Categories
Mediawatch Politics

Cheap noodles and les nouveaux pauvres

Marie Louise Coleiro Preca II is not the name of a boat. It is the name of MLCP’s second facebook page that was started after the first one was oversubscribed. Marie Louise Coleiro Preca II shared a post with Marie Louise Coleiro Preca about a meeting that was held at the PL club in Fgura where the subject seems to have been the “energy poor” and someone liked this post today so it came to my attention. These are not, as you might presume, people who are experiencing strong withdrawal symptoms from their last intake of Red Bull but rather a newly defined class of poverty that has been created by… you guessed it… GonziPN’s exorbitant energy bills.

A woman with respiratory problems, who had an electrically-operated oxygen tank at home, ate cheap noodles every day to be able to afford her utility bill, Labour health spokesman Marie Louise Coleiro Preca said yesterday. (…) “There are people who are energy poor. I spoke to a woman from Cospicua last week. She needs an oxygen tank at home to live. She just about passes the means test, so she’s not entitled to the energy benefit. She told me she can only afford to eat noodles,” Ms Coleiro Preca said.

There is something surreal about this kind of presentation. It probably has a lot to do with Labour’s generally bungled way of public relations and transmission of information. You cannot help but wonder how comfortable Joseph Muscat, Anglu Farrugia and the other geezer from the triumvirate of oxymoronic progressives can be with having their mugshot plastered on the walls of Kazini under the ubiquitous torch like some latter day Stalinist cult. There under the pictures of the future saviours of the nation sat the survivors of a not too distant socialist government plugging the narrative of the “new poor” – les nouveaux pauvres.

Marie Louise Colerio Preca II was armed with stories of the quasi-poor who “just about pass their means test” (the rare kind of test one would rather fail) and therefore cannot claim any energy benefits. So the nouveaux pauvres are condemned to eating “cheap noodles”. Do they even realise what it is they are writing? Stop for a second and think. “Cheap noodles”. As against bloody what? Gourmet noodles? And why noodles? Does noodles sound poorer than pasta asciutta?

Cue the erstwhile troubador of great socialist lore Joe Debono Grech who, once the list of nouveaux pauvres esquisses was done, ” called on his party to reach out to people by teaching people about the history of the party that worked so hard to fight poverty”.

There is something plastic about all this. Which is not to say by far that the tough economic times have not hit the people where it hurts. It is not to say either that the noodle woman shares the same problems as, say, Times columnist Kenneth Zammit Tabona who recently also complained about the exorbitant figures that turn up on his utilities bill. It’s just that Labour seems to be willing a fantasy land of misery – a potemkin village in reverse. There under the watchful eyes of The Three Leaders Who Will Guide Us In The Battle Against Poverty, the stakhanovist socialists of yesteryear spun the narrative of les nouveaux pauvres creating the new oppressed who will need a new socialist, progressive spirit to lead them out of damnation.

Fgura election prospective candidate Charles Agius joins in with enthusiasm:

(he) said that during home visits he met families who had their electricity supply suspended because they did not pay the bill. They took their children to their neighbour’s house to use the computer.

See the concept of the bare essentials? Under a previous patch of “utility poverty” (still living memory for many) you would have said that following the latest water and electricity cut parents took to filling buckets of water from the sea and kids went to bed early in the dark. Nowadays the nouveaux pauvres first thought is where to get access to the closest working PC. Plus ca change.

This is not a post that denies the existence of hard up situations in our midst. It is a post that looks at the instrumentalisation of what might be desperate cases in order  to spin an opportunistic narrative with no solution in sight. Labour is doing its damned best to redefine the goalposts by creating this new social strata which we can define as the nouveaux pauvres. Forget the middle classes or the pepe – hamalli divide. The pigeon-holeing is now strictly concerned with the reclassification of the grumbling masses into a reversed potemkin village of nouveaux pauvres. It suits the whole narrative well enough so long as the gullible and partisan are the ones being targeted.

Still. Cheap noodles?

Categories
Rubriques

I.M. Jack – the Monday Progressives

Short notes from the weekend.

Marine – Le Pen got 20% of the votes in yesterday’s first round scrutiny in France. Francois Hollande (complaining left) will battle it out with Nicholas Sarkozy (exhausting right) in the next round of votes that will determine the next Monsieur le President. French radios are all abuzz this morning about the record number of votes that Le Pen’s extreme right obtained as though this signifies anything other than a strong meeting point for an angry protest vote. The main problem for Hollande and the progressive anti-Sarkozy coalition he will probably amass for the showdown in two weeks time is the same as that of most left-leaning oppositions around Europe: the absence of a plan. A campaign that is built on disgruntlement and anger at the economic crisis and at the perceived arrogance with which the right handled such crisis can work to get a party into power: the next step of what to do with that power is equally important though and that is what is so worrying about the so-called progressive movement.

