Bahrain GP- Will it be Cancelled?

[BDunnell]

As long as the organisers are confident that the race is going to be safe then I agree that it should go ahead. If Formula 1 was to refuse to go purely on human rights grounds then surely it shouldn't be going to places such as China either? It's a dangerous game to start and if you play it then where exactly do you draw the line?

I don't believe it should go to China either, on exactly those grounds, for I believe the West's attitude towards human rights abuses in China is pretty shameful.

[BDunnell]

F1 shouldn't be going to Bahrain for a bunch of reasons - insipid circuit, little to no local fan support for example - but I think Knockie is right, politics and sport shouldn't mix.

They shouldn't, but they do, and this has been a fact of life for years. This can't just be ignored.

It's not F1's job to police human rights.

But surely it ought to avoid the sending-out of what amounts to a message of support for the current regime in Bahrain, one that has been responsible for some appalling human rights abuses? The GP is a project so personally backed by the regime that it simply cannot be viewed any other way. It's all very well to say that politics and sport shouldn't mix, but they do, and that's a fact of life. Sport has often been used by politicians to make political statements. Therefore, given the way it has been used by others for such ends, it is entirely appropriate on occasion for sport to take its own stand against politicians. The Bahrain GP is just such an example. If the line can't be drawn in the case of Bahrain, a country where the regime's forces are reported as actively having stopped ambulances from taking wounded protesters to hospital, where can it?

[schmenke]

... I see the GP only as legitimising the current Bahrain regime, not helping those opposed to it. How can it be viewed otherwise, given what a pet project this is of the country's leadership?

I tend to agree.
Holding a sporting event, especially one as prestigious as F1, would have the effect of belittling the current strife in the country. In effect, demonstrating that the discord in the country is merely a niggling irritant, certainly nothing so troublesome as to warrant cancellation of a major event.

[djparky]

Nabeel Rajab , president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights , said :
"We are going to use the opportunities that a lot of journalists are there and we are going to protest everywhere."

Then , he was arrested .

Who's going to fill the grandstands ?
Saudi troops ?

a few camels?? there's never many people there anyway- rubbish track, in a rubbish location, in a country with no interest and dubious politics. But then again f1 races in China and will be going to Russia soon....so where is the line drawn??

[aryan]

but I think Knockie is right, politics and sport shouldn't mix. It's not F1's job to police human rights.

It's a really twisted way of looking at things to say that human rights is "politics". People are demonstrating weekly in the streets, getting shot at by snipers, and being tortured in detention. This is politics to you?

And no, this isn't similar to China. While China is not a bright beacon of respect for human rights, it is not killing its citizens in broad daylight for protesting in the streets. The last time it did that was in 1989, and I think it would have been terrible if F1 had gone to China after the Tiananmen square protests and pretended that "F1 shouldn't mix with politics".

[aryan]

But then again f1 races in China and will be going to Russia soon....so where is the line drawn??

I don't know exactly where the line should be drawn either, but to me, when you start shooting people in the streets in broad daylight just because they are peacefully protesting, you have crossed the line.

F1 going to Bahrain will be seen as nothing other than endorsement of the current dictatorship ruling the country.

[Malbec]

I see the GP only as legitimising the current Bahrain regime, not helping those opposed to it. How can it be viewed otherwise, given what a pet project this is of the country's leadership?

This is exactly what people don't seem to get. The Bahraini government has long said that the security and political situations in their country are not that bad, after all F1 wouldn't be coming if that wasn't the case. They are directly using the presence of F1 as an indicator of the stability of the country.

Its as if GW Bush claimed that the invasion of Iraq was internationally accepted simply because F1 carried on going to Indy.

When the regime in power actively uses the GP for political purposes then F1 has been politicised. Its that simple. The FIA should use those grounds alone to cancel the GP instead of letting the race be cancelled because of the lack of insurance cover.

Unfortunately though, another thing that has to be recognised is that Bahrain is very much seen as being one of ours. The links between Bahrain and the UK for example are very strong and continue to be so. The royal families of both countries still socialise, and Bahraini officers still come to train in the UK. The message the UK government is sending to Bahrain is very much along the lines of weathering the storm instead of changing or significantly altering the regime in place. The French are little different. For these reasons I expect the FIA to do all in its power to get the race to go ahead.

Every city or country wants that a game which is performed at international level, should also be performed there because due to this the country earns benefit in many levels but the board or managing committee should think deeply over it that where do they want to organise the game.

[truefan72]

I'm tired of the Bahrain talk
I understand the intricacies of the issues but I think that it's been on the calendar now for 2012 and we are close to racing there so let it be.
It was understandable last year, but this year its a different situation. For those who think it legitimizes the government etc, I suspect they would have the same apprehension to other countries hosting GP's with war mongering governments or involved in dicey political matters. Lets try and seperate F1 from the political issues of the country. I know the 2 can be intertwined, but when it comes to Bahrain I feel the west is a bit hypocritical at best and sanctimonious at worst.

[BDunnell]

Lets try and seperate F1 from the political issues of the country.

Impossible! In this instance, the very staging of the GP is a political act. There is no avoiding this.