Monday, May 23, 2011

My name is Nouf, and I am not a paid PR agent

On February 14, 2011 I bore witness to my country getting raped and pillaged by those who claim To be its loyal citizens carrying its flag up high with derogatory remarks about its sovereignty. Flags that have been desecrated with inflammatory comments about our rulers and the markings of the literal filth that was Pearl Roundabout.

At first it was thought to be a case of temporary insanity and many of us thought it would be fun to take a closer look just out of curiosity and see what is going on down there. I personally took a few rounds on some occasions and was in shock at the organized state of the place and the speed at which all the tents and structures had been erected; organization which I have later come to discover its spillover effect into their outcries to the foreign media.

On February 17th I was among thousands of Bahrainis shocked after the deaths at the first attempt to clear the roundabout and from the Blackberry broadcasts I was receiving from friends of "other" opinions it felt like the roundabout was attacked in the middle of the night and people were brutally killed by "merciless" members of the security forces. Despite the strength, persistence and what I thought was the credibility of people I thought I knew I still refused to believe blindly and decided to go on a quest for knowledge and decide for myself what was true and what wasn't.

That was the moment when I discovered The world of Twitter and the wonders it has shown me about the events of the world. I created my account on February 17th mainly for the purpose of getting the live tweets that I had heard about from so many people and it quickly grew on me and had become my main source of information. I was there when the #UniteBH hashtag was created and I was so proud of my fellow Bahrainis for taking such an initiative to reunite The people of this island under the same common grounds that have always held them together...

From then on I started noticing tweets from the opposition that have struck every nerve in my being accusing the "regime" of attacks against the Bahraini people and "brutal murders" and "rape" and "torture" and things I never thought for a moment that I'd hear being spewed out to the world about Bahrain! Day by day the tweets grew in number and frequency from hundreds of aliases and some even from the same people but with different accounts and I was speechless by it all with a feeling of helplessness and loss... I was unable to think and react and I remember all i could think of was "this is not happening to this peaceful land"... In my mind I started to mourn my country thinking that it was the end....

I then decided to take things into my own hands and began responding to the likes of Nabeel Rajab and Maryam Al Khawaja who after being bombarded by myself and many like me decided to block any account that opposed their views and threatened to expose their lies. However, I didn't let that stop me or discourage me... My mission became an obsession and all of us who have dedicated our time and effort to defend this country began to find different ways for our voices to reach as many people as possible. My efforts increased as events unfolded and while I tweeted and BBMed and occasionally emailed and "facebooked" I tried to maintain a neutral attitude and report facts and cast doubts on certain tweets that seemed a bit fabricated to me. I challenged people from the opposition and tried to find flaws in their reasoning and attempted to share this with the world all in hope of salvaging some of the damage to bahrain already caused by the opposition's lies and false reporting. Later on I found that I've morphed into someone I did not want to be... Spiteful and sometimes hateful but never racist. It was taking its toll on me and I could not be myself for too long. I started ridiculing at times and challenging them directly at others. I did not like what I had become but it was a necessary evil at times and it was getting increasingly difficult to maintain my positive outlook and openness to other people's views...

A network of "defenders" started to take shape, some of the individuals in it I know personally and others who decided to remain anonymous; some for fear of their lives and that of their families and others who just did not care for any credit... One motive unified us all: damage control and defending the honor of this kingdom... The number of "defenders" increased exponentially after a successful campaign against Maryam Al Khawaja in one of her jet setting excursions to spread lies about Bahrain; there were the occasionals and the usuals and the aggressive and the positive but it was clear to everyone why they were there and that what motivated them to be there was nothing more than their unconditional love for their country and their quest for seeking and disseminating the truth about Bahrain's events...

I kept the same account all along. I put real information, my real display picture and spoke of real events that have been happening in my life. I purposely did that so that anyone who wishes to check into my background would be free to do so and believe that I am who I say I am and that I have not been contracted by the government to do it's PR work on Twitter. I showed the world my true self and yet the world has let me and many others like me down by accusing us of being paid PR agents.


So now I declare it to the world, and on behalf of my fellow defenders: My name is Nouf, and I am NOT a paid PR agent!

5 comments:

  1. Well Done Nouf. I must say, it was very touching. There were parts in it that I felt like I was the author of this excerpt which spoke directly to me.

    As a Bahraini, I am offended that people think we’re paid to do this when it’s really plain unconditional love for this land of ours and its leadership. It reminded me of my first post that clearly expressed how we were feeling at the time. Barak Allah Feech.

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  2. Thank you for writing this. I am in the US, my husband is Bahraini (in Bahrain), and the only news I see here is all about the opposition with nothing about any other view or how things really are. It is very hard to convince friends and family that what they are reading and hearing is so far from the way things are. Not that they believe everything verbatim in the news, but when every agency is so biased, it makes it hard.
    Thank you again!

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  3. Nouf.well said and done,i am very proud of you and all others that are working for the best future for Bahrain and us Bahrainis.
    Yes we were disapointed at some point,but not anymore.
    Wish you all the best
    Afaf Bucheeri

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  4. Thank you dears for the comments I'm honored and humbled...

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  5. I am proud we have people like you loving Bahrain this much. In our present world this become upside down. The Iranian agetns who are trained trrorism by Hezbullat and fully supported by iran on media, financially, politically, and by arms are the victims. While true people of Bahrain who are saying the truth, are paid PR. Strange world.

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