Category: Arts

Categories
Arts

Culture and politics (more Havel)

vaclav_akkuza

In this part of an essay entitled “Politics, Morality and Civility”, Havel concentrates on an important aspect in the development of citizenship. It is evident that Havel’s ideal state involves a cultured citizenship – what he calls “civility” in the wider sense of the world. The fundamentals of a state lie in the building and molding of individuals – upon civility is his future republic based.

From my political ideals, it should be clear enough that what I would like to accentuate in every possible way in my practice of politics is culture. Culture in the widest possible sense of the world, including everything from what might be called the culture of everyday life – or “civility” – to what we know as high culture, including the arts and sciences.

I don’t mean that the state should heavily subsidize culture as a particular area of human endeavour, nor do I at all share the indignant fear of many artists that the period we are going through now is ruining culture and will eventually destroy it. Most of our artists have, unwittingly, grown accustomed to the unending generosity of the socialist state. It subsidised a number of cultural institutions and offices, heedless of whether a film cost one million or ten million crowns, or whether anyone ever went to see it.

It didn’t matter how many idle actors the theatres had on their payrolls; the main thing was that everyone was on one, and thus on the take. The Communist state knew, better than the Czech-Californian philosopher, where the greatest danger to it lay: in the realm of the intellect and the spirit. It knew who first had to be pacified through irrational largesse. That the state was less and less successful at doing so is another matter which merely confirms how right it was to be afraid; for, despite all the bribes and prizes and titles thrown their way, the artists were among the first to rebel.

This nostalgic complaint by artists who fondly remember their “social security” under socialism therefore leaves me unmoved. Culture must, in part at least, learn how to make its own way.

Categories
Arts

Tous à poils (the naked truth)

nude_akkuza

Jean-François Copé, president of France’s UMP party, is currently in the news for his attack on a book that he claims is being suggested for the official primary school reading list. Entitled “Tous à poil” (Everybody naked), this book reminds me of another great bestseller among young kids nowadays (Everyone poops). Part of a wider range of books entitled “For the equality between boys and girls: 100 youth albums”, the books’ aim is to break down the stereotype of differences between boys and girls and stresses the normality of nudity.

The baby-sitter is naked, the teacher is naked, the president is naked… Copé showed his indignation and asked whether it was not time for Paris (read the establishment) to stand up and notice what was going on. Unfortunately for the wider debate, the book is not really on the recommended list for primary school teaching. What happened was that Copé got to the book via a link on the page to l’Atelier des Merveilles which is the association promoting the above series.

In 2014, western liberal democracy still has huge difficulties dealing with nudity. In another book review this morning, a chronicler of FEMEN’s exploits in France told the interviewer how it was hard for her to explain to a Ukrainian FEMEN activist that attacking a church with nudity (for the uninitiated, FEMEN tend to protest topless) in la France laique would not have the same effect. THE Ukrainian activist retorted that laiceté had nothing to do with it – if the church was active in social affairs (notably on same-sex marriage) then it should expect that protests turn up on its doorstep too.

Which brings me to the Jiena Inhobb business. From what I gather the play is a raving success. I have been unable to watch it due to problems of distance. Having said that it has been interesting watching the play’s interaction with the public – before the performance started and now that we have the first reviews. Interviewed in MaltaToday early on Simon Bartolo was irked that the “controversy” surrounding the play before it started might have stolen a bit of the limelight.

Once the play began it was only a matter of hours before we could gauge the first reactions. My worry (and probably that of people like Simon Bartolo) was that any possible nudity would eclipse any other message the play might be passing on. As it happens there WAS definitely a short term effect of having tits and dicks on stage but the general message of the play seems to have survived the early onslaught. Yes, I have seen more than one comment from patrons of the show about the ridiculous reactions (and childish giggles) upon first seeing a pair of breasts or a penis on stage but it would seem that the actual subject matter of the play trumped the nudity – as it should be.

We have a situation where we cannot be too sure whether Jiena Inhobb would have passed the censors in the “pre-liberal” era. Somehow (but I stand to be corrected) I do not think that this is the first play in the last decade to have full nudity on stage. It is intriguing that some reports still linger on the nudity issue itself (for a great review, if you have access to it, check out the facebook note by Mario Vella see note below by Mario Vella reproduced with kind permission – who puts the nudity issue very much into its place and concentrates on the more important elements – such as whether or not the play’s message is passé).

