April 9th, 2012Top StoryHow Bahrain Spends Millions To Spin The PressBy Matt Hardigree
And those fiery armored vehicles bearing down on him are "enlightened peace keepers" being trained to become a "highly modern and sensitive public security force" — not part of the brutal Bahraini security forces who killed at least 13 people in an uprising last year and a 14th protestor less than two weeks ago. That is, at least if you're to believe emails sent to me by a former leading political editor from the United Kingdom whose job it is now to front for the Kingdom of Bahrain in their pursuit of better press from western outlets. It was part of an orchestrated campaign by Bahrain's ruling elite who want the return of the Formula One race later this month that was cancelled last year when the country was one of many states involved in what the west has dubbed the "Arab Spring." The race is back on — as of now — thanks to this effort to convince the press that all is well in the tiny Arab kingdom. Perfect conditions for a race if you don't mind the occasional tear gas or dead protestor. Excuse me, "saboteur." Bahrain And The "Arab Spring" Bahrain is an Island kingdom in the Persian Gulf of about 300 square miles with a population of only 1.23 million. It's nominally a constitutional monarchy, although all real power lies within the hands of the royal family, led by King Hamad bin isa Al Khalifa. The unelected prime minster — the longest serving prime minister in the world — is the King's uncle. As with many of the countries in the region, there are religious differences. The ruling elite are Sunni. The majority of the country is Shiite. Despite previous attempts at weak political reform the Shiite majority is mainly poor with little political power. Pro-Democracy groups representing the marginalized portions of the population called for a day of action and took to the streets on February14th, 2011 in the midst of the "Arab Spring." First a few thousand individuals appeared and then, eventually, hundreds of thousands. Nearly a quarter of the population may have protested at one point or another. They gathered around the Pearl Monument in Pearl Square in the capital city of Manama — a 300-foot sculpture that became a symbol of the protests. Their version of Egypt's Tahrir Square. Click to view On March 16th security forces started disassembling protest camps using force and two days later the government tore down the Pearl Monument with help of tanks and troops from fellow Sunni-led countries Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. On state television they called it an effort to improve traffic flow, which is such a obvious lie it would be funny if it weren't so terrible. In total, there were at least 13 civilians known killed in February and March by security forces, according to the report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), which was formed in response to the events (you can read it here in PDF form). Of the 13 civilian deaths in that period, five were allegedly tortured to death. There are 19 other deaths likely attributable to security forces. Thousands of Bahrainis were arrested, injured, fired, tortured, or some mix of all of those. Protestors, though poorly armed, also did kill security forces. A total of three police officers and one defense forces officer were killed in February and March by demonstrators. The protests were largely crushed and the United States and other Western governments mostly stood by as the strategic importance — the U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain and it is strategically located relative to Iran — outweighed a desire for political reform. To quote Kelly McEvers from her rich and insightful story on negotiations between the U.S. State Department, protestors, and the relatively moderate Crown Prince for The Washington Monthly:
Despite the crackdown, protests and violence still simmered. In an effort to appease the international community and domestic protestors, the King agreed to the formation of the BICI to investigate the events surrounding the uprising and recommend steps the government could take to relieve tensions.
The degree to which the government has actually accomplished these reforms is a point of debate between political groups, international observers, and the government itself. The government says it's accomplished many of the reforms. But Sunnah Ahktar, a spokesperson for the London-based Bahrain Freedom Movement, disagrees. In an email to Jalopnik in January she described the reforms as incomplete.
