If you’re trying to make sense of the political controversy surrounding the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix here’s a special report from the Al Jazeera program Inside Story. It goes for around 25 minutes and perhaps you could watch this in place of the pre-race coverage on your local broadcasts.
Introducing the debate, the program begins:
After three races of the 2012 season, Formula One motor racing is set to return to Bahrain’s tracks for the first time since demonstrations began in February 2011, causing a huge controversy.
Anti-government protesters say the event planned for Sunday will only fuel the ongoing human rights crisis and they have promised “three days of rage” to coincide with the event.
So, is Bahrain safe, right and ready for Formula One? Why is the Bahraini government so keen to hold the event? And does targeting a sporting event make a difference to a political situation?
To help us answer these questions, we are joined by guests: Jamal Fakhro, the first deputy chairman of the Shura Council, the upper house of the National Assembly; Saeed al-Shehabi, the leader of the Bahrain Freedom Movement; and Mihir Bose, a sports journalist and author.
UPDATE: Noted F1 blogger Joe Saward has posted comment on the situation in Bahrain. He states: “It is eye-opening to see what is being reported, because it bears no resemblance to what we are seeing. Admittedly, we are not going to hot spots, but we feel that the coverage is completely unrepresentative of the situation. One can see that the media is not giving the regime the benefit of the doubt, which is not surprising given what happened last year.”