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The
Mad Cow approach
This editorial has of late attempted very hard to put the General
Workers' Union under the spotlight.
There was a time when the GWU was our prime target for a number
of reasons and the reaction to this was a reciprocal sentiment from
the GWU claiming MaltaToday hated them.
We may disagree with the union's stand often enough, but
we do not hate anyone, whether it is Mr Tony Zarb, Mr Mario Cutajar
or Mr James Pearsall.
And now to the point.
Mr Zarb may not eat beef but he has definitely made the
GWU appear like a mad cow in its arguments on the European Union.
Sit down with Mr Zarb look him straight in the eyes and
ask him to articulate in very clear words why the workers in general
will lose out with European Union membership.
He will stutter, pause and have to reach out for a drink
(or a hamburger). For there are long-term advantages to EU membership
and he knows it.
What he has done is succumbed to his emotions and trashed
his logic.
His emotions are his invisible links to Dr Sant's European
vision. Or non-vision, shall we say.
This explains, therefore, why his former advisors or collaborators
such as Dr Abela and Mr Spiteri were shown the red card and opted
to leave the GWU; the two gentlemen, one a former Deputy Prime Minister,
the other a former Finance minister
Mr Zarb's decision is not unexpected. Today's union has
transformed itself into a pale shadow of Dr Alfred Sant.
It is sad.
And what we see is a fragile leadership which is unwilling
to confront the facts and take the plunge.
Decline in beef consumption
What are the chances of falling off a ladder and breaking one's
neck? Or of being involved in a car accident or better still, drowning
at sea?
Those statistics, when analysed, erase the data of 100 human
cases that have contracted Mad Cow disease out of a population of
350 million Europeans.
But this fact has not diminished public fear of getting
the deadly disease, which has, in turn, led to a widespread hysteria
around Europe.
And this has led to a significant drop in beef sales in
Malta, which as our sister newspaper The Business Times, reported,
is estimated to be as high as 80%.
This has had a very damaging effect on certain sectors of
the business community.
Which goes to prove how important it is to nip the hysteria
in the bud before it grows into something that is simply out of
proportion.
The Archbishop's words
The Archbishop has scolded the press for interpreting him wrongly.
But with all due respect to the Archbishop, we have to say that
on many occasions his messages are cryptic in substance, to say
the least.
The Church wants to be at the centre of our lives, and many
of us look to it for guidance and direction.
MaltaToday is not a Church publication, and it presents itself as
a liberal newspaper. In our view, most Maltese look to the Archbishop
for divine direction, and he should be respected as the spiritual
leader of the vast majority of Maltese, who are Catholics.
He must come to terms with the fact that the Church cannot
divest itself from the socio-economic and political decisions that
we have to make.
Understandably, it faces some hang-ups because of its ‘wrong'
attitude to the labourites in the early sixties.
But it needs to take some lessons and strength from the
role of other Churches, such as its involvement in the recent move
of the Catholic Church to remove a crook by the name of Estrada.
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