Sondages – An archaic law in France prohibits the media from announcing the results of exit polls before eight in the evening. In the past Belgian and other francophone media such as Swiss and Luxembourgish have been used to circumvent this prohibition. This year a number of French publications will be facing court procedures for having dared to publish the results by seven in the evening. A full hour before most polling stations closed.

Disgruntled votes – Le Pen’s followers are already talking about “pegging their nose and voting left”. Nose pegging is fast becoming a trend in the anti-voting that takes place in modern democracies plagued with a dearth of propositive policies. It would seem that the aim of most voters is simply to avoid giving another term to Sarkozy – few votes are used to vote positively, for someone with a plan. Even Le Pen’s voters are prepared to vote for the much detested left so long as Sarkozy and his UMP are broken up. So much for solutions to the ills of the 21st century.

The Value of Human Life – Newspaper reporting of the fine accorded to contractors whose “work” had brought about the death of an elderly woman in Sliema risks being very misleading. The fine of €8,000 is ridiculous and nowhere near being the proverbial “prohibitive” which is what fines are meant to be. It was meted out under rules and laws that apply to work conditions. That those rules need to be revised immediately to be more than a prohibitive warning for contractors is patently evident. On the other hand the fine has nothing to do with the value of the life of the woman who lost her life in these circumstances. The Times report actually referred to other civil cases in progress and one can presume that this is a civil compensation case – the kind of case that actually quantifies the losses for relatives as well as for injured persons. Controversial as such judgements on the value of life may be (do read The Price of Everything) they are a very different kettle of fish from the “fine” that has hit the news and misguided so many people.

Quatrains – On a footballing note it is interesting how following yesterday’s trouncing of Roma, the media tried to focus on the minor incident between Lamela and Lichsteiner. Even more interesting were the attempts of some Romanisti to condemn the Swiss for his “unwarranted provocation”. What was he guilty of doing? The very same thing supercapitantotti had done eight years ago to Igor Tudor… only that time, since Totti was not (heaven forbid) wearing the glorious striped colours it was not a provocation but a saintly gesture. Relativism. It’s everywhere. Quattro e a casa.

 

Categories
Mediawatch Politics

Cabinet Decisions & RCC’s Head

The Labour party has finally found a way to get at Richard Cachia Caruana on something based on fact rather than on the irritation at an unelected person having a purported strong influence on cabinet decisions (pace Franco Debono). The accusation is based on Wikileaks that portray an active RCC (oh the heavy acronym) lobbying with the US for the reactivation of Malta’s Partnership for Peace membership. The buzzphrase on social networks this morning is : “Allura RCC ikbar mill-parlament?”

I’ve always found this fixation with RCC quite a curious one. The man obviously has much clout and his opinions seem (or seemed) to be highly valued within the inner decision making circles of government. That he might not be directly accountable for many a blunder might raise important questions about the structure of our elected elite. On the other hand there is a bit of an emptiness in the grudges that are held against the man. The business of government is one that does not only require elected politicians in their roles of PMs and ministers but also gets done with a caravan of policy advisors (at least we hope so) who come election day risk their position as much as the rest of the ministerial entourage. Feeble as it may be – it does give you an idea of a form of accountability.

Secondly, RCC might be counted among a list of a few intelligent persons upon whom the Gonzi cabinet depended for a long time as a sounding board as well as to prepare future policy objectives. Again the main caveat here is that I do not know the man from Adam except for the rumours within the halls of civil servicery that are not too kind on him insofar as temper and perfectionist tantrums are concerned. Be that as it may I still find the accusations of “unelected mandarin” rather feeble and populistic. After all what do you expect? Governments will lend an ear to whoever they believe are competent advisors – my only grudge here is that all too often it seems that this government depends on one channel of information without really viewing alternatives – but that is another story.

Back to the PfP issue. When the participation in the PfP program was finally reactivated in 2008 it was a cabinet decision. Not parliament mind you – cabinet. Whether the groundwork for this reactivation had been prepared by extra-cabinet members such as RCC is something one would hope for rather than condemn. Switch back to 1996 and consider Sant’s de-activation of PfP membership in the name of “neutrality”. Irrespectively of whether you agree or disagree with Sant’s interpretation of neutrality there is one point that sticks out on that day.

The seat at Castille had barely gotten used to the shape of Sant’s behind yet Sant via his cabinet took a decision to withdraw from the PfP. One could also safely assume (or, again, hope) that Sant was acting on the basis of advice from specialist persons within the field – unelected technocrats who participate in the work of government in order to facilitate its operation.

