Category: Library

Categories
Zolabytes

Corradin No

A reader joins the increasing number of J’accuse contributors. “As You Are” kicks off his contributions with a poem called Corradin No.

 

Corradin No

Maltese politicians will never know
what it’s like to do time at Corradino
and then, when it’s over, to go back home
to your mum, or your girlfriend, or your wife,
or whoever,
who will lovingly try to heal
all the wounds you suffered,
except the wounds deep inside your anus
and the wounds deep inside your heart
because, of course,
you’ll never tell anyone
about those.

Maltese politicians will never know
any of that at all.
They will never know Corradino,
no matter what they do.

But you can know.
And you will
if you push your luck too far.
Just grow some weed
and wait your turn.
It will come eventually
unless you’re a Maltese politician.

As You Are

Categories
Constitutional Development

The part I don’t take

The list of speakers for tomorrow’s Civil Society Demonstration has been published and readers by now will have noticed that I am one of them. I have seen comments directed at me both on the Times and Independent articles on the event. According to one commentator I was an obvious choice because I wrote “against the PL” prior to 2013. Another commentator was convinced that my time served as president of the university student’s union was served in the capacity of a PN representative.

To be fair, that was just about it. Not much fodder it seems. Which probably means that I am sufficiently of an unknown factor to pass the grade of most suspicious observers. I could answer both the comments stating firstly that I have written “against the PL” both before and after 2013. My track record is such that my writings took me “against the PN” often too – especially when the PN deserved more scrutiny as the party in government. Luckily I have 12 years of blogging to back my claims.

As for my time in KSU – the allegation is risible to say the least. My time spent both in SDM and in KSU was at the service of students and the student community. I proudly state that together with my colleagues of the time I was responsible for a (albeit temporary) rift between the SDM and the Nationalist Party. The reason is simple – I did not take kindly to being dictated how to do politics for a party’s sake.

This is not an apologia for my past or for my credentials to address tomorrow’s crowd. This is more of a look at why I believe that the kind of activism that is developing in and around the current crisis is perforce a non-partisan one. The wider aims and goals of the civil society that has begun to stir go beyond the immediate demands made by the Civil Society Network. The fundamental aim is constitutional reform. Constitutional reform that is radical and has to be so.

Such Constitutional Reform must be party-free. Understand this. Party-free not party neutral. The thinking outside the box begins at that point. We have had a constitutional system that developed around and at the service of two parties. I have repeated this notion ad nauseam. The reason for the institutional rot is also because there is a limit to how much you can bend and twist the rules to serve two masters. The reason for institutional rot is not to be placed at the foot of one party or another. There is no measure that can blame one party more than the other. The reason must be placed squarely at the feet of both parties. Yes. The PLPN.

So think outside the box we must. The movement must become a constitutional movement. The proposals of what a new Malta should look like will be manifold. Already there are disagreements among proponents as to which system will be better however there is one crucial matter that must be remembered: the discourse has been brought to the forefront of the national agenda.

Before the election I founded the Advocates for the Rule of Law together with some colleagues of mine. Our aim was to highlight the deficit of rule of law that was becoming increasingly obvious. Yes, it became increasingly obvious under Labour’s watch but be careful, the problem was rooted much much earlier. Here is a snippet from a blog post (and from my Independent on Sunday column at the time) in March 2010: what many would call less suspicious times:

“All three branches of the state are currently under heavy attack and the levels of trust that “the people” seem to have in the administrative, executive and the judiciary appear to be alarmingly low. This is not healthy for our democracy – it’s a rot that is setting in. The rot must be exposed, not in a partisan, self-interested kind of way but rather in an objective attempt at rediscovering what we want for the future of our nation.”

I reread my posts over the years since 2005 and to me it sounds like a broken record. Not – as an observer on Daphne’s blog observed tauntingly very recently – the broken clock that is right twice a day. No, this was a constant consistent message. Over the years I and other like-minded individuals explored possibilities for constitutional change. We believed that the change should start from the house of representatives. Transforming it into a truly representative institution would mean proportional representation and having a clear cut separation from the executive. It did not make sense to have a third of parliament sitting in the cabinet.

