Category: Mediawatch

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Mediawatch Values

Ġieħ il-Banana

Għażiża Gaia,

Din il-bloggata ma hix xi forma ta’ stmerrija jew disprezz lejn it-talenti u potenzjal tiegħek. Semgħek tkanta min kellu jisimgħek, u nies li żgur huma tal-widna iktar minni u li jifhmu fil-mużika wisq iktar minni raw fik talent mill-isbaħ li jekk indukrat tajjeb għad iferraħ widnet bosta oħrajn. Din ma hi bl-ebda mod xi attakk faħxi fuq il-persuna tiegħek u fuq kull min għandu għal qalbu “il-kompetizzjoni” tat-talenti li saret tant tħobb il-persuna mondana fis-seklu wieħed u għoxrin.

Kif issa taf sew Gaia, int ingħatajt premju (jew intqal li se tingħata dalwaqt) mingħand wieħed mill-ogħla uffiċjali fir-Repubblika tagħna. Dan l-uffiċċjal rak tirbaħ dik il-kompetizzjoni bejn ilħna żgħar għadhom mank imkissra u tant għereq f’orgażmu (tip ta’ eċċitament li titgħallem dwaru la tikber – jaf ikun eċċitament ikbar milli tirbaħ kwalunkwe premju) ta’ pjaċir u kburija illi donnu iddeċieda ħesrem, mingħajr wisq riflessjoni u ħsieb (kif wara kollox mid-dehra iħobb jagħmel) jikkonferixxi fuqek onorifiċenza ta’ importanza nazzjonali.

999207_621514967909458_179221610_nIva Gaia, se tingħata Ġieħ ir-Repubblika. Mhux int biss. Imma anki “t-tim” tiegħek. Ma setgħax jonqos li fi żmenijiet bħal dawn nippremjaw “tim ta’ suċċess” għax hekk imorru l-affarijiet. Issa ħalli li l-uffiċjal f’intervista li ta’ lill-press lanqas ma kien ċert jekk hux se tkun l-Ordni tal-Mertu jew Ġieħ ir-Repubblika imma dawk dettalji relattivament żgħar – l-aqwa li se nagħtuha xi ħaġa hux.

Issa ħa ngħidlek din Gaia. Din tal-onorifiċenzi ma hix xi ħaġa marbuta biss ma pajjiżna. Kull pajjiż għandu tiegħu tafx – lista ta’ nies li jiġu ippremjati jew b’rikonoxximent għal xi xogħol jew servizz li għamlu lejn il-pajjiż jew (ejja ngħiduha kif inhi) lista ta’ nies li ingħataw xi unur għax għaddew min hawn u ridna skuża biex ikollna riċeviment. Biex niftehmu kienu ilhom li naqqsu l-importanza ta’ dawn l-onorifiċenzi – kull ma għandek tagħmel hu li tqis li qablek kien hemm nies emeriti bħal Gaddafi (revokat) u Kim Il Sung li ingħataw l-istess unur mingħajr ma kantaw l-inqas strofa.

Li jinkwetani hu li minkejja il-merti kollha li jista’ jkollok int bħala kantanta hemm xi ħaġa li ma ddoqlix dwar il-mod kif l-uffiċjal tal-pajjiż ma jidher li għandu l-ebda stima jew rispett lejn is-simbolu tar-Repubblika u kull ma hu rappreżentat minnha. Ma kienx biżżejjed li iffissa prezz tas-suq fuq in-nazzjonalita – fuq il-fatt li wieħed ikun Malti. Ma kienx biżżejjed illi l-għażla ta-qaddejja fidili tar-Repubblika saret farsa sħiħa fejn iktar tistħajjel orġja (iva erġajna) ta’ ħbieb tal-ħbieb jiffangaw.

