Obfuscation of hunting issues (1)
I. M. Beck, faced with what he calls "the veritable blizzard of ideas, facts, opinions, fabrications, obfuscations and statistics that hits us in the face every time we open the paper or click on the portal", comes down on the side of believing...
I. M. Beck, faced with what he calls "the veritable blizzard of ideas, facts, opinions, fabrications, obfuscations and statistics that hits us in the face every time we open the paper or click on the portal", comes down on the side of believing BirdLife Malta (September 26).
It seems that I. M. Beck has not yet learnt his lesson. He has apparently forgotten how his belief in BirdLife made him strut about for the cameras in the spring of 2008 wearing a T-shirt with the words: "Stop illegal spring hunting"! Notwithstanding being a lawyer by profession, I. M. Beck is uncertain of what exactly the European Court of Justice decided on September 10, so we will spell it out for him.
In the first place, the ECJ ruled that autumn hunting is not a satisfactory alternative to spring hunting in terms of the Birds Directive. The Court, therefore, proved the hunters right. This verdict puts to shame the sustained attempt by BirdLife Malta to obfuscate the issue. The least I. M. Beck should have done in this regard was to steer away from the subject as the other cleverer T-shirt wearers did.
In the second place, the ECJ ruled that the Maltese government was wrong in its application of the conditions pertaining to the spring hunting derogation for the years 2004 to 2007. The verdict cast a bad light on the incompetence of the same government championed by I. M. Beck, which promised heaven on earth to the hunters to get their yes vote for EU entry.
The author of the column occupies a high-ranking position in an organisation of the legal profession. Surely he agrees that neither his reputation nor that of the organisation in question is tarnished because of the shady practices of some lawyers.
Everyone knows that a few persons kill protected wild bird species and may act like thugs in the process. But I. M. Beck does not need to behave like a Grand Poobah himself and declare that the good reputation of the hunters' federation and all law-abiding hunters is tarnished thereby. It is only the BirdLife Malta that I.M. Beck believes in that attempts to do so.