The British Embassy in Bahrain is promoting the appalling attack on human rights in that country – on the official British government website.
The views expressed can be reasonably described as fascist:
So-called human rights organisations, which unfortunately are largely administered by ex-ideologists and even terrorists, today propagate their own version of the word ‘freedom’, solely to take it away from others. They dismiss any notion that the minute someone’s freedom intrudes on that of another person, it becomes an act of violation. For absolute freedom is absolute chaos. Like any other state of being, it must be accountable. But in today’s world there is a frequent tendency for the press to brand those in power as ‘baddies’, and the real wrongdoers as victims.
During the last two years Bahrain has suffered hugely damaging media-inspired attacks on its image and integrity – without checks being made as to their veracity – whether news or comment.
Another thought…as much as beasts cannot be left to roam freely, so in human society the feral element’s freedom should be under control.
Respect for freedom should really start from an early age. Otherwise our society will only breed ranks of the undisciplined – staining the values of freedom.
Freedom of thought, thinking and writing, should all derive their essence from graceful wisdom, not from the dogma of hooligans.
And a second essay:
During the past two years Bahrain has gone through a phase during which misleading information has ripped our society apart through sectarian tension.
Writers took the opportunity of the unrest to promote their political views. Some fabricated stories which supported the opposition; others decided to turn the table and depict a whole segment of the society as traitors – such was the shameful role played by state television and other loyalist media outlets.
By using the term freedom of expression in the wrong context, both sides played a dangerous role in promoting sectarianism and dividing society.
It is beyond satire that the headline on all this is “blockquote>British Embassy Bahrain marks the World Press Freedom Day.
Apparently the Embassy commissioned these essays from Bahrainians to mark the occasion. Extraordinarily, they have published two essays from pro-despotism propagandists. If they had published two balancing essays from the majority community, I would have viewed the inclusion of the fascist views as wrongheaded but defensible. As it is, this is an appalling disgrace to the foreign office.
Here are some genuine press stories the Embassy might have noted, but didn’t:
Bahrain doctors jailed for treating injured protesters