Friday, 14th November 2008
AN INTERESTING CONUNDRUM
I see that the story about the nomination of a replacement in Strasbourg for the Man of the Year has been reactivated.
Just for the sake of clarity, it is not the nomination of a replacement for Judge Bonello in his role as Man of the Year that is being mooted. In this role, the mere passage of time will provide us with a new Man of the Year and there won’t even have to be a woman in the short-list, either.
Forgiving me my detour, might I ask, at this point, for comments about whether, in fact, a list of nominees for Man of the Year is legal if it does not contain the name of a woman?
I ask only because the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe seems to have the notion that a token woman forms part of any list very close to its heart.
Returning, after that flight of mild whimsy, to the main story, it seems that the Government is about to have to revisit its argument with the Assembly on whether, in order to be valid, a list of nominees to the European Court of Human Rights has to contain the name of at least one woman.
This issue, yet another facet of positive discrimination, has trundled on for many years, the only positive aspect of it being that Judge Bonello remains in office, continuing to bring honour on himself and – lucky us – on us by association.
Let me be quite clear, lest the many people I know who are involved, by the fact that they are nominees and men or aspirants and women, that my thoughts are not to be taken as any judgment on their capabilities, attributes, merits, demerits, intelligence or sheer brilliance.
I’m not stupid.
However, I really would like to blow my nose, in the manner of Monty Python, on this insidious tenet of “positive discrimination”, also known as “token niggerism”.
The proponents of this way of going about things justify their manipulative social engineering by saying that whichever minority they are sticking up for needs to be given a fillip. They ignore, sadly, the fact that the mere fact that they are taking this attitude is patronising and insulting.
How is a woman (or gay or black or handicapped person) who is placed on such a list supposed to feel when s/he knows that s/he’s only there because some bunch of nabobs decided that orders of merit are only worth so much when striving to choose the best.
Reducing the argument to absurdity, as if it wasn’t absurd enough, one wonders why, for instance, in establishing who can be a brain surgeon, it isn’t mandated from the very top of the Babylonian Tower that blind, quadriplegic and intellectually challenged individuals have the right to be made into brain surgeons.
After all, on the evidence of the extent to which these rule-makers believe that qualification and ability are relevant, brain surgery is about as difficult as making salad, a notion backed up by Messrs Emerson, Lake and Palmer in their seminal work some thirty years ago or more.
Moving further along the path of the positivists’ argument, is it not obvious that once a woman (in this case, it could be anyone in another context) has been list in order to “legitimise” the list, she starts out as hot favourite to get the nod? If not, including her in the first place would have been an exercise in futility, a ticking of a box that is evidence not of respect for the idea of equality but of the practicality of satisfying the whims of the bureaucrats (thank God for spell-check)
And what if the woman concerned were to be appointed, would she, being an honest and self-aware person, not have this nagging doubt that everyone knows – or is morally convinced – that she was there because of an accident of genetics and not because she is the best candidate?
The arrogance of the positivists knows no bounds. They are telling the Maltese Government, in this particular context, that they know better, that it is not possible that there is no single woman who can’t find a place in the list of nominees. That’s as may be, because as I said, I’m not about to put my neck on the block and say that all the many highly professional women of my acquaintance are not duly qualified, but where, pray, do the positivists get off, sticking their proboscis (I’m not sure that’s correctly rendered, but the little red line didn’t appear, so it must be, and I’m using Real English as the default language) into the deliberations of a sovereign state?
Just for the record, incidentally, I know that the word “positivists” does not properly describe these slavish adherents to the doctrine of positive discrimination, but I couldn’t think of a brief descriptor.
You might want to comment and provide one. The closest I could come up with, as a short(ish) title was “blinkered twerps”, but it doesn’t quite fit, I think.
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Comments
My apology for unwittingly being a smart Alec and forestalling you in providing factual evidence that the practice of using police premises for party political propaganda was initiated inside its General Headquarters itself by MLP stalwarts and so outrageously that it upset the Commissioner of Police himself, Alfred Bencini, so much that it eventually led to his premature retirement! Once that rot was introduced and practiced for many years it was not posible to eradicate it within a period of a few months.
"Efa was FOUND GUILTY at least TWICE (if my memory is correct) of breaking the HIGHEST law of the land? "
May I ask you, when (exact dates please) EFA was found guilty of breaking a law and which law? The dates are especially important.
I believe that he was found guilty of libel sometime during the 20 year stretch of a Nationalist administration. Can you imagine if a Nationalist tried to sue the Commissioner of Police or Mintoff himself between 1971 and 1987? What would Mintoff have done? Dismantle the courts as he did with the Constitutional Court when it suited him?
But then 99.9% of your ilk regard the court as 'a den of Vipers/mafia' whatever that means in your mind.
Where id the 'thuggery all around us' as you stated. Are there any beatings for the expression of one's views? I admit, there is censorship, mostly in Labour and Union papers. Try writing a damning article about MLP policies. Try pushing credible candidate for any leadership/administrative position within the MLP! Ask George Abela.
