Tag: Julian Galea

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Politics

Rush coming up

Jiġu mumenti fejn nipprova nimmaġina meta’ kien il-mument li waqafna nimxu u bdejna niġru. Niġru fis-sens li ma niefqux biex naħsbu u li inħallu il-mezzi ta’ komunikazzjoni jaħsbu minflokna. Filli konna hemm nifirħu bl-emanċipazzjoni tal-individwu u li issa kellu il-poter f’idejħ u filli kull ħajt virtwali u kull forum possibbli qed jintela’ bil-vomtu kwotidjan mingħajr ħafna ħsieb.

Fausto sejjħilhom graffitti. Sewwa qal. Anki jekk f’idejn esperti anki il-graffitti jafu jġiegħluk taħseb. Imma illum mhux graffiti biss għandna. Għandna il-kummenti, il-kontrokummenti, l-osservazzjonijiet mundani u personali. Għandna is-search engine u l-wikipedia. Għandna l-aħbarijiet “on tap” u l-“opinion polls” instantanji. U fil-baħar ta’ “data” l-individwu emanċipat safa dik il-gżira li John Donne qalilna li ħadd ma hu.

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Iħħakkjaw il-kont elettroniku ta’ Bashar Al-Assad dittatur ġewwa s-Sirja. Skoprew li waqt li mijiet ta’ Sirjani kienu taħt attakk ġewwa Homs, id-dittatur u martu kienu qed jordnaw il-linef u d-DVD ta’ Harry Potter minn fuq x-xibka ta’ l-eteru. Jaħasra kemm miet kmieni Salvador Dali. Kienet tkun xena surrealissima li seta jiġbed ma Picasso. Biss biss Pablo kien ikollu jkabbar it-tila ta’ Guernica biex ma jpinġix biss il-bombi neżlin imma anki l-vann tad-DHL jew UPS qed iwassal il-linef fid-dar tad-dittatur.

U ta’ Harry Potter mhux tajba jew? Kemm hi belha din Asma (hekk jisimha martu l-Ingliża) kos. Tordnalek il-kopja legali tal-film ma jmurx tikser il-liġi u tidħol fuq xi Pirate Bay tniżżel it-torrent. Fejn taf, jekk jispiċċaw quddiem il-Qorti Kriminali Internazzjonali ikollhom akkuża inqas għal xiex iwieġbu il-koppja Al-Assad. Massakru ċivili – IVA, korruzzjoni u tkasbir tad-drittijiet – IVA, download illegali – LE ta… dak ordnajtu fuq PLAY.COM onorevoli… delivery b’xejn kieku kont fl-Ewropa.

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Irrekordjaw lil Julian Galea. Irrekordjaw lil Joanna Gonzi. Joanna ma ħarġitx għall-elezzjoni. Julian ma setgħax jirtira l-kandidatura. Ivvutawlu xorta. Imbagħad irriżenja. Għax ħass li aħjar. Ivvutawlu xorta. Dik l-iktar biċċa affaxxinanti. Kellhom kollox għad-disposizzjoni tagħhom. Il-massa tal-medja wasslitilhom kull bit u byte tar-recording. Ivvutawlu xorta.

Ħal-Qormi għandhom sindku ġdida. Naqra naive. Imsieħba f’sit ta’ “hostesses” taljani. Hostesses kienet saret kelma sinonima mal-Kavallier tal-Italja li ħadem tant għal ġieħ u unur in-nisa tal-Italja. Li ma nifhimx hu jekk dawn in-nies humiex konxji tal-konsegwenzi tal-preżenza tagħhom fuq ix-xibka virtwali. Fil-Festschrift Immanuel Mifsud tagħna stampa ċara ta’ dak li sejjaħ bħala il-konfessjonarju ta’ Foucault. F’J’accuse semmejna kemm il-darba kif kien hemm perijodu fejn il-blogs servew ta’ mera ħarxa li uriet il-kruhat tas-soċjeta tagħna. Ma konniex nafu jekk aħniex lesti għalihom dawn il-veritajiet.

Bħal Alice fil-pajjiż tal-meravilji sirna, diffiċli tifhem dak li hu veru u dak li hu virtwali. Forsi la nifhmu li dak li ilna insejħu virtwali huwa biss estensjoni tal-veru forsi hemmhekk biss nimxu l-quddiem.

