Weekly Position: On the Anniversary of Independence… We Call on Everyone to Shoulder the Historical Responsibility in the National Struggle to Build a Genuine Constitutional State
Issued by the Political Council of the February 14 Youth Revolution Coalition – full text:
In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
The anniversary of Bahrain’s independence comes this year at a dangerous turning point for our country, due to the policy of tyranny and subordination to the Khalifi entity. We believe this occasion is the most fitting moment for the opposition forces and the national and popular movement to unite in order to prevent the catastrophic consequences threatening the fundamental components of this homeland—its national memory, authentic identity, and demographic makeup that reflects the true history of its citizens.
We in the Political Council of the February 14 Youth Revolution Coalition affirm that what has been imposed by iron and fire since the abortion of the State of Independence and its contractual constitution has turned this good land into a playground for foreigners and occupiers, and an amusement park for thieves and war profiteers. There is no longer a real state, no legitimate authority, and no system that preserves the people’s dignity, values of freedom and justice, and their right to resist occupiers—including their stance in support of the resistance in occupied Palestine and Lebanon and upholding its honorable arms in defense of rights and the achievement of liberation.
Everyone in our beloved country must bear the responsibility of confronting the destructive effects of this reality, lest we find ourselves accused of negligence and failure before future generations—God forbid.
In this context, we record the following points in our weekly position:
1. Marking Independence Day begins first with a clear declaration that Bahrain no longer has national independence, nor popular sovereignty, and is in its worst state—worse even than before the independence of August 14, 1971. This means, in practical terms, the need for a national movement that rises to the level of the destruction and decline that has befallen the country and the people. We emphasize that the Al Khalifa have violated the text of the independence resolution adopted by the United Nations and have repeatedly reneged on all covenants and commitments on which that resolution was based—from the 1973 Parliament and Constitution, to the backtracking on the requirements of the National Action Charter in 2002, to their planning of the dark crimes exposed by the “Bandar Report,” and up to normalization and full alignment with imperial projects. This necessitates working to restore independence and sovereignty through a national liberation program based on the right to self-determination, and the cancellation of all decisions and agreements brought in by the tyrannical and corrupt authority over the past 52+ years.
2. Our political vision sees that the first achievement of independence in 1971 was gradually nullified—from 1975, to 1995 with the expansion of U.S. bases in Bahrain through the Fifth Fleet, to 2018 with the return of the British military to the country, to 2020 with the signing of normalization agreements with the Zionists, and finally in 2025 with Bahrain’s inclusion in the U.S.-British alliance under the so-called “Agreement on Cooperation and Prosperity.” As a result, our country today is completely subject to the guardianship of criminal foreigners, while the Al Khalifa were allowed to wreak havoc, tyranny, destruction, and displacement—pursuing successive projects to tamper with the land, the people, the identity, and the history, erasing everything authentic and ancient in this country.
3. Based on this vision, our proposed approach to confronting this great danger is for all honorable national forces in the country to shoulder their historical responsibility at this decisive time, set aside their differences, and sit together at one table to agree on a joint national program. This program should be built upon the glorious struggle of our forefathers, and safeguard the fruits of the 1971 independence by confronting all the disasters that befell the country after the violation of the independence resolution and the abortion of the first independence constitution. From this should emerge a national front that manages the political struggle and supports popular movements, after reinstating the national demands under the principles of freedom, justice, sovereignty, and national unity.
4. We affirm that embarking on a national liberation project can only come through a unified national struggle that brings together all the natural components and spectrums of the homeland, preserving the trust of national struggle that has flourished in Bahrain for decades, with popular support affirming readiness to give and sacrifice for just rights. We believe that the stumbling of this noble struggle due to repression or otherwise does not—under any circumstances—mean the end of the national project or the fall of the necessity to struggle for building a better future for generations. No one can abolish the people’s hopes for freedom and sovereignty, or their aspirations for a dignified homeland where hope does not tremble—just as repression and terror have never been reasons to submit or accept humiliation and enslavement.
5. On the anniversary of independence, we in the February 14 Youth Revolution Coalition will continue to present ideas and initiatives to mature the national discussion for developing the struggle and sovereignty—similar to the Popular Referendum Project (2014), the Constitutional Petition (2018), and the Draft Constitutional Declaration proposal (2022). At the same time, we stress—without equivocation—that the ruling gang led by Al Khalifa is unfit to build a modern constitutional state. They have become an obstacle to the right of the people to sovereignty and self-rule, and we do not see them as suitable partners in building the future of the homeland—unless they become a genuine part of it, abandon their tribal-occupational legacy, tear up the normalization agreements and foreign bases, and return decision-making to the people through their legitimate, elected representatives.
Political Council – February 14 Youth Revolution Coalition
Monday, 11 August 2025
Occupied Bahrain
