Mediawatch

I know nothing

“I know nothing” can be quite an intelligent motto to carry around – particularly if it is as an expression of the Socratic paradox (scio me nescire). An appreciation of the limits of one’s knowledge is an important tool to carry about in life. Ignorance of the kind that is basically the mere absence of knowledge is a tool badly wielded. I am not sure whether feigned ignorance is any better either. At the end of the day “I know nothing” outside the comfort zone of the aforementioned Socratic paradox becomes a sort of Manuel-ish expression. Manuel as in the waiter from Barcelona.

Minister Chris Cardona and I were course colleagues and I would hate for him to fall under the category of ignorant advocates that our beloved faculty and university seem all too ready to produce nowadays. My worry is quite egoistic I admit though I am sure that Cardona’s latest flurry of denials of knowledge (a polite way of saying “proclamations of ignorance”) is probably based on the stressful nature of his post and the undeniably hard time he must be having catching up with all things commercial – what with his ever so unsuitable qualification as a lawyer.

So here he was faced by a Times’ journalist and posed with the question of whether something was not amiss with Malta Enterprise’s direct appointment of the wife of Energy Minister Mizzi to some post as an envoy for procurement of business from the Far East. Our modern day Lord MacCartney is none other than Sai Mizzi Liang the Chinese born wife of Minister Mizzi. Chris Cardona decided to faff through different phases that bordered between justification and denial:

1) I had no idea : “Don’t ask me I don’t know” was the gist, just before he proceeded to assume that ME (Malta Enterprise) needed a specialised person, that the recruitment system works in that manner and that ME picked out the person that best fitted what they deemed they needed.

2) How I think it should be done : Next Cardona gave us a lesson in opinion or “how I think it should be done”. Certain appointments should be made on the need that you have, he explains. Righto Mr. Minister but that is not legal is it? As in, it’s not why we have laws? Appointing people on the need that you feel you have is what, for want of a better word, an autocrat or a despot can do. For us mere democrats there’s boards and exams and calls for applications.

3) It’s always been like this : Inevitably this one had to be slipped in. Those nasty nationalists were apparently (or allegedly since Cardona was on a roll of assumptions there) doing the same thing in the past (really? How many Minister’s wives were appointed as envoys anywhere?). Far be it from me to look into evidence of the murky nationalist past – I don’t need to anyway. Aren’t we supposed to have a transparent and meritocratic government? Isn’t this the change they voted for? What rubbish.

4) The appointment was done in good faith: When facts fail you head for religion. We are to take the Minister’s word on the fact that he trusts that whoever made the appointment made it in good faith. Of course we do Chris. Somehow though I have a feeling it should not be working like that. Especially not with the loads a bull your government fed the people about meritocracy.

5) She is specialised: And then came the best part. Pressed for more answers by the journalist, Cardona had to answer the rather irritating question “But what is Sai Mizzi Liang specialised in?”. He starts off with a bit of mumbling about the fact that she is specialised in the “negozju” (commerce) of these nations but then cuts off suddenly and concludes: “She’s from there, she has a natural knowledge base”. So it is ignorance. Of the craziest kind. Still, you couldn’t expect anything less from a government flouting Vienna Convention rules in its appointment of diplomats. Ah the law… such a fickle thing.

To conclude I present you with a useless bit of our constitution that will soon (probably) fall redundant and be replaced by a new article entitled “On Appointment by Hunch, Good Faith and Nationality”. Enjoy it while it lasts. Ignorantia legis neminem excusat. (Subarticle 6 is particularly juicy).

 

Article 110 of the Constitution of Malta

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, power to make appointments to public offices and to remove and to exercise disciplinary control over persons holding or acting in any such offices shall vest in the Prime Minister, acting on therecommendation of the Public Service Commission:

Provided that the Prime Minister may, acting on the recommendation of the Public Service Commission, delegate in writing, subject to such conditions as may be specified in the instrument of delegation, any of the powers referred to in this sub-article to such public officer or other authority as may be specified in that instrument.

(2) A delegation of a power under this article –

(a) shall be without prejudice to the exercise of that power by the Prime Minister acting on the recommendation of the Public Service Commission;

(b) may authorise the public officer or other authority concerned to exercise that power either with or without reference to the Public Service Commission; and

(c) in respect of recruitment to public offices from outside the public service, shall, unless such recruitment is made after a public examination advertised in the Gazette, be exercised only through an employment service provided out of public funds which ensures that no distinction, exclusion or preference is made or given in favour or against any person by reason of his political opinion and which provides opportunity for employment solely in the best interests of the public service and of the nation generally.

(…)

(6) Recruitment for employment with any body established by the Constitution or by or under any other law, or with any partnership or other body in which the Government of Malta, or any such body as aforesaid, have a controlling interest or over which they have effective control, shall, unless such recruitment is made after a public examination duly advertised, be made through an employment service as provided in sub-article (2) of this article.

