I wrote this column late in the evening of last Thursday. I had been planning to write a piece about Adrian Buckle’s announcement, reported on this newspaper on the same day, that he was hoping to stage Anthony Nielson’s Stitching by early next year after the passing of the Bill amending censorship laws. A press release by the European Respiratory Society prompted me to postpone the Stitching piece to next time. Stakeholders may say: “See, they don’t care about the censorship issue.” They do care. Watch this space.
Thinking Nationalists will be thinking that it may be time for some gardening- Mario Vella
ERS is an NGO with headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, and an EU Affairs Department on the eighth floor of 49-51 Rue de Tréves in Brussels. The ERS is a respected, worldwide network of about 10,000 respiratory professionals in around 100 countries involved in both basic science and clinical medicine, interested in preventing, managing and treating respiratory diseases and generally improving patient care. You can read more about it on their informative, no-nonsense website (www.ersnet.org).
On October 18, the ERS announced that, the previous night, its Brussels office was broken into and “confidential data relating to the revision of the EU Tobacco Products Directive and other issues” were stolen.
Check out the press statement (www.ersnet.org/news/item/4586-european-respiratory-society-statement-18th-october-2012.html), it makes interesting reading.
The ERS premises are apparently the only ones on the eighth floor equipped with outdoor alarm sensors on the balcony. “As a professional medical society, we take precaution to protect our data and premises”, the ERS makes it a point to say. The outdoor sensors were destroyed and the intruders appear to have evaded the indoor ones. They can’t have been amateurs.
Not only that but, one suspects, they also had a strategy. This emerges from the diversionary tactics. ERS notes that: “While the office initially seemed carelessly ransacked, our security report shows that the break-in was in fact very methodical and calculated.”
Burglars that not only target one particular apartment in a multi-storey block looking for something in particular but give the impression that they were not looking for anything specific except, presumably, valuables?
ERS spell it out for us: “ERS is an evidence-based organisation and we do not subscribe to conspiracy theories. However, in light of the evidence we feel we have legitimate reason to suspect theintrusion was well-planned, researched and targeted.”
Conspiracy theories – convoluted explanations involving plots masterminded by powerful hidden forces – are, of course, part of everyday life in a media-saturated world of spin and counter-spin. Which is not to say that we live in a world where what you see is what you get. On the contrary.
This was not the only statement issued by ERS last Thursday. In another press release (www.ersnet.org/news/item/4585-resignation-of-commissioner-dalli-jeopardises-europes-citizens-health.html), the NGO noted the resignation of Commissioner John Dalli on October 16, which decision, “according to the European Commission”, was reached following the findings of OLAF, the EU’s anti-fraud office.
The NGO also noted Dalli’s categorical rejection of the said findings. The final sentence summarises its ultimate concern: “These unfortunate events have delayed and jeopardised the long overdue revision of EU legislation on tobacco products aimed at protecting citizens from the serious health effects of tobacco use.” Our most immediate concern is admittedly less universal. We are concerned about the effects of these “unfortunate circumstances” on our own country, Malta.
On its image in Europe and the world, on the impact on our electorate and, perhaps more importantly, on our own collective sense of self-esteem or amour-propre in the sense of La Rochefoucauld.
Those even less gently cynical than the author of the Réflexions Ou Sentences Et Maximes Morales will remind me that with elections round the corner we should be more urgently concerned with the local political repercussions of the affair.
Well, it has certainly caused confusion among ordinary Nationalist Party supporters. Many of the more active ones interpret it as proof that Lawrence Gonzi was the best man after all. In fact, the dafter among canvassers, Dar Ċentrali officials, district rank-and-file militants and local councillors are known to have practically rejoiced.
Non-militant but loyal supporters, for whom the rift between Dalli and the PN is an open wound, are hurt and do not know what to believe…
Thinking Nationalists are more worried about the role of the “Maltese entrepreneur”. Silvio Zammit has been described as “a businessman with fingers in many pies” (www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20121019/local/Dalligate-for-Dummies.441699).
He is also the circus promoter who took to court two young animal rights activists because, he told the court, “they had called him a clown, using the phrase ‘Silvio pulċinell’, which was also carried on placards during a protest in 2010” (www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120312/opinion/Pulcinella-s-wooden-spoon.410726).
A deputy mayor on the Sliema council who resigned after his name came to the surface and a well known Nationalist activist who canvassed for a number of candidates including Dalli, Zammit is not a marginal character in the PN.
He belongs to the very social and cultural ‘soil’ in which the PN has deep roots.
Thinking Nationalists will be thinking that it may be time for some gardening.
To stick to gardening terms, in a comment to The Times report on Buckle’s Stitching plans (www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20121018/local/-Stitching-may-be-staged-soon-.441538), a PN veteran wrote: “I very much regret that it had to be the PN to sow so many winds. U min jiżra’ r-riħ, jaħsad ir-riefnu. Jiddispjaċini” (If you sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind).
The author blogs at http://watersbroken.wordpress.com .