Author: Jacques René Zammit

Categories
Politics

The Panini Sticker Election

album_akkuzaAs you wait for the votes to be counted (or don’t) the Sunday online and offline papers will only give you an analysis of the campaign and not the results. One of the points being brought up in most of these analysis is that the campaign was far from being European and that the nationalist party was very negative.

Criticism of the absence of a European aspect is not entirely correct – in many ways much of our lives today are governed by a multi-layered approach to legislation. The purpose of European legislation remains, to a large extent, the creation of a harmonised ever closer union while the remit granted to the Union is widening (albeit admittedly at a slower pace). Hot national issues will almost inevitably bear the mark of a European influence if, for European you mean the corpus of legislation that we have come to know as the acquis communautaire. No power station, environmental policy, or even social right issue will be entirely free of a European dimension.

The underwater cable linking Malta to Sicily for example was in the news recently thanks to fishermen in Sicily who complained that it is not really being laid low enough and their nets risk dragging it. Even issues such as the sale of passport were wrongly interpreted as being solely of a national dimension – in the end it depends on your outlook towards policy and its creation. The latter has to be combined with the attitude towards your place in Europe – this blog has often gone on record criticising the fact that notwithstanding Labour’s claim to try to be best in Europe its operation remains one of detachment firmly entrenched in an “us and them” mentality.

Are the nationalists really “negative”? The blue and red style of politics would lead to an analysis that answers such a question with a resounding yes. In truth though the nationalists are attempting to perform their duty as an opposition to the best of their abilities and resources. I listened to both leaders’ concluding speeches of the campaign. Busuttil did run through a list of deficiencies of the current government (linking them well, in my opinion, to European values).

What else could be expected though? This was not, and could not have been, a campaign based on roadmaps and manifestos that would be implemented by elected candidates. Whether it is 3-3, 4-2 or 3-2-1, the elected MEPs will be sitting in a wider formation in the European Parliament and joining in the wider program of their respective formations. They are not in a position to promise cheaper electricity bills and the proverbial Maltese “dancing water”. The campaign could not therefore veer too far from the local realities and credentials of the respective parties backing their horses.

As for the sticker album. The whole plan backfired. Why? Well the real reason is not that it was not a good idea to create a list that belies the much vaunted concept of meritocracy – far from it. The problem was elsewhere – mainly in how this list was sold and compiled. It was a lazy bit of research that resulted in a list that still had leftovers of the “guilt by association” campaigns of the past by the PN that was part of their downfall. Yes, there were many wrongly named persons on that list who were drawn into the blood feud of the two houses. No doubt about that. Even just one person who found himself wrongly named in the sticker album would have been one too many – as it turned out it was more than one.

The criticism of the overall reaction to the sticker album served Labour well. It reinforced their spin of “negative PN” and whatever good points could be had regarding the general approach of a Labour government bulldozering its way over the concept of meritocracy seem to have been lost. It is strange however how not many in the press have picked up on the fact that even Labour pundits such as MaltaTody’s Carmen Sammut went on record stating that “Xi nies ma misshomx kienu hemm” (some people should not have been on that list). Emphasis on the “xi” (Some).

That’s quite an admission by far. Marlene Farrugia is not the only one realising the cracks that appeared in the credibility of this government. The EP elections may have been run on a skewered sense of vision – one that once again exalted the bipartisan approach over and above everything else. That is really where the European element went missing. The value of representation in the European parliament is not entirely appreciated – even if you look at it from the possibility of having a Maltese representative within a third formation of the parliament itself. The elections became another sparring opportunity – for Muscat to somehow confirm his rooster approach and supposedly legitimate his inroads into democratic accountability and for Busuttil to test the ground before beginning the real campaign that ends four years from now.

You will hear much about winners and losers. In many ways everyone will manage to paint himself as some kind of winner today – even that Ajkla guy. The only real winners in an election can be the voters – and that is when their vote translates into effective democratic representation within an important pillar of European democracy.

