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I am posting this unofficial documentary about some things Maltese without comments for now. Feel free to comment below – I intend to add my own commentary later. Thanks to Mark for signalling this documentary. The documentary is signed martinburlund and from what I can gather it is a Danish production that “has not yet been made official”.

Contents of this post will be updated later

Immigration and the European Parliament Elections

 

From the Telegraph

The tiny island of Lampedusa, Italy has witnessed a “jailbreak” of around 700 immigrants from their detention centre. The centre where the immigrants were held is designed to hold 850 immigrants but is currently bursting at the seams with over 2000 residents. The Lampedusa mayor described the event as a “protest” rather than an escape.  These events come hot on the heels of a UN Report on the situation of immigrants on Malta in which the UN said that Malta could do more for the immigrants (and that’s a euphemism):

 

Malta’s detention policy for irregular immigrants was heavily criticised by a United Nations working group that described the conditions at Safi and Lyster barracks as appalling and detrimental to the immigrants’ health. The UN Working Group on Arbitary Detention yesterday presented its preliminary findings after a five-day trip that included visits to the detention centres, Corradino Correctional Facilities and meetings with the government.

Both small Mediterranean islands receive a disproportionate amount of immigrants who end up on their land while on their way to mainland Europe. Both islands are facing a logistical disaster that is a humanitarian crisis in the making. The problem for the governments of Italy and Malta is that the idea of “burden sharing” is a tough one to sell. Outgoing US Ambassador to Malta Molly Bordonaro described an agreement between Malta and the USA for the US to relieve Malta of  a number of immigrants as a resounding success. Small wonder that it was. Few other countries, especially in the EU block are willing to engage in the burden sharing business. Immigrants and immigration is a dirty business and the less hands are sullied the better.

Governments see immigration as a short-term catastrophe. Creating solutions rarely rakes in votes when the solutions mean a better life for the immigrants. It also means less incentive on the part of cynic politicians to try. More and more citizens resent the presence of immigrants on their land. Threats to jobs are mentioned and all it takes is the presence of immigrants at state funded hospitals to light the ever shorter fuse of intolerance. The racism card is waved all too easily at times but the problem goes far beyond simple black or white. 

One would expect that an issue such as illegal immigration and immigration would be a top issue for the elections for the European Parliament. But how far do the powers of the EP go when it comes to EU action on immigration? Is the EP much more than an organised pressure group on the governments? Will it win any tug of war with Council on the issue? Maltese candidates tend to tow the party line on this matter. Sofar neither of the two behemoths that squat the limelight of Maltese politics have produced satisfactory conclusions – whether you see this from the perspective of humanitarian NGOs or of far right loonies proposing to shoot immigrants on sight and turn them back to their shores.

 

On the one hand the topic of illegal immigration might not be that much of a priority when it comes to chosing Malta’ next MEPs (5 in all). On the other hand it does serve to illustrate how unrepresentative the candidates can really be when they are stuck to an incompetent, opportunistic party line that does not seem to go much farther than blaming the elements.

This post also appears on The Malta Chronicle.

Liquorice All Sorts

They come in all colours

Keith Grech has been blogging sometime now on Cacoethes Scribendi. In his first reaction to the PL announcement of the list of candidates for the elections for the European Parliament Keith describes the list as “impressive“.  He goes one step further by stating that Labour has ” has managed to achieve the right mix of talent and experiences” in this motley crew.

Of course “motley crew” is my addendum – don’t expect Keith to come up with such kind of colourful phrases about the choice of his party for the next chicken run erm sorry election. Keith is my laboratory rat in this particular post but what I say for Keith’s generous assessment could apply for the assessment by a commentator on the other side of Malta’s duo-chromatic political spectrum.

They have a way with shooting words and ideas you see, and if you do not stop and think you tend to just let the information knock you senseless before you can even think of exercising your mental abilities to assess the candidates. What exactly is “the right mix of talent and experiences”? Is that an inclusive definition? As in right because it includes all that is necessary to appease a hungry voting public? But what would that mean? If every candidate has one or two traits that contribute to the whole then surely the public could find itself short-changed even if a maximum of five find their way to Brussels or Strasbourg.