Ma kienx biżżejjed u issa ser inqassmu ukoll l-onorifiċenzi qishom il-pastizzi proverbjali. Li jinkwetani Gaia mhux li int, bħala Gaia, se tingħata onorifiċenza – ħalli li huwa lampanti li fil-każ tiegħek u dak li għamilt mhux talli ir-Repubblika qed tkun ġeneruża imma qed tniżżel ħafna l-istandard ta’ x’għandu jiġi ippremjat. Jinkwetani appuntu din il-moda li ma tagħrafx il-bżulija, l-għaraq ta’ min jistinka u t-talent imrawwem fuq medda ta’ żmien.

Jinkwetani li l-valur ta’ dak li aħna kburin bih bħala Maltin qiegħed kull ma jmur jitnittef fix-xejn. Tisma għajta ġdida imgeżwra fil-gidba egalitarja u meritokratika tal-Moviment Tagħna Lkoll biex kullħadd ikun jista’ jidħol l-Universita, kullħadd ikun jista’ jingħadd bħala kantant u kullħadd ikun jista’ jsir politiku. Kullħadd, jgħidulek għandu dritt għall-opinjoni u kullħadd għandu dritt għal xogħol bħala uffiċjal mal-gvern avolja ma jkunx jifhem f’kazz (skużani imma kulltant ir-rabja tagħmel bijja). Għax inkella taf int, Gaia, “mhux fjer” jew “ilhom ipappuha u issa imiss lilna lkoll”.

Allura nistaqsi Gaia, din hi il-ħolma Maltija? Dan hu “The Maltese Dream”? X’jibqalek hi u tagħlaq is-sena 2013 li tgħid li inti kburi li tgħix jew tiġi minn din il-gżira?

Għad għandek 11-il sena Gaia. Ma nafx kemm ħaqqek terfa’ responsabilta’ bħal din fuq spallejk imma inħeġġek taħseb ftit dwar pajjiżek u n-nies li jgħixu fih u forsi ġo ħsiebek tinbet idea jew riżoluzzjoni li minbarra li tipprova tgħix ħajja normali, int u l-ġenerazzjoni tiegħek tagħrfu tarmu iċ-ċuċati li bihom iżejnu u jiddandnu l-uffiċjali ta’ llum. Għallinqas hekk l-unur (forsi) ikun sewa’ għal xi ħaġa.

Mill-bqija, setgħet kienet banana.

 

 

Ma rridx

nobżoq

f’wiċċ ir-repubblika.

(Daniel Massa)

Categories
Mediawatch

The Messenger

Just as all the oohs and aahs were beginning to gain momentum, the government has made it abundantly clear that the Dalli Mater Dei report does not represent an official government position. It might, on the face of it, seem strange that the government is distancing itself from what is definitely turning out to be a damning report of “bad practices under GonziPN”. It is not strange however when you step back and look at it in the general order of how the Taghna Lkoll government functioned – both when in opposition and now that it is in government. Muscat tends to prefer the non-committal policy which is really a non-policy. What happens is that the Labour party gains time acting like some kind of all-encompassing party (Musumeci’s ridiculous concept of “moviment”) and then when it has sussed out what popular opinion is on the subject it goes ahead and claims some kind of ownership of the idea – or ditches it as someone elses.

Taghna Lkoll is still learning that this kind of modus operandi does not always work – just look at the passport for sale fiasco: the turnaround occurred too late since the law had already been enacted and the egg was splashed all over the government’s face and reputation. Dalli’s report, loaded as it is with innuendos of personal vendettas and burdned with the unfinished business in Brussels might still turn out not to be such a smoking gun that does any good to Labour’s purposes. Already the nurses are up in arms (whether rightly or not is another issue) so what does Muscat do? Well, via his metatron the Health Minister he declares that the Dalli report is “not the government’s position”. Next we will have two boards examining the report itself – it’s beginning to sound like an administrative nightmare.