However often you try to rewrite history, you will never succeed because history we talk about is recorded, undeniable an witnessed.
As to our different worlds, you had only stated the obvious and that fact don’t make me sad. History-wise I said my piece now instead of you trying to be Smart-alecky you need to dispute them tangibly if you can
First of all profound apologies to Peter for mis-spelling Prictoe.
During the time of De Gray it was absolutely unthinkable for any open demonstration of political party affiliation to take place on police premises. The rot set in immediately after his retirement during the time of Police Commissioner Alfred Bencini and it took place very noisily at the Police General Headquarters itself, inside the Other Ranks Mess, and it was so loud that it could be heard as far away as the Mall. To his credit Effie Bencini did his best to stamp out the abusive loud singing of MLP songs sending his adjutant to stop the nonsense. This incident precipitated his premature retirement. And to those who are not acquainted with the facts Effie Bencini was no NP supporter.
As you can see, Maltese history from the 50's till today really depends on what propaganda machine fed you at the relevant era.
Fortunately , we also have our own personal experience which clearly tells us when someone is taking that propaganda of the day WAY beyond reason and into the mythical.
And this is done by those who of course know better!
What a pity that rather than using common sense, learned gentlemen resort to garbage and instisting that it is the ONLY and the SACRED truth.
It is obvious that these 'gentlemen' do not in reality with to leave this behind them. They dwell only in their particular region and era of history rather than using the WHOLE period in question and not accepting the fact that others have a totally different history.
They prefer to stick to their corner and fight ridiculously to persuade others that this is the ONLY truth.
Perhaps this si comforting for them soas not to face, discuss or prehaps expose TODAY's problems and even help justify what is happening today?
hmmmm...
And they think that everyone is an idiot!
I was investigating this question of divide and rule in Malta and googled that subject to find a history programme set up by one Jesmond Grech for a girls’ Junior Lyceum in 2005. It was in PDF format that gives me trouble with my fading eyesight but I ploughed through the subject of constitutional development in Malta of the nineteenth century
to find listed as Governor one Lieutenant-General More O’Ferrall 1847-1851.
Now O’Ferrall was not only not a Lt-General he was not even in the Army and is in fact notable as the first civilian Governor of Malta and a Catholic to boot - the subject of much controversy into which I will not enter at this point. I say once again that a good history of modern Malta is sorely needed.
You Gentle Readers will all be aware of the history of your islands but what about those poor schoolgirls?
By the way, probably even the former Police Commissioner took out the PN hanky during that burdell.
@ Franco Farrugia.
1987 after winning the election the PN disbanded the notorious Special Mobile Unit (SMU) and set up a new unit, the famous Special Assignment Group (SAG). The former head of SMU, a police Inspector who was named in despatches after the PN Mass Meeting at Rabat, was promoted to the rank of Superintendent and was made head of the SAG. Other police officers, former members of SMU and previously accused in the media for their active participation in police brutality, were also taken up in the new SAG.
At an SAG staff party during Christmas of 87 the atmosphere got a bit turbulent due to the excessive use of alcohol and the hot heads stood up to be counted, PN flags came out of our noble police officers pockets, they got up on tables waving the flags and chanting Nationalist slogans. If you find this hard to believe you may ask the Minister who was also at the party and enjoying the ‘Burdel’ .He then got promoted to become our President.
If you still find this hard to believe, see if you could get your hands on the video secretly taken by one of the officers.
misspelling of De Gray's name was just a come on ploy to Dr Saliba
who has always misspelt my own name. I am of the ilk of Prictoe though
my grandfather's birth certificate says Pricktoe. There is an explanation
of this somewhat risible moniker but maybe some other time.
De Gray was taken to Malta as a child a couple of years before
the same happened to me back in the twenties. Oddly enough we
share the same parental town of Gosport and I was in Malta some
years back in the early nineties when his body was discovered
in his Floriana flat..His funeral was on a rainy windswept day
to remind us of his native land.
Mention was made in the heated discussion of history books
and I will comment on that subject in another posting.
Once again I thank gentle readers for avoiding Brit-bashing.
You are a pleasant group and it is an honour to be among you.
The true, ascertainable, undeniable historical facts:
For the Independence Celebrations there were heads of state, prime ministers and numerous other high dignitaries. The police force was overstretched giving them routine protection from the openly threatened MLP violence that could have caused an international incident. One such proven incident did in fact occur when the Italian flag was actually torn away from an official car by an MLP demonstrator. The temporary, localised ad hoc banning of demonstrations was essential and sanctioned by law.
For the Tal-Barrani Zejtun incident the partisan refusal of a police permit to hold a political meeting was overruled by a court decision. It was the duty of the police to enforce that judgement and, notwithstanding MLP claims to the contrary,enforceable had there been the will to do so. Instead, select members of a corrupted police force actively colluded with notorious MLP mobsters to break the law.
There is no comparison between these two incidents.
