International

Published on April 17th, 2012 | by Taylor Heyman
Image © [caption id="attachment_9799" align="alignnone" width="566" caption="Alex Comerford, f1photos.org"][/caption]

Last year the FIA chose to cancel it's Grand Prix opening race in Bahrain in 2011 due to the violent crushing of the protest movement by the Bahraini authorities.  The third race of the 2012 Grand Prix is due to be held in Bahrain on Sunday, despite calls to cancel the race due to the death of a protester, Ahmed Ismail in Manama two weeks ago, as well as the continuing hunger strike of Abdulhadi Al'Khawaja. Is there a moral case for cancelling on the part of F1 and there is an issue of safety?

Bernie Ecclestone said that F1 is not political and that the race will go ahead on Saturday. He also stated that as there were no safety issues, there were no grounds to cancel the race. So for F1, it is an issue of fan and participant safety rather than taking a stand against human right abuses. I suppose the question is: Should organisations such as the FIA act in a politically/morally guided way- or merely for safety of fans? The situation in Bahrain covers both of these really- any govt. willing to use violence against it's people in such a way should not be allowed to host events which show them in a good light and cover up human rights abuses. Also, any country in this amount of turmoil cannot possibly guarantee the safety of attendees at a sporting event. There is previous form in cancelling planned sporting events on both safety and moral grounds; Pakistani cricket matches are no longer held in Pakistan itself, due to the inability of the government to protect visiting teams and fans, and the England 2009 Cricket tour of Zimbabwe was cancelled because the players and coaches felt they could not compete in a country where thousands suffer human right abuses on a daily basis.  Previous form hasn't swung the decision of Bernie Ecclestone after consultation with the teams though. Is Bahrain really so dangerous for it's citizens and for visitors? The FIA claim not, but I beg to differ. The problems in Bahrain are along religious lines as well as political- King Hamad is Sunni, and Shias complain of unfair treatment in health, employment and other areas of public life. In 2001 Bahrain became a constitutional monarchy, and in 2002 elected 40 officials to the council of deputies.  12 of these were Shia's. This sounds like great progress, however the executive cannot be challenged and so it is hardly a meaningful democracy. This argument was strengthened after the beginning of the Arab spring. Bahrain brought in Saudi troops to crush the uprising brutally. As a former British protectorate there was surprisingly little coverage, exacerbated by the banning of international journalists from Bahrain- a policy that will be loosened for the coming weekend. It is possible that coverage has been less because there have been some movements towards reform in Bahrain, with King Hamad setting up a Bahrain Independent Committee of Inquiry to investigate Human rights abuses during the 2011 protests- with members including the Secretary General of the Bahrain Human Rights Society, Abdullah al-Durazi. It seems these movements towards reform have been wasted by the actions of the riot police in Bahrain over the last fortnight. Amnesty International claim there have been cases of torture  of protesters, and attacking funeral processions.  Bahraini Authorities do notwish to lose an event which brings in $500 million (3% of Bahrain's economy) and should be acting more carefully. Although the protesters are hoping for a cancellation, the race going ahead could do some good for their cause. Journalists will be flooding the area and it is of little doubt that broadcasters will show the event without at least a cursory nod to the troubles in the country. Even the debate preceding the race has raised awareness of the protest movement in Bahrain, and may encourage the government to make to meaningful changes. Overall, I think that the race should proceed, but that participants and teams should do more to raise awareness about what is happening outside of the circuit.

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Could F1 in Bahrain Accelerate Reform?

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Alex Comerford, f1photos.org

Last year the FIA chose to cancel it’s Grand Prix opening race in Bahrain in 2011 due to the violent crushing of the protest movement by the Bahraini authorities.  The third race of the 2012 Grand Prix is due to be held in Bahrain on Sunday, despite calls to cancel the race due to the death of a protester, Ahmed Ismail in Manama two weeks ago, as well as the continuing hunger strike of Abdulhadi Al’Khawaja. Is there a moral case for cancelling on the part of F1 and there is an issue of safety?

Bernie Ecclestone said that F1 is not political and that the race will go ahead on Saturday. He also stated that as there were no safety issues, there were no grounds to cancel the race. So for F1, it is an issue of fan and participant safety rather than taking a stand against human right abuses. I suppose the question is: Should organisations such as the FIA act in a politically/morally guided way- or merely for safety of fans? The situation in Bahrain covers both of these really- any govt. willing to use violence against it’s people in such a way should not be allowed to host events which show them in a good light and cover up human rights abuses. Also, any country in this amount of turmoil cannot possibly guarantee the safety of attendees at a sporting event.

There is previous form in cancelling planned sporting events on both safety and moral grounds; Pakistani cricket matches are no longer held in Pakistan itself, due to the inability of the government to protect visiting teams and fans, and the England 2009 Cricket tour of Zimbabwe was cancelled because the players and coaches felt they could not compete in a country where thousands suffer human right abuses on a daily basis.  Previous form hasn’t swung the decision of Bernie Ecclestone after consultation with the teams though.

Is Bahrain really so dangerous for it’s citizens and for visitors? The FIA claim not, but I beg to differ. The problems in Bahrain are along religious lines as well as political- King Hamad is Sunni, and Shias complain of unfair treatment in health, employment and other areas of public life. In 2001 Bahrain became a constitutional monarchy, and in 2002 elected 40 officials to the council of deputies.  12 of these were Shia’s. This sounds like great progress, however the executive cannot be challenged and so it is hardly a meaningful democracy. This argument was strengthened after the beginning of the Arab spring. Bahrain brought in Saudi troops to crush the uprising brutally. As a former British protectorate there was surprisingly little coverage, exacerbated by the banning of international journalists from Bahrain- a policy that will be loosened for the coming weekend. It is possible that coverage has been less because there have been some movements towards reform in Bahrain, with King Hamad setting up a Bahrain Independent Committee of Inquiry to investigate Human rights abuses during the 2011 protests- with members including the Secretary General of the Bahrain Human Rights Society, Abdullah al-Durazi.

It seems these movements towards reform have been wasted by the actions of the riot police in Bahrain over the last fortnight. Amnesty International claim there have been cases of torture  of protesters, and attacking funeral processions.  Bahraini Authorities do notwish to lose an event which brings in $500 million (3% of Bahrain’s economy) and should be acting more carefully.

Although the protesters are hoping for a cancellation, the race going ahead could do some good for their cause. Journalists will be flooding the area and it is of little doubt that broadcasters will show the event without at least a cursory nod to the troubles in the country. Even the debate preceding the race has raised awareness of the protest movement in Bahrain, and may encourage the government to make to meaningful changes. Overall, I think that the race should proceed, but that participants and teams should do more to raise awareness about what is happening outside of the circuit.

Tags: 2011, 2012, Bahrain, Bernie Ecclestone, F1, protests, Race, Reform, riot

About the Author

Taylor Heyman

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