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.
Ecclestone famously praised Thatcher, Hitler and Saddam a few years ago, saying that he preferred strong leaders, that Hitler was a man who was ‘able to get things done’, and yet paradoxically, that politics ‘is not for me’.
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.
Demonstrators are bombarded at close range with birdshot and teargas canisters. Hundreds are arrested, and around 90 people have died from state violence and torture since the uprising began in February 2011.
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.
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3 Comments
At least Ecclestone is honest that he only cares about money. Our politicians have much murkier dealings with the Bahrainis but would never admit that it is just about money.
Hezbollah Contempt for Bahrain Formula ;
Last night (Friday 12th April) in the heart of Juffair, a car bomb was detonated and a second car exploded as a result. There were no injuries and within minutes police had cordoned off the area and the situation was under control. Last week the Foreign Ministry building was attacked by a group of terrorists with Molotov petrol bombs in the heart of the Bahrain capital Manama. With the Grand Prix just 5 days away and the announcement of February 14th coalition group’s “Raging Volcano” campaign against the Formula one, the exposure of political representatives in the National Dialogue illegally conferring with the US Embassy and parliament listing Hezbollah as a terrorist group, perhaps more disturbance can be expected.
Hezbollah Bahrain has announced a week of protests in Bilad Al Qadeem, Al Dair, Al Daih, Tubli, Karzakan culminating in Jannusan to Saar on Friday 19th April. The Bahrain Hezbollah or the 14th Feb Coalition Group, was possibly masterminded years before the failed 2011 coup d’état. In the last 26 months they have grown, become more skilled, appear to be well funded in branded uniforms and have become more resolute with more members. Made up of religiously radicalized youth from across Bahrain, they are a well trained and highly efficient army, with the expertise to build home made weapons including bombs to create mayhem during the Formula 1. This group is also responsible for placing remotely detonated bombs in trash containers to target Asian workers, which have killed two and seriously injured two others to date.
International media continue to publish condemnation against the leadership and the race whilst using images of violent protesters who spew false allegations of “suffering and oppression”. Majority in Bahrain are against any form of violence and welcome the Formula One Bahrain as an event that is economically beneficial to the country, but the voice of a violent minority appears to be the focus of media who ignore the truth. Thousands of citizens involved in the success of the Grand prix since 2003 have inadvertently become the target of delinquents.
With a terrorist act in a major part of Juffair, the international media must question the objective of the detonated bombs, the timing and location. They must ask Hezbollah Bahrain the following;
1.Why Friday night (a weekend) outside a busy hotel with a popular nightspot in Bahrain?
2.Juffair is in close vicinity of the American base and British Embassy staff housing – is this a message to those governments?
3.One car exploded and within a split second the other – was the second explosion supposed to injure (or kill) police or civil defense personnel who would have come to the site immediately after the first explosion? Did a vibration from the first erroneously trigger the second?
4.With the Bahrain Grand Prix just days away, are these dangerous antics a conspiracy to gain media glory across the globe?
5.There are many expatriate workers who use this car park as a short cut and some wash cars for the visitors – were these bombs placed there to injure or kill workers?
6.Juffair is one of the main destinations for tourists to Bahrain as it has a wide variety of hotels, restaurants and night life. Was the remotely detonated explosive device to deter foreigners to the country?
International media have a duty to emphasize that a bomb is a deadly weapon. It is imperative they acknowledge using weapons is attempted murder, and far from any form of “peaceful protest or national dialogue”. Hezbollah Bahrain fanatics’ core belief is violence and Welayat faqhi, which is supposedly essential to “bring their long awaited salvation” (as they believe) and abusing constitution rights as well as human rights of the 1.2million population in Bahrain is part of the course. This is the reality
Agreed, Eric. It vexes me that Ecclestone insists on racing there. I say that as a huge F1 fan, too.