-When I declared that 'even though most of the culprits then were known Nationalist supporters,' I was too rushed in my statement I apologise, I should have said , 'even though many of the culprits then were known Nationalist supporters and\or ‘viva chi regna’
I don’t mind if you come back telling us that you don’t agree but please don’t try to make it look as if I, in any way, shape or form can find it in me to justify any form of physical or mental violence irrespective of who the culprits are. As, if you do that, you would be the one insulting other people’s intelligence not I.
- that the state shows GREAT force with a few restaurants with extra tables trying to make ends meet, or with a few guys trying to enjoy a sunday afternoon in an otherwise derelict building (you call them squatters, SIC!) but then we know how CONTRACTORS & PN BENEFACTORS doing much WORSE than all of these summed up together. Yet these are the darlings of the PN!
- that 99% of us think the law courts not of a place of justice but more a den of Vipers/mafia.
- Mepa? Protecting our property/island?? PLEASE
- Arrogant ministers? (holding our PM at ransom?)
- etc etc
Il-Bocca implies that people are/wereThugs.
You're STILL not standing up to be counted properly are you, Il-Bocca? . Would you kindly NAME the thug you are implying to be one and quote CLEARLY instances of HIS thuggery (not of other's thuggery which you try to annont by proxy)?
Thuggery is ALL around us.
NOW
Not 40 years ago, so stop trying to DENY the TRUTH of matters by painting another era as blacker than today...
If ever democracy was threatened, it's now... when the govt rides rough shod over us all.
The way, JM, FS il-Bocca & merry gang try to:
1) rewrite history to suit their own interpretation
2) divert from today's issues by quoting (very badly and wrongly) only part of yesterday's history
3) try to convince us of how bad things were then and (even worse), by default...
4) how great things are now..
utterly hilarious/sad..if it wasn't so sickening and downright deceitful.
- Do you DENY, that even your Efa was FOUND GUILTY at least TWICE (if my memory is correct) of breaking the HIGHEST law of the land?
- that people are STILL coming out of police custody badly beaten up? There is ONE case this year which is still shrouded in HUGE mystery ...
- that people are STILL suffering polical violence. Not of a physical one but (worse) of a psychological one.
- Today's greatest violence is in that the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer?
Quote.”During the 1964 Independence celebrations Mintoff was prevented from holding a hostile demonstration in the Valletta-Floriana area because such demonstrations had been declared illegal due to the extended commitments of the Police Force due to the presence of numerous foreign dignitaries” Unquote. Justified?
The end justifying the means but only when it suites us.
Fact no. One. In 1958 Sir Robert Laycock had banned all political mass activities in Valletta and Floriana. In 1959 Sir Guy Grantham endorsed it. After 1962 Sir Maurice Dorman lifted the ban. September 1964 George Borg-Olivier found it convenient to impose it during the Independence Celebrations but only against the MLP.
Who determined that the Labour demonstration was going to be hostile? And what’s wrong with hostile demonstrations, aren’t most demonstrations hostile?
Fact no. Two. Prior to the 1987 Election the police refused permission to the PN to organise a mass meeting in Zejtun under the excuse of ‘hostility’ due to the presence of numerous Labour supporters in Zejtun.
Who determined that the PN Mass activity was going to be hostile? And what’s wrong with hostile demonstrations, aren’t most demonstrations hostile?
Hope we’re not saying that One was justified and Two weren’t or vice versa.
When I was Police Medical Officer I was called to the Police General Headquarters by frightened police officers justly scared that two very young drunken British servicemen would die on their hands before they could be removed by the military police. They were barely conscious and vomiting blood all over the office floor. They had not been beaten by the police themselves and they had not been violent at all. They had been trying to thumb a lift to their station and they had accidentally touched the car aerial of a passing car. Unfortunately for them it was a Mintoff car and it was being followed by another car carrying unofficial bodyguards - what the French aptly called "gorillas". These had had their fun beating up two helpless servicemen! The ugly incident was hushed up for diplomatic reasons but it disgusts me to this very day!
Corrected version - Dr. Saliba: " During the 1964 Independence celebrations Mintoff was prevented from holding a hostile demonstration in the Valletta-Floriana area because such demonstrations had been declared illegal due to the extended committments of the Police Force due to the presence of numerous foreign dignitaries. Mintoff was not "ejected" by any British C of P".
Two versions, one conclusion:
Mintoff style - "I don't play, I spoil the game" Further comments are superfluous.
Please: respect the intelligence of a few of us here.
In the minds of a number of old-timers the 'sour grapes' syndrome still lingers on - from the 'Integration fiasco' to the 'not joining the EU and Eurozone' debacle.
No wonder why some try to rewrite history in order to make sense (or excuses) for their party's miscalculations and misdeeds of the past
Is this an excuse for the police brutality during the Mintoff era? Of course not, it’s just to show the hypocrisy of our Nationalist friends when they try to make us believe that Police brutality was only present during Mintoff’s time in Government even though most of the culprits then were known Nationalist supporters.
I left home in January 1961 and attended a few demonstrations in London. The police there at that time didn’t exactly use kin gloves to control the demonstrators and when they arrested and interrogated the violent ones they reciprocated the violence.
