F1 Fanatic

A man has died in Bahrain following an F1 protest in the unsettled kingdom. 22-year-old Ahmed Ismael Abdulsamad was shot in the right thigh on Saturday as he filmed a protest in the Shia village of Salmabad that plainclothes security forces tried to break up with tear gas and rubber bullets.

Opposition groups blamed “militiamen” accompanying security forces, saying they fired live bullets at the protesters from a civilian car, hitting Abdulsamad. Police fired tear gas to disperse the small gatherings and made some arrests, according to footage taken by protesters..

Activists have intensified their campaign to push Formula One to cancel the Bahrain round of the world championship, slated for April 20-22 at the Sakhir circuit, southwest of Manama.

Last years Bahrain Grand Prix was cancelled due to the unrest that gripped the Shiite-majority state after a mid-March brutal crackdown on protests demanding democratic reforms that would challenge the power of the Sunni Al-Khalifa ruling dynasty. This year, on Twitter, a whole campaign has been launched against the return of the Grand Prix to Bahrain.

“Stop, my blood is flowing” and “race over blood,” were two slogans posted by activists on Twitter, where hashtags like BloodyF1 and NoF1 generate scores of tweets.

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has insisted that the outbreak of fresh violence will not affect this year’s grand prix.

Defending champion Sebastian Vettel and seven-time winner Michael Schumacher lately supported the return to Bahrain.

If you follow me on twitter, you will know that I am strongly opposed to the race going ahead, given the circumstances in the kingdom, especially the way the police forces are treating civilian protesters, and this further shows that the kingdom is not stable and not yet ready to stage a race.

The race is scheduled to take place on April 22nd.

It shouldn’t go ahead.

@bensweeneysf1blog, @todfod – Glad to see you’ve done your bit for Bahrain. I bet you shared the KONY 2012 video on Facebook, and left it at that, too.

So much compassion @Prisoner Monkeys I don’t recall you supporting the Australian GP? what gives you the right to belittle people on their opinions regarding other countries.

@Prisoner Monkeys. All of us here are just posting thoughts. If you were looking for people taking action for saving the world from oppression, injustice, poverty, etc. , you have definitely come to the wrong place. I suggest you visit civilianheroes.co.uk to find people who can justifiably went their rage against all kinds of issues.

In the meantime, get off that high horse and cut down on the condescending attitude. It doesn’t sit well with a lot of people.

I really do not know what you’re on about

It’s like this: you’re sitting around an internet forum decrying the situation in Bahrain and calling for the race to be cancelled. But since you’re not appealing to the policy-makers – the people who can actuall cancel the race – what have you achieved? Nothing. And then to make matters worse, let’s assume that you somehow got the Bahrain Grand Prix cancelled. What happens next? Do you have any idea what to do about Bahrain once that happens? Or are you just going to assume that the government will admit they were wrong and something something something democracy?

What you’re doing is essentially what the internet did with the KONY 2012 video. Everyone saw it and everyone was very moved by it, but they had no intention of doing anything about it, so they went looking for ways of discrediting it, and then patted themselves on the back for a job well done. So when I see posts like yours, the first thing I think of is not someone who is actually interested in resolving the situation in Bahrain, but someone who is more concerned about Formula 1′s image, and someone who feels guilty about the situation, so they feel the need to say something on a relatively obscure internet forum so that they can claim to have done their part.

Take a piece of your own advice, and think about you present yourself. It might not be your intention to come across that way, but hey, that’s how I interpreted it, so you’ve clearly done something differently to what you originally intended.

How dare people take issue with something and then not actively campaign to change it. Did you vote in the general election? Well you clearly liked one candidate more than another, and if you took issue with some of the other candidates why didn’t you go door to door in support of yours? Or at least help carry your candidate’s briefcase or something. Did you ever voice any opinion on any global issue whatsoever? Hypocrite! How dare you do such a thing, when planes are just right there, waiting for you to hop on and go do your bit in person. Shame!

DISCLAIMER: ^heavy on sarcasm