It's official - the Bahrain Formula 1 GP came and went on April 22nd, with the full blessing and support of the FIA.
The dust has long settled and the F1 circus already has its sights on the next Grand Prix in Spain. And I as an F1 fan am left as if with dust in my eyes, still smarting all these days later.
The FIA, Bernie Ecclestone and all the teams and drivers of Formula 1 should be ashamed of themselves for having allowed this GP to go forward.
Crony capitalism, corruption and oil riches trump fights for democracy, human dignity and simply doing the right thing.
It's disgusting.
Enough said.
My last post was on how Formula 1 should boycott the upcoming Bahrain F1 Grand Prix. Hundreds of thousands of people protested in an anti-government march on March 9th, the largest of its kind ever in the small, rich Gulf island state.
The oil-drenched, corporatist and hopelessly biased Western media may be conveniently looking the other way, but the current situation in Bahrain is explosive and the Bahraini regime is clearly struggling to crack down on the immense political unrest in the country.
Not exactly what one would expect from such a rich and 'prosperous' nation, is it now?
One thing is very clear: the Formula One GP is a hot potato issue in Bahrain, and highly unpopular amongst many protesters, so linked is it to the much-hated King Hamad. That's why the picture below of graffiti in the town of Barbar, and as cited by Washngton D.C. paper, The Examiner, is so salient:
Need one say more?
