Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa, King of Bahrain, came to the throne in 1999. Since then, he has expanded the rights of women, modernized his country, and established Bahrain as a financial center in the region. Two years ago, on February 14, 2011, several thousand demonstrators gathered in the Bahraini capital, Manama, to demand more popular political participation and reform. To many Western commentators and journalists, it was a sign that the Arab Spring was spreading to the Gulf countries. Read more
Souad Mekhennet, NF ’13, reports on the state of reform in Bahrain two years after the Arab Spring: “Western politicians, the public, and political organizations were quick to take the side of those who went on the street and protested. Some of them genuinely wanted democracy, but many were actually protesting against corruption or for more rights and resources. And, anyway, not everyone who claimed to be protesting for democracy was talking about rights and values but about voting systems.” Read more
Wadah Khanfar, former director general of the Al Jazeera network and current president of the Sharq Forum, will speak at the MIT Media Lab on February 24 to discuss the impact of last year’s Arab Spring on democracy in the Middle East. Read more
