Uprisings in Bahrain and Syria - Research Paper Example

In both the situations, the dynamics were governed by a history of social discrimination, strong internal sectarian divide and involvement of external geopolitical forces. However, it is interesting to note the varying roles played and the different positions taken by these external geopolitical forces in both these events of great significance to the region. The Bahrain uprising, also popularly known as the 14 February Revolution, was aimed at securing greater political, social and economic reforms in Bahrain.

The protesters organized themselves using social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter and claimed to have no specific religious or political affiliations. The protests were supposed to be non-violent. The main demands included disbanding of incumbent National Assembly, a new constitution modeling Bahrain as a constitutional monarchy ruled by the Khalifa family and formation of a commission to investigate and revoke the politically motivated naturalization of aliens (Bassiouni, Rodley and Al-Awadhi 75).

The protests started of small and grew in strength with major showing on February 14 in different parts of the country. However, in attempts to manage the crowds the law enforcement agencies resorted to aerial shooting in which at least two lives were lost. This resulted in further escalation of tension and protestors occupying the Pearl roundabout in main Manama, the capital city of Bahrain, on February 17. In an attempt to vacate the roundabout the law enforcement caused four more casualties bringing the total to six within the first 72 hours (Bassiouni, Rodley and Al-Awadhi 73).

On the same day, a session of foreign secretaries of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) expressed its solidarity with the Bahraini regime in view of the emerging crisis. The following days saw increasing protests and more loss of life. On February 18, an exiled Shiite cleric, Shaikh Hadi Al-madrassi, in a