Categories
Citizenship Politics

In search of the discerning voter

10390007_10154146760665368_1785490145830756640_n The Luxembourg contingent landed this morning. I drove straight to Evans Building to pick up my voting document which, as it turns out, had already been collected by a conscientious neighbour (thanks John!). Still, it gave me time to go walkabout in a resplendent and vibrant Valletta. It was a welcome assault on the senses. The streets thronged with people – at work or for leisure – with a wonderful background from the numerous musicians at every corner.

The (I almost said cruel) sunshine beamed off the golden buildings and were it not for the incredible amount of dog droppings that peppered the Saint Elmo end of Valletta it would have been a party for all the senses.

I bumped into the (almost complete) set of nationalist MEP candidates close to the law courts. They were on a walkabout of their own drumming up last minute support. Speaking to Simon Busuttil, Jonathan Shaw, Therese Comodini Cachia and (international secretary) Trevor DeGiorgio I got the feeling of a genuine effort of reaching out. I am no fool and this is an election campaign but there is no doubting that the effort remains and the PN does have a negative perception reputation that it needs to overcome.

Further up Republic Street I came across AD’s Cassola getting a quick lunch in a main street cafe. I asked Arnold what his feeling is and his reply was one of guarded confidence. The polls are not clear he said but AD have a sense that this is 2004 all over again. By AD standards this is supposed to be good – particularly since they seem to be convinced that a chunk of Labour voters might be tempted to go green. I did not meet any Labour candidates – nor did I meet any from the unfortunate Panini Sticker Album (though I did get a wave from former course colleague Franco Debono when turning into South Street).

I am quite sure that Labour are confident in their own way – especially given that they can still count on their well oiled propaganda machine that has become their trademark. It’s a machine that has the pulse of the luoghi comuni, running mainly on half-truths and brushing aside the weak nationalist stunts that seem to backfire so unpleasantly for the time being.

***

I have deliberately taken a sabbatical from this campaign. It has been tough for the past few months trying not to keep up pace with the goings on – especially since this was supposed to be a European Campaign with a European dimension. We did get Juncker and Schultz visiting this micro nation (thanks Malta Design Week – go there, it’s definitely worth a visit) but on the whole there has been little or nothing European about these elections.

Muscat seems to believe that his best bet is forcing a personality battle between himself and Simon Busuttil. The targeted campaign highlighting the supposed benefits of one year of Taghna Lkoll glossed over the glaring failures of such concepts as meritocracy and highlighted such incredible achievements as the pittance of an increase in stipends. Thank God for hurriedly assembled “social right” laws that threw a heavy dose of mascara on Labour’s mask – making them seem that they really cared (when it was immediately evident that such moves were strongly rooted in populist measures). Labour seems to have managed to hide its very un-European approach to everything under the sun – including the European Union itself. Quite frankly the Labour party is the last party that could genuinely claim to understand what representing citizens in Europe is about – mainly, and most importantly because the Labour party either does not understand or does not care about what Europe really means. Forget the rhetoric of “best in Europe” – it is clear that for most of the time (all of the time) Labour still reasons clearly in us and them terms.

The PN is struggling resource wise and the temptation to play along to Labour’s game is still strong – which explains such monumental, off-putting gaffes such as the Panini Sticker Album. Ironically Europe is where the PN should be stronger in battling it out – at least on an MEP level – it being the party with a stronger pedigree on the matter. I have already had occasion to point this out before – the PN needs to work strongly on the principled building blocks and begin to believe more in such principles and their power of attracting the voters who are more careful when selecting leaders and not bluffers.

As for AD. This could be their golden chance. The unconvinced Labour voters who are rattled by certain Labour positions such as the unconditional backing of Cyrus Engerer might add to their base. They also have consistency on their side – they have a clear European dimension that could be attractive to the discerning voter.

The discerning voter. These elections will be a severe test for the voting population. Are they still biting at the marketing hooks that are thrown at them? Does a bus parked outside a secondary school do the trick? Will the little cheques (car registration, slight dip in petrol prices, maternity cheques) being thrown at them as bait win the day? Also, hopefully a marginal point, how many will go for the rabid loonies that form the tail end of the electoral list? Will we get our own dose of intolerant Eurosceptic vote?