Our relationship with nudity – topless sunbathing, strip clubs, nudity on stage, sexual education – is still very conservative and poses quite a stumbling block to our collective maturity. Copé’s outburst is a reminder that conservative elements remain everywhere, not Only in Malta, but we still have a long introspective study to make before we can claim to have been liberated from the shackles of collective prudery. Randomly inspired legislation that only serves to silence some vote-getting lobby will not work on the real issue here. Without a real social discussion on the issue we can never move on.

That, I’m afraid, might be the naked truth.

 

MARIO VELLA’S NOTE/REVIEW.

OPINIONS EXPRESSED BELOW ARE EXCLUSIVELY THOSE OF MARIO VELLA. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT MARIO VELLA ENDORSES ANY PART OF THE J’ACCUSE POST.

Kelmtejn fuq ‘Jiena Nhobb, Inti Thobb’ li qieghdha tintwera l-Manoel bhalissa. Ser nipprova nharbex xi haga ghax naf fic-cert li bhall ma jigri ghal ezebizzjonijiet teatrali l-ohra kollha li kelli x-xorti (kultant anke l-isfortuna) li nattendi ghalihom, l-oggettivita ser tisfa mormija fiz-zibel frott dawn l-obbligi socjali li bhala Maltin inhossu fil-konfront ta’ kollegi, hbieb u mhumiex li wiehed inevitabbilment ser jispicca jhabbat wiccu maghhom illum jew ghada. ‘Jiena Nhobb, Inti Thobb’ hija tassew play relevanti ghal gurnata tal-llum u inutli wiehed jipprova jimminaha billi jattribwila aggettivi negattivi bhal ‘passe’ , ‘goffa’ jew sahansitra ‘retrograda’. Xoghol li jirrifletti il-battalji politici/socjali tal-gurnata ma jixraqlux ikun imxekkel minn tali kritika – kif nistenna ser tkun minn certu kwartieri, ghalkemm qatt pubblikament ghax nghiduha kif inhi, il-viljakkerija taghna tizboq kwalunkwe talent li qatt nistghu inhaddnu. Xoghol li pubblikament iqanqal l-ghadab ta’ bosta moralisti li ghadom ihossuhom intitolati li jiimmonopolizzaw u jissabutaggjaw patrimonjii umani (u fuq kollox Kristjani) bhal ‘moghodrija’, ‘imhabba’ u ‘salvazzjoni’ ma jista qatt ikun ‘skontat’. Mil-banda l-ohra wisq nibza li l-agendi perversi ta dawn it-talin li accennajt ghalihom kultant jispiccaw iwelldu ohrajn li flok jibbilancjaw il-mizien ikomplu jrewwhu id-dhahen fl’ghajnejn bir-rizultat li kulhadd jispicca sulu jhares lejn ix-xemx minn go gharbiel.

L-affarijiet li ghogbuni f’Jien Nhobb, Inti Thobb’ kienu bosta. Ghogobni ferm l-ensemble karizmatiku tieghu, u nittama ma nkunx qieghed nonqos lil-bqija tal-kast jekk niddistingwi lil- Ray Calleja ghan naturalezza u intelligenza interpretativa tieghu – kwalita li sfortunatament mhix daqstnat komuni fuq il-palk Malti. Ghogobni hafna l-uzu tal-ispazju, ghogbitni l-kitba li fl-ewwel att offriet bilanc dinjituz bejn ‘screwball comedy’ klassika u kummentarju socjali hieles minn tqanzih u tmiegh zejjed bl-imgharfa. Laqtitni wkoll il-facilita li biha d-diretturSean Buhagiar (debuttant f’dan ir-rwol) irnexxielu jalterna bejn id-diversi karattru f’dawn l-ewwel battuti tal-play minghajr ma qatt jitlef ir-riedni tad-diversi possibiltajiet offruti mill-iskript ta Simon Bartolo. Sfortunatament mhux l-istess jista jinghadd ghat tieni att ta dan ix-xoghol teatrali li jiftah b’xena domestika ferm imgebbda.

