Let the children be used as political props

Try as I might, I can't get too worked up about whether 16-year-olds should be given the right to vote or not. It's an interesting proposal and should be studied further but I guess there won't be many modern day suffragettes going on hunger-strikes or stepping out in front of horses to have their day in the polling booth brought forward by a couple of years.

However, I am astonished by the hypocrisy of some of the commentators railing against the idea. Finding it hard to argue that teenagers should be banned from voting on grounds of immaturity or being uninformed (where would that leave those thousands of madly partisan adult voters?) they've now come up with another reason for their opposition. This goes something on the lines of: "Teenagers should not be allowed to vote because this would mean that their otherwise politics and care-free existence would be blighted by the premature intrusion of politics (usually their parents') into their lives". That would amount to political indoctrination of young minds, and terribly wrong. So we should discard the idea and give Joseph Muscat a firm smack on the wrist for taking it up?

However, this just won't wash with rational observers of the political scene. The political indoctrination of the very young has been taking place for some time now - and no, I'm not talking only about Labour's Brigata. There are myriad ways in which children have been exposed to party politics or exploited by political parties - and we have never heard a peep from those who are now so furiously opposing lowering the voting age.

In the majority of cases children's exposure to politics hasn't been a gentle introduction to the way the country is governed. It's more of a full-scale immersion in the ways of tribalism, and the fostering of an "us-and-them" attitude, which will be difficult to shake off in later years - be it at 16 or 18. Babes-in-arms are taken to mass meetings (during the last election campaign, a photo of an infant swaddled in the Nationalist flag makes it to the front page of the papers) and an adorable group of under-fives made an attractive billboard for the PN.

Teenagers were noisy and enthusiastic crowd-fillers at political activities and provided a bright backdrop for several of Lawrence Gonzi's speeches. There weren't any signs of shocked protest at the time. No one seemed to mind the fact that those under-18s were living and breathing politics all throughout the election campaign.

Not a word was spoken about it being preferable for teenagers to be concentrating on their studies and generally having a good time. It's only now that Muscat has embarked on this kite-flying exercise, that the perennial naysayers start getting qualms of conscience. I can't help wondering why they weren't squealing away as indignantly when children and teenagers were being used as props in political campaigns.

Some months ago, a Eurobarometer survey came up with dismal findings about the reading habits of the Maltese. The survey was carried out between February and March 2007 and showed that 54 per cent of Maltese respondents had not read a book in the preceding 12 months. That's a whole year of going through life without reading even the lightest, undemanding chick-lit novel or football player biography.

The figures look even worse when compared with those in other countries. Across the EU, only 28 per cent of the population hadn't read a book in the year before. A whopping 75 per cent of Maltese people didn't visit the public library during the survey period. There was a silver lining of sorts, in that people were spending more on newspapers and magazines than they had in the previous year, but I wonder if this was due to the price increase of these items. Also, what's to say that the magazines being bought are not mostly Nuts and Heat and publications which give us up to the minute updates about the state of Reese Witherspoon's cellulite but not much else?

I can't help thinking that there's a link between the statistics about reading habits and the parochial outlook and small-mindedness of many Maltese. It might also go some way towards explaining the superficial and uninformed way in which much public discussion takes place with the airing of clichés but no injection of new ideas or arguments that we haven't heard before. There's scant reference to developments which take place outside our shores and little appreciation of the experiences and works of people who live beyond them.

If things don't change in this regard, we'll continue living in our national bubble, thinking that all that matters happens on the few square miles that constitutes Maltese territory, and that who Muscat chooses as Labour CEO is more important than who the next American President is to be. Now - that's a depressing prospect. Prevent it happening - grab a book with your copy of Nuts or Heat.

cl.bon@nextgen.net.mt