But now Malta has changed and thanks to EFA we set the example to the world and all the police of the world became nice.
Police brutality in Malta didn’t see its origin in 1971 and its end in 1987. I still have a clear vision of a horrific episode which I witnessed when I was just a little nipper with my parents in Valletta during the Queen's visit after her Coronation. Two drunken British sailors had an argument with some Maltese spectators which developed into a punch up. The police arrived after the poor sailors were heavily beaten up by the Maltese and instead of giving them their protection they kicked them some more and hit them with truncheons and before they took them away they were practically unconscious. My Late brother an ex police officer used to tell me horrible stories about the savage police brutality that used to take place down The Gut, the Valletta Station and at the HQ in Floriana. Ranking Police officers used to carry long thin batons under their arms and it used to be an accepted practice for them to use at will when controlling non violent crowds.
My impression of the British Commandos Patrols with fixed bayonets during late 50s and early 60s was erroneous. When out on patrol they carried batons and when on riot control duties they were armed with truncheons and shields. They used rifles with live ammunitions on 7 Giugno 1919 as recorded in our history books.
During the time of the 1958 riots, a big number of Labour Party young supporters suspected of involvement in riots were being arrested by the police for interrogation by our police and by the British Military Police and kept in detention at the Corradino Prison within the Naval stores facilities. I Spent some time there myself.
If you ever visit Malta I will take you to see historical pictures and a big number of photos of Labour Supporters that spent time in prison. Tony Galea, my wife’s brother as well as our late president Agatha Barbara are prominently featured.
Sad fact, due to our political polarisation, these victims are looked down upon, by some PN supporters, as thugs while the sette Giugno activists as well as the latter days PN militants are acknowledged as heroes. They were all noble freedom fighters.
Some minor corrections.
He was Vivian de Gray - not de Grey, and he was an appointee of Dom MIntoff as far back as 1956 and against the wishes of the Colonial Office. He retired in 1971 as soon as Mintoff became Prime Minister, but he had been asking to be allowed to retire for some years previously. He knew that he would never be the right person to run the Malta Police in accordance with Mintoff's ideas and in the way the Police Force was actually run during the era of Mintoff and KMB. I do not think it is fair to label him "the last British Commissioner of Police".
During the 1964 Independence celebrations Mintoff was prevented from holding a hostile demonstration in the Valletta-Floriana area because such demonstrations had been declared illegal due to the extended committments of the Police Force due to the presence of numerous foreign dignitaries. Mintoff was not "ejected" by any British C of P.
The NP did not wreck the Integration proposal. Preparatory talks continued regardless of the NP's well known opposition. The British government had second thoughts after studying well the cost it was expected to pay.
You should complain! Some of mine are never transplanted
Today I was reading an article by JG Vassallo in Malta Today and he made reference to the days of colonialism and the principle of divide et impera that still conditions, he suggests, Maltese politics. I rather suspect that that oft-quoted idea is an excuse for both parties to hurl mud (or worse) at each other instead of getting down to sorting Malta out.
After 1956 (Suez) the UK had decided to terminate its rule of Malta (Integration was briefly considered though wrecked by PN) and it really became just a matter of sorting out the details. Mintoff tried to wreck the 1964 Independence ceremony but was ejected by the last British Commisioner of Police-De Grey.
I wish that someone would write an impartial history of modern Malta.
Dr. Francis Saliba states that his are often heavily pruned.
I can attest that some of my comments are not only pruned but uprooted too.
I'll be lucky if this uncontroversial comment ever makes it - but I'll try one more time!
I take pleasure in listening to someone who is fully prepared, knows what he is talking about, acts in the long term interest of the nation rather than short term gains for the party, and has the right answers to questions made by someone else.
Secondly I refer to Dr. Muscat as 'Joseph' because Dr. Muscat himself requested that he be addressed as 'Joseph'. When instructed otherwise by him, I shall address him as Dr. Using the same argument brought forward by Mr. Scerri, why then was Joseph so crass when he kept addressing Dr. Gonzi as 'Lawrence' on the Xarabank debate a few weeks ago especially since Dr. Gonzi kept addressing him as Dr. Muscat? Is Joseph so dumb as not to pick up on the hint?
Then Mr. Scerri addressed the issue of the light bulbs. Here is a proof that he, like many others wait for the government to do something for them for 'free', forgetting the fact that whatever the government gives away is never free since such costs come from taxpayers' money.
I also listened and read about Joseph's speech in Parliament and as always he had nothing new to say.
Indeed.
On many occasions you declared that you are apolitical. When people make the same statement repeatedly it tantamount to trying to convince. You may not agree with me on this but that wouldn’t surprise me. I read most of your comments because you make a lot of sense and your arguments are normally valid, but to accept that you are politically neutral would be foolhardy of me.
No I do not consider you as my political rival; as far as I’m concerned you are an intelligent person with some views different to mine.
I never had any difficulties to declare my political allegiance to the MLP and never expected other people to be so naive and assess me as apolitical, unbiased and blinkered because I’m not such a fool.