SPOILERS

Nifhem il-htiega li wiehed jiffoka fuq il-mizerji domestici tal-karattru interpretat minn Roderick Vassallo u nifhem ukoll li din kellha twitti t-triq (inevitabbli?) ghal konfessjoni imqanqla tieghu izjed tard pero xorta hassejt li din ix-xena kienet nieqsa mir-ritmu mehtieg. Nghaddi issa ghal istess konfessjoni li kellha tipprovdi wahda mil-bosta qcacet emozzjonali tal-play. Hawn hassejt li Bartolo tilef kollox ghaliex naqas li jkun kuraggjuz bizzejjed sal-punt li jipprezentalna dan il-karattru ghal dak li hu – Cioe gay li kien qieghed jghix gidba devastanti ghalih u ghal dawk kollha ta madwaru. Hawnhekk il-kittieb hass il-htiega ezagerata li jaghsar l-ahhar qtar ta’ empatija mil-udjenza billi jghabbi lil-martu bit-‘tort’ tal-infedelta u ghaldaqstant jiskongra kompletament lil-dan il-karattru mil-konsegwenzi ta ghemilu. Nuqqas kbir iehor hassejt li sar fil-konfront tal-karattru ta Devon (nittama li gibt ismu tajjeb) li minn predatur sesswali b’potenzjal kbir drammatiku jigi relegat ghal semplici kondiment li jqanqal il-fantaziji sesswali elementari tal-persunaggi tal-play u forsi…sa certu punt…tal-udjenza wkoll. Anke t-tragedja kbira li ssehh f’dawn il-battuti tinhass kemmxejn grotteska u sa certu punt titradixxi dak li b’tant hila kien stabbilit fl-ewwel att. Hawnhekk il-kuntest tal-play jintesa u kull attenzjon ghal ‘kejl’ tisfa abbandunat sabiex jigu sodisfatti htigijiet drammatici kemmxejn artificjali. Idejjaqni hafna dan in-nuqqas ta fidi fl-intuwizzjoni naturali tal-udjenza……izjed u izjed f’xoghol li min-natura innifisha tieghu kellu l-obbligu li jkun provokattiv. Tghiduli x’fidi jista jifdallek fl-udjenzi meta fl-2014 ghadek tisma bosta patruni jfaqqaw id-dahk barra minn loku jew aghar minn hekk jistghagbu bid-dehra ta zobb (ghalkemm wiehed il-gmiel tieghu) fuq il-Palk Nazzjonali Malti? Dahri mal-hajt hekk x’nista nghid hlief li minghajr il-fidi m’hemmx tama?

Nittama li din ir-ricensjoni tittiehed fl-ispirtu ta djalogu li fih inkitbet. Jekk le, wiehed dejjem jista jsib farag fl-imhaded kritici ta xi hadd bhal Dr. Pawlu Xuereb li ilu ‘jirraporta’ it-teatru daqs kemm Ruth Amaira ilha taqra l-ahbarijiet.

QABEL INHALLIKOM NIXTIEQ MIL-GDID NAWGURA IL-GID KOLLU TAD-DINJA LIL-KULL MINN KELLU X’JAQSAM MA DIN IL-PLAY U FUQ KOLLOX INHEGGEG LIL-MIN JINSAB BEJN HALLTEJN JEKK JATTENDIX JEW LE SABIEX JAQBAD U JMUR IL-MANOEL. BIR-RISERVI KOLLHA LI INTHOM INDUBBJAMENT INTITOLATI GHALIHOM XORTA HEMM CANS TAJJEB LI TIEHDU GOST U TKUNU MQANQLA FUQ XI LIVELL JEW IEHOR.

Categories
Travel

Il-Vapur ghal Betlehem

Qbadna il-kju mill-Ghadira. Il-Hadd imqaddes. Kju karozzi Maltin ta’ Malta li ghogobhom jghaddu l-ahhar Hadd tas-sena f’Ghawdex. Allajbierek. “Ghawdxi tajjeb aharqu” jghidu. Ma’ l-ewwel cans li jkollhom imaqdru ‘l Ghawdex u lill-Ghawdxin. Imma min imaqdar irid jixtri jghidu u f’dan il-kaz ix-xewqa tax-xerrej tigi ikkargata ghira.

Kju jibda mill-Ghadira. Min jipprova jaqbez, min jirnexxilu b’komplicità ta’ pulizija nofs kedda u min jitwaqqaf. Ihirsa tal-passat fis ifeggu meta tinduna li l-karozza li thalliet tghaddi u taqbez kellha it-Torca fuq display god-dashboard. Allajbierek.

