Tag: values

Categories
Constitutional Development Values

The Empress has no clothes!

 

Eleonora Sartori returns with a guest post concerning the concept of shame and its value in today’s society,

The Empress has no clothes! (Not that she would need much in the Bahamas).

“A sinner comes before you, Cersei of House Lannister. Mother to His Grace, King Tommen, widow of His Grace, King Robert. She has committed the acts of falsehood and fornication. She has confessed her sins, and begged for forgiveness. To demonstrate her repentance, she will cast aside all pride, all artifice, and present herself as the gods made her….”

This is how George R.R. Martin describes the ritual of punishment and penance named “walk of atonement”, used to publicly shame women accused of adultery or prostitution. The confessed sinner has to walk a certain distance stripped of all clothing, exposed to the eyes and jeers of the common people.

Somehow, this brings back the image described in the Gospel of John, the Pharisees, when a woman who has committed adultery is brought unto Jesus since she is meant to be publicly shamed by being stoned. Shame is in fact a condition of humiliating disgrace or disrepute, the ignominy of being subject to a very degrading condition. However, Jesus unexpectedly answers back: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”

“He that is without sin among you”. Another aspect of shame, this time related to the self-awareness of one’s own sins. Shame caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming or impropriety.

Shame is indeed a manifold concept. It is also a very important pillar of humankind, as very well stressed by Professor Gardini in an article published some weeks ago on Sette – Corriere della Sera (Di cosa ti vergogni?).

But first, why am I talking about shame right now?

I felt the urge of sharing these thoughts when yesterday I read about the fact that the wife of your Prime Minister has been nominated Volunteer of the Year. As correctly put in an article published on The Shift, “The issue at stake was not the validity of Michelle Muscat’s contribution to charity which includes a 10-hour swim to raise funds for the charity she chairs, but the lack of institutional sobriety that comes across when organs of the State bestow honours on the immediate family members of high ranking officials” (It’s all about perception my dear).

The lack of institutional sobriety combines with the constant lack of transparence of appointment procedures on a worldwide scale. I’m just too tired of this ambiguous scenario we’re currently living in, where on the one hand, we have Ivanka Trump championing the cause of women empowerment by carrying out a Fashion Diplomacy strategy and on the other hand, we see Time Magazine nominating the members of the successful and long-awaited #MeToo campaign as Person of the Year.

Does no one feel ashamed for this current situation?

Then I remembered the article of Professor Gardini and I understood the core message conveyed by it. We’re no longer used to feel any shame nor to feel ashamed. Yet, I truly believe that restoring this precious feeling could only improve the democratic society in which we ought to be living in the 21st century.

Referring to Cicero in his analysis, Professor Gardini underlines that he who is capable of feeling shame presumes the existence of a superior entity, a so-called “superior thought”, that is able to assess and judge the insufficiency of one’s actions and in front of which one needs therefore to repent and rehabilitate. This superior thought is nothing but a set of values to which abides the community to whom we belong. A set of values respected by the other members of his community, who can judge and criticize you if you go off track.

Therefore, the sense of guilt is not merely private, but has a public dimension too. It’s the core expression of the principle of accountability.

But what about this principle in the digital era?

Professor Gardini correctly points out that nowadays we no longer belong to a community, but we choose virtual groups to which we want to belong. These groups do not form small societies based on confrontation and discussion, but instead exist as virtual projections of one’s imagine of one’s self. I create my group and in that group I am that particular version of myself.

Thus, in my virtual group I can always claim to be constantly right, since I have the right to reject every kind of confrontation and the arrogance not to take into account any potential different opinion. So much for the principle of accountability.

And yet, there is a very simple way to restore the role of shame in our modern society.

It’s every citizen’s duty to reintegrate into their daily routine the perception of shame and shameful actions. As well pointed out by the Background Paper published by SIDA on Accountability, Transparency and the Rule of Law within the Post-2015 Agenda, “the mere process and framework of accountability, transparency and the rule of law is not enough. What comes out of these structures and processes will, in the end, be determined by the social cohesion among people, as well as by the values and the political environment in society. Individuals have responsibilities and powers of their own to change and affect social norms and trends. Formal structures alone can never guarantee decent societies. »

It is you, the people, who have to publicly shame who you think does not abide by your set of values.

“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” reads Genesis 3:7.

 

Categories
Politics

Marlene: The Real Taghna Lkoll

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I’ve tuned into the parliamentary sessions a few times ever since the new parliament has been inaugurated. It is rarely a pleasant experience and I do not delude myself with expectations of high oratory and rhetoric. Still, the PQ sessions provide a very good picture of what our politicians are up to and the respect with which most of them hold the highest institution of our nation. It was during one particularly ugly PQ session involving a cat-and-mouse session with the PN trying to get answers from an absent Konrad Mizzi that I was once again pleasantly surprised with an intervention by Marlene Farrugia, Labour MP.