Other people are free to read or ignore my press contributions, they are equally free to agree or disagree with me and I’m pretty sure that nobody ignores the fact that my arguments contain bias and unfortunately there’s also a tendency of being blinkered some times.
Franco you must consider yourself very fortunate that nature made you a better person than I. Congratulations.
Dear Charles, I was simply pointing out the building/construction industry flourished as well under Mintoff/KMB administrations.
But if you had to read ALL comments that I give, then, you would sing a different tune.
But of course, it suits you to dismiss me as your political rival, seeing that I write things you would rather bury under the carpet.
You are on my 'blinkered' list.
Squatters usually do their thing without seeking anybody's approval. The shanty town at Ghadira, Mellieha Bay was deliberately created by Dom Mintoff to clear the way for the "Danish village" and to accomodate and entrench squatters, not to remove them.
Your claim, if true, that your comments on this blog have never been "censored" is an eye-opener for me. Evidently, the underlying reason would not be that your contributions are free from insulting and/or personal innuendoes. There was nothing remotely personal in the consored part of my comment.
@ ABC. I don’t think that you are very happy with the outcome.
@ Franco Farrugia. You keep trying to impress us that you are apolitical and unbiased; I wish you luck because you have a long way to go yet. Personally I didn’t get away with it and everybody think I’m a Labourite. I am apolitical, unbiased and perfect apart from a few minor weaknesses. Lol.
Families affording their own homes - certainly nothing to do with governments; it has to do with the price of the land, and well you know it!
Il-Mandragg rebuilt - indeed, but it remained il-Mandragg, nevertheless. No social improvement and empowerment - capixx?
Pensions - true enough - when the whole of Europe started introducing them as well, it was time for it.
Children's allowance - yawn! true enough.
But at what an expense! At an expense of having our freedom stifled; or don't you care about that, Ms Fenech? Are you the type of person who, as long as you have the children's 'allawins' and the 'pensjoni', you're all right and don't care about anything else? Well, in the country there existed people who were not content with that only! The people who knew better!
Even in Castro's Cuba, the health service is unparalleled, the world over! But, again, at what an expense! Having dictatorial rule, with Castro at the helm.
And who stood to gain from Socialist violence? The socialist stalwarts who made mints of money out of it all!
Does a half-hearted, late apology signify that all is forgotten?
J Martinelli had pleasure listening to the Prime Minister's response to Joseph' arguments which followed the Budget Speech .
By that simple statement, unknowingly, he had given himself away and even he had recognised the fact that the leader of the opposition had proved to the otherwise sceptics that now the prime minister will be facing his greatest challenge in his political life. Opponents have a tendency to use power phrases to rebut a more powerful opponent; the phrase "I had peasure" says it all. My question to Joe Martinelli is besides pleasure did you really get the satisfaction that Dr.Gonzi got any close to convince you, with his pathetic arguments, about the energy saving bulbs and other rhetoric? If Martinelli had he would be one of the few.
Martinelli's attempts to belittle Joseph Muscat by referring to him as 'Joseph' while giving the PM and his Ministers the desired respect is also a psychological give away that he is aware of his impact on the people. Sure the leader of the opposition asked to be called Joseph but would Martinelli, a militant opponent, address him in a style to please him? I don't think so.
Under Mintoff, families could afford to buy their home without the need for the wife to work as an extra means of income to cope with expences.
Under Mintoff, il-Mandragg at Valletta was rebuilt into new, upstandard homes.
Under Mintoff, old people did not have to beg anymore, but began earning a pension.
Under Mintoff, families started receiving children's allowance.
@Franco Farrugia
Who stood to gain with the mentioned violence?
Certainly not the MLP. Did you not hear Dr Joseph Muscat apologizing for them?
Jesus Christ once said 'He who has no sin, cast the first stone'.
Your precious PN had been in power for 20 years. Do you not find it strange that in all those years they didn’t plug enough courage to clear the slums you highlighted? Do votes have something to do with that? Are you aware of the secret pact between your idol and the squatters on the eve of the general election?
I find it strange that some people complain about being censored because I had never experienced the scissors on this blog. But maybe it’s because I always try, and apparently succeed, to substantiate my claims and try to steer away from personal innuendos and insults.
Hey Franco, under Mintoff there was a building boom as well. Mintoff gave us the slums of Armier, Little Armier, ta l'Ahrax and the one at Mellieha Bay. I am sure others can mention others, I, being from Mellieha, just stuck to the ones in my own background.
The above slums being of build form have to be included in the building boom stock that Malta experienced in the 70's and the early 80's.
Quote. PN never adopted a tit-for-tat policy?
Pn never had a policy of doing a revenge against labourites?
Tidher li ma tghix Malta habib!unquote.
Chris take my advice; just ignore some of the commentators because their sad mission is extremely irritating.
“Finally you are agreeing with the Governments in regares to the Electricity and Water Tariffs.” Just what are you talking about? Now you quote me verbatim.
My comment, short, relevant and pungent though it was, suffered destructive censorship! You would have commented differently had you been able to read my original version!
