Author: Jacques René Zammit

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Mediawatch

The Leader’s Ship

Joseph Muscat has reiterated his wish that Malta becomes a ‘leader’ in Europe. Muscat’s record of bravado and not too cleverly disguised machismo might still have some appeal with the sheep in his fold but the contradictions and cracks in the ably constructed mask  do not cease to multiply. The Labour party and its acolytes continue to speak as though there is no world outside the cave, as though its interpretations of the shadows on the wall are the only ones that count. Meanwhile the myths of nationalism, faith in the Maltese people and meritocracy continue to crumble visibly for anyone interested in noticing them.

If Joseph Muscat is hoping to “lead” Europe with his citizenship programme then he has either lost the plot or never had one. The latest voice to criticise Labour’s scheme comes from Labour’s very own European family. Socialist leader Swoboda stated that the citizenship undermines European values. Quite a heavy statement that. All Muscat sees of course is 1 billion something euros rushing state into Malta’s coffers. The weak tweaking of the scheme was sold to no one other than the “social partners” that had already been bought to the Labour side before the election. In substance it remains the same. There is no element of leadership or creativeness in this scheme. It is an outright sale of a European visa – technically Malta is selling something that is not even entirely its own to give away.

Does Muscat expect other countries to take Malta’s ‘leadership’ cue? What would happen if all 28 countries put the same citizenship for sale at the same price and the same conditions. Aesop’s goose that lays golden eggs comes to mind. In Malta the voter still gets sold with the promise of money shooting into the nation’s coffers – supposedly used to mitigate the infamous ‘cost of living’. It’s a half-baked plan though and worse still it has been entrusted in the hands of “foreigners’ who will be cashing in on Malta’s moment of foreign policy folly. And to think that all that fuss was made on a Maltese clock a while back.

What leadership from a government that is “learning as we go” with petrol procurement? Yes, you can already hear the broken record of “better than the corruption under the nationalist” – sure it is, meanwhile petrol and diesel are more expensive than under the corrupt blues and nobody is batting an eyelid. This same government expects to lead while it commits gaffe after gaffe in sectors such as health care reneging on promise after promise sold cheaply to an electorate whose only motivation was that it was fed up with being screwed over by the same people. A solution to Mater Dei? Pull the other one.

Even the transport shift away from the infamous Arriva is turning out to be a not too veiled ploy to simply give the reins in the hand of a Labour papabile without too much of real reform. No sooner that the incumbent was mobbed out of its contract we have the roadmap government selling the idea of higher subsidies. More bills for the taxpayer to foot eventually thanks to a reluctance to take a real holistic approach to the problem. Add to those bills the probable high bill of the National Bank settlement and you  can see government’s sudden urgency to find some easy money.

No wonder Muscat is insisting on the hairbrained citizenship scheme. He might believe that he looks like a determined nationalistic leader – calling foul on those dastardly nationalists who are working against “national interest” but to the more intelligent among us it is evident that the only one operating against national interest is Muscat himself.

We also had George Vella replying to worries echoed in this blog about the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons off the Maltese coast. “No chemicals will be dumped in the Mediterranean” – well, George, that was not the question was it? What really worried anybody who cared was the evidence that this ‘destroying chemicals at sea’ business sounds like something that is happening for the first time. Was Malta – loud, foot stamping Malta, Malta the leader – given a place at the table of nations monitoring the activity? Are our authorities being kept informed of the steps being taken and have they been given any form of reassurance?

We do not really have a leadership or any aspiration to lead other countries. We are in the hands of a bunch of politicians working on knee-jerk policies that are the result of issuing many cheques before the election that now threaten to bounce.

And the nationalist party? Well, they are intent on still sticking the middle finger up at a large swathe of the electorate. Their latest solution: Norman Vella. Now isn’t that grand?

leadership_akkuza

Categories
Mediawatch

Toxic

Malta might soon have to worry about a more real danger than Syrian refugees. Not that Syrian (or any other) refugees are dangerous. The boat carrying Syrian chemical weapons that left Latakia port on Tuesday carries a much more lethal threat than any amount of refugees could ever (even potentially) be. BBC News reported that a Danish vessel, escorted by Russian and Chinese warships, left the Syrian port loaded with the confiscated chemical weapons. So far so good.

