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It seems out of the ordinary to dedicate more than one article in a newspaper to a book. Yet it has been some time since the memoirs of anyone significant and of course relevant have been published in Maltese. Neither do I recall anyone of late who has attempted to take a good look at the last 40 years.
What needs to happen to Lino Spiteri’s autobiography is to get it off the shelves and libraries of news and political junkies like myself, and to throw it at tertiary education and university students. Literally throw it at them. Some of them need to know a thing or two about their roots before they fall into that spiral of self-depreciatory talk about Malta and the Maltese – so typical of today’s youth.
The need for the younger Maltese to debate, to disagree or to question what happened in the last 40 years can only lead to a more open and mature society. To realise that many younger people have little understanding of their recent history is very sad, to say the least.
If there is one institution I often ignore it is university; but then it appears that university is closed in itself. It refuses to engage people out of its circles, whether in the media and political world. Just look at its communication and media department and the people they churn out as graduates.
It may sound cuckoo to the PN’s Michael Falzon, but the hunting question will not go away. It has been festering for far too long and now it is about to implode.
That the nature reserve and the environs around temples have been vandalised is not surprising. It happened before and will happen again. If the Prime Minister has good advisors, he should be told that all heritage monuments are at risk, as are the nature reserves. Perhaps only now will people finally appreciate the kind of responsibility a hunter is allowed when left all alone in the countryside with a loaded shotgun.
What is not being said, however, is that the real protestors in Valletta were trappers: the same trappers who were not told that their pastime would emphatically end after 2008. This was the sole responsibility of the government, but the hunters’ representatives are also to blame. When our sister newspaper ILLUM stated in its first issue last November that there would be no spring trapping, Lino Farrugia ordered a nationwide boycott of the newspaper. Evidently, his concept of news is not to get the truth out. He seems more interested in reading what he and the hunters want to hear: which is basically that they would continue having things their way, even if this is not actually true. It is pathetic really. A little like someone refuting the truth in spite of all the evidence staring him in the face.
And it is not only the hunters who want to bury the truth. The latest revelation is that the government has always been under the impression that there was an agreement with the EU. It reminds me of that classic cartoon with the mischievous cat and the adorable baby canary, which more often than not exclaims: “I thought I saw a pussycat!”
Like Tweety Bird, the government is arguing that it thought it had an agreement. But for the umpteenth time it has to be repeated that the declaration that there would be spring hunting came with a very distinct consideration, the application of Article 9.
The rest is all hogwash.
The fact that from 2004 until this date, the administration rested on its laurels and did nothing to defend that or put in place measures that would make it possible to hold on to the agreement it thought it had, is nobody’s fault but… you know whose.
Meanwhile, that the hunters such as Lino argue that they could have negotiated a better package is complete nonsense. If Lino was a reincarnation of Doris Day I would have given him a sporting chance, but the truth is that Lino and his hunters will never accept the following, simple fact: Europe will never make an exception for its smallest member state. More so when it has already confronted other, larger, more irreverent and more arrogant member states.
Which brings me to France. Now, if Lawrence Gonzi wants to be a defiant politician in the EU, he might want to take a leaf out of Mitterand and Juppe’s book in the 1980s.
The French, like the Maltese, Italians and any other Latins, have also had to live with hunting lobbies and pussycat politicians. Mitterand was no exception. In an act of defiance to the EU in the early 1980s, he sat down in a restaurant and nibbled at the carcass of a songbird the size of a sparrow - the Ortolan - in full view of the invited press. The French hailed his boldness but that did nothing to thwart the EU.
Juppe, the corrupt Bordeaux mayor, did the same but though the press and the people loved him for it, the EU stuck to its guns. As a result, the Ortolan is no longer eaten in France. At least, not by politicians.
Gonzi is neither corrupt nor colourful and I can’t imagine him in his shorts seated on an uncomfortable chair in a dusty room in the countryside, dipping a Maltese loaf in turtledove stew, surrounded by admirers and the press. Evidently, he is more of a Church parvis type of guy.
Last week, French cow farmers and herders were banging, burning and screaming in typical Gallo style because the EU wants them to control the way they allow their animal’s excreta to flow into rivers and lakes (hence the high nitrate levels).
For years the local governments of the regions have procrastinated, wary of taking any steps lest it would cost them votes. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
The EU has now taken France to the Court of Justice. And no one in France downplays the European Court of Justice. No one should… not even the French equivalent of Simon Busuttil.
Needless to add, George Pullicino did at least have the decency of saying that if it got to that stage, he would turn to his colleagues in the cabinet and suggest that spring hunting was gone forever. I wonder if the hunters were listening.
A good friend who knows the PN inside out, told me that Lawrence Gonzi would hold the election as close to the end of his term as possible. Joe Saliba has sort of confirmed that it will be May 2008.
That it had to be Joe Saliba, secretary general of the PN, and not the Prime Minister to let the cat out of the bag makes us all wonder who the real PM is.
Never mind, the point is that my good friend went one step further, and said that at least in this respect, there were parallels with Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici.
“Both men, you see, are people who do not decide. But deciding to hold the election beforehand is deciding, so rather than decide, he will simply postpone it to his last days in office.”
“I see,” I said, not at all surprised, but delighted that at least one other person agrees with my assessment of the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister has written a piece about Europe’s 50th anniversary. I very much doubt whether anyone will read through the article, obviously penned by some script writer with little appreciation of how easy it is to bore your newspaper readers to death.
What the PM needs to get down to writing is his real vision for Malta in Europe. In this respect at least, he has a damn good advantage over his adversary. After all, Sant always reminds me of someone who converted to Confucianism after having described Confucianism as the most dreadful and bestial thing in life.
sbalzan@mediatoday.com.mt |
