Ecclestone or Mubarak? Who said " ... kids having a go at police."
Fortunately, not all westerners dismiss military assaults and killings in Bahrain as punishment for childish acting out by Nita Wiggins
(liberal)
Sunday, February 19, 2012
By Nita Wiggins
The court of public opinion rests squarely against the dictators who are using automatic rifles and the cover of tanks to mow down their comparatively, lightly-armed citizens.
We can measure the public disgust this way. If the Queen of England revoked your invitation to Kate and Will's royal wedding, you've stepped out-of-bounds. You're not civilized enough to don the white gloves and dinner jackets and sit among the privileged in the pews at Westminster Abbey.
I drift back to that day because the Crown Prince of Bahrain, Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, was kicked off last April's guest list. In line with Queen's etiquette, the prince's own international event should be nixed– as it was in 2011.
The 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix is still on the calendar for April 20-22, though. Holding the Formula 1 event is being questioned because of “alleged human rights abuses in the Middle Eastern country. Government troops have been accused of firing on and killing dozens of peaceful pro-democracy campaigners,” according to the Daily Mail of London.
Here's a map of the fallen freedom seekers, according to the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights.
The leaders of the dictatorship fell out of the Queen's good graces. But another Brit, racing boss Bernie Ecclestone, has no problem with dropping the green flag this year. He holds the power and influence to cancel the race, as he reluctantly did last year.
In a strange juxtapostion, he does not share the contempt for the loss of lives that his Queen does. Ecclestone sounds more like former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, who himself could get the death penalty if convicted of mass murdering protesters in his country.
"There were a lot of kids having a go at the police. I don't think it's anything serious at all." Those are Ecclestone's words, though they are reminiscent of Mubarak's televised address in which he instructed youthful revolutionaries to go home to their parents. At ages 81 (Bernie) and 84 (Hosni), don't they know better?
In reality, there are “systematic abuses” that include imprisoning Bahraini people who have been “exercising their rights to freedom of speech and assembly. Clashes between security forces and protesters have claimed the lives of more than 45 people,” said an excerpt from the Human Rights Watch World Report 2012.
Cancelling the Bahrain Grand Prix for the second consecutive year will come down to which side Ecclestone will take – whether members of the twelve F1 race teams and their sponsors will act in support of human life or whether all parties will all ignore the carnage. Some of the big brands on the 2012 circuit (Mercedes-Benz, Red Bull, Mobil, Virgin, and Total, the French gas company), may not want the blood-stained profits on their collective conscience.
Pressure has come from people outside of the elite racing circuit. British politicians published an open letter in the Guardian on Feb. 13, 2012 – one day before the recognized anniversary of the Bahraini protests.
"We note with concern the decision by Formula One to go ahead with the race in Bahrain scheduled for April.
"The continued political crisis in Bahrain is a troubling source of instability in the Gulf region, and the lack of any move towards political reconciliation concerns those who wish to see Bahrain move in the direction of greater democratic accountability.
"Given the current dire situation, with daily street protests and the deaths of more civilians, we do not believe that the time is right for Formula One to return to Bahrain."
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, Lord Alton, Lord Avebury, Lord Hylton, Lord Boswell, Baroness Falkner of Margravine and Caroline Lucas of the Green Party jointly signed the letter.
Hosting the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix spotlights the problems
“If I was president today, F1 would go to Bahrain over my dead body,” said Max Mosley, the former president of FIA, the sanctioning body for racing. Moxley outlined his position over the seriousness of the offenses on bahrainipolitics.com.
It remains a divisive issue as the race weekend approaches. Current members of the top-tier Red Bull team do not stand together on this. Said driver Mark Webber, in an interview posted on youtube: “If people in a country are being hurt, the issues are bigger than sport.” He made that statement in February 2011 and repeated his position as the kingdom fought to host a rescheduled race in October 2011.
Contrarily, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner offered: “We're a sport at the end of the day. We're an F1 racing team. It's not down for us to have an agenda or a strong opinion, one way or another.”
Three months out, organizers all the way down to ticket-sellers are doing their jobs anticipating the green light for the 3-day event. Grandstand seats, reserved and unreserved seats, and standing room only tickets can be bought right now. One site boasts it has the best prices, from $59- 414 (45 to 315 euros). Early bird discounts can be purchased before March 1, the site said.
Dismayed at first at the go-ahead for the 2012 race, human rights protestors have now adjusted their view. If the race is held, they see the international mix of spectators and journalists as the best possible audience for their grievances. The race track holds 50,000 people, after all, and provides every luxury to race reporters in the media center. Imagine all the iphones and other video uploading possibilities.
Muhammad al-Maskati, with the Baharini Youth Society, promised demonstrators would line the highway from the airport in Muharraq all the way to the track in Sakhir. Along the entire 30-minute route, protesters would be greeted by banners that scream messages and complaints that media outlets ignored (or were denied credentials to cover).
Nita is an American journalist and educator who writes from Paris, France. Follow her @EducatingMsNita
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