Agrodolce

MaltaToday reports that the public has been given only one week to send in comments on the proposed new policy that will affect ODZ (outside development zone areas) “to facilitate the redevelopment of existing farm buildings into agro-tourism establishments or visitor attractions.” This is never going to be an easy issue. The very character of an agriturismo is such that implies preservation and utilisation of natural and environmental assets without causing any damage. Farmhouses and whole estates are adapted to be able to host a sustainable number of residents (no multiplex) who would opt to visit in order to enjoy the natural habitat as well as learn in different contexts (cooking, horse riding, nature rambles, historic visits etc).

It is of utmost importance that the excuse to “develop” (adapt) within areas that would otherwise be a no-go for the ugly word is not abused of. A policy that is aimed at encouraging agri-tourism must be holistic and also be aware of the huge potential for abuse. Whole swathes of land from Mistra to Ghasri run the risk of being cruelly exploited under some feeble excuse of “agri-tourism” conversion. This is the country where a squatting group of caravans suddenly develop “legal rights” thanks to the wheeling and dealing of consecutive governments. Can you imagine a free for all with our rural areas?

Conversions and adaptations for agri-tourism can be a gold mine as the mafia soon discovered in Sicily. EU subsidies, special permits in ODZ areas and more will attract the worst of the worst unless the policy is carefully thought out. It’s not a good start – just one week for the public to react. It seems to signal the beginning of the end of another scarce resource in Malta.

Plus ça change.

Crash, Boom, Bang.

The appointment of the legal consultant of the Malta Pyrotechnics Association to the chair of a working group tasked to devise a new policy on fireworks factories is the last in a long string of “inappropriate” appointments being made under the current Labour government. The philosophy of the Tagħna Lkoll government seems to favour appeasement over and above regulation. If we were to impute goodwill to most of the moves made by this government within the ambit of appointments to official and semi-official posts the most glaring danger is not, as many would think, the “iced bun” distribution itself.

Granted, the very concept of the “iced bun” is an ugly wart that already blemishes substantially any remaining credibility that this government might have had in the field of meritocracy but there could be a scientific explanation to what may be termed as a wide retweaking of the power system that had prevailed over the last twenty years. What J’accuse calls a result of “same, same but different” – the product of weak alternation that produces a race to mediocrity is fed by what Fukuyama calls “patrimonialism or the natural human propensity to favour family and friends”.

According to Fukuyama this natural propensity “constantly reasserts itself in the absence of strong countervailing incentives. Organized groups – most of the rich and powerful – entrench themselves over time and begin demanding privileges from the state.” Better still here is Fukuyama’s extended explanation on the development of this kind of propensity over time:

In its early stages, human political organization is similar to the band-level society observed in higher primates like chimpanzees. This may be regarded as a default form of social organization. The tendency to favour family and friends may be overridden by new rules and incentives that mandate, for example, hiring a qualified individual, rather than a family member. But the higher-level institutions are in some sense quite unnatural, and when they break down, humans revert to an earlier form of sociability. This is the basis for what I label patrimonialism.” (Francis Fukuyama, The Origins of Political Order).

I find that the key words in this quote are “break down” – referring to the break down of higher-level institutions. The utopic state of perfect meritocracy is in fact a sophisticated form of democracy that is achieved gradually through the build up of “rules and incentives” and the acknowledgement thereof. In its complex form democratic society combines respect for institutions and the rules (rule of law, separation of powers) with levels of specialisation.

The previous nationalist government segued in and out of this form of higher-level institutional development without however managing to completely detach itself from the primary level of patrimonialism. Much of our political system – what J’accuse insists on calling “The PLPN Philosophy” is  deeply entrenched in a primitive form of patrimonial politics. There is no incentive to improve, just the type of incentive that Orwell describes as “power as an end”. There is no politics of service but politics that aims to please an ever wider circle of “interest groups” that can be roped in for the  votes then appeased with Quangos once the heads are counted.

So what is worse than the iced buns? It is the erosion of the institutions. The complete lack of awareness that the very fabric of democratic society that keeps us together is being gradually broken down in the name of Taghna Lkoll madness. Ironically this government does not stop reminding us that it wants to embark on a monumental reappraisal of our Constitution – at this stage it would be like giving a three year old kid the task of renovating the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

“There is in fact a curious blindness to the importance of political institutions that has affected many people over the years…”

 

Go back to your country

“Go back to your country”, he typed, he thought, he yelled, he spat, he fumed.

“They should go back to their country”, he reasoned with friends, he told his politician, he reckoned with the warden, he argued on the promenade.

“They’re useless good for nothings”, he supposed with no one in particular, he ruminated on the message boards, he mumbled lost in thought.