***

To sum up these MEP elections will unfortunately be far from a definite sample of representation at a European level. In all probability there will be a set of mixed results that every party will interpret as a victory in their own right. It would be good for the electorate if it had an interpretation of its own. One that measure the success or failure of the vote on the basis of true representation within a European Union that is currently in dire need of getting in touch with its demos.

Or to misquote an apocryphal Plato: those who can’t be bothered to choose wisely who will represent them are punished by being represented by those who couldn’t really give a damn.

Categories
Sport

Notes from an Europa League Final

europa_akkuza

Part I – A Gozitan Juventus Fan in the Yankees’ Court

The last big sporting event I had attended involved lots of merchandising, an incredible amount of food and drink, a massive stadium full of families, a team with a glorious history and, oh, the sport – something about bats, balls, diamonds and strikes. Thousands of fans were at the Yankee Stadium that day to watch Jeter and Co. go through the motions once again so that they may then crunch the numbers and stats on their way out through the official merchandising shops.

That time match had been rescheduled since the first time round it was “rained out”. That meant that we got the opportunity to queue at a ticketing booth and witness the elaborate but mostly efficient commercial transactions between fans, official team ticket staff and the invisible but very present Stubhub. It was like going to the stock exchange – in the US sites such as Stubhub that serve for the buying and selling of tickets between fans are part and parcel of the goings on. A fan becomes an able commercial transactor – and the wheeling and dealing becomes very much part of being a fan. Nothing seemed wrong there.

Nothing was wrong at all. All tickets were exchanged, rightful owners of tickets who could not attend on the rescheduled day were given different tickets for different days – some negotiated for bunches of tickets including the mysterious “bleachers”, others were content to watch the game that evening. A breeze. Really and truly. We walked out happy with our new tickets and proceeded to watch what I can only subjectively define as a very boring game staged in a magnificent family atmosphere. We stayed as long as we could resist the freezing temperatures having been obliged to buy warm covers to wrap ourselves in.

Part II – “Stasera spacchiamo tutto in citta” (tifoso Benfica)

This time round I was waiting at Gate G of the fantastic Juventus Stadium, surrounded by a mass of excited Benfica and Sevilla fans on the way to witness the 2014 Europa League final. I was there because I had purchased the ticket back in April when Juventus were still in the run, on the eve of a return leg against Lyon. Atheists would call this overconfidence – I call it faith… faith in your team that is the ultimate building block for fandom worldwide. Real fans, they believe. Sadly faith does not always combine with fate and notwithstanding having outshone the portuguese upstarts over two legs Juventus quit the scene at the semifinal stage with the odd goal in three having gone Benfica’s way.

I had a slight problem though. It was staring back at me from my ticket. Twice. There, branded into the ticket officially issued by UEFA right under the price of 150 euro were the words CHOY WAI SHING. Written (for security’s sake) twice – once at the top of the ticket and once at the bottom. That, my friends, was supposed to be the name of the holder of the ticket. Now I consider myself lucky enough to be able to pass myself off as a person coming from a variety of nationalities  all of which have one thing in common – the Mediterranean basin. I can claim to come from anywhere within the range that goes from the Pillars of Hercules all the way to the ports of Tyre and Sidon passing through Rome, Tirana, Marseilles, Algiers, Tripoli, Alexandria and Rhodes. But Choy Wai Shing? Not even with my current hairstyle that is half way to that of a Supreme Korean Leader will I manage that.

I am not alone. Like me there are hundreds, nay thousands, of fans from both sides who are in possession of tickets that very evidently do not have their name on them. It is the result of a new UEFA directive, supposedly coming after complaints by Chelsea fans last year who had to pay exorbitant prices to watch the final. I saw Portuguese with names such as “Peter Coombes” or “Paolo Venditti” on their ticket. At this point we had already tried our luck once. We had all gone to the turnstile and shown our ticket to the steward together with our identity documents. Each one of us had been sent back – refused – even though some of us, like myself, could produce evidence of the transaction that had led to the official purchase of the tickets. The rule was simple – your name is not on the ticket, you are not going in.