What they will do with the weapons is the real problem. The UN has confirmed that the Danish boat is carrying what are termed as “priority one chemical materials” – not your average bleach or dettol. In fact the BBC report continues “the “most critical” chemicals include about 20 tonnes of the blister agent sulphur mustard”. Sulphur mustard eh. It’s a good thing that they have been removed from the hands of evil warlords prepared to use them on innocents. But where will all the sulphur mustard be taken? Here is the BBC again, explaining the steps:

1. The Syrian authorities are responsible for packing and safely transporting the chemical weapons from 12 sites across the country to the port of Latakia. Russia has supplied large-capacity and armoured lorries, while the US has sent container drums and GPS locators.

2. Russia will provide security for loading operations at Latakia, for which the US has supplied loading, transportation and decontamination equipment. China has sent 10 ambulances and surveillance cameras, and Finland an emergency response team in case of accidents.

3. Denmark and Norway are providing cargo ships and military escorts to take the chemicals to an as yet unnamed port in Italy. Russian and China will also provide naval escorts.

4. In Italy, the “most critical” chemical agents will be loaded onto the US Maritime Administration cargo ship, MV Cape Ray, to be destroyed by hydrolysis in international waters. Less-toxic chemicals will be shipped by Norwegian and Danish vessels for disposal at commercial facilities.

Do not be deceived by the MV in the US vessel’s name. It stands for “motor vessel” and does not mean that Malta is involved in any way. Now I confess to absolute ignorance as to the process of “hydrolisis” and what it does to “priority one chemicals” such as “sulphur mustard”. What I do find of considerable concern is the location where the destruction of the chemical weapons is to take place. Here is the BBC “approximative” map:

_72043169_syrian_chemical_weapons_disposal_624

See what I am getting at? That number 4, approximate as it is, could not be any closer to Malta. Given that the Mediterranean is not exactly huge once you remove territorial and national waters, it should be of some concern – at least to those who are entrusted with the government and welfare of our nation – that this internationally concerted plan involves the destruction of very dangerous chemicals so close to the waters of our island nation.

The least we could have is more information. If our political establishment took a break from the navel gazing they might even find out what is happening in our back yard.

Further Info

An ABC News report on the MV Cape Ray. It includes this very reassuring paragraph: “It’s currently being outfitted with two Field-Deployable Hydrolysis Systems (FDHS), which the Pentagon began procuring in February 2013, knowing it might need a way to destroy Syrian chemical-weapons components in the field. It did not expect to do so at sea, and the equipment had to be tested for vibrations, the sloshing of liquids, and other potential problems.”

Have you ever destroyed chemical weapons at sea before?
Erm no. But we’re outfitting our vessel and we will do our best to contain “sloshing liquids”. There’s always a first time you know.

Categories
Mediawatch

If this is man

There were two news items on yesterday evening’s edition that struck me more than any other. It’s true that the nature of news reporting is such that you will inevitably get the worst picture of the nature of man. Crimes and wars are committed by man upon man. It is usually our reaction to natural disasters that seem to bring out the “humanity” (that ill-fated term) in us. Yesterday though we had to hear of the fraudulent activity related to two of the great tragedies of this century. In the first case we heard of how “heros” of 9/11 had been claiming disability benefits ever since when they had absolutely no disability at all. In the second case we heard of how thousands of euros intended to assist victims of the L’Aquila earthquake tragedy had been misappropriated.

Such news items do make you wonder where the world is going at. The world will remain full of criminals and “evil” in an anti-human sense but they will never cease to surprise.

« Considerate se questo è un uomo
Che lavora nel fango
Che non conosce pace
Che lotta per mezzo pane
Che muore per un sì o per un no. »
– Primo Levi

Categories
Mediawatch

Doktor! Doktor!

The law students are apparently throwing some hissy fit and demanding guarantees that the reform of their degree will not entail the dropping of the “Dr” nomenclature for the law course graduates. Such big deal this “Call me a Dr” business. Or is it? It is quite indicative that the law students were much less vociferous whenever the requirements for entry into the law course were diluted over the last decade or so. The law faculty seems to have unfortunately become some kind of petri dish to test the GIGO principle: first we dilute entry requirements until even the illiterate can get in, then we apply that sad unwritten rule that the vast majority of students present on the first opening day will eventually graduate (by hook or by crook).

Sure they will “suffer”. Sure there will be moments when the whole Civil Code will appear to them in nightmares and beat them around the head with worse effects than an Actio De in Rem Verso. Without the need to generalise too much though it was already obvious in the early noughties that the levels of aspirant lawyers were spiralling dismally downwards. The most evident flaws were a failure to grasp basic logic and language (and of course the logic of language). Bereft of these two most basic of tools that should arm the interpreter of laws we get an army of players of the system who will take advantage of a weakened faculty, live out six years with an Erasmus or two in between and graduate with the final “bonus” of getting to be called Dott.

