It’s amazing how creating a Google News category (in this case “democracy”) – and simply paying more attention – can make you feel like the world is revolving around the subject material you’re covering. This week, pro-democracy protests escalated in Bahrain to what has been “the biggest demonstration in the past year” (source). According to the news report, Bahrainis are denouncing dictatorship and protesting to demand democratic reforms.
I don’t know much about the political situation in Bahrain (and by “not much”, I mean I know nothing about the political situation in Bahrain), so if any students in the class are particularly enlightened on the topic I would love to learn more about it. But using some of the handy tools in the class, I checked out its current rating from Freedom House. With a rating of 6 for political rights, and 5 for civil liberties, its current status is “Not free”. According to the Freedom House website, there has been a downward trend in recent years due to a variety of reasons, including assaults and arrests of members of the press and political activists.
According to the article, the government of Bahrain has made recent changes (“pressed by its Western allies”) to allow for peaceful protest. If this is the case, it will be interesting to see how the protests unfold, and in a year’s time, what assessment is given to Bahrain in Freedom House’s 2012 Country Reports.