The discourse of reform needed a crisis to be kicked off. Sadly the crisis took the ugliest form that one would never have wished for – the death of a vociferous journalist. The agenda of reform that had been hinted at mildly during Panamagate and its aftermath was now catapulted to the forefront. The Advocates for the Rule of Law (AFTROL) had managed to put the words on the nations mouth: Rule of Law. The discussion had remained at a technical level and the election had pummelled a people into silence.

The new crisis has brought the discussion back with a vengeance. What needs to be understood is that this is not about asking Joseph Muscat to resign. It is not about advocating or pushing for the usual alternation. It is much deeper than that. The nation desperately needs the reform for its own good. Citizens need to understand that so long as they pin their hopes on the partisan assessment of politics then all hope is lost. The two political parties will always be in survival mode. It is parallel to their need to be in power to make the system work to their advantage. The rules  must stay the same – even if they will pay lip service to constitutional reform.

Now more than ever it is imperative that we are not partisan. The part I don’t take is the part in part-isan. It is imperative that we begin to understand that the Civil Society Movement must establish itself with even higher standards than the temporary ones that are being  asked for right now. Constitutional reform must come from the heart of the nation. From its sovereign. We the people.

I am not partisan. I don’t need to be and cannot be. My duty as a civil activist is to fight for constitutional change that brings about the proper reforms. That brings about the rule of law.

We are servants of the law so that we may be free.

 

Categories
Citizenship Rule of Law

Strait Street Activism

October 2017 has also been the month of the worldwide #metoo campaign – a campaign highlighting the victims of sexual assault. Tonight, as hundreds of women kicked off the #occupyjustice campaign by setting up tents in Castille Square a civil rights stalwart from the 20th century decided to offer his own expert opinion on the matter.

The former leader of the Labour-linked Trade Union decided that the women outside Castille should actually have been in Strait Street and to make sure that his cultural reference was not missed he specified that this was Strait Street of the sixties – those swinging sixties when brothels and sexy nightlife were accessible in Malta too and not just in Soho and Dusseldorf. Not content with the “whores” jibe, Zarb continued to say that these were traitors of Malta and linked them to “a crew of Assassins who would do anything to get into Power”. The reference once again is clear. These women were part of a party that would do anything to get into power – including kill someone (assassini).

Wonderful. These are the sons of Labour. The sons of the government with the spanking track record of civil rights. This is Tony Zarb’s massive #metoo moment. Tony manages to verbally harass hundreds of women in one go. This is the kind of impunity that we speak about when we speak of the collapse of the rule of law. Others have dared where Tony dares today. Those others have rarely had to face serious repercussions for their actions. At most they are admonished only to find themselves promoted to positions of trust and satisfactory reimbursement before long.

There is a wonderful saying in Maltese. Tony might get it immediately since it deals with a subject close at heart. “Il-qaħba milli jkollha ttik“… and hell yeah, Tony’s giving us the best that he’s got.

Daphne’s sons sent bay leaves tonight to the women at Castille square. They represent the strength and courage that are needed in this battle. Harassment comes in many forms – some worse than others.

The women at Castille will surely not be bowed by such low comments.

We will not be bowed.

Having seen what went on, Ele sent me this bedtime story that I thought I would share with you:

One day Tony wakes up to find out that his countrywomen have decided to gather in Castille square. They want to spend some days there to call for justice after the brutal assassination of Daphne – also a countrywoman.
Tony however only sees a group of girls that want to spend the night out claiming nonsensical rights. 
After all, they are just women.
Shouldn’t they be in Strait Street instead? he asks himself. 
Tony reasons like this because he is a man (miskin). He ought to remember that he is also a public political figure.
But unfortunately, this means little nowadays in Malta.
#accountability #ruleoflaw #iamalreadywarm #metoo #iamnotemotional
Categories
Citizenship Constitutional Development

James Debono at the Civil Society Demo

Reproduced with the kind permission of the author.