PN never adopted a tit-for-tat policy?
Pn never had a policy of doing a revenge against labourites?
Tidher li ma tghix Malta habib!
Enjoying tourism boom, you say?
And the building boom?
Oh yes, those were the times when the Bahar ir-Caghak 'mizbla' was born, when the Korpi started being born, etc ... and when the Maltese countryside started being destroyed through a frenzy of unplanned building projects, whims of Ministers and Labour MPs.
My conclusion: Oh yes, while strongly protesting about the Budget's effects, together with the rise in tariffs, I prefer living these days than the Mintoff/KMB era. I don't want those dark days ever to return. Give me these present tariffs x 1000! And I will still prefer living the now and the present.
There will never again be lack of education in Malta.
There will never again be fear in the streets, fear of being known that you are of this colour and not of the other.
There will never again be fear of December.
There will never again be violence against schools, institutions, teachers, other workers, demonstrators, etc ...
There will never again be harrassed Unions.
There will never again be attacks of arson on prominent politicians and newspaper printing-houses.
There will never again be foreign nuns thrown out of the country in the dead of night!!
In spite of the so-called 'childrens' allowances ... etc.....', the Maltese still economically suffered. Remember the never-ending, nerve-wrecking end-of-year 'speech from the throne' of PM Mintoff, telling us to 'inrossu c-cinturini' and most of Malta's roads and streets in total darkness for years on end?
'Enjoying seeing their kids in school ... without having to pay for it.' At the expense of others, I would like you to add.
So, you approve Mintoff/KMB's way of 'Jew b'xejn jew xejn'?
So you approve the violence levelled at Church schools and institutions, teachers, employers, and parents and students, in those times?
And what kind of schooling was imparted by government institutions? Ever since 1971, the State school system was stupidly destroyed in order to put all students in one class, instead of holding on to lyceums, etc ..
And University studies? Oh, God!
'Growth and return on investment'? Yes, but only for the cronies. SeaMalta, Airmalta, BOV, MMB .... taking what's not yours is not right, you know.
Remember BIcal?
The National Bank, Scicluna's Bank?
Remember the Pace Brothers?
And remember Malta Airlines?
Oh yes, it's easy to make profit over the hard-earned work of others!
With all due respect, I think you'll find that most are much more concerned with the TRUTH of matters.
And - most importantly - the truth of the PRESENT situation in Malta rather than a crude diagnosis/disection on what make up the 'soul of wit'.
And if that takes many posts to expose, so be it.
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
>where were all these apparently well-meaning individuals when things were going so >wrong in the era I mentioned? Perhaps living, thankful that they were not on the receiving >end?
Perhaps they did not see "those times" in the same light as you portray. They were instaed enjoying childrens' allowance, bonuses, buying land & houses, working like never before in tourism (instead of in war) , putting their wage in the ank whilst living their family off overtime part of their income.
They were enjoying seeing their kids in school/university without having to pay for it, seeing investment in SeaMalta, Airmalta, BOV, MMB. In those days downsizing was not the buzzword but rather growth and return on investment was. In fact most workers would agree that they never has it as good as in those "evil times"... a far cry from today's situation where we readily accept that "the world recession will hit Malta as hard as in other countries."
Perhaps they were enjoying the tourism boom, building boom.... etc etc
Perhaps they were too ashamed not to be eating mars bars and brushing their teeth with pepsodent (sic!)
Now tell me how much better we are off now.
Part 1
Are you afraid of using my full name, or are you trying to stay within the 200 word limit thus reducing my name to just JM ? JM could be mistaken for Joseph Muscat, you know!
1. No the Nationalist government is not always right just as much as an MLP government proved over and over again that it, sometimes purposely, adopted asinine policies which brought the country into ill repute.
2. Former Nationalist governments did not adopt a tit-for-tat policy, which under the circumstances at the time would have been justifiable, so in that regard I criticize them. Had they adopted that attitude, half your former ministers would have been at least questioned about doubtful deals and possibly jailed a few of them as well. When your government did just that in 1971 it had to lick the mud since our former ministers were found to be innocent of all the allegations of your vindictive government.
3. I presume that you being so smart, predicted the demise of Lehman Brothers, the collapse of the financial industry in the USA and worldwide.
Part 2
4. You also predicted that in March when the price of oil was $90.00, it would go to $147 by Summer and then roll back to around $60.00. With such predictive powers, what the heck are you wasting your valuable time writing nonsense?
5. One of the 20 unions you mention has an unenviable record of being on the wrong side of things many a time. This Union also happens to be the MLP twin. No use them trying to hide the truth since it is well known. Secondly while some of what the unions are proposing is doable, it will upset the fine balance of the Budget contents as well as the time-frame the government has in mind.
6. The MLP supporters will always be unhappy that their party is not governing. That is fundamental and their refusal to accept their party's shortcomings verges on hysteria. With regards to the GWU protecting their members, I ask, Since when? Where was the Union between 1971 and 1987? and again, between 1996 and 1998?
