Middle East: The Dictator’s Handbook now in Bahrain  · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

This post is part of our special coverage of Bahrain Protests 2011.
All of a sudden, many ageing Arab regimes found themselves under the fire of their protesting peoples. The previously predicted wave of revolutions that is taking place in the Arab world has forced the rulers there to try all the tricks they know in order to save their thrones. However it seems that all dictators think alike, and copying each other is the dictators best plan.
By the Brazilian illustrator, Carlos Latuff
Eliminating the witnesses
Following the foot steps of the regimes in Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt, the Internet was slowed down in Bahrain. Also journalists on the ground weren't very welcomed there.
Pro-regime Rallies!
A couple of weeks ago, and during the Egyptian revolution, pro-Mubarak rallies were seen in the streets of Cairo, and now there are similar pro-regime ones in Bahrain. Less than two days ago protesters were attacked by Bahraini security forces while they were sleeping. While those pro-regime rallies aren't being stopped, due to the following Twitter update by Hussain Yousif from Bahrain:
State-owned televisions also prefer to focus only the pro-regime rallies. The Egyptian twitter user, Hazemps, referred to it as a scenario that's being repeated in different places.
The Lebanese blogger, Jamal Ghosn, also compared those who attacked the protesters in Bahrain to the ones who attacked the protesters in Egypt:
Pro-regime propaganda
The officials in Egypt, as well as the state-owned TV kept on spreading lies about the reporters and the protesters in Tahrir Square in Cairo. The media then accused the Egyptian protesters of having Iranian, Israeli, and American agendas. They also claimed that they all belong to Hamas and to the Muslim Brotherhood. Abdulla Otaibi from Kuwait wrote how the protesters in Bahrain are accused of having Iranian agendas too:
Egyptian blogger, Mina Zekri, wonders if the Minister of Information of the overthrown Egyptian regimes works in Bahrain too:
Arwa Mahmoud from Egypt as well as Khaled from Bahrain and Jenna Alawi also commented on the sectarian claims:
Saeed Al-Wahabi believes that this photo was doctored in order to prove the Bahraini government's claims. The picture on top is said to be the original one. It's handwritten and the banner carries calls for a peaceful demonstration. While the picture at the bottom – the one believed to be doctored because of the computer fonts on it – carries slogan supporting Iran and cursing Arabs. This incident reminds us with the famous incident that took place in Al-Ahram, the Egyptian top state-owned newspaper, a few months ago.
Photo taken from @S_Alwahabi YFrog account
FroozyO, and in response to the foreign agendas claims, sent on Twitter what's believed to be one the Bahraini martyr's last Facebook status, who said that he is ready to sacrifice his own life for his country.
Dialogue and Negotiations
The King's call for dialogue, and the recent appearance of Bahrain's Crown Prince on National TV are also compared to Mubarak's speeches and Omar Suleiman's calls for negotiations.
Will same route lead to same destination?
Just like the regimes, the demonstrators in the different countries also follow each others footsteps. Even the locations where the protests are held are some how similar. A great resemblance is seen between the Lulu (Pearl) roundabout in Bahrain, and Tahrir Square in Egypt. The Palestinian blogger, Muhammad Abu-Allan wrote about that resemblance in his blog.
But the question is, does this resemblance help the regime to learn from each other's mistakes? Abu-Allan doesn't think they learnt anything:
Michael Habib also wrote:
And finally, Essam El-Zamel from Saudi Arabia, agrees with both Abu-Allan and Habib. He believes that this pattern makes it easy to predict the regimes final destination:
This post is part of our special coverage of Bahrain Protests 2011.