Why boycott F1 in Bahrain? Watch what is used against children and people of Bahrain every day. By going to F1 you are giving the government more money to buy these. Don’t be responsible for the death of children and youth, boycott F1.
The skirmishes came after the arrest of a student at the boys’ school, amid accusations that the government is arbitrarily arresting potential troublemakers ahead of the Grand Prix. …
Authorities have doubled efforts in recent weeks to quell unrest that has blighted the country for the past two years, since protesters, largely from the country’s Shia majority, took to the streets complaining of widespread discrimination under the country’s Sunni monarchy.
Bernie Ecclestone, the head of Formula One – the coffers of which are boosted by $40m (£26m) in hosting fees from Bahrain – has so far resisted calls to call off the race. He likened the demonstrators to those protesting Baroness Thatcher’s funeral, saying “people use these things when there is an opportunity”. …
… The hacktivist group Anonymous also issued a threat to wreck Mr Ecclestone’s “little party”, calling on him to “cancel your blood race now”.
… On Monday, police arrested a 17-year-old student, Hassan Humidan, at the school.
Human Rights Watch earlier this week accused the government of arresting scores of young men in a series of dawn raids since the beginning of the month. Amnesty International also condemned the decision by the Bahraini government to amend the penal code to enable it to jail for up to five years anyone found guilty of insulting King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah or other national symbols. “Increasing the punishment for criticism of Bahrain’s King is a further attempt to muzzle activists ahead of the upcoming Grand Prix,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy Middle East and North Africa programme director at Amnesty.
A group of 20 British MPs have joined the opposition in calling for the race to be cancelled. “I think most democratic-minded people would be appalled if you allowed the Bahrain leg of the Formula One championship to go ahead amidst the most atrocious human rights violations,” the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Bahrain wrote in a letter to the F1 boss.
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“They don’t reflect the street,” said Sayed Ahmed a Bahraini activist now residing in the UK after being injured at protests during the Formula One last year and imprisoned and tortured in 2011. “The street are clear, they don’t want a race on their blood. The security being used is enormous – it’s simply martial law which has not been announced.”
A SCOTTISH MP is leading calls for a boycott of Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix: here.
Tensions are resurfacing in the prelude to Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix amid accusations that government authorities are attempting to round up activists near the Sakhir circuit in an attempt to silence dissent around the race: here.
Attending his first race of the season in China, Ecclestone urged reporters to “tell the truth” about Bahrain as he continued to insist he had no concerns about hosting the event in the strife-torn country this weekend.
The Daily Telegraph does not mention that Bernie Ecclestone is not only an admirer of Margaret Thatcher, but an admirer of Adolf Hitler as well. Which helps to put his ideas about Bahrain into perspective.
Ecclestone is not the only big cheese in the Formula One world with errr … strange ideas.
British racing legend Sir Stirling Moss has provoked outrage by suggesting women are not mentally tough enough to compete in Formula One.
The Daily Telegraph Ecclestone article continues:
Villagers in poorer Shi’ite areas away from the Sakhir circuit are also alleging that King Hamad’s regime is using the money from F1 to enforce further repression. …
His [Ecclestone's] view appeared at odds with an account from Bahrain on Monday reporting tense skirmishes in the village of Al-Ahli. Amani Ali, a 22-year-old female student, was quoted as saying of the grand prix: “Of course we are against it. The race brings money to the regime, which they use to buy weapons and attack us.”
Although Sunday’s race is almost certain to go ahead, two years after it was cancelled at the height of Bahrain’s violently-suppressed revolution, political momentum in Britain is also gathering against the event.
On Tuesday Andy Slaughter MP and Lord Avebury will host a briefing at the House of Lords on behalf of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Bahrain.
The group said that Bahrain had descended “deeper into a political crisis” and “any remaining principles or values of human rights are being trampled upon by Formula One as they prepare to take the sport, yet again, to a country which at present is a controversial and unsuitable location for any competition”.
The group highlighted allegations that in 2011 Bahrainis employed for this leg of the championship experienced torture at the circuit.