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Cyrus Engerer il-politikant bla kostitwenti bena dar fuq Facebook. Mill-kampanja tad-divorzju il-quddiem bena persunaġġ virtwali. Cyrus il-laburist li qiegħed bilmod ilmod iżarma l-ewwel maskla reali li kien bena fil-bidu tal-karriera politiku tiegħu meta kien Cyrus in-Nazzjonalist li forsi (forsi) kien jirrekordja lil kollegi tiegħu meta’ jkunu f’xi dagħdigħa ta’ bejn il-ħbieb – just in case.

Franco Debono imur il-parlament bħala deputat nazzjonalista. Anki Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando. Imbagħad meta taqbżilhom u jridu jiftħu l-mitraljatriċi tal-kritika jidħlu fuq Facebook jagħmlu xi status update. “Does RCC have a blog?” kienet waħda mill-aħħar enigmi ta’ Franco. Sa fejn nafu aħna m’għandux blogg RCC. Konna nistednuh għall-bloggata guest – imqar għall-kurzita biex naraw x’ikollu xi jgħid.

Sadattant blogs oħra li nibtu waqt il-falsa stikka tal-elezzjoni li qatt ma kienet mietu fuq ommhom. L-azzopardinicky’s tal-mument kienu posposti għal mument opportun. Kien kmieni wisq biex iżżomm ritmu ta’ elezzjoni. Dan jafu Muscat li issa inbela f’nassa ta’ prattikament prim ministru kostanti sa mill-inqas is-sena d-dieħla.

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U Simon Busuttil li ma jridhiex tas-suċċessur predestinat qed jisħaq fuq komunikazzjoni. S’issa kull meta tniffes, tniffes biex jgħidilna li jew iridu jisimgħu iktar jew iridu jikkomunikaw aħjar dak li qed jagħmlu. Għax dak li qed jagħmlu huwa tajjeb.

Li għadna ma smajniex minn Simon Busuttil huwa jekk hux se jkollu messaġġ li jwassal, hux se jkollu kontenut ġdid, jew inkella aħniex se jkollna biss reċiklaġġ u stinar fuq messaġġi li ilhom li intilfu fil-kaos tal-eteru. X’se jisma’ Simon? Il-graffitti fuq il-ħitan?

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Ilna niġru. Bl-Ingliż ngħidu “to rush” u qlibniha tirraxxja. Bħal dak li bela’ l-ecstasy u ma baqax jagħmel sens. Għax il-moħħ jaħseb sew meta jirrifletti u mhux meta jispara bl-addoċċ. Il-moħħ huwa l-ewwel għodda. Id-dinja virtwali – dik l-estensjoni tad-dinja reali – għandha potenzjal qawwi. Enormi. Pero jekk naqbdu niġru biha ma ndumux ma nsibu l-ewwel ħajt u nibqgħu deħlin dritt ġo fih.

Categories
Local Councils Politics

The Julian Galea Electors

Julian Galea is the only PN candidate in Sliema to have survived the mess from the previous council. On any other day he would have been hailed as a resilient survivor instead, like an ugly wart, he has become the latest manifestation of the obsessive symptoms of Maltese electoral practices. Galea’s infamy began when he was unlucky enough to be entrapped into a recording of vile pronouncements expounding quite succinctly his base intolerance for anything Labour (Apparently, if you believe Galea this happened two years ago in a meeting between PN candidates – bravu Cirillu). It was too late to withdraw him from the electoral lists (even death is not strong enough to nullify a candidate’s listing once the nominations are closed).

We all know where it went from there. It’s not like no one had heard about Julian Galea’s insipid pronouncements – Labour made it quite a point to have them broadcast all over the place. Armed with the knowledge of Galea’s behaviour any voter in his right mind would have desisted from even mistakenly marking the little square on the ballot beside the candidate’s disgraced name if only to spare him the ignominy of having to remaining in the public eye for an extended period of time.

Julian Galea was – how shall I put it kindly – not just not presentable but also supposedly unelectable. The only persons you’d expect would put their mark near his name in the hope of his getting elected to the Sliema council would be scheming Labourites hoping to capitalise on his glaring presence. Yet….

Julian Galea got 233 votes. Two centuries and a third. He “only” lost 60 votes from his previous tally in 2009. True he got elected on the 17th count when he had still not reached the quota of 517 having obtained 376 votes in all (inheriting 143 from other candidates). What would have been a miserable performance must be seen from another perspective though.  Who were those 233 souls who still rallied for Julian and his phobias?

Forget the noise from the pundits trying to desperately fit the Local Council shoe onto the twin ugly sisters’ General Election feet. This has nothing to do with labour/nationalist swings. It has nothing to do with the supposed “changing of Malta’s political demography”. Here you had the plain and simple reality of what makes up the bulk of Maltese politics.