Muscat will not ask you not to shoot the messenger. He’s actually quite happy to put the messenger high on a pedestal and have him as a prime target… deflecting attention from whatever position he may eventually end up taking. What is important is that there is a new spin trying to breathe new life into the idea of “the wastage and corruption under the nationalists”. Still governing by opposition, still unable to actually print that roadmap we heard of so often in the run up to last election.

messenger_AKKUZA

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Mediawatch

Ich bin ein Malteser

It’s the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination today. Back in 1963 Kennedy was in Berlin addressing a city that had just seen a wall erected by the Soviets in an attempt to curb its citizens freedoms. Kennedy wanted to send out a message, he wanted to encourage the Berliners in their fight for freedom and to show them that they are not alone – that they had the solidarity of the whole of the west.

To underline that sense of solidarity and oneness through freedom, Kennedy chose the famous phrase “Ich bin ein Berliner”. Here is how the President put it:

“Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was civis romanus sum [“I am a Roman citizen”]. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is “Ich bin ein Berliner!”… All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words “Ich bin ein Berliner!””

The sense of pride of being a citizen of Rome in 60 A.D. or of Berlin in 1963 was underlined by the set of values that being a citizen of a certain nation (or city-state – hence, “citizen”) represented. Kennedy was tying the sense of Berlin-ness to the sense of freedom that the West was meant to encapsulate (not always too well) in the times of the Cold War. Granted, he did end up saying that he was a doughnut (ein Berliner) but that was more due to grammatical shortcomings than anything else.

I wonder what resonance the phrase “Ich bin ein Malteser” would have nowadays. The pictogram below shows four possible ideas that might have sprung to mind in jest or seriously should you have stated that phrase to a passer-by in Frankfurt for example.

malteser

 

An aficionado of canines might think of the “Maltese dog“, a sweet tooth might think of the chocolates, a traveller yearning for sun and sea might have thought of that poster he saw at the travel agent. Germans would also think of the Order of Malta’s relief agency that is present on German streets. That was before our government decided to turn salesman and sell citizenship over the counter as though it were pastizzi or hobz biz-zejt. Without any shadow of doubt, as those of us who work in international environments have discovered much to our chagrin, the instinctive reply now would be “How much for your passport?”

You see, our salesman in Miami either has not grasped this fact or just prefers to ignore it. “Jiena Malti”, “Ich bin Malteser”, “Sono Maltese”, “I am Maltese”, “Je suis Maltais” … it has lost that proud ring to it. It’s not only a matter of pride for pride itself. It’s also about meaning and values. What does being Maltese mean nowadays? Enterprising? Welcoming? Jovial? Sunny?

The sale of passports – no matter how refined – ends up becoming an even further denigration of all that is Maltese. Standing by and justifying such a sale with a “cosi fan tutti” attitude is only symptomatic of how devalued our sense of citizenship has become. Ironically only 8 months after a campaign that banked hugely on the concept of “being Maltese” we find the very idea of citizenship and belonging being eroded at a rapid pace.

50 years ago to this day JFK died in suspicious circumstances. His spirit and yearning for a free and better world did not die with him. I strongly doubt whether we can really say “Ich bin ein Malteser” today and feel just as involved and in solidarity with the struggle for a better world.

 

Categories
Mediawatch Politics

A fronte praecipitium

b84ea94709bbd73c53c3bccc7d69374b659589499-1346654486-50445116-620x348Ilbieraħ filgħaxija tajt daqqa t’għajn fuq ir-RAI wara li spiċċat il-logħba bejn Franza u Ukrajna. Kont ilni ma nara Porta a Porta u bqajt għal xi ħin insegwi il-programm li kien dwar it-traġedja li għada kif seħħet ġewwa Sardinja u l-ħerba li ħalliet warajha iċ-ċiklun Cleopatra.

It-taljani għandhom ħabta jissporprendu f’dawn is-sitwazzjonijiet – speċjalment x’ħin toħroġ dik il-mentalita simili ħafna għal dik Maltija li hija taħlita bejn l-istennija li “l-awtoritajiet” jieħdu ħsieb kollox u r-reazzjoni korollarja li twaħħal f’xi ħadd anki f’dak li huwa meqjus fil-ġiri tal-assigurazzjoni bħala “Xogħol t’Alla” (Act of God). Milux wisq li qorti taljan weħħlet pieni ħorox lil grupp ta’ meterjologi u sejsmologi li skond din il-qorti ma kienux bassru biżżejjed it-terremoti ġewwa l-Abruzzo.

