White Kid and the Extreme Muslims

Here's my band. White Kid and the Extreme Muslims. Our album 'Cellblocks and Middle Fingers' came out in 1989.

Democracy in Bahrain, Hung Out to Dry Again...

A good article from Vice news on the recent sentencing of Nabeel Rajab in the context of free speech and the Charlie Hedbo affair. Obviously, Bahrain is not the only authoritarian regime who participated in Charlie Hedbo solidarity hypocrisy but I tend to focus on it as I lived there and understand that British Expats are complicit in the status quo by their very presence on the island, not to mention the UK's continual support for the Al_Khalifas. 

"I have always looked upon decay as being just as wonderful and rich an expression of life as growth."
-Henry MIller.

What became of the paradise  my friends and I built and destroyed about twenty years ago...

War Cry

A Bahraini boy takes part in a demonstration against the killing of a Shiite protester during clashes with Bahraini police, on February 22, 2013 in the village of Daih, West of the capital Manama. (Mohammed Al-Shaikh/AFP/Getty Images) found via WoDu Media

twelve years old

we went into battle on our BMX bikes

a mounted cavalierly of pubescent white boys

out to fuck the world

not long after leaving the safety of our fort

we saw the enemy in the distance

they were armed with

2x4s wrapped in barbwire

2x4s with protruding rusty nails

most of us felt like re-treating

even if no one verbalized this

then

one of us

i can't remember who

picked up a giant rock

and yelled

a death curdling war cry

i momentarily pretended i didn't hear it

but the offensive had begun

and could not be called into retreat

onwards we charged

as a unified unit

we would not be intimidated

even though secretly, we were all shitting our underpants

the enemy, far too hastily re-treated bare-foot into the labyrinth of their dusty village

we felt invincible

but the worrier in me, played out other outcomes in my over-active mind

from then on we feared not sneaking into their territory

for cheap burgers and shawarmas

forbidden sweets

and bicycle parts

here we are

try and say something about it boys!

one night the enemy launched a surprise attack

and stole my bicycle

you don't steal a twelve year old's bicycle

so i went into the village

frothing

looking for blood

but i couldn't find them

once i saw two of our enemy holding hands

boys holding hands i thought, what's this?

hey, gay boys!

gay boys! are you a couple?

are you romancing?

bummers!

they calmly walked away but i knew there would be retribution

a fight was organised

i preferred spontaneous fights

but, oh well

a location

some ground rules

and a time

given that both sides

broke the ground rules

the fight never kicked off

and life went on

until one day i was ambushed

by an effort at reconciliation

an outstretched brown hand reaching for my own

stubbornly i refused

and was thusly punched in the face

this was the punch i had been waiting for

and so we fought

finally 

after all that time

the outcome doesn't matter

soon the berlin wall would come down

while more impenetrable walls were built up between us and the enemy

there were no more cheap shawarmas and bike parts 

undercover missions behind their lines, deep into their village were replaced by 

sanitized times in fortressed compounds, segregated beaches and exclusive clubs

however, nearly a man

on more than one occasion i stumbled drunk through their territory

still looking

but i never found them

and now i think of lungfuls of tear gas

i think of brothers in prison without charge

i think of denial of their most basic rights

i think of torture

beatings

disappearances

and i wish we were still fighting our stupid little war

-For the Shi'a Youth of Bahrain August 2013

Bahrain updates

photo from Amnesty US

I'd like to point you in the direction of the work of Marc Owen Jones. Marc's been dissecting the political crisis in Bahrain over the last few years and is a PhD candidate for Mid East Studies at Durham Uni. It was heartening to discover a fellow Welsh Expatriate tackling this subject matter. Makes me feel bad for not paying as much attention as I should be but has provided me with renewed inspiration to keep working on and expanding Confessions of a Guilty Expat....

Keep up the good fight Marc.