PRESS TV
Sat Mar 26, 2011 7:35AM
Interview with Danny Schechter, the Mediachannel.org editor, New York
The crackdown on anti-government protesters continues in Bahrain as foreign forces join the tiny Persian Gulf monarchy's Western-Backed repression of people.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Danny Schechter, an editor with the Mediachannel.org, regarding the revolutions in Bahrain, Yemen and Libya. The following is the transcript of the interview.
Press TV: The US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain is very quiet. The US has stepped in when it comes to Libya but not in Bahrain, why?
Danny Schechter: Well, the United States is supporting the government of Bahrain. That seems to be what's happening. They're not supporting them in a way they're saluting the leadership there but they are supporting the intervention by the Saudis. They're supporting the governments there. They're opposing the movements there because once the movement started to target the financial center in Bahrain, once it began to grow, you know you saw the conflict getting much more intense. Obviously the United States doesn't like to see the television pictures of police abuse so they are trying to get the police there, the army there to behave more appropriately but not really supporting the democracy movement as far as I can tell. And certainly there are no Tomahawk missiles being targeted at Bahrain the way they are in Libya.
Press TV: Mr. Schechter, Yemen's President Abdullah Saleh, himself is a US ally. What do you make of his speech ...which seemed to be conciliatory in the sense that he was saying that he was going to pass over the power to someone, what he called safe hands. What's Ali Abdullah Saleh's current position? Where will he go? What can we make of his speech?
Danny Schechter: I think he's going... I mean it seems like he's going. You know the departure has begun. The question is what are the terms how's he going to save face? How can he try to appear to be in control by suggesting various deadlines for when he will consider leaving and when he's kind of relaxed one of those deadlines? You know the army, significant elements of the army are turning against him. There are rebellions in the south and in the north in Yemen. The uprising, you know, had one of its biggest protests ever today it's actually building in intensity I think he can read the tea leaves as everybody else.
The question is who will step in. the United States would rather stay with the kind of devil they know then perhaps get somebody else in their view. So, you know we're in a situation where the United States is trying to appear to disengage. That's what we're seeing with the effort to hand over authority for the no-fly zone [in Libya] to NATO. They would like to be in the shadows more than upfront and I don't think that's going to happen so the conflict is actually intensifying.
Press TV: You were making some comparisons with Egypt.
Danny Schechter: You know, in Egypt, they were trying to stall the ouster, the departure of [former President Hosni] Mubarak and bring in Soleiman, try to get an extension for some months so on and so forth. You know and that fell by the side of the road when people wouldn't buy it. I think people in Yemen. Too many people have been martyred. Too many people have died for them just to turn back now and let him, the leader, dictate terms of his own departure. I think this is going to intensify and I think we're going to see the same sort of scenario in Bahrain as well. I think it's going to take a little bit more there because of the Saudi intervention.
But seeing across the Middle East, there's a kind of awakening, as has been described, by ordinary people who believe that they can make changes they have been calling for years. And many of them are willing to take risks with their lives to try to get them. Some legitimate movements for change, some seem more questionable for example the caught rebels in Benghazi [Libya]. It's not clear exactly who they are or what they stand for anyhow. So there's a lot of issues. The NBC news actually spoke to one of the caught rebels in Benghazi and said 'why are you fighting? He said because I am against [Muammar] Gaddafi because he's Jewish. Ok? Sounds pretty absurd but there are people with different understandings of what's involved. And I think there's a lot of confusion on the ground there and certainly among the so-called allies who basically can't agree on what they are planning to do.
Press TV: Is this real change, are these revolutions? Have they been hijacked? This is the ongoing question. What is the direction now as the weeks turn into months, as the domino effect goes on further along. Are we just seeing a hijacking of these movements? Is it just that they need more time? Will people power prevail?
Danny Schechter: There's another process going on here that's not really in the media but it's very significant. I was at a forum the other day when the Egyptian dispatch from Cairo was describing how the Libra movement has actually taken action against the proprietors of their enterprises, forcing higher wages, forcing better working conditions. In other words, this is not just an effort revolving around one person. Whoever the national leader is. This is sweeping through the institutions as well, the educational institutions. Certainly the security establishment. And in the army to some degree. So I think the fact is that we are only getting some of the facts. We don't have the really in-depth bottom of view of what's happening so we're commenting on what the media is commenting on and the media is sometimes out to lunch...
GHN/MGH
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