Manjieri xejn u tinhass tensjoni generali li titkebbes go qalb il-Malti meta jara kju. “Kif se naghmel biex nasal qabel haddiehor?” Il-kuncett ta’ stennija ordinata thawwad il-boxxla tal-parti l-kbira tal-vjaggaturi. L-istennija tikxef il-verita maghrufa. Il-Malti pampalun li tghidx kemm ihalli ewri Ghawdex f’ikel u xorb (u souvenirs?) jiftah il-boot tal-karozza u wiehed malajr jilmah il-picnic cooler, it-thermos, u l-kaxxa pastini. Ihalli zobb mhux ewro.

Igri jitla’ fuq il-vapur halli imbaghad iserrep lejn ir-Rabat, jipparkja fejn irid u jhossu komdu u wara erhilu jilmenta dwar it-tickets li jaghtu “l-Ghawdxin”. Dan l-ahhar sid ta’ flat go Ghawdex qalli wahda gdida. Kera flat lil xi Malti u x’hin mar jara kid sejrin isib li kienu gabu seba’ heaters tal-elettriku magghom. Genji. Ghax il-kont tad-dawl ma jhallsuhx huma.

Konversazzjoni ghaddejja barra karozzti.

“Kif int?”
“Heqq. Nipprova nirkeb” (N.Dr. – ghax fih talent toqghod fil-kju)
“U jien ma ridtx ninzel ta… Imma t-tfal…”
“Anki jien ta… Darba f’sena ninzel”
“Xtaqt hallejt il-karozza c-Cirkewwa u naqbad tal-linja imma ma riedux”

Ma komplejtx insegwi ghax f’daqqa il-kju mexa. Shuttle service. Filfatt tkun stennejt inqas milli tahseb u hafna mill-infern ikun ikkawzat mit-tensjoni u nervi. Nissuspetta li dan gara ukoll sa certu punt lill-Arriva. Appuntu l-Arriva. Kull min kellimt Ghawdex jahlef bis-sistema taghhom gewwa Ghawdex. Hasra.

Tlaqna. Jien ghal dari u l-familja u c-corma Maltin ghal Bethlehem f’Ghajnsielem.

Awguri lil huti l-Maltin kollha.
U bilhaq… Tiskrux bil-Fanta
Go Betlehem.

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Categories
Arts

Monumental Aesthetics

There is a symbolical effervescence that pervades anyone with the right frame of mind as he walks around great cities such as Rome or Washington D.C. The former is richly endowed with a magnificent scattering of monuments built to last centuries and that eagerly proclaim the magnificence of a proud republic and empire. The latter with its purposely structured fora displaying the symbolic pride of the a government by the people for the people as ordained and designed by the freemasons that built America.

That’s it really. Monuments – from the poignant obelix to the triumphant arch to the sombre cenotaph – are repositories of meaning and dignity. When it comes to persons and personalities the statue that adorns the monument has at least a twofold raison d’etre – more often than not the effigy is intended to be a true likeness of the person in question (history has of course given us myriad Berlusconi’s and Sarkozy’s who have had their effigies adulterated to better please their conception of themselves). The second reason of the existence of the effigy is the importance of the person whose likeness is being transferred to stone.

The hermeneutics of statues as monuments are fascinating to say the least. Even the poise of a horse – in the case of a cavalier statue – can transmit meaning. Controversies might abound as to the choice of one poise against another – as well as to the nature of the likeness that is ultimately chosen. Statues are supposed to “carry” the dignity of the person being portrayed and one glance at the person portrayed as frozen for eternity must be able to give the onlooker a sense of gravitas. This here, is what the person in stone was all about.

I have two statues in Malta to heart for different reasons. The first is that of Paul Boffa standing facing the Auberge de Castille in Valletta. Barely a toddler I used to be walked past this statue daily on the way to a shop that my mum used to run close by. That corner of Valletta got imprinted in my head, together with the oldest church in the city, the very British lamps and the little pieces of greenery on the roundabouts. As I grew up that idea of Boffa as a politician who deserved a respectful place in our history remained – even when as a student I camped right under his outstretched arm in protest against a labour government’s failure to listen to the people.

