Transcript

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AMY GOODMAN: We are broadcasting from the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, as we turn now to Bahrain, where reconciliation talks between the ruling monarchy and opposition groups have resumed amidst a continued crackdown on dissidents. On Tuesday, Shiite opposition groups reportedly met with the Royal Court Minister and expressed over new start to a stalled national dialogue. The Bahraini government has waged a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters since an uprising broke out in February of 2011. The U.S.-backed monarchy is home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet which is responsible for all naval forces in the gulf. Bahrain is a key strategic asset in the region because it directly faces Iran. A new documentary here at Sundance looks at the situation in Bahrain through the lens of a prominent family of activists. Directed by Greg Barker, the documentary is called “We Are the Giant.” In this clip, we hear from Zainab al-Khawaja followed by her sister Maryam.

ZAINAB AL-KHAWAJA: For centuries, a lot of Arabs have been feeling that no matter what I do, this is not going to change, nothing is going to change in this country. Without hope, you’re not going to get anywhere, because you have to actually believe this is going somewhere. That is why I can’t quit, I can’t give up.

ZAINAB AL-KHAWAJA: Where are our rights? Do our live not matter unless there are cameras here? This is my question.

ZAINAB AL-KHAWAJA: I had been arrested maybe seven times I think. I have been beaten and I’ve been injured. I have more than 13 cases against me in court. I do feel guilty when I leave my daughter for a long while. When she wakes up in the middle of the night, worried that I’m going to prison. Just last night she woke up and when woke me up to tell me, please, don’t go to jail. And I never told her that I went to jail, but she hears stuff. Kids are so smart. She wakes me up and tells me, don’t go to prison.

MARYAM AL-KHAWAJA: A lot of people ask, isn’t it wrong, shouldn’t she be at home with her kid? No, that is exactly why she is doing what she is doing, it’s for her kid.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Maryam al-Khawaja and her sister Zainab in the new film “We Are the Giant,” premiering here at Sundance. Their family has paid a heavy price for speaking out against the Bahraini government. Maryam’s father is the well known human rights attorney, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja. He is serving a life sentence in prison in Bahrain. He is has already spent two years in jail. And Maryam’s sister Zainab, whom we have often interviewed on Democracy Now!, who is also in prison now. A close friend of the al-Khawaja’s, Nabeel Rajab is also in jail. He was previously head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. Earlier this week, I sat down with Maryam al-Khawaja here in Park City, Utah. She is now the group’s acting president. I asked her to describe the situation Bahrain now.

MARYAM AL-KHAWAJA: We’re still sing a deteriorating situation when it comes to the human rights violations. The Bahraini government, so far, has no incentive to stop the human rights violations, and that’s mainly because they feel that they have international immunity when it comes to being held accountable for all of the violations that they have been committing over the past three years. So, even though there is talk, right now, about a dialogue, it doesn’t seem that the dialogue has any effect on the ongoing violations, whether we’re talking about house raids or arrests, beatings or systematic torture.

AMY GOODMAN: Talk about your own family in prison.

MARYAM AL-KHAWAJA: My father, of course, went through all of the legal action that their possibly could be, but of course, we all know the judiciary system in Bahrain is not a judiciary system that work. It is all about a political decision. If we can get enough international pressure for his release, then that is probably the only way that we can get him out. As for Zainab, she is a court date coming up in the next two weeks. She still has about six pending cases in courts. She is supposed to be released in February after serving one year, but I’m guessing without the right amount of international pressure and international attention to her case, that they are probably going to sentence her to further prison time.

AMY GOODMAN: Explain what she did.

MARYAM AL-KHAWAJA: Well, Zainab has been very influential in the protest movement. At a time when everyone was used to running away when being tear gassed, Zainab decided to stand against the riot police peacefully, but not run away. So, she became instrumental in that kind of — building that kind of civil disobedience where instead of running away when you’re getting shot at, you defy the fear, you defy the way that they think you’re supposed to react by reacting in a completely different way. And then also, of course, continually speaking about what is going on, documenting the situation on the ground, sitting with families of victims of extradition killings or torture and documenting their stories and then making sure the world knows about it.

AMY GOODMAN: Maryam Al-Khawaja, what about the multinational corporation role in Bahrain and in supporting the monarchy and also specifically the United States?

MARYAM AL-KHAWAJA: Well, we always talk about two types of human rights violators. There’s the people who actually commit the crimes, which would be the Bahraini regime in this instance. And then talk about the human rights enablers —- or the violation enablers. Those are people who do business as usual with these regimes while they’re committing the crimes that they are committing. Because of that business as usual, because they continue to do business the way they do, this enables the government to continue the crackdown that they’re doing. So, whether we’re talking about the air show or we’re talking about the Formula One coming up in April -—

AMY GOODMAN: That’s the car race.

MARYAM AL-KHAWAJA: Yes, the car race. Or if we’re talking about the visit from Prince Andrew from the United Kingdom just a few days ago, to celebrate 200 years of cooperation with the Bahraini government by the United Kingdom. All of these things enable the Bahraini government to continue doing what they’re doing. Like I said earlier, it puts them in a situation where they have absolutely no incentive to stop the human rights violations.