Fuq Porta a Porta ilbieraħ laqtuni żewġ aspetti tad-diskors. L-ewwel waħda kienet proprju dwar it-tbassir. Fejn tobsor? U iktar minn hekk, meta tobsor? Bejn żoni akwiferi, xmajjar, terremoti u iktar, Lo Stivale huwa pjuttost lotterija tax-xorti f’dak li għandu x’jaqsam mal-possibilitajiet ta’ traġedji naturali. Kif qalu xi kelliema wieħed irid jaċċetta id-destin inevitabbli li xi darba jew oħra ser ikun hemm terremot jew kif sejħu l-alluvjoni – bomba tal-ilma. Iktar importanti huwa il-mument meta wieħed jitfa allerta (warning) u jibda jieħu miżuri preventivi immedjati.

U dan kien bużillis kbir. Ġewwa l-iStati Uniti nisimgħu ħafna bi stat ta’ allert fejn il-karozzi ma jitħallewx jiċċirkolaw u servizzi pubbliċi ikunu minimi. Jew isir evakwazzjoni jew in-nies jintalbu jibqgħu id-dar. Anki fi Franza, illum stess smajt bil-belt ta’ Saint Etienne li minħabba li kienet ġejja xeba’ borra tqiegħdet f'”Alet Orange” u twaqqfu bosta servizzi. L-Italja milli jidher ma jsegwux wisq dawn l-allerti u minkejja li kellhom bosta ħin jippreparaw għall-agħar minħabba li l-pulizija ċivili kienu taw l-allert bosta ħin qabel, komplew qisu xejn ma hu xejn.

Dan l-aspett laqatni. Sindku ta’ wieħed miż-żoni milquta staqsa jekk għandhomx iwaqqfu kollox kull darba li jkun hemm alarm. Skejjel, servizzi u toroq. Riflessjoni importanti din. X’ħin tqabbel mad-diliġenza Amerikana, Franċiża jew Tedeska din ir-riluttanza Taljana li jieħu passi preventivi kemm biex ma jtellifx ġurnata xogħol hija stramba wisq.

It-tieni aspett li laqatni kien li l-Italja, bħall Malta, għandha problema li ilha ġejja mill-ħamsinijiet. Jibnu fil-widien u ma jaħsbux f’riskji futuri.

Id-domanda tiegħi hi din. Apparti early warning system, issa li t-temp qed jiħrax (grazzi Mr Global Warming) u li l-possibilta ta’ ċikluni bħal dik li laqtet Sardinja olqtu pajjiżna dejjem se tiżdied, qed isir xi pjanar iktar konkret li jnvolvi ukoll edukazzjoni taċ-ċittadini? L-awtoritajiet lesti jibdew jagħtu parir biex in-nies jibqgħu ġewwa u jevitaw ħafna telf inutli ta’ ħajjiet?

Din m’hix kwistjoni politika. Dan bżonn uman u immedjat. Issa qabel ma nispiċċaw quddiem preċipizju b-lupu warajna.

A fronte praecipitium, a tergo lupi.

Categories
Mediawatch Politics

God Help Us

There should only have been one verdict in today’s court case before Magistrate Farrugia and thankfully for those who have some residual faith in the system that outcome was confirmed. The Police Commissioner’s last ditch attempt to retain possession of Norman Vella’s tablet and phone was thrown out on the most basic of bases: lack of reasonable suspicion.

As we already saw in an earlier post (Persons of Interest) the whole farce that led up to Norman Vella’s detention was a transparent combination of abuse of power and prima donna reactions (yet again) from those among the Taghna Lkoll crowd who still cannot come to terms with the borderlines and ethics of being in government. As much respect as I have for Comodini Cachia and the rest of the Nationalist lawyers having a field day as though the ghost of 1984 was back, I must insist that much of this case depended on the litmus test of whether our courts still retained a modicum of sanity.

