Author: Jacques René Zammit

Over the weekend Premier Berlusconi has upped the ante with regards to immigration. Election fever (EP as well as regional) sometimes also means being in touch with the louder side of the population. In declaring that he does not want a “multi-ethnic” Italy Berlusconi won plaudits from his allies and attracted criticism from the UN and the Vatican.

Silvio will not heed this criticism. He would rather ignore it and attempt to quell the rising tide of the “dangerous demographics” [1]. It is hard to find fault in his reasoning. In electoral terms it is clear that both in Italy and Malta being seen to be active in the Immigration Department is a bonus for the government. Being seen as a standard bearer of a nationality that is under some extreme threat of extinction can win further brownie points. So before the pizza turns into a hummus and the bistecca fiorentina turns into some form of “meshui” (that’s “mixwi” for us), Berlusconi prefers turning a shade of Green (of the Padano kind) and has suddenly found a way to send the boatloads of immigrants back into the welcoming arms of Ghaddafi.

Berlusconi’s partners (and friends) in Little Italy can only applaud this feat. After all they too have a mass of voters egging them to prevent the nasty men from forming houses of worship within their own precincts. They too answer to voters who are disgusted when they see a manifestation of a devout person in a public place. They too can count among their voters people who believe that it’s ok if one man clad in white  gets off a plane and immediately is down on his knees in prayer but if a group of others do so regularly on the seafront.

This article and accompanying Bertoon appeared in today’s edition of The Malta Independent on Sunday.

Dal Notaro

It’s past midnight in the Grand Duchy and I am back from a birthday celebration at one of the many restaurants that try to pass for Italian in this corner of Europe. “Dal Notaro” is no different from any of the myriad other eateries run by second or third generation Italians who still believe they can con you into thinking that a quickly assembled plate of prosciutto and luxembourg mozzarella can be passed off as the real deal.The place does retain a bit of the Italian charm if by charm you mean the waiter insisting on keeping the wine list well hidden and leaving the table of guests with no alternative but a coy submission to his choice after a feeble attempt at resistance.

It really is irritating when a waiter tries to force feed a large group by hard selling one particular entree or main course in order to minimise the variety at table and facilitate chef’s duties. Anyways, the filletto al gorgonzola is still lying heavily on my stomach despite my downing a generous portion of grappa in order to tame the beast that was probably still alive at the moment of ingestin. In any case, I was not there for the food but for a birthday celebration.

Eurovision

I know it’s soon that time again but I don’t mean the song competition invented exclusively in order to highlight the humorous intellect of Terry Wogan. No. What I mean is the euro-vision or the way of seeing things from an expat’s perspective. It is probably one of the reasons why a night out with the fellow expats who will shortly be scrambling for a few places on a plane for a quick visit home can be interesting. Join us at a table and you would wonder whether this is the seat of some conspiracy – a coup in the making.

Cicale!

It’s time for La Vecchia Signora to start thinking about the future. This transition year was not exactly pleasant. Hungry fans wanted success fast and will be disappointed with the way it turned out. J’accuse believes that the real, competitive Juve is still nowhere to be found. Juve had a team that could hold together for almost three-quarters of the way (well, at least till Easter). Tinkerman was not a bad idea for a coach building on the long term but recently his ideas seemed a bit out of focus and he must be shouldering a bit of the blame for the way the sturdy machine began to lose parts.

The players too – a mixture of old and new – had lost the early sting and stimulus of revenge after the unhappy year condemned unjustly in the doldrums of Serie B football. Second in the first year back in  Serie A was no mean feat. Second, third or (God forbid) fourth this season is still not a nightmare when you are a fan of the long term variety.

Thing is I am a fan of the kind who likes to see his team win beautifully, with beautiful football and not through grinding of teeth and wearing down of the opponent with some barrier erected somewhere at the half-way line. I want to see creativity, I want to see the ball passed around, hopefully some mesmerising moves and that finishing shot that makes you go “Ooooh”. If my team wins after an ugly game then for me it is no victory.

It started with a plagiarised electoral slogan but now the idea of plagiarising is taking on monumental proportions chez the nationalist party in Malta.

Both Austin Sammut and Simon Busuttil have recently heaped praises on the superior quality of the PN candidates. If the PN spin were to be believed then the list of candidates encompasses a group of reliable experts who know what they are talking about when it comes to the EU. They were never euro-sceptic and – bonus points – they have a strong pro-EU infrastructure working within a big EPP party that gives them all the right credentials to represent you and me.

Above all as Austin and Simon both will tell you. PN candidates have a mind of their own and do not have any threats of fines hanging on their head should they speak their mind. So what is it that the expert candidates have to say to promote their cause? Let’s take a look at what SuperCandidates David Casa had to say in today’s Independent.

Fausto calls any reasoning that renders his championing of the Nationalists uncomfortable “convoluted” (Twisted Politics 2). Good for him. I am sure he finds Simon Busuttil’s convolution music to his ears – a chacun son gout. In any case today we deal with another trumpet of the Nationalist agenda -that paragon of impartial objective truths… Austin Sammut.

Austin is not exactly directed from PN HQ but like Berta Sullivan’s his articles tend to be a bit of the “His Masters’ Voice” type. The theme of this week’s drops of wisdom is “Individual before party” in which the learned nationalist campaigner goes through great pains to emphasise that insofar as the European Parliament elections are concerned the Nationalist Party and Labour party do not matter. More importantly, the loyalty of elected candidates is to the citizen and not to the party on whose ticket he is elected.

That explains Vince Farrugia of course. Here’s Austin’s words of indirect redemption for the GRTU maverick:

It is quite normal, and indeed very important, for a candidate to stand on a party ticket – that gives him the infrastructure, the organisation and hence the strength. But that does not mean that he does not have a mind of his own. Just look at the exposure the PN candidates have been given. They have been given ample space to speak at public meetings with their party leader. They have held activities of their own where they have not stood back from criticising the government.

Here’s one for Austin. In saleseman jargon it’s called “reciprocity” – that feeling of “you owe me one” that a customer gets when the salesman announces some kind of discount on a price. It’s the feeling of obligation to purchase a product that they are not even sure that they like. What other explanation is there for the party to garner the “strength” necessary to back candidates that can supposedly go AWOL once elected?