The unrest Ahktar mentions then continues to today. Nabeel Rajab, the informal leader of the revolution (there is no single opposition group nor a single leader and the many of the country's youth, while active in demonstrations, don't appear to align completely with Rajab's Al Wefaq), was beaten up in January and allegedly arrested on March 31st. A 22-year-old protestor was shot two weeks ago, despite claims by security forces that they're limiting their response to non-violent forms of intervention. The Bahrain Spin Machine All of this stands in contrast to the relatively cheery assessment from David Cracknell, the former Political Editor of The Sunday Times and current PR consultant for the Government of Bahrain. His company, Big Tent Communications, is one of many hired either directly or through other companies by the Bahraini government to "correct inaccurate reporting" on the situation. Other media consultants hired by Bahraini include former Howard Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi and Washington, D.C. PR firm Sanitas International. In a story in The Sunday Times (Subscription Required) that ran this weekend, The Times' Hugh Tomlinson says the paper has learned the country has spent "millions of pounds in an attempt to launder its international reputation" since the uprising. From the report:
Cracknell's first email to me came on January 11th, completely unsolicited and "on background" in a chummy tone of one journalist talking to another — despite being a consultant paid for by the government. Here's what he had to say: His assessment of the situation was that Bahrain is overwhelmingly peaceful, that scuffles are on par with the rioting in London, and wants journalists to more thoroughly question reports that opposition leaders like Nabeel Rajab are fabricating the tales of abuse that end up in the Western press. Here's part of the email below, though you can few the full one (as well as another email quoted) in the gallery included in this piece.
The e-mails sent to me — and other motoring journalists — are filled with statements attempting to delegitimize reports of torture and protests that attempt to paint Bahrain as safe. At the same time, Cracknell highlights what he describes as attacks on police. Reading his emails it's as if there are two Bahrains that exist simultaneously; one filled with violent, evil anti-government protestors who rage against the police and another that's mostly peaceful. Contrast the above statement to this one just two weeks later:
The opposition we spoke with disagreed with his assessments, as does Amnesty International's representative for the region. Said Boumedouha, an Amnesty Researcher who has worked in Bahrain, says the situation is far from stable as the government portrays it. "The way the police and the anti-riot police are dealing within protestors still hasn't really changed much," Boumedouha told Jalopnik earlier this year. "They're still using tear gas… inside of homes, which is not allowed under international law. We continue to receive reports of torture and ill-treatment, especially during protests." Boumedouha believes that, while some steps have been taken towards fulfilling the recommendations of the BICI, the government is spending more effort hiring PR professionals like Cracknell than enacting meaningful reform. He also thinks the government wants the race as a way of demonstrating to the world that Bahrain isn't like Egypt or Libya, where Western influence and direct intervention helped end the ruling regimes. "I think obviously the government desperately wants the race to go ahead," says Boeumedouha. "Last year it tried very very hard to organize it again later in the year and they know the protests have effected the economy very badly." The Race Bahrain's PR push for the race is obvious in its actions over the past four months, including inviting former drivers — like Damon Hill — to endorse the Grand Prix. Or a piece quoting Michael Schumacher in in The Telegraph trying to quell fears. There's also a story on ESPN including officials trying to equate the violence in Bahrain to Las Vegas — and even a puff piece in BusinessWeek about how the race will create 3,000 jobs. All this PR may actually work. Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone says he "has no doubts" about a race in Bahrain and blames the media for making up stories about violence in the country. "The good thing about Bahrain is it seems more democratic there than most places," Ecclestone told the BBC. "People are allowed to speak when they want, they can protest if they want to." Not really. There's actually a law on the books that requires any assembly of more than six people for the purposes of protesting to have prior approval form the government, according to Amnesty International. Amnesty, for their part, haven't explicitly called for a cancellation of the race but have said that NGOs and governments should use attention brought by the race to continue to push for meaningful reforms. In a column for The Guardian with John Lubbock, Rajab says the race shouldn't go on, writing "It is simply shocking that Britain and the US continue to support such a repressive regime and that Formula One is even considering holding the Bahrain race at the current time."
Public pressure has mounted in the last week, with F1 former champ Damon Hill — formerly cheering the Kingdom in a government press release — now stating that "the pain, anger and tension in Bahrain" needs to be considered before continuing with the race. A Change Of Heart?After weeks of communicating on this story with Cracknell, he approached me on Sunday to tell me that he was no longer going to work for the Bahraini government as soon as the race was over and sent me the following statement:
Cracknell is but one small cog in a machine whose job it is to turn the critical press towards a perspective the government finds more palpable. His decision not to renew this account probably won't change much. With all the money Bahrain is spending, there are others doing the same job. Someone else likely will replace him. Photo Credit: Hasan Jamali/AP, John Moore/Getty Images |
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