03/04/2012
FEATURE BY MIKE LAWRENCE
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Despite the fact that Bernie claims that all the teams are raring to go to Bahrain, they have all done something most unusual. They all have two sets of travel arrangements for after Shanghai. One set is for travel to Bahrain, the other is to get home avoiding Bahrain. So much for a united front.
There are protests directed at the race. Apart from the usual injuries the security forces inflict, and they do on a daily basis, on Friday a 22-year old man who was filming the protest was shot and died of his injury.
Reports have been confused, but he was apparently shot from a car containing men in civilian clothes. Some say that the car was unregistered.
Last week Nabeel Rajab, the President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, said, 'We are going to use the opportunity that a lot of journalists are there (for the Grand Prix) and we are going to protest everywhere.' Mr Rajab has since been arrested.
In Manama, the capital, graffiti has appeared linking spilled blood to the race. There is a vigorous Twitter campaign doing the same, and numerous cartoon images have been posted on the Net.
The Bahraini authorities have claimed that the safety of individuals should be no more of a worry than at a European Grand Prix. I do not recall people taking to the streets of London or Rome, in their tens of thousands, to protest against Silverstone or Monza.
No fewer than 35 Shia mosques have been demolished, and this in a country of about 600,000 citizens (plus about 600,000 migrant workers.) Work on reconstruction began on five of the mosques, but was forced to be abandoned after intimidation.
I am atheist, but if foreigners came and started demolishing churches in England, I would be pretty hacked off. It is not something that I would forget in a hurry. It is not just about religion, it is also about heritage.
To elaborate on two points I raised in my last post. Protesters are not the mindless yobs we saw riot and loot in some cities in England last summer. They are frequently sophisticated, educated, people who understand modern communications. They are also frustrated that the Western media has largely ignored them.
If I can access the Middle Eastern media, and I do every day, they can access Western media. Many older Bahrainis may not speak English, but the educated young do.
There have been wholesale expulsions and sackings from the University of Bahrain, the Teacher College and the Polytechnic. I have been in touch with someone whose students staged a protest and saw them attacked by what he describes as 'thugs' armed with golf clubs, iron bars and swords.
Between the native Bahraini, and the migrant worker, there is a stratum of naturalized citizens who have been granted citizenship in return for support of the regime. These people, and their descendents, are enthusiastic for the status quo.
Bahrain cannot provide adequate security for every member of every team; for every sponsor and their guests; and for every journalist. Remember, the oppressed Shia are in the majority, it is not as though the protests are the work of a small revolutionary group.
Most workers are Shia and, for years, there has been a glass ceiling in their employment. Anti-government groups know who is staying in which hotel. They know who is booked on which aeroplane. They know whose private aircraft has booked a landing slot. It is Shia drivers at the wheel of courtesy cars.
What could possibly go wrong?
When Fangio was abducted in Cuba in 1958, he was not harmed, but suddenly the world woke up to Fidel Castro. Action does not have to be lethal, in fact it would be more effective if it were not. What if subscribers to Sky switched on to watch the race and there was no coverage? I bet Sky technicians do not have a crack security team like Michael Schumacher apparently has.
It is plain daft to suggest that security can be tight when the majority of the population is against the race.
My information is that the Crown Prince has tried to be a reformer and he instigated a project with aims to be achieved by 2030. He has been side-lined by hard-liners and his vision is in shambles. Nowhere better is this seen than in Higher Education which seeks to educate Bahrain's future: its doctors, teachers, and civil servants. And its hotel managers, accountants and company executives.
A problem in the kingdom is that some elements in the protest movement are turning to anarchy. Americans are being attacked for being Americans. The US Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain, which is strategically important because it is on the Persian Gulf. Do not forget Iran.
Saudi Arabia is calling the shots in Bahrain because that kingdom fears for itself. There has been unrest in Saudi Arabia for some years because the standard of living of the average citizen has fallen. So much of the vast oil revenues have been diverted into indulging a seemingly limitless royal family.
For the time being, the Grand Prix has become the focus for discontent. You can understand how the average citizen regards such a conspicuous display of wealth which is entirely Western. Motor racing is not part of Bahraini culture, the Grand Prix is a prestige event for the few.
In Europe, America and Australia, motor racing is part of popular culture. Fans of NASCAR do not feel themselves alienated because they will never earn what top drivers earn, they feel themselves empowered because they put the stars where they are and the stars know it.
A majority of a country's citizens are against an event taking place and this is something that has never happened before, anywhere, at any time. Bernie does not understand the historical significance of this. For once, money does not talk.
If the race goes ahead there is going to be trouble, that much has been promised. If the race in cancelled, and it must be cancelled, Bernie and hard-liners in the Bahrain administration will lose face. Rather that than more blood shed.
We, his adoring public, will love Bernie even more if he makes the right decision (may angels strew his path with flowers.)
The true figure for fatalities during protests in the last 14 months is eighty. Given the size of the population, that would be 8,000 dead in Britain and 40,000 dead in the States. Plus all the sacked and expelled people and the doctors facing trial for tending the injured. I think that we would notice numbers like that.
If the race does not go ahead, it will be a blow to an oppressive regime, but the rest of us will not notice. I do not recall widespread dismay last year when there was no Bahrain GP. What I do recall is controversy in all sections of the mass media when it seemed that race might be held.
Editor's Note: The cartoons we have used to illustrate this article are by the Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff and used with his full permission.
Mike Lawrence
mike.lawrence@pitpass.com
To check out previous features from Mike, click here