Part 3
7. If you have finally woken up to the fact that the recession will hit Malta as well why are the unions asking for quick fixes which in the end will cost much more in terms of money and long term employment for many?
8. 'Par idejn sodi' will not succumb to taking easy solutions. Par idejn sodi will hold the helm in rough seas, not sip beer in calm weather. How the MLP wishes that it had such a steady pair of hands in 1998 !
9. Franco Farrugia is right saying that the GWU is a non-union because a bona fide Union protects its members IRRESPECTIVE of who is governing. It has yet to prove this point and I suspect that its next opportunity to do so is still light years away.
10. "..treating us as utter imbeciles" and "... treating others as morons and idiots" are phrases which, when used to defend arguments, sow some serious doubts in one's mind as to the writer's self assessment.
'Even from 'across the pond' I can smell a rat, Ivan.
Pathetic and sad this has become.
Finally you are agreeing with the Governments in regares to the Electricity and Water Tariffs. What the Government is saying that it will continue to subsidise those who are in need but not others.
Can you please adives Joseph Muscat.
They can however also be regarded as a form of protectionism or trade barrier by making domestic goods and services artificially competitive against imports. Subsidies may distort markets, and can impose large economic costs.
The point I’m trying to make is that the choice should never be just between all black or all white, one may also opt for gray.
One example. A supermarket has an area dedicated to auxiliary items such as stamps, wrapping paper etc. on which it loses money but it is being cross-subsidised. Management decides to close it down but at the end of the year they made less profit. They had failed to realise that the dedicated area that was losing money was instrumental to bring in more customers to spend their money on other profitable goods. The term penny wise pound foolish still applies.
By the way when will the definition of 'little elf' be put forth for our scrutiny?
So, I would be much obliged if you would not find the needle in the haystack in order to try and downplay the message that I am trying to give.
The GWU never lifted a finger to protect ANY worker, during the Mintoff'/KMB years. Not only that, but it continually stokes the fire through its media-of-sorts.
One needs to be thankful that certain individuals have only recently seen the light and are now admitting past failures of the GWU and the MLP in the atrocities committed in the Mintoff/KMB era.
In this context, another question that I would put is the following: where were all these apparently well-meaning individuals when things were going so wrong in the era I mentioned? Perhaps living, thankful that they were not on the receiving end?
c) "The truth is that the world recession will hit Malta as hard as in other countries."
We KNOW that.
But THAT is NOT what we were told before the elections.
"Par idejn sodi" is what we were assured.
And before you get into your usual excuse(as given by a minister no less!) that they did not know how things would turn out:
- we all KNEW how things were turning out
- if govt does not plan THREE MONTHS ahead(by its own admisission)...then it really should NOT be governing should it??
What a FEEBLE excuse, treating us as utter imbeciles.It does not cut.
Then Franco tells us that:
- The GWU is "a non-Union" yet
- "the GWU, in those years of turmoil, not only did not protect the true interests of its members"
How can you ask a 'non-Union' to act as a union?
Which is it to be?
Is it a Union or a non-Union?
Having said that.. (apart from the above), I enjoyed Franco comments tremendously.
I might not entirely agree with all of them but at least they were 'unblinkered' and very valid arguments, without treating others as morons and idiots.
"No Ivan, those hooves are not the PN Light Cavary (Gonzi's Own) but those of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse galloping down Regional Road"
True Peter but it amazes me that PN Light Cavary (Gonzi's Own) still reason:
" Ours is not to reason why, ours is to do or die"
You'd think that JM (from his safe haven across the pond rather than on the front line in Malta) would at least be ranking Brigadier by now... (or should that be Brigadoon?)
Can this govt do NOTHING wrong???
Amazing is it not!
Here are some great quotes made by this learned gentleman in the heat of the "Charge":
a) "Why the Unions without exception still think with an insular mentality is beyond me"...
ALL 20 unions agree & JM still thinks they are wrong and he is right.
(Maybe that's what a union DOES - protect its members. Leaving govt to govern.)
b) "getting the other Unions to join them in something quite negative by its own description (protest), "
Jm, just MAYBE people here on the front line are NOT HAPPY (how dare they, I know!) with a PN govt?
As a young man in the 60s I demonstrated and joined the efforts for Malta’s Independent. The state police threw tear-gas canisters at us, hit us on our head with their truncheons and the British Commandos covered them with their fixed bayonets. I was kept in a British Military prison for days without a charge, my sister in law gave birth to a child while her husband was a political prisoner but we won and got Independence. People like you went through softer sufferance and had to do personal sacrifices but your efforts were rewarded because the Government was forced to change our Constitution. In short there’s never gain without pain.
Today we are living in a more democratic environment thanks to people like you and me. Now we hope that our government would take heed to what all the trade unions, the constituted bodies and the vast majority of people expect of it because if it doesn’t our administration would become a despotic one.
@ Franco Farrugia.