Is Sant greater than parliament? No. Neither is RCC. Nor is the cabinet. The fact remains that Malta’s original decision to take part in the PfP formed part of a wider EU participation program in an early nineties nationalist government. The withdrawal by Dr Sant was accepted as a legitimate cabinet decision by his government (based on an electoral programme promise) and the re-activation by the subsequent nationalist government was the result of another cabinet decision that itself was based on the fact that the nationalist party had never changed its policy on PfP membership (which is why I believe that it is correct in claiming that it did not need to include the re-activation in subsequent electoral programmes).

Whether RCC as part of the hidden machinery of government lobbied with governments and institutions or not is a probability that is now confirmed by the Wikileaks. We see no wrong in the fact that this occurred since the decision to activate, withdraw or re-activate lies purely within the power of cabinet and in this case RCC would be acting as the humble servant of the latter.

It’s either that or else we can safely say that both the Labour government 1998 and the Nationalist government 2008 acted as though they were above parliament. Which would not be such a great surprise but we’d rather stick to facts than speculation or misinformation.

 

Categories
Mediawatch Politics

Show me the money

Dosh

Watching Chelsea replicate Internazionale’s catenaccio last night I could not help but wonder why I still harboured feelings of sympathy for the London club built to the tune of Abramovich’s millions. There is a general sense of resentment that is held against football clubs built with the money of tycoons and not with the sweat and capability of good planning – just look at the opprobrium that the City side of Manchester have attracted thanks to the millions thrown at them over the last few years.

The rules of the Premier league have evolved since Portsmouth went into administration under the watchful eyes of the management of the world’s most successful tournament. Anybody wishing to spend a few million bobs on his favourite toy will now have to bear the scrutiny of numerous tests aimed at ensuring that the provenance of the money is legit. Mr Madjesky of newly promoted Reading knows a bit about these tests as the proposed purchase of the newcomers by Russian family Zingarevic is on hold until the appropriate checks are made. The Premiership is no place for recycling money – that’s for sure and until Platini’s fiscal rules on club finances are activated the current rules will go a long way to avoid jackals spoiling the fate of historic teams.

Another man reported to have eyed investment in the Premier League was Emir Al Thani of Qatar. He was supposedly prepared to part with over a billion dollars to get his hands on Manchester United. The Red Devils are still owned by some US Emir Glazer but Al Thani has meanwhile been reported to have set his eye on investing his (country’s) billions elsewhere. Maltatoday reported that Qatar was eyeing up a €1 billion investment in Enemalta. Now it may be a far cry from dealing with Alex Ferguson but Al Thani and Qatar might have their reasons to be attracted to investing in the tiny island’s power grid.

The Maltese government is going to great pains to whet the Qataris appetite and has apparently got plans to set up an embassy in Doha. Which is good to a certain extent. There is nothing wrong with building good relations with some of the countries that seem to still have money in a world of begging bowls and bailout plans. There is a big but however – and not of the Sir Mix-a-Lot kind.

Friends United

While the Qatari government might have an impressive CV on its lap with regard to investment, future planning and whatnot (last night Chelsea faced a Barcelona team that featured the Qatar Foundation sponsor on its shirts) it does remain a country that, democratically speaking, is in the throes of early development. Babysteps. We are talking of an absolute monarchy and although elections are planned for 2013 the consultative council remains just that – consultative. As for the human rights track record, though we are not talking North Korea you may see more from this Amnesty International Report:

Women continued to face discrimination and violence. Migrant workers were exploited and abused, and inadequately protected under the law. Around 100 people remained arbitrarily deprived of their nationality. Sentences of flogging were passed. Death sentences continued to be upheld, although no executions were carried out.

Forget free expression or press freedom too. Which is a bit worrying. While the behemoth parties in Malta are currently engaged in a “Your Friends are Worse than Mine” battle regarding past and present relationships with illustrious leaders of the Libyan Jamahiriya or North Korea we have this kind of proposed agreement in progress. Our question is: How far does the “beggars cannot be choosers” principle apply? Just like Mintoff took the begging bowl to North Korea and China and shut his eyes to the desperate cries of oppressed workers in those countries (so long as il-Haddiema got their dishout of SAG weaponry) are we not committing the same error today?

I am not convinced that Emir Al Thani can become another Gaddafi but does this kind of international agreement not merit a better form of scrutiny? What policy should Malta have in this sense? If we were talking about a multimillion investment by a private company do we dive in blindly thanking whatever Madonna is currently in vogue for the windfall? In the case of companies there is a due diligence process that is (hopefully) conducted.

White Rocks

On a final note I notice that the ghost of the White Rocks multimillion sport investment has resurfaced conveniently in the run up to another election. We had not heard about the White Elephant for quite some time now – just as the trombones and trumpets surrounding SmartCity also went deafeningly quiet. Clyde Puli (another not too ubiquitous politician) has told us that “substantial progress” had been made in talks with investors. The figure of 800 new jobs was obviously mentioned but there seemed to be no more information forthcoming about what stalled the talks in the first place and why over a year after the initial brouhaha we are just able to talk about “substantial progress”…

Show me the money? And at what cost?