Nhar it-Tnejn Daphne inghatat il-piena kapitali minn xi hadd li tant hassu omnipotenti li ddecieda li jhassar mid-dinja gurnalista li bil-pinna taghha kienet saret tehdida…

Meta smajt l-ahbar hassejt vojt…il-vojt li thoss meta thoss li pajjizek tilef bicca minn ruhu. Ghalhekk wara giet ir-rabja.

Xoghol il-gurnalist mhux li jinghogob mil-poter imma li jzomm distanza minnu biex ikun jista jwassal il-verita. Speak truth to power ghandu jkun l-motto taghna lkoll.

Inhossni mcekken quddiem il-karba tal-qraba u t-tfal ta’ Daphne, karba ghal gustizzja mhux ghal ommhom biss imma ghal Malta taghna li tant inhobbu.

Tajjeb li l-gvern qed jibghat messagg qawwi li se jaghmel min kollox biex jaqbad lil kriminali.

Imma fuq kollox Pajjizna irid fejqan.

Ghax pajjizna ma jixraqlux hekk. Pajjizna ghandu ruh.

We do not want to live in a mafia state. Ma nridux inkunu washing machine tal-flus mahmugin tal-kriminali u d-dittatturi. Il-flus ma jixtrux kollox, wisq l-inqas il-gustizzja.

Fuq kollox quddiem tehdida daqshekk kattiva mill- kriminalita organizzata, hemm bzonn twegiba politika ghal kwistjoni morali li qed tifni lil Malta taghna.

Hadd m’ghandu jipponta subghajh lejn hadd ghax lkoll ghanda parti mit-tort kull meta harisna n-naha l-ohra biex naghmlu lira zejda. Imma din mhix skuza biex inhallu kollox ghaddej.

Biex ninghaqdu u nuru li ahna ahwa Maltin u nibghatu l-aqwa messagg lill- kriminali li qatlu l-Daphne inridu nuruhom li Malta ghanda istituzzjonijiet li ghandhom is-snien u jgawdu l-fiducja taghna lkoll.

Fl-ahhar ftit snin ma rajnix rieda tajba. L-istituzzjonijiet fallewna bl-ikrah f’bosta kazijiet bhal Panamagate li gew midfuna taht it-tapit tal-konvenjenza. Kellna paralizi istituzzjonali fejn l-istat u l-pulizija ma resqu lil hadd quddiem il-qrati biex jigi gudikati.

Ghalhekk biex ikollna fiducja fl-istituzzjonijiet jehtieg bidla fl-istituzzonijiet.

Irid isir ezami serju ta’kuxjenza u kull min ghandu jwarrab ghandu jwarrab illum qabel ghada.

Rajna wkoll rigress kulturali fejn xi whud f’partiti differenti bdew iseksku li onestsa u l-indafa huma xi zvantagg fil-politika. Kwazi li tkun parti mid-dinja tat-tahwid bdejna narawa vantagg.

Rajna kultura tal-libelli li fija l-prova tal-innocenza tigi billi tfajjar xi libell.

Iva ghal ghexieren ta’snin gvernijiet minn partiti differenti ma ghamlux bizzejjed biex insahhu s-saltna tad-dritt. Hallejna hafna xquq min fejn setghu jghaddu d-delinkwenti politici ta zminijietna.

Imma flimkien nistghu naghmlu d-differenza… kurragg.

Intom ragg ta’ dawl f’din i-lejla mudlama tar-repubblika Maltija…Intom l-Malta t-tajba, dik il-Malta li ma tiskotx, dik il-Malta nadifa

Ghax inhobbu l-pajjizna inridu inkomplu dak li bdejna illum u ma nifqux qabel pajjizna jerga jikseb il-hakma tad-dritt f’kull qasam tal-governanza.

Grazzi li qomtu mir-raqda. Viva Malta nadifa. Viva l-Maltin li issa qed jghidu issa daqshekk.

