Eating "cloudlets"

Some weeks ago, a friend of mine told me about a West African legend, passed by word of mouth from one generation to the next in that splendid but unfortunate continent.

The legend, very shortly, speaks about a far-gone world where the inhabitants could touch the sky with their bare hands, snatch a piece of cloud and eat it whenever they got hungry.

Reading through Keith Psaila's article about the European Union in the Crossroads supplement (The Sunday Times, December 8) I could not help recalling this African legend.

Mr Psaila, who is president of National Youth Council, tried to tell us, rather unconvincingly, that this utopian world still exists and is still present for us believers. However, contrary to what the ancient legend tells us, this heavenly place is not found in Africa, but a few miles north, in the splendid area called the European Union.

Had Mr Psaila written more realistically about the EU by highlighting the advantages of full membership as he sees them, I would probably have read his article with interest. But as a youth who believes in a better tomorrow, I could not really tolerate the fundamentalist spirit in which Mr Psaila tried to contribute his tuppence's worth in the debate on the EU.

Worse still, Mr Psaila, by placing all youths in the same basket, tried to give the absolutely false impression that all youths are as foolishly enthusiastic about EU as much as he is. There are certainly youths who favour the EU and others who do not, but I sincerely hope that the number of fundamentalists is low on either side.

The president of NYC described the EU as a dream built on noble aims and which speaks of perfect principles. Ironically, Mr Psaila published his blind credo only some weeks after Florence hosted a massive demonstration by hundreds of thousands of youths who do not like the Europe they live in and want to change it.

The one million youths protested against those "perfect principles" which Mr Psaila is so eager to uphold. They voiced their concern on the direction Europe is taking, and to protest against the neo-liberal philosophy that has hijacked all the thoughts and ideas within our continent.

They protested against the market ideology which has seen no boundaries and restrictions. They voiced concern about institutions such as the European Union, the World Trade Organisation and the International Monetary Fund which base their existence on supreme market prowess and neo-liberal mastery.

I wonder whether my fellow youths are happy to live at a time where EU-driven market mechanisms are allowed to direct the fate of human beings and where the economy is allowed to dictate its rules to society, not the other way round.

Take Fiat's Sicily factory case. Can Mr Psaila in principle agree with the EU in saying that maintaining fair competition (and thus withholding state intervention in dire times) is more important than the jobs of thousands of employees? Is this what you call a perfect principle?

Mr Psaila referred indirectly to the four freedoms "enjoyed" by EU citizens ("We want to be treated in the same way and subjected to the same conditions as nationals of the host state," he wrote). Does he really believe that these freedoms were implemented to give more rights to workers?

On the contrary, these four freedoms are in reality a very convenient tool to be used by strong entrepreneurs to increase and facilitate intra-community profit. It is useless to have free circulating capital without having the other factors of production equally free to circulate within the given area.

The results of the application of those "perfect principles" can be easily seen by reading about the mass unemployment in the EU and the mushrooming of multinationals and thus the application of adverse conditions of work.

The NYC president, blinded by political partisanship, also chose to dismiss the partnership option as something "impossible". He has every right to dismiss the partnership option as less favourable than full membership, but certainly it does not do honour to his position as NYC president to brand the Opposition's alternative as an impossibility.

He certainly knows about the various types of partnership which different countries or group of countries have struck with the EU, according to their own circumstances.

To add insult to injury, Mr Psaila appealed to the Maltese to think broad-mindedly and said that the debate on whether Malta should join or stay out of the EU is just a result of political malice!

Mr Psaila also chose to state categorically that the youths in Malta are in favour of EU membership. I sincerely advise him to speak to:

* self-employed youths who know that upon membership they will be open to unrestrained competition from foreigners,

* youths working in state-funded or state-guaranteed enterprises who know that state funding - even at reasonable levels - is unacceptable under EU rules;

* those who earn a living from food production who know about the adverse effects of liberalisation in their sector;

* those who are seeking to buy their first residence, knowing that upon membership, foreigners will be entitled to buy more property than what they are allowed under present legislation according to the nature of their residential status;

* unskilled youngsters who are seeking more job opportunities within our country rather than outside it;

* youths who believe in neutrality and are against the proliferation of all sorts of mutual "defence" organisations which, ultimately, increase tension and thus erode world peace;

* leftist youths who dream about a Europe based on socialism and not free market extremism and capitalistic ideology.

Mr Psaila wound up his fundamentalist credo by telling us youths who believe in a better and alternative Europe to "never dare think the contrary" and prayed to God to help "us make our dream (of membership) come true."

Independently of one's opinion on Malta's membership bid and the partnership option, I appeal to fellow youths to debate the issue in a spirit of tolerance and open-mindedness.

Dreaming about eating cloudlets is certainly not a good theory.