Thankfully they do. Magistrate Farrugia could not but see the obvious bumbling of a police force (or members thereof) eager to over-respond to a complaint by people “connected” in the corridors of power (Jesus Wept). As the drama unravelled we could see the tenuous allegations of crime become at worst jokes in a panto. “There was a photo” became “actually not really a photo at the airport and we are still combing cameras”. The best was the Commissioner’s excuse that he needed to keep the confiscated goods otherwise if he released them there would still be a shadow of doubt on Vella. See? The police confiscated the material TO PROVE HIM INNOCENT.

Not even the heady days of “moralment konvint” beat this. If I recall well Manwel Mallia recently mentioned an upgrading of the police academy to some sort of college where the police would learn the finer art of the law and how to apply it. That seems to be one hell of an uphill task given how the police manage to make a basic application of the most basic laws by a defence lawyer sound like the greatest twist in a John Grisham movie.

In normal democracies heads would roll. In the UK the head of the (insert region here) Constabulary would be constantly grilled on the media while an Independent Police Enquiry would be set up to see why so many police resources and hours were wasted simply because a couple of communications coordinators with delusions of grandeur called in to report their distaste at being photographed.

That’s a normal democracy. But this is not a normal democracy. In this democracy of ours the police are told that they were “doing their duty”, some people will point to the arrogant Norman Vella and say that he had no business (doing what exactly? no business not taking photos?). For heaven’s sake some self-appointed investigators will point to this mess and blame AD voters for the reason things have come to this, quickly forgetting that much of the blame lies at the feet of an unelectable incumbent last time round.

Whoever is to blame is not the point. The point is that our custodians have been hung up to dry and shown to be unable to think for their own and apply the law as the guardians that they should be. It should not have taken a Magistrate to confirm that there were no grounds for a crime.

Their motto is Domine Dirige Nos… God guides us. I guess God must be taking a break. Let’s hope he’s there to help us next time they go on some sort of renegade mission.

Categories
Mediawatch Politics

Muscat’s Going Medieval

It just occurred to me that we now have full confirmation that all the TaghnaLkoll talk of roadmaps and costings was nothing but an elaborate bluff. The information that we now have in hand regarding Henley’s role in the Passports for Sale scheme shows us that far from projecting Malta into the age of modern business as Muscat was so eager to highlight, we are witnessing a regression to Medieval business. Yep, that’s the Middle Ages – definitely before your grandpapa was alive.

You see, ever eager to make a quick buck, the current Maltese government has hatched a scheme that makes a mockery of the prized possession of Maltese and EU citizenship and all this simply to create a very-medieval scheme of exclusive monopoly. What was done by medieval towns is now being practiced by the dinosaurs in charge of our economy with more than a little connivance by those supposedly in charge of our safety and security. In the past Medieval towns would grant traders exclusivity over a particular merchandise and then take a cut on all the trade that occurs. Simples. No sweat, just a seal and a little tax.

Muscat could not exactly come up with some form of government approved monopoly in, say, colour televisions. Of course not. This is not 1984 (meh). He took one thing that could not really be commercialised (and this for obvious reasons such as national security and integrity) and changed it into a cheap trick available to someone who could relatively afford a mezzanine in Luxembourg’s outskirts. Nobody in his entourage could be trusted in selling this kind of merchandise so he found an outside company that will get a huge cut on every transaction. No time for niceties so the same company getting the cut will be trusted (please, stop laughing in the back) to vet applicants and possibly refuse a potential killing simply because it might develop a conscience and believe that Malta’s territorial integrity is at stake.

This medieval scheme is now having the not so welcome result that international agreements with states such as the US of A might be imperiled insofar as VISA waiver schemes are concerned. Would you blame them? They can tell a trojan horse when they see one – not that Muscat would know. He’s busy going medieval on our citizenship and transforming our nation into a peddler of the cheapest kind.