Which is why approximately one hour before the game was supposed to start I was having an interesting conversation with two Italian-speaking Benfica fans. “E ridiculo (sic) Se non fanno entrare tutto questa gente noi andiamo giu e spacchiamo tutta la citta”. Let it be known that this was said to me as I was squashed in a growing crowd of refused fans all pressing towards a gate that would not open. It was not just fans of Benfica. I also spoke to Sevilla fans who were in the same predicament. It was not surprising really – anybody could have predicted this.

Part III – Viagogo is a scam

The moment you are sandwiched between portuguese and spanish fans bellowing and belching their anger at everyone and everything your brain begins to distract itself by drawing up a quick hit list of persons and companies that are to be blamed for the current tense situation. Back in April, before the tickets were issued by UEFA I was sure that Juventus would make it to the final. They had to. It would be staged in their own stadium. I was told that the best way to get a ticket was by using Viagogo – an intermediary site that claims to “buy and sell” tickets for major events.

I logged onto their site and found a Category One ticket for the final at a not too moderate price of four hundred seventy euros (470). I reckoned two things – first that it was a fair price to pay for guaranteed tickets for a European Final (that same reckoning would allow up to 1,000 for a Champions’ League). Secondly I reckoned that, given the laws of the market, the price would rise as the final got closer (I would be right on that count). I was totally unaware of the possibility of registering oneself for a draw by UEFA for tickets that would cost 150 euro at this point.

What Viagogo does not tell you at the point of purchase – even though they are fully aware of it – is the following. They do not tell you that at that point they are not in possession of any ticket. They do not tell you that they will be “obtaining” the ticket at a later date when someone will be trying to get rid of his ticket because his team has not made it to the final. Most of all they do not tell you that your name will not be on the ticket – just that of the random unfortunate who wants to offload a ticket that has become useless for his purposes.

You will receive a number of emails following the purchase telling you that it is normal for Viagogo to have tickets sent very close to the event. The excuse they mention is that the tickets are issued very late. In my case it was extremely late. Thanks to a very unhelpful ‘customer care’ system I almost ended up with no ticket at all since the ticket only got to Luxembourg when I was already in Turin. On two different occasions I spoke to customer care reps from Viagogo and specifically requested that my name be on the ticket. On both occasions I was told by Viagogo that the name would not be on the ticket but that it would not be a problem because “UEFA cannot refuse everybody who has an official ticket”.

Part IV – UEFA does not help

But they did. Or at least they tried to do so for a very long time. We became pawns in a power match between UEFA and intermediaries such as Viagogo and the ticket touts. UEFA’s idea of control was to issue the tickets some time around the semifinals and make them nominative – that is strictly linked to the purchaser and non-transferable. The supposed inspiration behind all this is quite sound – keep prices low for fans. It’s a crap way of doing so though.

In the first place this system requires tickets to be issued at an early stage – sometime around the semi-final. That means that you will have at least 50% of the purchasers holding a ticket that they no longer need (for the pagans among you that figure covers the supporters of the two losing semifinalists). By UEFA rules they are not allowed to sell their ticket to anybody else. Ridiculo!

Also if for some reason you have purchased a ticket and suddenly something crops up and you can no longer go then you are lumped with a useless purchase (a UEFA issued ticket cost a fixed price of 150 euros). I met someone who had two tickets from another couple who had to pass on the match because the wife had just given birth. That’s 300 euros of wasted cash should UEFA not allow the ticket to be reused. If you think that these figures might be small and insignificant just think that on the day that the stadium was officially sold out (Juventus Stadium Capacity is at 41,000) the official attendance figure was 33,000. That’s 8,000 unused tickets Monsieur Platini… how’s that for sport?

Part V – Bela Guttmann wins

So what happened? Did I see the match? Well. What happened is this. It became obvious that what Juventus Stadium had on its hands was a mass of dedicated supporters prepared to turn into a mob. As more and more fans got refused entry the stewards suddenly communicated that they were speaking to their superiors to see what could be done. Even the stewards understood the ridiculous nature of the situation.

Meanwhile the fans were trying ingenious ways of getting in. Some ingenious portuguese decided to take UEFA’s rule literally. One guy got a felt tip pen and cancelled out the name on the ticket replacing it with his own. Some absent-minded steward let him in. This led to a rush for pens (I joined this one) and we all got back to the turnstile. No chance. We were refused once again after having been reminded that tickets were non-transferable.