Categories
Corruption

Muscat Offers Price of a Passport (for a family) to Find Daphne’s Assassin

The government has officially confirmed today it is offering a €1 million reward for information leading to the identification of the person or persons responsible for Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder.

Daphne’s relatives have already refused to endorse the reward. “Justice, beyond criminal liability, will only be served when everything that our mother fought for – political accountability, integrity in public life and an open and free society – replaces the desperate situation we are in” – were the words of Daphne’s sons.

The government seems to believe that it can buy a clean conscience with €1 million. That million euros will not bring Daphne back. It will not reunite a grieving family. That does not count in the government scale of values though.

In fact one million euros is just about right to buy an interested family a passport for each member of the family. If they choose to rent a house to circumvent the property investment issue they might even get some change back on that million.

This is the government of the budget surplus made of questionable profits. It believes it can put a price on everything and that way everything will be solved.

There is no price for freedom.

There are crooks everywhere now. But some people will never be bought.

Categories
Mediawatch

We are all politicians now

This is not another “je suis” moment. This is a reaction to the idea that is being bandied about that the demonstrations and manifestations following the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia have to be sanitised in a bubble of non-political expression. It is probably a symptom of all that has happened in the country – of a nation that has grown up in a stultified environment and using a twisted code of expression where “politics’ became a taboo word.

The risk we are running here is that we misunderstand all that is going on and transform this into a symbolic shambles – a memorial for the sake of a memorial that is taken out of context. The constant exchange of diatribes between the two parties that have monopolised our official political scene has rendered the nation’s citizens immune to the understanding of real politics. The reaction to a tragedy is mechanical and predictable. Candle-light vigils, walks, demonstrations are meant to help the mourners to cope and get their closure. No lessons are learnt.

It is not just today. We can have an explosion in a fireworks factory, we can have a terrible traffic “black spot”, we can have multiple deaths on the workplace, we can have thousands drowning outside our shores, we can have hundreds of protected birds shot out of the air in the hunting season, we can have animals living in atrocious conditions in ramshackle zoos.

We are brilliant at mourning the dead, the victims. We kid ourselves that we will show some leftover christian empathy. However as a people we will continue to be blinded and ignore the reasons for the tragedy and the lessons to be learnt so that this will not happen again. Our political establishment has for a long time benefited from the fact that we have felt sufficiently consoled by the mere expressions of sympathy. Never again. At least not until tomorrow.

This cannot go on. The education of our citizen class needs to begin in earnest and there is no better moment than now. The assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia happened in a context. The appeals to the population not to make it a “political issue” are misguided. What they should mean is that this is not a “partisan” issue. It is not a cause that should be taken up for the benefit of one party or another. Because politics does not exist to serve the parties.

In their effort to sanitise the manifestations of anger and empathy some people are shooting down all the messengers. This is dangerous. This is an attempt to make the new normal a permanent normal. The assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia is political. I have no doubt that it is political. We do not know who the mandator and the murder are but we can only understand one thing: that Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed for something that she had written about or was planning to write about.

She was killed in a nation where the complete institutional breakdown aids and abets the functioning of criminal organisations. She was killed in a state where the absence of the rule of law means that the tentacles of the criminal organisations have spread deep into our society and where these can act with a feeling of impunity. She was killed in a country that has huge problems understanding the dangers and consequences of corruption. She was killed in Malta the super-economy that privileges easy money, fake jobs and no questions asked.

These are all the makings of a political murder because in order for this murder to take place the safeguards of a political society have to have broken down. That is what Daphne’s son meant when he mentioned the rule of law.

Civil society has had the ugliest of wake up calls. It has a choice before it now. Either to fall for the serenades of the old political establishment that are trying their damned hardest to abuse of the ignorance of the law, of the ignorance of the way a society should work, of the way people ignore why their commitment to changing this society is crucial. Either that or to commit to change. To understand that each and every one of us have the duty to be political, to become political and to be the agents of change in spite of the old political establishment.

We are all politicians. Every politician among us that wants to stand up and be counted should be at the demonstration at City Gate on Sunday at 4pm.