 
***

Categories
Mediawatch

Deconstructing Malta’s Architecture

Or rather its architects. An article on last Sunday’s Times “Property slowdown driving architects out of business” focused on the employment problems faced by architects today “with large architectural firms laying off staff due to lack of work”. It is not clear whether the article was prompted by a press conference or press release or indeed whether it is the result of a sudden decision to educate the employability of budding Renzo Pianos. The clips taken from the Malta Developers Association president (ex-Minister and MEPA pioneer Michael Falzon) combined with a similar article on Maltatoday (Property developers on warpath…) would lead one to believe that the Times’ effort is a failed attempt at transforming a drab lobby release into a news item.

What does jar however is the quality of the complaints by the “architects” who apparently are going out of business because of “exorbitant fees” being charged by the planning authority. The logic underlying the developers’ lobby is mind-bending. They cannot really complain about the construction free-for-all being reined in – not much sympathy there right? Instead the complaint is disguised behind the more human approach of “unemployed persons” – these persons being the architects who have been thrown out of the large architectural firms  after they “had been employed when the property and construction sectors were booming.”

Then comes the surprise admission:

One architect said the firm where he worked was moving away from simply designing apartments, maisonettes or villas and was turning to renovating vacant properties in an attempt to make them attractive to prospective buyers.

Really? Is renovating vacant properties rather than injecting more concrete into the earth a last ditch resort? Well I never. I’d have thought that the renovating bit would have automatically superseded the need to flood the market with new properties when even those available are having a hard time to sell.

If you go by the Maltatoday article then the other problem is the Inland Revenue valuation of apartments. A bargain buy means nothing when the IR inspectors value it at a much higher “potential” price. You do not have to be in the architecture business to be shocked by the IR evaluations – just watch it happen whenever somebody inherits a property or there is the division of a property between co-owners.  There might be a point where the tax on a sale is actually higher than the profit being made.

The question I have though is whether the business of unemployment of architects is really the heart of the problem. Could it not be that our “development industry” is based on a self-destructing business model that is also harmful to the nation? The warts of the system are bound to be exposed much further during a slump in the sales market but the whole wheels that make the system turn might be aiming in the wrong direction. A development industry that focuses heavily on constructing, constructing, constructing without diversifying into more socially friendly models (dare I mention CSR) will hardly find any supporters for its cause beyond the politician who is in dire need of their money. Ironically it is this kind of money that the constructors no longer seem to be able to provide – which bodes for interesting times.

Meanwhile spare a thought for the unemployed architects.

 

(check out Kunstler’s TED talk “The Tragedy of Suburbia” in the mediabox – that’s the top right corner)

Categories
Arts

I.N.R.I – la tordue (maqluba)

The original song is in French (scroll below for video). I have tried my luck at translating it. Yep. Just for fun.

 

I.N.R.I – la tordue

kollu tort tiegħek dan
kollu tort tiegħek
dawk kollha li jiġu għandek
qatt ma jiġu lura

fik inwaħħlu ħabib
fik inwaħħlu
tiġġennibx hekk ħabib
tiġġennibx hekk

hawn m’għandniex tluq falz
l-ebda tluq falz:
tlett ijiem wara u tiġi lura
u tiġi lura

darba biss immutu aħna
aħna darba biss immutu
bla nejk ħabib
bla nejk

aħna kemm tmur għajna bina
u daqshekk inlissnu kliem
huma dawk ta’ madwarna
li jkollhom id-dwejjaq

aħna kemm nagħmlu ninni
fis-sodda tal-blat
(l-ebda relazzjoni tafx
ma dak is-Sur Xmun)

aħna nitilqu mingħajr ċerimonji
lejn dawk li diġa…
m’aħniex kollha xi tfal
ta’ missierek

pom,pom,pom…..

ibqa’ fuq is-salib qed ngħidlek
ibqa’ fuq is-salib
l-ispirtu s-santu hawnhekk
qatt ma hu se jaqbad

x’hemm daqshekk sabiħ fid-dinja l-oħra
qed nistaqsik hekk
u meta forsi nitilgħu…
aħjar bqajna ngħixu hawn isfel

jekk b’xi diżgrazzja
nasal għandek
jekk b’xi diżgrazzja
jekk b’xi żball
insib ruħi fl-ikħal
bi żball
allura nitolbok
qaddis allatwajjeb jekk
darba biss
mhux drawwa
jekk bi żball
niżbalja id-dawra
jekk bi żball
nispiċċa għandek
allura nitolbok
għall-aħħar darba…

ibagħtni għand boxxla xjaten