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James Debono
The year 2005 has been eventful on a global level for respondents to the MaltaToday end-of-year survey, who listed just three events in the year worth remembering – namely, the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, the simultaneous visit by Queen Elizabeth, and the tragic accident which cost the life of five youngsters from Qrendi.
Nothing dished out by politicians this year, was of any apparent worth.
And with tragedies topping the list of reasons to remember 2005, the main reason is singularly the death of one man.
Nine months since passing away, the memory of Pope John Paul II is still cherished by many in Europe’s last bastion of Catholic traditionalism. The death of a historical icon who outlived communism by a decade, only to find himself estranged from a triumphant liberalism, is considered to have been the most important event of 2005 by 31.2 per cent of respondents in the MaltaToday survey. Significantly, the death of the charismatic John Paul II is still deemed to be more remarkable than the election of his successor, the austere Benedict XVI, nicknamed God’s Rotweiler for his role in repressing dissidents in the Catholic Church.
Just four per cent considered Ratzinger’s election as Pope the most important event of the year.
Karol Woytla’s death is only rivalled in the collective memory by a list of natural calamities which left millions dead. In fact 38.6 per cent of respondents mentioned the south Asian Tsunami, hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters as the most remarkable events of the year.
On 26 December 2004, the world was struck by one of the worst tragedies in recent times when a tsunami wave took away some half a million lives across the coasts of Sri Lanka and India, exposing the lack of an international warning system which could have saved many lives.
It also prompted one of the greatest relief projects in world history, which heralds the globalisation of solidarity. Although the actual tsunami took place on 26 December 2004, the relief efforts took place during the first weeks of 2005, prompting 23.1 per cent of respondents to mention the tsunami as the most remarkable event of 2005.
The Red Cross and l-iStrina collected a record Lm600,000 from Malta during the first days of the new year.
Concerns on global warming have blurred the traditional distinction between acts of God and man made disasters, with a significant part of scientific opinion blaming climatic disaster on unsustainable environmental policies. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita could be signs of things to come as the impact of global warming becomes even more real. The US hurricanes were seen as the most remarkable event in 2005 by 10 per cent of respondents. Ironically these two hurricanes have struck the only major world power which still refuses to adhere to the Kyoto protocol aimed at limiting the emission of greenhouse gases.
Critics have viewed climatic disasters as a man-made consequence of Bush’s defence of big oil. Other critics have viewed global terror a consequence of the occupation of oil rich Iraq, which has entered its third year.
Terrorist attacks in London, Cairo, Amman and Sharm el Shiek and daily suicide bombs in Iraq itself have served as a reminder that the US war in Iraq has failed in its ultimate mission – that of eliminating terrorism. The world is clearly less secure than it was ever before Bush embarked on the illegal invasion of Iraq.
Despite the restriction of liberties in the west and the loss of thousands of innocent lives in Iraq, terrorism can still strike at the heart of European and Middle Eastern capitals. For 13.1 per cent of respondents, terrorism was the most newsworthy event of the year.
Despite Bush’s declaration on May 2003 that the war in Iraq was over more than two years ago, 8 per cent still consider the war in Iraq as the most remarkable event of the year. Daily attacks on US soldiers as well as Iraqi civilians serve as a constant reminder that Iraq is still a battleground.
Yet the scenes of jubilant Iraqis defying terrorists to exercise their right to cast their vote, was the only encouraging sign coming from this country in 2005.
Surprisingly none of the respondents have mentioned the situation in Isreal or Palestine as newsworthy. Although peace is still far away in the Holy Land, 2005 has seen the conversion of Sharon from the hawkish defender of Jewish settlers into the statesman who defied his own party, by ordering the eviction of hard-line settlers from Gaza. The jubilation of Palestinians seeing the Gaza beaches for the first time in their life and the anguish of Jewish settlers resisting eviction by fellow Israelis were deemed less spectacular than hurricanes and bombs.
Other global events, which escaped the Maltese psyche, include the rejection of the European Union constitution in France, Bob Geldolf’s efforts to put Africa on the agenda of the G8 and growing concern on a radicalised Iran which has elected a President who denies that the holocaust took place.
In a society obsessed with security threats, birds have also gained notoriety as agents of disease. The bird flu virus has so far killed dozens of people in South East Asia. But so far the virus can be transmitted from birds to birds and in some rare cases from birds to humans. But the virus could mutate into a new variety, which transmits itself from human to human. In that event the world faces a global killer which could take the lives of millions. Despite the global panic on this issue, only 2.5 of respondents consider the avian flu as the main event in 2005.
In the face of all these global calamities, the daily routine in a small island state fades in to insignificance. The daily routine of Maltese politics was considered as not worth remembering by the Maltese respondents. None of the respondents mentioned the incredible retreat of the PN from local elections in Zejtun and Marsa, or the triumph of the militants in the General Workers Union.
Surprisingly, the politically inconsequential CHOGM and the Queen’s visit were deemed more important, exposing a yearning for spectacle which offers a distraction from daily monotony. Only a month before the meeting 66 per cent of respondents did not know what the chunky acronym CHOGM stood for.
Yet a few days after the summit was held, 76.4 of respondents considered CHOGM the main event of the year.
The media hype and self-promotion by the organisers, the close proximity of the event to the survey and the serious lack of other alternatives in a barren year, could explain why so many respondents chose this inconsequential event as the most important one in 2005.
For 12.4 per cent the Queen’s visit was the most important event in the country in 2005. Nostalgia for royalty, a short-term memory or a lack of alternatives could be blamed for this resurgence of neo-colonialist wistfulness.
Another media spectacle was offered by the tragic death of five young people from the village of Qrendi in a tragic traffic accident in Zebbug road. Journalists, cameramen and politicians converged in this small village in their bid to get another side of this “humane story”. Unsurprisingly, this tragedy was considered as the year’s most remarkable event by 4.4 per cent of respondents.
In this act of collective amnesia, a number of newsworthy events happening in Malta in 2005 were not even mentioned. The beating of migrants at Safi by members of the army in January was completely forgotten.
But who could blame the Maltese for forgetting? The much-awaited inquiry into the Safi beatings took a full year to complete – and when it finally emerged last week the Maltese had already forgotten.
jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt
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