The Robert Musumecis (he did tell me personally that he did not bother going to lectures for his law degree… “kemm nistudja in-notes) of this world are not to blame though. The system developed as it did independently of their aspirations for a doctoral title. Frankly I find the whole Dott thing mildly embarrassing. First of all Malta’s LL.D. award is rather unique. In the anglo-saxon system LL.D.’s are awarded for lifetime achievements in the field or as Wikipedia puts it:

In the UK, the degree of Doctor of Laws is a higher doctorate, ranking above the Ph.D., awarded upon submission of a portfolio of advanced research. It is also often awarded honoris causa to public figures (typically those associated with politics or the law) whom the university wishes to honour. In most British universities, the degree is styled “Doctor of Laws” and abbreviated LL. D., however some universities award instead the degree of Doctor of Civil Law, abbreviated DCL.

So already you are being bestowed with a title that ill describes your academic achievements until graduation. Add to that that the actual use of the “Dr.” title is universally acknowledged as being reserved for Ph.D. graduates. The Maltese graduate gets to be called doctor without ever having pursued the studies of a real doctorate. I recall pleading with the Chef de Mission of a Maltese government delegation for EU Accession negotiations not to introduce me – a newly graduate junior lawyer – as Doctor Zammit to the foreign colleagues at a conference. It was less humility than the fear of giving the impression of being the legal equivalent of Mozart – drafting doctoral thesis while eating egg soldiers at the age of 4.

I am still surprised to this day when the HSBC call center (fully informed clerks with your dossier at hand) still calls me Doctor Zammit (followed by “kif nista’ nghinek hi”). It does feel ridiculous. It’s not that I don’t have a sense of pride in the profession that I chose to pursue for the earning of my daily bread. It’s actually because I am proud in what being a law graduate should really mean that I get irked by these ridiculous obsessions with such ill-conceived nomenclature.

The legal profession naturally carries a reputation of sorts. Such a reputation is, objectively speaking, very unfortunate and imprecise. The role of the law and its interpreters is very important in civil society and for a very long time purveyors of the profession were among the most respected, well-read and upstanding individuals of the community. Being a lawyer meant as I mentioned earlier that you carried a love of knowledge, of society and its organisation and of the classical foundations of education. The last thing on your mind should be what people are calling you. You should be much more concerned as to earning your respect through your work.

People. Yes. The denigration of the lawyer’s profession has peaked over the past few years. Even in the hallowed halls of popular representation the natural predisposition of lawyers to political service (in Cicero style) has given way to other professional representations – including the johnny come lately economists. The media will not miss a beat in beating on the lawyers. Truth be told some colleagues might not have been the best advertisement to the profession of St. Yves’ protected but one rotten apple does not make the whole basket rot. At least not immediately.

People and “dott”. I’m not impressed when I hear people address colleagues of mine as “Dott” these days. Most times there is a sense of mockery almost built into the word as it is pronounced. Yes, the Dott business too has become a strong symbol of the dilution of the respect quotas of the profession. There was a time when we would jokingly sing during graduation ceremonies the ditty “Lil tal-Ligi tghidlu Dott, lil tal-B.Comm tghidlu Mr.”. At the time I thought it was more the kind of sfottò that befits the camaraderie of graduation ceremonies. Apparently the buscading graduates of tomorrow find the Dott appendage indispensable.

Time would be much better spent working on improving the quality of the profession than on worrying what people call them, and in any case I guess that the latter would mean a list that is never ending and quite colourful.

As for the rest…. suum cuique.

Categories
Mediawatch

Notre classe politique est une pipe

pipe_akkuza.com

I believe that I have referred to this idea at least once before. Magritte’s creation seems prima facie to be an inherent contradiction since he accompanies an image of a pipe with the caption “this is not a pipe”. In actual fact Magritte’s observation was more of the obsessive compulsive kind – “you could not stuff this pipe, it is just a representation, it is not a pipe but an image thereof”.

I like to think that our political class, and particularly the Taghna Lkoll Movement/Government have mastered the art of denying the obvious that is in your head. They will present you with a pipe – as real as can be – and then proceed to deny that it is a pipe at all. Magritte’s prima facie contradiction becomes a reality after all. In this the Taghna Lkoll Movement and its discontents are aided by a particularly malleable media and a voting class that is more than willing to dance to the tune as the piper intended.

