Boycotting Every Race On the 2015 Formula One Calendar

Disclosure: I love Formula One. At least a dozen times every year, I inadvertently wake up my wife and dog at 4:30 in the morning (Pacific time) as I yelp wildly in the living room and watch the live race feed.

As a left-of-center F1 fan, three issues gnaw at me. One, the sport is perceived as elitist. One Percenters(tm) own the teams, pack the hospitality suites at races, and park their mega-yachts next to race tracks. Two, a lot of fuel is used to fly the cars, the equipment, and crews all over the world, from Singapore to Austin.

But what really irks me is the politics. Emerging economies, oftentimes with authoritarian regimes, pay tens of millions to have the privilege to host a race. And F1, as a business, has no problem taking the money.

Sometimes, the host country’s government is so brutal, a boycott is called. But do boycotts work? What is their purpose? Their goal? Where do you draw the line? How do you compare a violent regime that oppresses its small population with a large democracy that has violated the privacy rights of millions?

I have put together a list of all the 2015 venues and come up with reasons (some legitimate, some tongue-in-cheek) to boycott their races. Let us know in the comments whether you think boycotting is an empty gesture or a collective (and effective) statement against a universal wrong. And finally, is not boycotting a political statement as well?

Red Zone:

China

• Gross gross polluter.
• Oppression of Uyghur minority in Xinjiang.
• Lack of press freedom.

Bahrain

• Sunni royal family in power for over a century violently cracking down on Shia majority.
• New TV station shut down within hours of its inception when it aired interview with opposition leader.

Russia

• Lack of LGBT rights.
• Ukraine.
• Assassination of political opponents and journalists.
• Kuril Islands (if you are a Japanese nationalist with a long memory).

Yellow Zone:

Malaysia

• Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim serving 5-year prison term…for sodomy. That’s one way of snuffing out dissent.

United States

• Use of drones for extrajudicial killings in Yemen and Pakistan.
• NSA eavesdropping.
• Guantanamo.

Mexico

• Narco-violence everywhere.
• Corruption everywhere.

Green Zone:

Australia

• Asylum policy (directing boat people to Nauru and Papua New Guinea).
• Draconian Bathurst racetrack policy, limiting each visitor to 24 cans of regular beer or 36 cans of light beer per day.
• Daring to boot Bart Simpson, a minor.

Spain

• Spanish Inquisition.

Monaco

• It’s a monarchy.

Canada

• Justin Bieber.

Austria

• I can’t find anything wrong with Austria.

Great Britain

• The Falklands War, if you’re Argentinian.

Germany

• The Greeks don’t seem to like Germans.
• BMW’s insanely and needlessly complicated current model line-up.

Hungary

• Pro-Russian government.

Belgium

• Nothing serious, other than artery-clogging mayonnaise for frites.

Italy

• Less-than-robust care of African boat people.

Singapore

• Treatment of migrant workers.

Japan

• Has not properly apologized to China and Korea for World War II (if you are Chinese or Korean).

Brazil

• Rampant, uncontrolled gold mining along Brazil-French Guiana-Suriname borders.

Abu Dhabi/United Arab Emirates

• Treatment of migrant workers.

As for me, I have boycotted the Bahrain and Russian Grand Prix. Once, I accidentally watched the Bahrain Grand Prix. I atoned myself by making a donation to Human Rights Watch.