majority of people from developing freedom of mind and body, but what makes us so different from the people we are condemning? Have you never heard of British colonialism? Or of the atrocities that we have committed around the world? Have you never heard of how we have raped whole countries of their wealth? This was not hundreds of years ago, but in living memory. I believe that we must all hold our government accountable for their actions, but it doesn’t work like that!

Look at our best friends, the Americans, you know the big guy with lots of muscle. The one who, with us, goes to war against countries we disagree with for no reason. The guys who spout about freedom then lock up people in Guantanamo Bay without trial. 

All politics is about power and hypocrisy, what you are told is always someone’s version of the truth. But having said all this, trade is trade; we buy and sell to make our country more prosperous (Well a few in our country more prosperous). We need trade.

Sanctions do work for a while, but they also isolate people. Isolation creates fear and distrust. Fear and distrust create hate and we all know what that leads to, young men with bombs and guns!

If you really want to deal with a big bully, stand up to him let him know that you’re willing to fight. Let him know that if you fight you are more than capable of inflicting damage on him. Then, in the stand-off, make friends with him. You can do more to change minds and ideologies with a hand shake or a hug than any amount of violence!

So if you feel the need to jump on the band wagon of condemnation of other countries and ideologies, first look at your own and remember, that every other government in the world, no matter what they say, will be 
more than happy to do trade with Bahrain!