That was the point when I feared the worst. In my mind I had a panic run-through of major football disasters involving uncontrollable crowds. There was a possibility of a rush on the gates but thankfully the crowd seemed much more decent for the moment. The tension did work as a huge eye opener as to how an administrative cock up can lead to tragic consequences – think Heysel, think Hillsborough. It only gets worse when while you are waiting you see the corporate ticket holders walking up to the steward and being allowed in after they are asked to write their name on the ticket. I had never heard of Hankook Tires before and I will never purchase them after this. (Yes, Hankook and HTC were two corporate sponsors with a heavy presence).

So while some of the hotter-headed Benfica fans threatened to do an Attila on Torino and while some Sevilla supporters brought out their repertoire of italian insults the clock was ticking and we were getting closer to missing the final and losing out on loads of money. Then it happened. A steward got the nod. “Let them in” was the order. One last mob crush and we were through the gates.

The rest, as Bela Guttmann would have it, is history.

Categories
Hunting

Getting Simon

gettingsimon_akkuzaIt looked like a shot in the foot. The Times headline was unequivocal – “Busuttil: Politicians should keep away from spring hunting controversy”. I was lost for words. Here was the leader of Malta’s opposition, still struggling in the trust ratings at the polls, coming up with a declaration that stank incredibly of fence-sitting. Could it be possible that after the disastrous management of the Civil Union issue the PN was once again falling far short in the battle of public perception?

I was mistakenly (as it turned out) provoked to putting together another Banana Republic poster that decried the fence-sitting qualities of the declaration. A facebook reader pointed out that there was much more to be read than the headline. Mea culpa, it seems, but only to a point. In fact after reading the Times article in full I began to understand where Busuttil was coming from. It all hinged on the fact that Busuttil was placing importance on the referendum – “the decision rested on the will of the people in a referendum”. What Busuttil seems to be saying (as confirmed further on in the report) is that for this particular decision “political parties have to bow their head to the will of the people”.

Could that be it? Is the PN leader telling anybody who listens that the PN will not stand in the way of a popular decision? This was reinforced by Busuttil’s reference to the party’s position – that of having a limited and controlled season. So we do know that officially the PN is not against spring hunting as such – if anything it has a position that is in favour of limited and controlled hunting in spring. What we are also being told by Busuttil is that notwithstanding this position, his party (and the politicians) should keep away from the controversy and let the referendum run its course. Presumably so the PN will not be campaigning for or against a particular position but has committed to respect the final decision in the referendum.

Is that really fence-sitting? Not really no. It falls much, much shorter than the ‘liberal’ anti-hunting sentiment that has been whipped up over the last year. The PN has definitely decided not to take up the baton of the anti-spring hunting movement and form some sort of coalition for the purposes of the referendum. Insofar as that is concerned it is a form of fence-sitting. On the other hand,  it is also not actively gathering hunters’ votes in Cyrus Engerer fashion or sending out equivocal statements that worryingly threaten the very possibility of the referendum. A positive passiveness if you will.

What has happened though is that the gist of the Times headline spread far quicker than the convoluted institutional message that Simon wanted to send out. It is far easier to jump to the conclusion that the PN is fence-sitting (I for one am guilty of doing so) than to see that there is a clear commitment from one of the two parties in parliament to respect the outcome of the referendum and give full power to a useful tool of political representation.

AD’s criticism of the PN position is not entirely correct in this respect but it is an inevitable result of a grave mishandling of communication from Busuttil’s PR team. The PN is not neutral – it has a position on spring hunting but it is choosing not to lead with it – promising to honour the outcome of the referendum instead. True, if like me you are dead set against spring hunting you would have preferred if at least one of the two political behemoths puts its full force behind getting a referendum result in favour of the abolition of spring hunting.

Whether it is for a calculated purpose or out of a purist interpretation of the institution of public referenda Busuttil has other ideas. The way his speech was reported results in a mini-disaster at PR and spin level. The leftovers at Dar Centrali in Pietà are proving rather inept at understanding the basics of communicating to the extent that even a bungling Labour party in government that rides roughshod over basic constitutional concepts manages to survive ahead at the trust polls.