In the 70, and 80s the GWU was conspicuous by its apsence when the workers needed its protection and that was a betrayal. That union then had statute difficulties to demonstrate and\or order a strike because it was part of the Labour Party which was in Government. Alfred Sant recognised the anomaly and corrected it by divorcing. The same sad situation was prevailing in Great Britain and Tony Blair also corrected it.
The world evolves and things change, now we are seeing the UHM demonstrating against its friends in Government hopefully when Labour is in government the GWU would follow the good example set by UHM and if it doesn’t I’ll be the first to condemn it.
Franco I have no problem to agree with you that the GWU was wrong in the past but I cannot agree with your intimation that UHM should have abstained today because the GWU did so in the past.
Probably I would be labelled an opportunists by you know who for taking this pragmatic approach,but I don’t care.
Charles, like any other Maltese who truly believe in real Democracy, one should be happy indeed that such a manifestation is taking place.
The underline headlines thought it is not the fact that such demonstration it is taking place, but rather that the demonstration itself can take place without any fear that it will be attacked by the thugs sanctioned by the State. That is if a permit would had been issued in the first place.
Please don't get me wrong! I am not in any way pooh-poohing the problems facing us today, in relation with the Mintoff years - let other, equally-blinkered commentators/bloggers do that kind of thing.
What I am saying is that what's good for the goose is good for the gander, and the GWU, in those years of turmoil, not only did not protect the true interests of its members, but also never lifted a finger when other workers were having their dignity and their rights eroded by the Government of the day.
1. I absolutely have serious misgivings about the last Budget.
2. Equally I have misgivings about a Union, in which I am member, that decides, without consulting its members, to join up with another Union that in my books, at least, is a non-Union. Every Union that is linked with a political party, to me, is a non-Union. And especially when one considers the historical context.
I condemn my Union for unilaterally decide to join the manifestation today. However, I am just one voice, a future non-member of that Union.
So, you can list once again the names of the Unions taking part, till you become blue in the face. It won't make one iota of difference to me.
Just one question, please: in the 70s and 80s, what action did the GWU - to me, a non-Union - take to protect the interests of its workers during those years of 'sacrifice' and 'rass ta' cinturin'? ...
The MLP and the GWU, getting the other Unions to join them in something quite negative by its own description (protest), they regard as some kind of a victory.
I much suspect that the other Unions wanted to use this occasion not to appear as discriminating against a certain segment of the population which still seems to believe that their W & E bills should continue to be subsidized. In order to add some flavour, they included the Budget as a further reason to protest.
Why the Unions without exception still think with an insular mentality is beyond me. At a time when auto makers in North America are on the verge of bankruptcy, closing plants and laying off thousands, they expect the government to open up its purses!
The truth is that the world recession will hit Malta as hard as in other countries.
And so say all of us.
Il-manifestazzjoni tal-lejla fil-Belt:
20 UNJIN FLIMKIEN
Il-lejla 20 unjin se jieħdu sehem f’manifestazzjoni storika fil-Belt Vallet-ta biex juru li ma jaqblux mat-tariffi l-ġodda tad-dawl u tal-ilma li daħħal il-Gvern b’effett mill-1 ta’ Ottubru li għadda.
L-unjins kollha huma l-General Workers Union (GWU), l-Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin (UĦM), il-Confederation of Malta Trade Unions (CMTU), il-Malta Union of Teachers (MUT), il-Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN), il-Malta Union of Bank Employees (MUBE), il-Union Ħaddiema Bank Ċentrali (UĦBC), Medical Association of Malta (MAM), Chamber of Pharmacists (COP), Lotto Receivers Union (LRU), Malta Union of Professional Psychologists (MUPP), Union of Graduates at Maltacom, Union of Cabin Crew (UCC), University of Malta Acadamics Staff Association (UMASA), Airline Pilots Association (ALPA), EneMalta Professional Officers Union (EPOU), Union Periti u Inġinieri fis-Servizz Pubbliku (UPISP), Union Professjonisti Awtorità tal-Ippjanar (UPAP), Association of Airline Engineers (AAE) u Union Technical and Clerical tal-MEPA (UTAC).
- New US President elected, world history being written in the process.
- THE Budget, not a SINGLE utter from anyone (that I know of) as to what a GOOD BUDGET it is.
- myriads of complaints.
- various important headlines like:
Inflation up steeply in October
Event to highlight plight of 'hundreds' of Maltese homeless
Pullicino Orlando slams St John's museum plans
Malta slips in Europe healthcare rankings
UN agency says it has run out of Gaza food supplies
Oil falls to near $56.
- Oil exploration (or not) being branded about again.
- Tonight's protest, again historical in that ALL unions (of various shades & beliefs/masters) actually AGREEING to protest!
etc.
Yet Il-Bocca decides to blog (sic!) about..... " the nomination of a replacement in Strasbourg for the Man of the Year "?
And titles it as 'interesting'?
A slightly cynical mind would consider this type of blogging (sic!) as mere deviation from the REALLY important issues effecting us directly,surely?
What's next?
"An interesting event: Mickey Mouse is coming to town" ?
...and now for the distant sound of the cavalry hooves as the approach in defence of their one of their kind. Sigh.