They said on Monday: “F1 insisted on holding last year’s grand prix and Bahrainis were killed, tortured and detained when they protested.” And they asked: “Is a country that at present is suppressing the rights of its people, and using sheer brute force to intimidate them, a place for sport of any kind?”
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Damon Hill, the former world champion, has expressed grave worry about F1 being “hijacked” by Bahraini authorities and implicitly endorsing ruthless police tactics by travelling there. Extra barbed wire and security fencing have been introduced this year around the Sakhir track.
Bahrain Is Becoming Even More Repressive Because of the F1 Race
Reports that police are arresting and intimidating those living closest to the race tracks add to the kingdom’s already worrying situation.
Bahrain: New move to crush dissent ahead of Grand Prix: here.
Bahrain on fire but race goes ahead – No grand prix on our blood, protestors tell Ecclestone: here.
Jean Todt, the head of motor sport‘s world governing body who has condemned hundreds of Formula One personnel to a potentially hazardous and harrowing week in Bahrain, will not be attending this Sunday’s race himself: here.
A group of British MPs have called for the Bahrain Grand Prix to be cancelled amid unrest in the Gulf state: here.
Bahrain: Police ‘fire tear gas’ at boys’ school: here. And here.
Bahrain Grand Prix: calls to cancel F1 race amid threats to jail anyone who ‘insults the king’: here.
Abdulrazzaq Al-Saiedi, a senior researcher with Physicians for Human Rights in Boston, speaks to Al Jazeera about the conviction of Bahraini medical professionals for “anti-government crimes”.
DUBAI: Bahraini police fired tear-gas and sound bombs to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who gathered outside the capital to protest against this month’s Formula One Grand Prix, witnesses said on Friday.
Thursday night’s demonstration in the village of Khamis, close to Manama, came as a report by Human Rights Watch that police have been rounding up pro-democracy activists in a bid to head off protests, stoked renewed controversy over the Gulf state’s hosting of the April 19-21 event.
“I think Jean’s approach is say nothing because otherwise you are being political,” said Hill, who won the world title in 1996.
“I think that is a mistake because actually he is being political because he’s being used, or the sport is perceived as being used, by its engagement in the economy and the reputation of the country.”
A two-day conference at the University of Bahrain in the capital Manama last week was intended to show the United States and the region that the Bahraini government is making progress toward democratic governance and addressing the grievances of the country’s majority Shiite population. But the discussions were less than convincing because there was no empirical data or other direct evidence to support the participants’ claims: here.
“The question is whether Formula One going to Bahrain would be enabling or furthering brutal repression, by appearing to endorse the treatment being meted out,” he said. “There is a perception that the sport is being used.”
Hill’s remarks, during a security briefing at Portcullis House, add to concerns in Westminster over the tinderbox political situation in Bahrain. Last year’s race was marred by scores of protests near the circuit …
Richard Burden, the Labour MP who called for the grand prix to be cancelled 12 months ago, said the kingdom had not carried out enough political reforms to justify holding the race again this year.
“If I was Jean Todt, president of the FIA, I would not want to run the race in the absence of the proper benchmarks and milestones,” he said. “Based on what I hear from the opposition forces, F1 will be even more of a focus for discontent this year.
“The demonstrations will increase. It is easy to keep F1 cocooned, but the sport should send out a message sensitive to the real situation in Bahrain. By its words and deeds, it must show that it is part of a broader international community.”
Burden expressed dismay with the comments of Bernie Ecclestone, F1’s commercial rights holder, who said last week he could see “no problems” in Bahrain and that he would be attending the grand prix at Sakhir. “I find that message surprising,” he continued. “The holding of this race should have some conditions attached to it – F1 should not see itself in a global bubble.”
The 2011 race had to be scrapped after at least 35 people were killed when Bahrain’s ruling Sunni elite crushed a pro-democracy uprising. After last year’s instalment went ahead against the backdrop of the tightest security, the opposition movement, Al Wefaq, claim that the reforms promised by King Hamad continue to be half-hearted at best. Unrest has again been witnessed in the outlying villages of Sitra and Sanabis.
THIS year’s Grand Prix will again take place in Bahrain amid claims of widespread human rights abuses and, so far, the sport’s governing body have dodged the issue: here.