On the eve of the elections we tried to warn you in “The Ugly Dress Rehearsal“. J’accuse described what the voter should be looking at in the candidates:

It should be obvious to anyone who stops to think for a moment that the ultimate consideration therefore when casting one’s vote is the competence and potential of the candidate. To summarise it more succinctly: It is not WHO is behind the candidate but rather WHO HE IS and WHAT HE STANDS FOR. 

Did the voters do any of that? Do the results of the Local Council Elections show us a discerning voter who is involved in large scale swings and confidence issues and is busy sending “messages” to this or that party? Not really no. You might enjoy the charade of conflicting interpretations that the PLPN circus is likely to feed you over the next coming weeks. You might love the myriad interpretations: “PN must listen. Labour has gained inroads in the North. Time for change.” Lahdidah.

In reality what happened is much simpler. Occam’s razor again. It rained. Heavily. Most people had had enough of the circus (except maybe Silvio Zammit). They just could not be bothered. Who bothered to go out to vote? The die-hards. They are the people who wouldn’t miss a trip to the ballot if they were dying. It’s ingrained. Their vote is tattooed on their brain. And then in Local Councils there are what we can assume to be the core of voters for each candidate. Families, neighbours, close friends who feel obliged to get their man in.

That is how Julian Galea, no matter what he says or does will keep getting at least around 250 votes every time he contests the Local Council elections. It is anything but an assessment of his capacity to convince voters to vote for him. If you want a litmus test for that just look at AD’s darling Mike Briguglio. In 2009 Mike got 457 votes and was not elected (Edward Cuschieri – PN – got elected on the 10th count in that election even though his first preference votes numbered 222). This time round his tally was 485 votes. Not much of a shift was there? That 28 vote increase transformed AD’s failure into success. Or at least we would like to think so.

Another way of reading the results – and by this I mean most of the results is that they are about as prophetic and indicative as tea leaves at the bottom of a teacup. Voters have neither swung nor used their votes to express any particular concern. Even less should we be worrying about those who did not bother to turn up.  Protest vote my foot. At this rate the only conclusion that I am willing to draw about these absentees is that they saw nothing available to make the trip to the ballot box worth it. More than a protest vote it is a lazily calculated snub at what  is on offer on the menu. I’m guessing there will be much less of these when the General Elections come along.

So there you have it. What have the LC Elections in 2012 taught us about your average voter? That he still remains that – average. The intelligent voter stayed at home this time round. He is still out there however.

 

Will the parties take note?

 

Categories
Local Councils Politics

Hate crimes, Nationalist Candidates and PLPN Emos

The latest smart cookie from the constellation of Local Council Candidates has hit the news. This time it is Julian Galea – nationalist candidate for the Sliema Council – who has been lucky enough to have been caught on “secret tape” declaiming among other things his “phobia of Labourites” and boasting how his Labour-leaning employees earn less than Nationalist employees. This exposé could not come at a better time in order to expose the ridiculous idea behind “hate crimes”. You had Maltastar.com headlining this bit of news with a large sign saying “Stop Hating”.

It’s the DNA business all over again. One candidate or politician is caught expressing the thoughts that go through the heads of most fanatics of one of the two tribes any given day and suddenly we are all Padre Pios and discover our inner emos that are silently indignated by this offensive behaviour. How bloody typical.

Which is not in any way justifying what Julian Galea said. Julian Galea is your typical “anything goes” candidate like the Alexis Callouses (sic) of this world. He is a symptom of the abject inability of a party to shed its temptation to field as many candidates as possible without a proper screening. His “phobia” bullshit does not merit to be classified as a crime although we have a draft law that potentially will make it so. Incidentally with regards to the possibility of different pay for different political creeds we ALREADY have a law against that so no need for another one (and EU law enthusiasts will remember Defrenne vs Sabena). I vaguely suspect that he meant that Labourites are not high achievers and therefore end up on the lower end of the pay scale not that he pays on the basis of political allegiance – still, this does not make his talk any better or more palatable.

I too have a phobia. I have a phobia for stupid. It is a low threshold of tolerance and people like Julian Galea make my blood boil. So do the media manipulators who are now desperately trying to link his employment policy to GonziPN. Because it’s obvious isn’t it… if Julian Galea (I hadn’t heard of this geezer till today) thinks so then the PN must be endorsing this policy. But that is our politics. It has been for the past fifteen years now. Candidates not worth the poster their face is printed on, media frenzies of shit-stirring emptiness and a misguided appeal to values of convenience.

We are all emos now. It’s in our DNA.