Paul Boffa
Paul Boffa

The second statue is that of Gozitan poet Gorg Pisani. The statue stands at a corner of the Victoria Bus Terminus (Putirjal as the Gozitans would call it) and just opposite the old house where as a youngster I would walk past an already frail George Pisani sitting on his parapet and nodding at passers by. For some reason the statue standing a few metres away from where his chair stood meant in my mind that Pisani was “preserved” for ever. The old frail likeness was kept for the statue and is a respectful reminder of one of Gozo’s famous sons.

Gorgpisani

Which brings me to the proposed set of monuments that will supposedly portray (former PM) Dom Mintoff, (former President) Censu Tabone and (former President) Guido De Marco. The picture that has been accompanying these plans swiftly turned into an obligatory set of memes – one of which saw Mintoff’s likeness twerking unceremoniously against Tabone’s likeness. To interpret any sense of disrespect to these great figures of Maltese (and Gozitan) history would be wrong. The memes target the shabbiness of the plans rather than the persons themselves. Rightly so, I would add in a very subjective tone.

crechemonuments

There should be a sense of gravitas about the selection of statues that are to serve as monuments to the collective memory. I would go further and state that public spaces should not be made available so easily the moment some foundation or other decides that it wants to commemorate its particular star. In a way we lack the more orderly organisation of the French for example who have a committee of architects and specialists who oversee the development of public spaces. That way not every Tom, Dick and Harry (or overzealous family member) who decides that a statue of his idol should be foisted on the general public can go about planting these in any place.

Back to the current three. Without making too much of a fuss about it, it is in any case important to set some standards. Statues last a bit longer than the ribbons that are used to inaugurate them. In Malta we have many an outrageous example of botched monuments – two that come to mind are the Freedom Day mass of stones and cacti and the Monument to the Labourer in Msida. More recently experiments such as the Love monument in Spinola have also attracted their fair share of derisory comments.

In brief, what I think we need to be aware of is that our choice of statues and symbols is a reflection of the society we live in and want to live in. A bit more thought, away from the gas and heat exchanges would be more than welcome.

“Not marble nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme,
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone, besmeared with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn
And broils roots out the work of masonry,
Nor mars his sword nor war’s quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
‘Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till judgement that yourself arise,
You in this, and dwell in lovers eyes.”

– William Shakespeare

Categories
Arts

Blasphemy and Censorship

I have often been involved in heated discussions about the nature and existence of censorship in our country. Recent PLPN attempts at appeasing the crowd of baying artists who claim to be oppressed when it comes to our censorship laws were often the trigger for such conversations. I tend to hold the opinion that most censorship is in your head and that this, coupled with the need for basic criminal offences that need not be extended to the sphere of the stage (I understand the rationale behind a blasphemy law but not the nonsensical application thereof to a dramatic performance), is where most of our censorship really is.

My suggestion to “provoke” the law and its jurisprudence very often finds the boringly repetitive argument of “it is easy to be a sofa critic” thrown at me. The truth remains though that a large part of our artistic and intellectual community are virtually advocating for some form of nihil obstat from the state – a permission to be naughty. I tend to draw on the tried and tested “provocations” by Banksy as an example but today I’d like to give another historic parallel. Here is an extract from Niall Ferguson’s “Civilisation”, in the hope that it could continue to “provoke” this discussion.

“The revolutions of 1848 were even more widespread. People took to the streets in Berlin, Dresden, Hanover, Karlsruhe, Kassel, Munich, Stuttgart and Vienna, as well as in Milan, Naples, Turin and Venice. It was a revolution led by intellectuals disenchanted above all with the limits imposed on free expression by the royal regimes restored in 1815. Typically, the composer Richard Wagner and the Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin did their bit for the ‘world conflagration’ by plotting to write a blasphemous opera together.

Wagner had, according to his autobiography ‘conceive[d] the plan of a tragedy for the ideal stage of the future, entitled Jesus of Nazareth. Bakunin begged me to spare him any details; and when I sought to win him over to my project a few verbal hints, he wished me luck, but insisted that I must at all costs make Jesus appear as a weak character. As for the music of the piece, he advised me, amid all the variations, to use only one set of phrases, namely: for the tenor, “Off with His head!”; for the soprano, “Hang Him!”; and for the basso continuo, “Fire!, fire”‘. The anecdote nicely captures the overheated spirit of 1848.”

 

Categories
Arts

The Pale Blue Dot

earth_satellite

“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

– extract from Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot, A Vision of the Human Future in Space.

Listen to Carl Sagan read it here.