As the MEP elections approach the PN remains an incoherent machine that is unable to clearly define itself and as a consequence unable to sell a clear defined message to the electorate. They should have learnt by now that voting PN by default is for many not an option – no matter how evident the ugly warts of the party in government have become.

As thing stand, even if you do “get Simon” the safest and clearest message on spring hunting comes from the candidates in green. It has always been and now it is louder and clearer than ever. It is not only about spring hunting but also about taking clear unequivocal positions on issues that are not only (as some mistakenly seem to suggest) restricted to national policy but that are also based on an open European vision.

 

 

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Categories
Arts Rubriques

The squares in our lives

squares_akkuzaI have this thing I do every time I get to New York. As soon as I have plonked my bags into my hotel room I rush out again and head for that one iconic landmark – Times Square. Maybe it is because it allows me to absorb the reality of having got to the Big Apple having crossed the ocean that divides us. I admit it is trash touristy in all sort of ways but there is something about standing in the middle of Times Square in broad daylight with all the signs flashing at you, with all the tourists transiting in front of you and with the inevitable Times Square safety agent walking up to you and asking where you are from. It is only after those five minutes absorbing the atmosphere that your real check-in has taken place.

Ever since the beginning of history, the social aspect of man has manifested itself strongly in our squares. The Greek philosophers had their agora which was the fulcrum of the city’s life. Interestingly the very linguistic origins of the word agora are to be found in two Greek verbs meaning “I speak in public” and “I shop”. That sounds like something out of Steve Job’s portfolio : iShop, iSpeakInPublic. The less romantic Romans would use their squares in order to make public and martial announcements -the famous Twelve Tables of early Roman life were affixed in a public place for all to know the law (and to abide thereby). Similarly Hammurabi’s famous stele bearing his laws would have been placed in a public forum – ignorance of the law was no excuse.

Closer to home our lives in our Mediterranean communities are strongly linked to the pjazza. A sense of patriotism would have me wax lyrical about our village squares and their churches and kazini but I do not have to restrict myself to the confines of our island. Spain and Italy are the prime examples of the plaza/piazza. The centrality of the square to the life of a town is incredible. I remember walking through the bare streets of some basque towns in the middle of August. Not a soul anywhere but all the roads lead to the square – and even a silent, empty square carries the whispers of the hustle and bustle that will inevitably fill it at the milder, cooler times of the day.

We take the physical distribution of our pjazzez for granted. The Don Camillo/Peppone traits are still there to see – no amount of urban restyling can easily wash away the vibrant dynamics between the church, the kazini and the titotla. Some pjazzas may have a pharmacy (rare), a hairdresser (often), a Local Council (rarer) or a grocer (quite common) but the triptych of church – band club – political party tends to form some kind of blueprint. Within that blueprint lie other minor blueprints such as the physical extension on the front of a church – iz-zuntier (the parvis) that acts as a very physical line of demarcation between the divine and the profane. An historic leftover of the past are a few “Non gode di immunità ecclesiastica” signs – a reminder that the demarcation line often spilled into the legal when church and state actually had conflicting jurisdictions on matters temporal.

The sense, the spirit of a piazza is not a sum of its physical parts. The spirit of the piazza can only be understood by observing the way it is filled and emptied. This post is inspired by a question on facebook: What makes a piazza fake? Can an open space with an urban context ever be a fake piazza as opposed to the real thing? One last aside: reading about Manhattan I learnt that since Broadway existed before the grid pattern was designed for the rest of the avenues and streets, what was done was that wherever Broadway crossed an avenue they created a square. Thus Times Square, Herald Square, Shake Shack’s Madison Park and Union Square. Growing up New York was not built around a square or squares – they seem to have been an accidental addition. There is no Kremlin or Trafalgar Square – there is a huge version of Picadilly Circus.

It may be unfair to apply the concept of the piazza, plaza and agora to the great metropolis – then again we have seen very recently how squares from Tiananmen to Plaza Mayor to Maidan (passing through most of the Maghreb and Tahrir) still play an important role in sending powerful messages. The day two popes were made Saints one million people thronged towards a world famous square that is only useful for such occasions before reverting to an empty vast space until the next great event.