It is only with such “politics” that a government can afford to claim not to be putting citizenship up for sale when no matter which way you look at the (revised) proposals we are still facing an outright sale of passports – changing the small print does not change anything of the final underlying reason for the transaction. It is such “politics” that allow a well-oiled media machine to “sell” the idea that citizenship has always been easily obtainable (so why no charge a price?) while at the same time denying that this has anything to do with price. Such “politics” sells you the lie that this is all about attracting “talent” to Malta. Indeed.

Meanwhile the opposition huffs and puffs and is still unable to put Humpty together again after his great fall. Right now the opposition is gearing for the forthcoming MEP elections and is investing quite a little bit of its time in hyping up its list of candidates. The latest to be mentioned is one of the biggest pipes in Maltese “journalism” – the inimitable (thankfully) Norman Vella. Not content with overhyping the legal qualities of some of its line-up, still unsatisfied with the questionable economic credentials of some of its other careerist members of the list, we now have the PN pushing Norman Vella as a journalist. “Ceci n’est pas une pipe, c’est Norman Vella.”

Will the voters have enough? Have they not seen enough posturing and over-hyping from both sides? The great toilet of so-called journalism in Malta will survive many a flush and seems to be geared to provide the electorate with more and more choices for European election day. The parties will strut up the figures of their supposedly pre-selected candidates and will over-sell them to a populace that seems to have given up on any concept of discernment. The candidates will shoot non sequiturs of the highest order – sometimes hyping up an issue as though they have discovered the world. Thus Cyrus Engerer and Stefano Mallia supposedly “agree” that the President of the Republic should be chosen from outside the politicial milieu. A non-politician. “Ceci n’est pas un politicien, c’est votre President de la Republique”.

It’s getting very, very confusing and more and more difficult to cut through the hyperreal crap that the establishment uses to legitimate the ideas that it sells. When we fail to question the obvious and to point out the embarrassing nudity of the Emperor we insist on committing a disservice to ourselves. As the various lobbies continue to struggle for a place to suckle at the teat of this Labour government’s fat pig bonanza, they become willing participants in the lie that we live in daily. It will become harder and tougher to call their bluff. And by “their”  I mean all of them.

Ceci n’est pas un blog post politique.

1. The government will be revising art censorship laws. Malta does not have art censorship laws, it has censors in artists’ head. Ceci n’est pas une phrase censurée.

2. The biggest issue in the controversy on gay adoption is not whether it should be allowed but whether this government had a mandate to introduce it. Ceci n’est pas un enfant terrible.

3. The Bishop’s rant about moral duties of politicians in parliament is a huge tautology. The truth is that any politician is accountable to his own set of morals and values as well as those of his party. Whether they are legislating on spring hunting or gay adoption politicians are supposedly inspired by a code of ethics, morals and values. The trick is in finding out what values our politicians and their parties represent. Ceci n’est pas une blague.

4. 10 months into this legislature and we still have no news about those ridiculous claims by various ministers as to what they earned. Ceci n’est pas un bon souvenir.

5. The oil purchasing scandal rages on. It remains the biggest excuse yet whenever you confront Labour with anything wrong with their government. Ceci n’est pas une bonne excuse.

6. Arriva left the island. The money that went into the government side of transport planning remains money hopelessly spent. The luminaries behind the ideas that tied Arriva’s hands as from its arrival (excuse the pun) have a lot to answer for. The general public remains blind to a series of improvements that Arriva made (quality wise) – except in Gozo of course where Arriva worked like clockwork and actually contributed to an increase in public transport use. Ceci n’est pas un autobus en flammes.

 

 

Categories
Politics

Din għalikom, li mingħalikom…

ghalikom_akkuza

Is-sena intemmet bit-tajjeb. Intfejna xi ftit mid-dinja tal-opinjoni u intfajna xi ftit fuq ir-riflessjoni. Nifs ‘il ġewwa qabel ma terġa’ tibda tonfoħ. Kelli ċans nisma’ u ntaffi ftit mill-fatt li, issa li qed noqrob l-għaxar snin ‘il bogħod mill-gżejjer, il-politika insegwiha tabilħaqq bl-aloofness sanitarizzat. Titfa’ widnejk ma’ l-art bħal xi indjan fil-films tal-kajbojs (mhux Johnny) u tgħarrex x’inhu jiġri. What’s Up? Bħall-messaġġ li jippruvaw jobżqu s-Sempliċiment tat-Triq fid-demo Qumu minn hemm li għal waqtiet jaf ikun lirikament brillanti – partikolarment fl-akkuża bla limiti tagħhom lejn l-abbużi tal-liberta’ tal-espressjoni u r-rabja tagħġom lejn is-sistema.

