It should become clear now that sectarianism is a card dictatorial regimes in the Arab world have been using. In the 1980s, Sadat of Egypt ended a wave of protests through a heavy-handed crackdown after some misterious sectarian violence in al-Zawiyah Al-Hamra in Cairo. Habib Al-Adili, the former interior minister of Egypt is now in jail accused of being behind the bombing of a Coptic church in Alexandria in December 2010. When he was in office a few days earlier his ministry said that the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber (perhaps to play on media reports of al-Qaeda threats to Copts); now on the stand, he said that the explosive material was set off by an electrical devise--as if this were an evidence of his innocense. On Taharir Square there was more amity than enmity between Muslims and Copts united in the quest for change, freedom and social justice.
The clearest example of the use of sectarianism has just taken place in Bahrain. If anything, it shows how impotent Arab rulers are. The foreign minister in that country justified the military ambush of peaceful protesters on February 17, 2011 by claiming that his government wanted to stave off a slide to sectarianism. His evidence is the claim that the protesters in Pearl Roundabout were of a certain sect (Shia). He said that there were protesters in other places in the country and the fault line between the different groups was sectarian. But the government troops attacked only one group. The following day Bahrainis were out in the streets mourning those killed in downtown before dawn. In other parts of the country there were demonstrators marching with pictures of the king. So the foreign minister's statement served as a vision that has now been fulfilled not prevented. The images played out on television clearly shows a divided country with one group cheering and another weeping.
The government acted in the most sinister fashion. Every thing the rulers said shows an intent to play the sectarian card. True, the demonstration in Pearl Roundabout was supported mainly by Shia groups, but Shias make the majority of Bahrain. The Shia opposition demands are not sectarian and are agreeable to Sunni opposition groups. They want to change their political system into a constitutional monarchy, hardly a sectarian or even radical goal.
This does not mean that Bahraini Shias are saints and their activists are models of tolerance, but how does that make them different from the rest of Bahrainis? The evidence clearly shows how impotent leaders can take the easy route to consolidating their power--even if it means dividing society. The streets of Bahrain today only shows that shedding away dictatorship can be messy. Leaders of the Bahraini opposition, especially the Sunni groups, must now come out to re-establish unity. The king and his family are neither smart nor well-composed to lead.
This "turn people against one another" is now played out across the region, especially where there are popular uprisings. When sectarian divisions are missing, the illigitimate regimes have been using ethnicity, ideology or region as fault lines. Reports to al-Jazeera today (February 20, 2011) suggest that the Qaddafi regime is distributing arms to members of rival clans in Benghazi and other parts of the country in hopes that they will begin settling scores against one another. The purpose is to use the infighting to show that the sweeping violence is tribal conflicts that must be suppressed for the good of the nation. Alas, even as primordial divisions come intertwined with politics, the new element is this: the conflation is hardly organic resulting from irreconcilable differences among the different sectors of society. Rather, their diversity is now being used as weapon against them; the aim is to keep dictators in power. Now that divisiveness is instigated from the top, thoughtful, tolerant people will learn how to overcome it. The Egyptians seem to be on their way to achieving this goal (despite the isolationism of the elderly Coptic Pope and fanatcism of some Muslim groups). I hope the Bahrainis will rise above the pathetic trick of Al-Khalifa dictatorship.
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