Following a particularly cringe-causing exchange where it was evident that the Labour MPs were all out to avoid answering any form of questions no matter how they were phrased, Farrugia stood up and started to speak. The way her intervention began led me to believe it would be more of the same partisan pot and kettle talk. “I’ve sat through previous legislatures watching the previous Ministers and MPs dodging answers to questions and failing to be accountable”, she began. Was Marlene about to justify the government MP’s attitude with a classic ‘Tu quoque’ intervention?

Not really. “I’d expected our newly elected government with its promise of transparency and accountability to be different” she continued. Now there was a politician worth her salt. Marlene was not defending the Labour MP’s economy with the truth – she was criticising them, and precisely because they were doing nothing to improve the situation inherited from the previous lot even though they had been elected to do just that.

To me that intervention embodies all that Marlene Farrugia represents. She is a living proof of the politicians of real change. Oftentimes she is wrongly placed in the same category as the Franco Debono’s and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s of this world – renegade, unhappy backbenchers who are trying to get more from their party while it is in power. Party faithfuls do not miss a beat when insulting and remind “why she was elected”. Yet Farrugia does not seem to aspire to power as much as to a kind of politics that is rare – real accountability, real transparency and a real change from the past.

Part of the charm of the Taghna Lkoll message for many during last election was the promise to break away from the old way of doing politics. This meant doing away with deals brokered with friends and friends of friends, it meant an open, transparent and meritocratic system. Had JosephPL stuck to the Taghna Lkoll promises it would not be in the dire situation it is now – a situation that might not be reflected in the opinion polls yet but that is evidently paving the way for electoral disaster.

Farrugia’s constant questioning of Labour’s performance is not based on a renegade development suddenly sprung on the party leadership. Rather she is the stronger version of the conscience that should remind the leadership, the party and the government of its democratic commitments to society. Is all this done out of some Macchiavellian manoeuvering? Does Farrugia hope to unseat the current leadership? Is her aim to destabilise the Labour party’s majority? As things stand it is very doubtful whether any of these options are possible or whether they are actually a priority in the outspoken MP’s mind. What is clear is that by sticking to values and committing to the most basic of electoral charters of accountability that is the party’s own manifesto and promises Farrugia towers strongly over the rest of the Labour MPs.

Until now Muscat has been able to ‘tolerate’ Farrugia’s outspokenness, also because he can scarcely do otherwise. If, as we hope, Farrugia remains steadfastly consistent in her commitment to a code of values that seems to have been ditched by the labour mainstream upon election the situation might become more and more uncomfortable. The main reason is that there is a limit to the number of gaffes that can be committed without the accountability.

Muscat’s nine lives might still be in full swing but Marlene Farrugia remains a wonderful reminder of what Taghna Lkoll would have been and could have been had it not been hijacked by power hungry opportunists who fail to understand or respect the liberal democratic system of accountability. Hers remains a tough task of civic education – particularly when it comes to imparting the lesson that having a majority does not automatically make everything right.

also read this: ‘This is not the Labour government we strived for’ – Marlene Farrugia urges ‘change in direction’

Categories
Environment

Environmental Value

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Watching Alfred Baldacchino tear the MEPA Zonqor report to shreds was a joy to behold. After years of watching politically appointed incompetents in all spheres of government deliver their business in a manner best described as “quasi-amateur” it was reassuring to see that there are still diligent, competent persons who can contribute to this nation. “Tal-affari taghhom” we would call them in Maltese.

Speaking at the Parliament Environment Committee while interviewing a hapless Johann Buttigieg, Baldacchino gave a blow by blow breakdowm of the report that MEPA prepared under strict conditions dictated by the Office of the Prime Minister. In Baldacchino’s words this was a report made to fit certain prerequisites (or as he said in Maltese “biex il-bocca tingab qrib il-likk) and there was nothing scientific about it.

Buttigieg’s feeble defence rested upon the classic “orders from above” defence that only went to show how the independence of our authorities and directorates is in tatters. Asked why the Environmental section (and experts) were not used in this report Buttigieg could only mumble something about confidentiality being imposed from above. In short he seems to mean that since this was a strictly confidential report that would not be made public they dispensed with the uncomfortable obstacles that might arise in the environmental sphere.

Through a reasoned and well argued approach Baldacchino unearthed one of the main pillars of dishonesty that underlies Joseph Muscat’s dealings with regards Zonqor Point. This was no tree-hugging conspiracy theorist on his spare time but a real scientist asking pertinent questions and exposing the gaping holes in the report. It was a report written to make the Fake University at Zonqor happen come what may.