“This integration business will never work”, he concluded.

Then. When the anger subsided he put on the Manchester United football gear and bumbled away to support his idols…. Shinji Kagawa, Robin Van Persie, Javier Hernandez Balcazar (Chicharito), Nani, Anderson Luis de Abreu Oliveira,Rafael Pereira da Silva, Nemanja Vidic, Alexander Buttner, David De Gea, Anders Lindegaard. You know… the locals. I’d mention Rooney but he wants out.

From the Daily Mail:

Question: How many foreign players appeared on the opening weekend of the inaugural Premier League season in August 1992? Answer: 13.

Here’s another one. What percentage of foreigners made up Premier League squads when England’s top-flight celebrated its 20th anniversary last summer? Answer: 62 per cent.

“Foreigners go home” he squealed. 

(and before you say anything, the most expensive (valued) player in the English Premier League is… Welsh).

In your face book

Only last week I was following the uproar in the UK about “abusive tweets” with a measure of disbelief. We’d been there before – how seriously should twitter and social media statuses be taken? Should the tools who abuse the tools be punished? The UK government was pretty serious about regulating twitter especially to protect people from threats. I had mixed feelings about it all – how seriously should we consider status updates and tweets?

Then came Salamis. We’ve all heard how hordes of Maltese intelligentsia swarmed onto Cecilia Malstorm’s facebook page with all form of abuse. It was shock therapy as we had never seen it. You did have the suspicion during the past election that the importance given to the internet and its content by the general citizen collective had taken a weird and surreal twist. I am sure that there is a huge study to be made in marketing and advertising to the particular niche that we know as the Maltese crowd but still…

The PLPN moulded their supporters into an Orwellian vortex worthy of quite a study. There was a false sense of empowerment (say what you like and you will be heard) and there was an abuse of the propagandistic side of the medium. The majority of the citizens had not caught on to the emerald and noise and still believed that the Wizard behind the curtain was the most powerful thing in Oz. We all know how things proceeded since then: the nationalist party imploded choking on a nut while the labour party segued onto government by words and tweets.

The worst offender is the PM himself what with his non-sensical twitter account that is about as politically proper as Frankie Boyle on a trip. Then there are the abusers of the media – such as that DJ turned architect – who adds a new “blog” and shoot “aphorisms” without batting an eyelid. Which brings me to facebook. PLPN candidates bored us mental with their daily “tying my shoelaces” updates during the election. The impression was that they would “listen”. Sure. What they did do once the election is over is forget any semblance of institutional decorum, bury any notion of rule of law and murder any possibility of quiet government.

Do you blame the noisy bunches on Facebook now? Add to that the fact that they are the bunches who are most encouraged by this government’s ridiculous bandwagon grandstanding – oblivious to the hopelessness behind the moves and oblivious to the fact that they are just pawns in this power game.

So yes, we had a lot of noisy, uncouth energumens flooding to Malstorm’s page. First reaction: So what? As someone put it succinctly, the Greeks have been directing much verbal abuse in the direction of anything EU/German. Second reaction: So what? It’s not like we did not know that a huge chunk of our voting electorate was clueless about rights, politics and social interaction. Facebook is just throwing an ugly window open onto a part of our society.

It’s our society being thrown back in your face. In your face book actually.

Intelligence Snowed In

The whole US system of spying and snooping that is supposed to protect the world from terrorists and terrorist attacks had fallen under an ugly cloud of bad publicity ever since the Snowden affair hit the news. Only this week Germany cancelled a spy pact that it had enjoyed with the US and UK ever since the Cold War years. Suddenly the allies were not being seen in such a good light after all. The outrage had followed revelations that the US had bugged its allies embassies and although there were reassurances that this was quite normal in the spying game it could be safely said that once again US Big Brother methodology was under scrutiny.

Which is when all of a sudden we get the US State Department issuing queer warnings.

“Our spies report suspicious activity that might lead to a terrorist attack”.

“Yeah? Where?”

“Uhm. Africa. All of it. And uhm the Middle East.”

“Who?”

“Al Qaeda of course”

“When and what?”

“Uhm. Transport stuff. And uhm Embassies”.

Really Uncle Sam? They are reporting “the biggest chatter since 9/11”. How abso-fuckin-lutely convenient. (That’s a Tmesis by the way). So just as your whole network of spying and intrusion in private lives comes into question you conveniently find a way to tell us that it is working. Sort of. After all the US reaction has been described as “an abundance of caution”  and not a reaction to a new threat.

It’s the US that came up with “Warning Hot Beverage” on coffee cups. Now we have a sophisticated “intelligence” network that has been shown to be used to spy on allies being justified by the apparent “smart reading” that al Qaeda operatives might be up to something generally in the Middle East/African region. Cry wolf?