Baird’s support for regime in Bahrain: All part of Canada’s ‘royal’ foreign policy: here.
Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday that police had arrested 20 opposition activists in towns near Bahrain’s Formula One circuit in a sign of rising political tension before the Grand Prix on April 21.
The Bahrain government denied any arrests had taken place.
The Gulf Arab state, where the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet is based, has been hit by unrest since pro-democracy protests broke out in early 2011, putting it in the frontline of the region-wide tussle between Shi’ite Muslim Iran and Sunni Arab states such as Saudi Arabia.
Watched by millions around the world, the Grand Prix is the biggest sporting event hosted by the U.S.-allied country and the government is hoping for a big turnout at this year’s event despite continuing violent unrest.
An HRW statement said the detentions were made without a warrant and with the apparent intention of preventing a repeat of protests during last year’s race, which went ahead against a backdrop of burning tyres and riot police firing teargas at petrol-bomb throwing protesters in Shi’ite Muslim villages.
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DESERT RACE
The race at the Sakhir desert circuit was cancelled in 2011 when the protests were crushed and at least 35 people were killed. Activists put the tally far higher.
Almost daily demonstrations have taken place in Bahrain since the end of martial law in June 2011, often ending in confrontations as youths throw stones or petrol bombs and police fire birdshot pellets and tear gas.
The Shi’ite majority complains of entrenched discrimination – a charge denied by the government – and their loyalty has been questioned by members of Bahrain’s Sunni ruling family, bound by historical and marriage ties to that of Riyadh.
[Human] Rights Watch, quoting local sources, said that in about 30 raids since April 1, masked police officers in plain clothes had targeted activists living near to the Formula One track who had led protests in the past.
The raids, mostly at night or around dawn, took place in Dar Khulaib, Shahrakan, Madinat, Hamad, and Karzakkan, towns close to the circuit and the roads leading to the capital Manamam.
“This latest crackdown and the way it’s being carried out raises new questions about the Bahraini authorities’ commitment to reform,” HRW’s Middle East director, Sarah Leah Whitson, said in the statement.
“These raids and detentions suggest that officials are more concerned with getting activists out of circulation for the Formula 1 race than with addressing the legitimate grievances that have led so many Bahrainis to take to the streets.”
The international rights group said at least two of those detained were charged with crimes related to national security while others were charged with participating in illegal gatherings.
Formula chief Bernie Ecclestone said last week he had no concerns about the race becoming a target for anti-government protesters.
An international inquiry commission, invited by Bahrain’s government, said in a report in November 2011 that 35 people had died during the uprising. … The report said five people had died from torture.
The opposition puts the death toll at more than 80.
Bernie Ecclestone is an appropriate person to be the public face of Formula 1, a ‘sport’ which is fast becoming known as the event of choice for autocrats who wish to launder their international reputation, as evidenced by the appearance of races in Bahrain and Dubai in recent years.
Equally bizarre, he continues to support the Bahraini régime, asserting that ‘I haven’t had any negative reports from anybody there’. That could be because he hasn’t spoken to the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, the main opposition Party Al-Wefaq, the Bahrain Freedom Movement or the people who take part in the daily demonstrations against the ruling al-Khalifa family. His informants are the royal family themselves and their acolytes, who are responsible for widespread discrimination against the opposition, and suppression of dissent.
Thirteen leading political and human rights activists are serving life or long determinate sentences of imprisonment.
No opposition press or broadcasting is allowed, and social media is subject to intense surveillance, using the UK company Gamma’s FinSpy software, regularly touted at UK arms and security expos.
At last year’s F1 race in Bahrain, a man was killed by security forces in a crackdown aimed at preventing the international media from recording any signs of opposition. When a Channel 4 team tried to go into deprived villages where the opposition’s supporters live, they were arrested and deported.
If the race does go ahead this year, it will be the duty of the media to use it as the introduction to a closer scrutiny of Bahrain’s abysmal record on human rights, democracy and the rule of law. They should also look at Britain’s shameful friendship with this former colony of ours. We supplied them with their chief torturer Ian Henderson in the 1990s, and today they are regular buddies with the Queen and the Prime Minister. This doesn’t stack up with our claim to promote the freedoms we enjoy ourselves across the globe.