Marlene Farrugia courageously reminded Johann Buttigieg that his duty was towards the taxpayers dishing out his and Sai Mizzi’s pay (I added Sai but it’s the same coffers) and not to suck up to his political superiors. That it might be a case of talking to a brick wall was immediately evident when Buttigieg was also told that on these issues it was he who would be made to answer not his superiors. The civil servant replied with a “no problem” that implied that taking the bullet was part of his curriculum.

In other related news it is also interesting how the other institution currently being grilled by the Front Harsien ODZ for its environmental credentials is the Church. The problem here lies in a couple of requests by the Church to build schools in ODZ area. Having become another outspoken campaigner in favour of saving Zonqor, the Curia is also being required to do some homework about its past applications in ODZ areas.

The timing could not be better. Back at the big Church HQ in Rome, copies of the upcoming papal encyclical “Laudato si’, sulla cura della casa comune” were leaked to L’Espresso. It appears that the conservative movements in the church want to undermine the progressive stance of Pope Francis in this respect but leaks apart we will have another possible set of value guidelines from an institution that does its homework well on a deontological level – one that cannot be ignored, especially by Malta’s Curia.

Alfred Baldacchino spoke not only as a well-researched scientist who knows his job but also as a man with clear values and vision. The renewed discovery of environmental sensitiveness in this country might be a welcome trigger to explore the understanding of our values in this and other fields.

In which case… laudato si’….

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
Politics

The Unbearable Schizophrenia of Being the PN

It’s a tough time for the opposition. That it is so is surprising since the Labour government is generously providing all sorts of opportunities for an alert opposition to be critical. Having said that, it is also true that the long-term effects of the Taghna Lkoll wave will continue to be sustained so long as the party in government acts and thinks as a party in opposition. Bad as it may be for governance (and harmful) it still seems to do the works in the perception polls.

Back to the PN. Their nominations for the MEP elections are shaky to say the least. It is hard not to look at the list of candidates announced up until now and not to think of them as a motley result of the push and pull of different inner strands of the party. Some are totally new to the field of politics (Jonathan Shaw or Helga Ellul) and still ride on the obsession of one part of the PN that still confuses corporate and political guile/power if and where it exists.

Bar the tried and tested Metsola who should hopefully make it back to Brussels to build on what turned out to be a positively surprising performance there is not much hope that shines out of the PN list. The list though is just made of people. It is the policies and politics that are still rather unfathomable – what kind of party will people be voting for?

Unfortunately for the men and women from Pietà there is no easy answer to that one. The PN still betrays signs of inner tensions. To begin with the party whose internal politics depends very much on the formation of factions has not managed to shed the inner fault lines that turn out to be debilitating in the long run. Add to that the fact that the party has still not managed to have a long hard think about its value base and what it wants to represent. Not a good place to be in when we are in the times of Civil Union Bills.

It is just such a bill that exposes the frailties of the PN as a party. On the positive side the political differences as to what position to take on various aspects of the bill are commendable. They are signs of a party that still has some vestiges of political thinking or ticking going on. Whether you agree or disagree with any of the factions is not the point – what is clear is that the PN has clear symptoms of multiple personality disorder verging on schizophrenia.

Without going into much detail as to the different sections themselves we can still see how the PN’s outside front can turn out to be shallow and non-committal.  A telling moment was when the PN managed to confirm that it would back the Civil Union Bill but then went on to say that it would propose amendments that would differentiate the Unions from marriage. The cake and eat it. It’s why it is easy for Joseph to go on riding the opportunist bulldozer and claim that the PN is being equivocal on this point.

The danger for the PN is that having so many different political backgrounds really means that the PN is constantly in the position of being more parties than one. There is a conservative strand and a social democrat style of Christian-Democracy that often swings to the left side of the spectrum. Unlike the PL that has reneged completely on any kind of association with value-driven politics, the PN is simply at a point of having to define its priorities and possibly decide whether the different strands can be accommodated in one monolithic structure.

Another aspect of PN’s schizophrenia is related to its having to deal with the past. The corollary to Muscat’s constant jibes at the PN’s history is that any new position by the PN has to take into consideration its very recent track record. A case in point is the Passports for Sale saga. The PN might have unearthed a Fenech Adami refusal to one such proposal in its early days of government but a simple search as to who the main protagonists in the new scheme are clearly indicates that Gonzi’s government might have had similar plans on the backburner itself.

These are tough times for an opposition still trying to get on its feet and one that is in search of a clear identity. I’ve written this before and don’t mind repeating it again now – before venturing to sell its message to the people the PN must first be sure that it knows what that message is.