So. Fakeness? What are these “plazas” that are constructed into modern mega buildings. Tigne Point and soon Pender Place will both have their little squares full of token bistros, coffee shops serving the panoply of caffeine hits and possibly a baker (in the Chez Paul tradition that hit continental Europe and the US). Sure, people will congregate and make use of the amenities. There is something sad about hanging around these concrete replicas when you are a stone’s throw away from a bar by the seaside. Will the bistros fulfill the same role as your average kazin complete with grapevine gossip? Somehow I find it hard to believe that the spirit of Tapie’s Bar in Victoria can be transplanted to the core of Pender Place. I also doubt it is the intention of the architects to do so.

The heartbeat of the “fake plaza” is commercial convenience and there is little of the social interaction. All the umbrella’d tables and sandwich stores in the world could not rekindle the civic feeling and heartbeat that a piazza conserves so nonchalantly. Let’s face it… I doubt this song could have been written on a trendy table at Tigne Point… at least not this one…

Categories
Citizenship Constitutional Development Politics

Ugly Heads

ugly_akkuzaRacism. It’s a dirty word. In the past seven days there seems to have been some form of virus in the air spreading dirty thoughts across the globe. The latest manifestation came in sporting events. First there was the Diego Alves incident. Barcelona’s colourful (an unfortunate word in these circumstances but I mean spirited) winger was getting ready to hit a corner in their match against Villareal when a banana was thrown from the stands. It is a not too intelligent and unironic insult that is common among the less evolved quarters of football “supporters”. Along with the monkey calls, the banana is the unfunny provocation (are you provocating me?) that yells “You are black therefore you are monkey”.

To Alves’ credit he did not only brush the manifestation of crass stupidity aside, he proceeded to pick up the banana and eat it before contributing to Barcelona’s turnaround victory against a banana coloured Villareal team. Unfortunately the beautiful game is often tainted with this kind of racist inspired taunts (remember Boateng last summer?). Surprisingly this week we also had news of similar dirty thoughts coming from – of all places – the black dominated NBA. The sport of LeBron and Jordan  hit the headlines for the wrong reasons when a phone call by the owner of the LA Clippers was leaked by his girlfriend to the press. It turns out that he did not want her to come to games in the company of African-Americans.

Donald Sterling (for such is the intelligent beings’ name) provoked a huge backlash to the point of getting a comment straight from President Obama that is destined to become a classic: “When ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don’t really have to do anything, you just let them talk. That’s what happened here.”  Barack, you’re so right.

It is ignorance that is at the root of intolerance. It is intolerance that is at the root of racism. In these times when democracy and democratic rights are being savagely banalised by the onslaught of relativism and populism the ugly heads of racism and intolerance are easily raised. We read in Malta about immigrants having to ask Maltese to “hail buses” because otherwise the driver would not stop for them. Ignorance. At its ugliest and worst. Rosa Parks would have a hard time in Malta, trust me. She’d probably still be stuck in some village police station on her 200th hour of “police questioning”. “What do you mean you refused to sit in the black section? There is a law you know.”

There are warning signs everywhere. Intolerance does not stop at racism on the basis of colour. In the Russian-majority areas of the Ukraine we had calls for a register of Jews. Even if we ignored the maladroit comments by Berlusconi about the Germans and concentration camp we would still have to admit that the current European Parliament campaign is unfortunately infused with not so subtle reasoning based on mistrust of the foreigner – a revived intolerance that the Europe of the universal declaration of rights was supposed to have buried long ago. (see also the recent outrage in the UK following a UKIP candidate’s comments).

Recently I learnt that the story that Adolf Hitler snubbed Jesse Owens during the Berlin Olympics was a myth. Owens himself explained that Hitler had actually taken an “official” decision not to congratulate any of the medal winners after he was told on the first day that he could not simply congratulate German medal winners. Hitler did not snub Owens. It turns out that he actually shook hands with Owens on the day before leaving the stadium.

Owens said he was treated better in Germany than in America where blacks faced segregation. Sometimes, the sources of intolerance and racism are to be found where we least expect it.