This is all a matter of indifference to Ecclestone. He reportedly told the Bahraini activist Alaa Shehabi last year that he wouldn’t mind if the race was cancelled, because he had already cashed the check from the Bahraini government. His priority is profit and he evinces no sign of concern about the suffering of those who have to pay the price for it.
Let’s hope that Bahrain will follow in the steps of South Africa, where the Formula 1 races were cancelled in 1985 amid rising international awareness of the moral bankruptcy of the Apartheid regime. Bahrain’s regime is equally discriminatory and corrupt, and deserves the same fate.
* Eric Lubbock, Lord Avebury, is a working peer, and Vice-Chair, Parliamentary Human Rights Group. He blogs here.
BMW gives cars to male rowers but not female rowers
Posted on 13 August 2012
A row over sexism has broken out on Twitter, after it emerged that 12 male Olympic rowers, including silver medallists Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase, had received BMW cars, while the female rowers had not.
While it would appear that the cars given to the Team GB athletes have been provided by individual BMW dealerships, rather than as a marketing strategy by BMW, it has still struck a nerve, particularly as this has been the most inclusive Olympics to date, with women from ever[y] country taking part for the first time.
Anna Watkins, a gold medal winner with Katherine Grainger for the women’s double sculls, was asked on Newsnight whether the men had received BMWs while female athletes had not.
Watkins confirmed: “It did work out that way, yes. It’s a bit of a coincidence because it’s the individual dealers that chose who to give the cars to, so it wasn’t any grand strategy but it did just happen that there were a dozen or so for the men and none for the girls.”
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Concerns over sexist attitudes to women’s sport were raised last year during the 2011 BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards, which featured no women on the shortlist, despite strong performances from several women, including swimmers Keri-Anne Payne and Rebecca Adlington.
The BMW story is likely to reignite this debate, especially as the GB women have performed so well at London 2012, taking home a huge number of medals.
The BMW sponsorship deal involves 150 athletes being given 2-year leases of either BMWs or Minis. BMW claims that the selection of most of the athletes was made prior to the London 2012 games and is not related to performance, but there have still been claims of misogyny levelled at BMW, and calls for the women rowers to also receive BMWs like their male counterparts.
Japan’s women footballers get Olympic flight upgrades
The Japanese women’s football team was upgraded to business class on its flight home from the Olympics, Japan’s football association has confirmed.
Team members had complained they had flown economy class to London while the men’s team sat in the business cabin.
The women’s team returned on Saturday from Britain after losing in the Olympic final to the US.
The Japan Football Association said the women had their flights upgraded because they won the silver medal.
The men’s team came home empty-handed.
The Associated Press news agency quoted the JFA as saying the men’s team had flown business class to London because they were professionals.
But after both teams arrived in London, members of the women’s squad had complained they had been treated unequally.
When the modern Olympics were first conceived, they were intended as a peaceful alternative to war. The nations of the world were supposed to lay down their arms and stop fighting during the games out of respect for the Olympic ideal. That, of course has not happened: here.
BP’s Olympic Ads Seek To Erase Oil Spill From Memory: here.
A successful Freedom of Information request has revealed that additional public costs of hosting the Olympics Games in London are close to £24 billion: here.
The spectacle of the 2012 London Olympics should be subtitled “The Bashing of the Chinese Athlete”: here.
A team from the Porsche Supercup, a supporting series during the upcoming Grand Prix of Bahrain this weekend has cancelled its participation in the race, outing its doubts about the safety at the middle-east country.
The MRS team has decided not to travel to Bahrain and therefore skip the first race of the Porsche Supercup.
“It is the first time in our team history that we have to cancel a race of the Porsche MOBIL1 Supercup,” team boss Karsten Molitor said. “In the end we have the responsibility for our employees.
“The race in Bahrain is for us one of the seasons highlights, therefore it was not easy to come to a decision. According to our drivers and partners we have reached the conclusion to start only at the second race in Barcelona on 13th of May.”
