Bahraini journalist Nada Alwadi speaks at the Resource Center for Nonviolence on 9-22-11

Nada Alwadi was a reporter for Alwasat, the most popular newspaper in Bahrain, a monarchy on a small island in the Persian Gulf. Alwadi covered the pro-democracy protests this spring against the Al Khalifi monarchy prior to government authorities closing the newspaper. US backed Saudi Arabia sent troops to help shore up the Bahraini monarchy and suppress the popular uprising. She was detained in April while reporting on the pro-democracy movement and was forced to sign a statement saying that she would not write on or engage in any political activities, and was fired from her job. A number of her fellow Bahraini journalists have been murdered, tortured, or sentenced to long prison terms by the regime. She has outspokenly criticized the government’s suppression of reporting about what is happening on the streets of Bahrain.

According to Stephen Zunes, local resident and professor of political science at the University of San Francisco, ”Nada Alwadi exemplifies the new generation of educated, progressive, Arab Muslim women who are helping to re-shape the Middle East.” Nada Alwadi earned a BA from Kuwait University and an MA in Mass Communications from the Universiti Sains, Malaysia. She has served as a freelance journalist, writer and researcher for several media outlets, including Women Gateway in Arabic and English and USA Today. Ms. Alwadi is founder of the Bahrain Press Association, which seeks to defend journalists from government repression.

Ms. Alwadi attended the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in June at Tufts University. Her presentation will discuss the Bahraini experience of strategic nonviolence and the importance of active nonviolence and Bahrain in building a new Middle East.

Click Here for an audio interview with Nada Alwadi, go to ”Nation Conversations: Nada Alwadi on Bahrain’s Government Crackdown”

http://www.thenation.com/audio/162910/nation-conversations-nada-alwadi-bahrains-government-crackdown

Click here for a video she collaborated on for Narconews.com

http://www.narconews.com/nntv/video.php?vid=26