Sempliċiment jirrimaw u jobżqu r-rabja tagħhom filwaqt li fl-istess nifs ma jiddejqux jenfasizaw li din hija perspettiva differenti u jiġu ABŻ li int taħsibha differenti (għax x’iktarx li int ukoll sirt pupazz tas-sistema). Tajjeb li tisma x’inhu jingħad fit-triq il-bogħod mill-kuriduri tal-poter infestati bil-virusijiet ta’ inċest u tħabbil-il moħħ. Iva tajjeb, mhux neċessarjament tkun qed tara “the full picture” pero tkun qed tosserva tila importanti. Biżżejjed tiftakar li l-moviment anti-politiku popolari ma huwiex mistur f’xi pinna ta’ xi Alunnu ta’ l-iSkola ta’ Brussell immaġinata jew f’xi rapport miżgħud bias ta’ xi blogger irrabjat iżda jimmanifesta ruħu fit-triq.

Jimmanifesta ruħu mingħajr komplikazzjonijiet ta’ prinċipji fil-fatt, għax minkejja li r-raġel tat-triq isemma’ leħnu fuq kull tema (minn adozzjoni sa’ bini illegali sa’ tixħim fix-xiri taż-żejt) issib li meta jiġi biex jagħżel min se jmexxi pajjiżu dawn it-temi jintilfu f’ġigġifogu infernali ta’ ħsibijiet u lealtaijiet. Malta sħiħa raħal b’żewġ każini imnejka. Hemm min hu ‘imweġġa’ mill-komportament tal-każin tiegħu. Wisq drabi din il-‘weġgħa’ ma hix għajr rabja personali għax b’xi mod ma ħax dak li deherlu li jistħoqqlu.

Iwa, jiddispjaċini ninnota illi titkellem ma’ min titkellem u titħaddet kemm titħaddet dik hija r-realta’ qarsa. Il-bogħod mit-tmasħin fuq facebook, ‘il bogħod mil-praspar tal-bloggijiet popolari u ‘il bogħod mill-aħbarijiet telekomandati tal-midja imniġġsa hemm verita’ wisq iktar bażika. Il-vutant Malti ma jistax jinfatam miż-żejża tal-partiti megalomani li ma’ kuljum li jgħaddi jivvintaw kantilena oħra li magħha jkun jista’ jiżfen. Għad irid jiskopri lill-Orwell filwaqt li jgħix ħajja Orwelljana ta’ kuljum.

Tismagħhom lill-vutanti tat-triq janalizzaw b’reqqa l-għeltijiet tat-tmexxija bipartitika u jgħarrfu sew fejn sejrin ħażin u għaliex. Analiżi intelliġenti jekk trid għax mhux ċuċ il-Malti ta’… le, jaf li fl-aħħar mill-aħħar il-wiegħdiet huma dawk li huma. “L-aħħar elezzjoni soqt sal-polling station u ħlift, ħaqq ismi, li ma nivvutalhomx”. Hekk jgħidlek. Imbagħad jgħidlek li għax “weġgħa”. Dik il-kelma li hija biss il-flipside ta’ sistema mibnija bil-brikks tal-favuri, biċ-ċejċa u bit-taparsi meritokrazija illi wara kollox tissarraf biss f'”dawk li aħna naħsbu li ħaqqhom jieħdu xi post fuq bord”.

U l-partiti konxji ta’ dan ir-raġunar bażwi tal-votant ta’ triq lesti jaċċettaw din ir-realta qarsa u jaġevolawha. Imbagħad kulltant biex jitnejku bih jgħidulu “Ara, issa għal President nagħżlu lil xi ħadd li huwa barra mill-politika”. Għax bħal dak li qallu il-kandidati esperti tagħhom huma kollha politikanti (fis-sens minsi tal-kelma). Psewdo ekonomisti, psewdo filosfi u psewdo moralisti soċjali jittelqu għal min se jirnexxilu jirkeb l-ikter fuq id-dwejjaq tal-votant tat-triq.

Il-ħsieb u r-riflessjoni ser ikomplu waqt li nieħdu iswed b’wieħed zokkor. Ceci n’est pas un blog politique. U ifhmuni. Jekk ma tridx tifhem allura dak għax int differenti u għalhekk niġi naqa u nqum minn x’taħseb int. Wisqqqq.

Din għalikom
li mingħalikom
li intom ikbar minn ilsien pajjiżkom