It’s easy to say “right mix” but then what is the right mix? Is it an exclusive justification? Exclusive as in a good mix because it leaves out unpleasant unwanteds like lets say pro-choice individuals, homosexuals, transvestites or pornstars? What is the right mix Keith? Or maybe I should be asking the reader? What is the right mix?

Perhaps we are being too harsh. After all there is only so much the umbrella parties of ours can do to hit every electoral segment under the sun. The mother of five, the nurse, the doctor, the deejay and the party lackey. Hell the Labourites even have “the one who made way for Inhobbkom Joseph” in their midst. Some will come along and tell you that they have “vast experience of the EU institutions” as PN’s RMTT did last time round in 2004 (presumably those nights studying Craig and De Burca must have contributed to this “vast experience”).  Others might tell you that they only campaigned against EU membership for the good of the country and are now on the Labour ticket because … erm because what?

Arnold of AD will be having a hard time explaining why his electorate keeps shifting (that’s a polite way of explaining why he swings from country to country in the hope of getting elected somewhere).  Maybe that’s a European quality the others miss after all.

It’s an honest question really. What qualities will the Maltese be looking for in the next MEP candidates? Will the nihil obstat from party luminaries suffice? Will the bluff and banter of the party campaign machines be loud enough to blur the choice between next comet and lackey buffoon? Who knows… in the meantime we just have to make do with the mix…

… haven’t we always?

This post also appears in The Malta Chronicle

That Governmental Schizophrenia

or god of two-faced cock-ups

When a party has been in government for two long it runs the risk of developing a multiple personality or schizophrenia. None of the two conditions are ideal for the general well being of the party.

Whether it is suffering hallucinations of being “holier than the pope” or “more liberal than a brothelkeeper in Soho” the Nationalist party’s multiple facet often boils down to trying to please all of the people all of the time.  I do recall an old hand at the PN works in my time who listed Bob Marley as one of his firm favourites. Sadly the person in question passed away so I am not sure whether there is anyone left in Pietà who can sing: “You can fool some of the people some of the time but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time”.

Unless of course the “you” in question has sufficient masks to make us believe that  “you” and “you” are not the same person. Take Mater Dei for instance. It was inaugurated in all pomp and circumstance last year (that’s less than 12 months ago) by the Nationalist Party in Government (N-PiG for short). A few months down the line Social Policy Minister brought back from the dead in one of those N-PiG transformation moments is announcing “a revolution” at Mater Dei. The N-PiG will tackle the problem of long waiting lists for operations.

It takes a big big party to be able to be the problem and solution in one. It takes a huge huge party to not notice it. In a way it’s a bit like the fat fat man who cannot see his own private parts whenever he goes to take a leak – most times he might end up making a mess.

Then there is the Edward Demicoli (MEP hopeful) business. Sure the hunters are generally pains in the arse and sure, J’accuse cannot wait to see their sport banned because like bull-fighting and fox-hunting it is as anachronistic as someone riding a penny-farthing. Sure all of that and more. Yet they are not the only ones in this business to fall short of making sense to the reasonable voter.

The pre-EU referendum descriptions given by MIC in order to please the hunting community are documented. There might have been a legitimate expectation that the EU might give in to the whole Spring Hunting thingy but then again any mind worth its salt might have foreseen the difficulty of gettng away with it – you just had to read the law innit? Let’s just say that a more cautious explation would have been more appropriate.

So what happened? I do not blame Ed Demicoli who is quite a hard-working individual. An employee of MIC he was and there is no doubt at whose bidding he was working. The plan was one – please everybody now… talk later. A bit like putting your weight behind a tearful JPO … at least until the elections. It all boils down to one thing I’m afraid.. you cannot trust anything the Nationalists promise you before an election. Their credibility is fast whithering away with the JPOs, the false assessments on electoral weights and voting, and environmental promises in public while promising away pieces of seashore to the biggest lobby group….

We might have been out on a news-commenting slowdown… but we have noticed this and more. Remember… you can fool some of the people some of the time…. but j’accuse ain’t some of the people is he?