Luca Bruno/Associated Press

This is a continuation of yesterday’s post: Finding a Bahrain Different Than the One I Expected



MANAMA, Bahrain — There were six of us: three friends who were sports journalists and three friends who were Bahraini Formula One fans. We met at the T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant in the Juffair district of Manama after a long day at the track.

Formula One A view from the paddock with Brad Spurgeon.

The Bahrainis had contacted my friend, Joe Saward, a long-time F1 journalist with a widely read blog, and asked if we could meet to talk about F1 and life in Bahrain. The other journalist was David Tremayne who writes about F1 for The Independent newspaper in London.

As sports journalists with no particular qualifications to write about the political situation in Bahrain — but thrown into the middle of the 14-month uprising as we covered the Grand Prix here — we were not unlike our new Bahraini acquaintances.

That is, if they were who they said they were.

Ahmed Al-Mahri works in a bank, Hasan Emad in a real estate business, Yacoub Al-Slaise is a university lecturer in information technology. Two of these men are Sunnis, the other a Shiite.

They said they were so close that they were like brothers. We spoke mostly about Formula One at the restaurant — frankly, to a degree that might make a non-fan leave. Then, they suggested we move on to Starbucks to have a coffee or tea.

We all had suspicions that the trio might be government plants, sent to try to sway foreign media. Research afterwards revealed that at least two of them were active in social media: one was adept at Twitter — with 21,000 followers — and another wrote letters or comments on many Web sites and Twitter as an average Bahraini whose life was being obstructed by the uprising.

But, as I wrote yesterday, even among the journalists, our own feelings about life in Bahrain, the uprising and Formula One’s coming to this country — despite widespread disapproval, including among many fans — were beginning to be informed by our presence in the country.

“Some steps have been taken but it is not as fast as people want. But at the same time, because there is escalating violence it is not realistic to do it.” — Yacoub Al-Slaise

We decided to hear the men out. None defended the government’s excesses or abuses, including the killing of a demonstrator on Friday night.

On Monday, long after our talk, more protestors filled the streets during the funeral of the victim, Salah Abbas Habib, and on Tuesday, opposition leaders held a press conference showing pictures of body riddled with shotgun pellets. But none of those images had surfaced as we sat in a Starbucks that could have been anywhere in the world.

What was most interesting for the journalists was to hear from these people who called themselves the equivalent of the “silent majority.” They are neither members of the ruling family nor demonstrators. But they clearly feel torn between the two groups. They also feel that they have a great deal to lose if an Islamic Republic or some other form of religious state is imposed.

In the course of our conversation, we learned why it was important to this particular segment of society that the race take place, despite international and domestic opprobrium.

“When I heard the announcement that Bahrain was going to hold the Grand Prix in Bahrain, I could not believe it,” said Hasan. “Honest to God. I had tears in my eyes.

“I couldn’t believe it that this thing could happen and I could see the cars in front of me.”

But what did the race bring to them?

“Because now you are here and you are getting to know what is going on in the country,” said Hasan. “If we didn’t have an F1 here, you wouldn’t come to Bahrain.”

Yacoub pointed out that the race was much more popular this year. He said that in the past people asked around their companies or friends to see where they could find free tickets, but this year, there were lots more people buying their own tickets.

Yacoub said, from the outset of our talk, that Bahrainis have been protesting because the wheels of reform are grinding too slowly.

Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters

“I agree with that, especially we have the B.I.C.I. report, and the national dialogue in July,” Yacoub said. “But we are not feeling the results of this. Some steps have been taken but it is not as fast as people want. But at the same time, because there is escalating violence it is not realistic to do it,” he said referring to implementing faster reforms.

Despite the division between the Shiites and Sunni, Ahmed, who is Shiite, spoke of the love at least some people have for the rulers.

“The crown prince and the prime minister are idols for us,” he said. “The crown prince is highly targeted, same as a prime minister; but the prime minister has a long experience in the country. I am not saying he is perfect. There have been many voices here and there say he is no good, and all the rumors. But the thing is that the people in Bahrain, most people, they don’t want him to leave. They love this man, the honor of this man, and we respect him.”

What these men fear the most, they said, is the alternative that is being offered and suggested and fought for by at least some of the demonstrators:

“The danger of this is that a very large portion of them follow the Ayatollah who openly says he wants a theological system similar to what is in Iran,” said Yacoub, referring to “And Bahrain as a modern Arab country. It is a multicultural country, and it has Islam, Sunnis, Shias, a Jewish community, a Christian community. We have people from Asian backgrounds. And bringing a theological system to such a multicultural country is….”

“…a big joke,” said Ahmed.

“For me personally I think, yes, we need to push towards more freedom, more democracy, but you need to do it in phases,” Yacoub continued. “I cannot jump right into an elected government especially with a community or society like Bahrain that because of the events has turned into a sectarian monster. If a Shiite majority government comes into power and creates a government, I cannot trust them. Politically I cannot trust them. Because I have other examples right in front of me. I have Iran.”

The three journalists left the evening having heard another side of the story, one from three friends who lead a normal, middle class existence at neither end of the extreme, but who are frustrated that their voice is not being heard by the international media. But we also felt that we had now understood just how complex the situation was in this country, and that no quick fix will be possible.

And we left still with serious questions as to the wisdom of Formula One staging its race in a country suffering such division and violence. Only another year passing will tell how things work out on both sides, and whether we will again meet up with our three new friends in Bahrain.