Chewed by the Lion’s Teeth

Once, a famous poet lived, more than 1100 years ago, by the name of Abo Tayeb Al Motanabi. He once said in one of his famous poems: “If you see the readiness of the Lion’s teeth, then do not assume that the Lion is smiling”.

This verse is so simple and logical in its nature, yet you would find yourself always scratching your head when many fail to from becoming the Lion’s next meal. There are two reasons for that, and both have to do with human nature. Perception, and Denial.

In the case of Bahrain, I can easily list more than 20 international organizations and political analysts off the top of my head who for the past 18 months or remained in total belief that some in Bahrain are resorting to violence due to the fact that no serious attempts by the government are made to initiate dialogue. They said that since no real moves are made, the environment here in Bahrain is clouded by pessimism, thus some find no way out except to voice their frustrations through throwing metal rod and petrol bombs at policemen and burning tires on main highways.

While those like me do not buy this failed oversimplified analysis, we tried to disassociate one from the other and say that those who use criminal means to bring attention to cause shouldn’t be listened to in the first place. They should be held accountable for their actions by the law and be shown that no attention or negotiation chances would be given, unless they walk on the footpath that every peaceful Bahraini is walking. As far as I know, this is standard procedure in the West, but then again it’s not in the West’s back yard.

Then I moved on to simplify things even further for those experts around the world who see Bahrain in a way where I insisted that it is the wrong way. As a Bahraini living in this island and well engaged with society through various means which included teaching at two universities, I see a large youthful generation not skilled enough to make important decisions on behalf of many others. I see many windows of opportunities available in Bahrain and wonder why aren’t they being correctly utilized by citizens to make reaching their dreams possible. Proper education, as I widely believe, is the only reason that makes a person use less of his body and more of his mental strength. Therefore, I went back to those organizations and analysts to advise that what they are seeing in Bahrain is actually not a smiling Lion. But did they believe me?

Today, unfortunately, all those renowned organizations and analysts have become the Lion’s next meal. They refused to listen to many true voices including myself that the situation in Bahrain is nowhere near what they have long though it was. As for the seriousness of the government to initiate dialogue with all factions of society, well that has begun this past Sunday. And as for criminal actions against policemen and peaceful Bahrainis, well that has not stopped at all.

Yesterday, thugs commemorating the day many peaceful citizens took the streets to ask for government restructuring to lift their standard of living went on a mission to terrorize the nation. Instead of the long overused and stated ‘peaceful’ word, they attacked police and planted bombs, resulting in the death of one policeman, Mohamed Asif, and the injury of countless others. To those who have lost all their past analysis on Bahrain I say, your perception and denial were placed in an ego basket and chewed by the Lion’s teeth.