The newly- tarmacked roads, the despots flying over, the traffic disruptions, the luxury vehicles being used to transport the foreign dignitaries, the cost of the whole shebang, the relevance of it all – that is what the CHOGM chatter was about this weekend.
And those were precisely the same topics that the Maltese discussed as vehemently 10 years ago, when CHOGM was last held in Malta. I have a very clear recollection of that event and the fact that the last time round it was the Labour Party decrying the necessity of hosting the event and passing digs as to why certain roads were surfaced and others were not.
Back then, the PN government was very positive and upbeat about the benefits of the networking opportunities and possibilities of the forum. Now that the boot is on the other foot and the Labour government is playing host, the Nationalist media are making an all-out effort to pooh-pooh every aspect related to the CHOGM.
After our wholesale adoption of Halloween, a diet of fast food and mega portions, this was the next American import bound for our shores
Admittedly there were protocol bloopers and inevitably those will be highlighted. Also, the dramatic events in Paris have overshadowed a low-key meeting of former colony States. And yes, the Commonwealth countries have no executive powers as such. However, the participating countries do have a shared history, and any opportunity to come together in a spirit of co-operation and dialogue should not be dismissed out of hand. Any forum that promotes such communication and possibilities can only be a positive one.
• I see that Maltese retailers are trying to introduce the awful Black Friday shopping ritual to Malta. I guess after our wholesale adoption of Halloween, a diet of fast food and mega portions, this was the next American import bound for our shores.
Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving in the United States. It has come to be seen as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, with major retailers offering huge discounts and extended opening hours. Over the years it has transmogrified into a shopping frenzy, with shoppers camping overnight to be the first in line when shops open, mad elbowing and stampeding, and even fatalities, with shoppers crushed in the buying orgy.
And now, we’re having our own Black Friday. Every couple of minutes or so my phone pings as yet another establishment texts to inform me that it’s the big day. The upper case wording and the liberal sprinkling of exclamation marks is presumably intended to signal a great event, and to have me rushing madly to the mall to nail whatever is on sale at an amazingly discounted price.
Only those much-touted price reductions amount to a measly 20 per cent discount on ‘selected’ items. Not that much of a draw in a world where less expensive options are a mouse click away online. Despite the less-than-rock-bottom prices, I’m quite sure that people will flock to this Malta’s first Black Friday, embracing it wholeheartedly. In time, it may even replace our national days. After all, hardly anyone has a clue what we’re commemorating on those days anyway.
I find the prospect of yet another s---hopping festival mildly depressing. Granted, ‘ir-rota trid iddur’ (the wheel needs to keep turning) and the economy has to be continuously stoked up, and consumption is the engine of economic growth, and all that.
But still, we’re coming to a point where shopping has become an end in itself – an activity that takes up those hours of the day when we’re not working to make the money to shop with. Proof of this is the way that many retail outlets in America are now starting their Black Friday sales at dawn on the day, and even in the afternoon on Thanksgiving – the equivalent of starting the Boxing Day sales on Christmas Day.
Maybe I’m just put off by the ever-extended shopping season with the bombardment of messages telling us to drop everything and shop, shop, shop for more things that aren’t particularly needed or desired and won’t make one jot of difference to the quality of my life.
Or maybe I see this as a dismal copycat event that will catch on as we forget how to relax, enjoy each other’s company or to do anything other than shop and consume. Retail therapy used to be an occasional pick-me-up after a dreary day, now it’s become almost compulsory. Black Friday indeed.
cl.bon@nextgen.net.mt