The West’s Blind Spot in Bahrain

The West’s Blind Spot in Bahrain
25 May, 2012 – By Julia Hanne

Last month in Bahrain’s capital of Manama, the police, supported by armored vehicles and troops, fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters to ensure a Formula 1 race would be showcased as scheduled. Inside the stadium, spectators like BBC’s Dan Roan described the atmosphere as “relaxed”—like any other F-1 race. But across the city, burning tires set ablaze by pro-democracy protesters sent clouds of black smoke into the horizon as part of the opposition’s “three days of rage.” Now, the furor of the international media that surrounded the race has unfortunately already moved on, returning to ignoring the repression of the country’s democracy movement.

Until the F-1 race, Bahrain’s uprisings had been largely passed over by the international media. It took a Grand Prix to swing the spotlight onto a crisis that’s been neglected and downplayed by the western media and politicians in the past year. The fact that much of the media focus fell on the “recklessness” of the F-1 organizers raises the question: Why did it take the media circus of a Grand Prix to shine light on the ongoing repression in Bahrain?

The world’s silence reveals a double standard in the West’s demand for a free Syria while applauding a ‘slowly reforming Bahrain.’ Although Syria has been isolated by western governments that eagerly point out its democratic deficits, equally undemocratic Bahrain rarely makes the headlines. But the demands of the Bahraini opposition haven’t been met, flagrant human rights violations continue, and the protestors still take to the streets daily. This disregard has been facilitated by western PR companies hired by the Bahraini regime to make the international community believe “Bahrain is safer than London” and a “peaceful and quiet” place, says F-1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone, bewildered by calls for an international boycott.

The Bahraini government uses PR-agencies that are almost exclusively based in the U.S. and the U.K, such as New Century Media, M&C Saatchi, the Good Governance Group and Qorvis to restore its image. In the first weeks after the regime’s violent squelching of the protests, the country’s Foreign Affairs Minister signed a contract with Washington’s largest PR and lobbying firm, Qorvis, to cover public-relations services for $40,000 per month plus expenses. Qorvis employee Tom Squitieri, who previously had to resign from USA Today for plagiarism, wrote three articles about the uprisings in Bahrain—under the guise of raising media awareness—that appeared in the Huffington Post and the Foreign Policy Association without disclosing his affiliation with the PR company. Describing himself as an award-winning reporter, he labeled the objectives of Bahrain’s pro-democracy protestors as having “anger without purpose” and described them as “foot soldiers for puppet masters with a greater agenda,” alluring to Iran’s alleged influence. The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) found that Iran never played a role in Bahrain’s uprisings. ...more