Know thyself. Then go out and fight the behemoth that is threatening to run riot with this country.

 

Categories
Immigration

If that plane takes off

If the information from “informed sources” is confirmed then two planes will take off from Luqa airport (at midnight and four a.m.) in order to return a number of the migrants who had reached our shores in desperation. It is really immaterial whether the obscene policy dubbed “push-back” is legal or illegal by whatever rule you choose to follow. True, there is a judgement of the European Court of Human Rights. True, by EU law the action is not only repugnant but illegal. All that should not count though, for first and foremost the deed that will be committed in the stealth of the night is really a measure of man – a measure of men on this island.

The moment the AirMalta flight’s wheels will lift off from the hallowed ground of this land of milk and honey will be the moment this country has reached if not its darkest hour then one of its darkest. Under the stealth of dark night the world’s ugliest hours have tolled  – from biblical massacres (the Passover, Herod’s cull of the innocents) to Shakespearean tragedy (Come, thick night, And pall thee in dunnest smoke of hell) to the sickly moments of Nazi Kristallnacht  – the history of humanity is replete with manifestations of the dark side of man. The cloaked darkness will not and should not suffice to hide the perpetrators of this latest inhuman act from shame. Yes, shame. Because the moment the first of those planes takes off is the moment we can definitely confirm that we have been divested of a large part of our humanity and dignity.

There is no darkness but ignorance, the poet tells us. It is the fruit of ignorance that is being borne on this very dark and heavy night in those planes of lead carrying the disillusioned dreams back to the darkness whence they came. It is the ignorant bleating of the masses that is being pleased, the ignorant braying of hundreds of mules that are being appeased by the leaders of none. It takes no courage to take a group of helpless men, women and children and place them on a vehicle of transport to be sent back to whatever sad or ill fate awaits them. It does not make you a non-pushover. It makes you a coward, a coward of the worst kind for whom no circle of damnation would suffice.

Is this push-back policy the fruit of misplaced oratory? Is it some misguided ploy to distract from the myriad errors being committed by a government that has proven to be a false hope? Worse still if it is. For I’d hate to bear the responsibility of playing with people’s lives simply as a diversionary tactic and distraction. Can our supposed leaders even for one moment believe that this kind of chest-pounding with the poor and the depraved win them any accolades other than among the very sheep and donkeys who have pushed them to this madness? Even if the herds amounted to 90% of the population this is the moment in which real leaders stand up to be counted. They stand up armed with values, with belief and with a strong vision of humanity that transcends the immediate and the material. They do not “explore all options” but bear the brunt of the difficulty and stand out as beacons that shame the neighbouring countries who refuse to budge in solidarity.

We’ll have none of that though. A pen pusher somewhere in Castille has set the wheels in motion. Our very own one-way trains of doom will take flight tonight. Their destination may not be Birkenau, Treblinka or Auschwitz but what’s in a name? On our heads will rest the responsibility of every life that could be lost.

If that plane takes off at midnight tonight we can definitely say that we will be taking one more step backward to mediocrity, spinelessness and relativism.

Tonight, before you tuck your children to sleep think of the souls that have been sent away into the darkness. There are some people who would have you believe that it is being done for your safety and for our nation’s glory.

Not in my name.

 

NOTICE FROM THE MALTA HUMANIST ASSOCIATION:

YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE. Government is reportedly about to send 102 Somali asylum seekers back to Libya, in what would effectively be a repeat of a policy enacted by Italy in 2010, and declared illegal by the European Court of Human rights in 2012.
The initiative would also be a direct violation of Protocol 4, Article 4 of the convention of human rights – to which Malta is signatory, and which very unambiguously prohibits mass deportation of foreigners.
Hailing from Somalia, all 102 of these asylum seekers are within their legal rights to seek asylum, and Malta is legally bound by various treaties to process their application. Yet government seems to be implying that it intends to disregard its own legal obligations in this sense, and the implications are that governmet considers itself above the law.
A protest has been planned for this evening (8pm) and will be attended by NGOs involved in asylum. The MHA is supporting this initiative, as it is very concerned by the latest developments on at least three counts:
1), the proposed action constitutes a clear violation of human rights, and as such runs counter to the single most relevant article of international law concernign human rights (which, as humanists, we feel duty-bound to uphold)
2) regardless of legality, the proposed plan is a direct affront to the basic dignity to which all humans are entitled, and exposes these people to very serious risk of violent reprisals (possibly including torture and execution) on their reptriation;
3) It is the MHA’s view that government’s approach to this phenomenon should not be piecemeal, and shoud instead concentrate on adopting a national immigration plan that goes beyond dealing with crises as they arise… in other words, the opposite of what it is doing in this case.