Category: Mediawatch

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Mediawatch

Veiled Arguments

The “wolf in sheep’s clothing” metaphor is back to haunt us. Only a while back we had a Archiepiscopal warning from the pulpit about the various wolves attired in sheep’s best (and they were not referring to vêtements signé Desigual) and now we have PM Gonzi accusing the Labour Party of having a lupine nature disguised as a fluffy animal. The phrase first appears in the Matthew 7:15 (that’s the bible, not an early morning Matt):

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”

What is Gonzi on about then? Well I am not sure whether this report by MaltaToday and this one by the Times of Malta were from the same event  but they make an interesting reading into the mind of the One Who Many Think Committed Hara Kiri. The PM was commenting on Cyrus Engerer’s volte-face and trying to give his spin to the issue. We’d love to see Lawrence Gonzi’s credibility ratings at the moment but even if we assumed that there are still some people who take his word as the law we can find some interesting conclusions to continue to draw.

the counter-spin: wolves, the 80s and tolerance

MaltaToday highlighted Gonzi’s weak attempt at counter-spin. He pounced onto Joseph’s Muscat silent fatwa on Adrian Vassallo’s solo run and painted a picture of 80’s style intolerance in which “In-Nazzjon” was a public taboo. It’s tiring. Nauseating even. This whole business of projecting Labour’s past onto the future milked to some success for the 2008 Taste Campaign is long past its sell-by date. Gonzi is evidently clutching at straws with this argument. It is only made worse with his stress on “tolerance” – fresh from his monumental “NO” and spitting in the face of the vox populi (see “Drawing Conclusions”). There are inklings of the dire need that Dr Gonzi has for some intelligent (new?) advice before speaking to the press when he then opts to couch his ideas in biblical metaphors : triggering the very red lights that have made him lose so much in the popularity polls. Fail.

the ideas on switching parties

The Times report is more concerned with Gonzi’s opinion on Engerer’s choice to switch parties. According to the Times:

” Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said he respected the decision of Sliema deputy mayor Cyrus Engerer to resign from the Nationalist Party and join Labour but disagreed with his reasons. Mr Engerer did not resign because of the PN’s stand on divorce but pinned his decision on one issue: Dr Gonzi’s No vote against divorce legislation in Parliament on Wednesday.”

Much is being made elsewhere about Engerer’s Damascene switch (including questions being asked about whether it was not so sudden). Dr Gonzi is here “respecting” the decision made by the young turk. Many will confuse “respecting” with “agreeing with ” or “accepting” Cyrus’ switch. Gonzi does neither. He disagrees with the motivation (His own No vote) and above all he has a problem with the assessment of principles.

anchors

It’s the last bit that is very telling. Principles. Here is how Dr Gonzi reads the latest crisis:

“I fear we are reaching a situation where people are no longer anchored to their principles.”

People and principles. Is Gonzi, like almost everyone in the political arena, missing the woods for the trees? We have written elsewhere that the biggest problem is the lack of principled backbone within the major parties – their choice to not commit. Gonzi is pointing his fingers at “people who are no longer anchored in their principles” using Engerer as an excuse. His fingers are pointed in the wrong direction. It is the parties who have abdicated from representing clear cut principles and sacrificed these principles on the altar of populist convenience.

Wolves, Pots & Kettles

The biggest demonstration of this dog-eat-dog unprincipled world was the exchange of accusations by the PM and leader of Opposition. While Gonzi was accusing Joseph of being a wolf in sheep’s clothing, Joseph was busy spinning the line that “Labour had never changed its position throughout the debate”. Nobody can deny that. The point is that Labour had no position to change. It had no position on divorce. That is what Gonzi should have told Cyrus Engerer – that he was joining a party that did not have the balls to take an official position on divorce.

There’s another question I need to ask Joseph. How come “Labour not changing position” is good but “Gonzi not changing position (and always standing for the NO)” becomes bad? It’s stupid, stupid, stupid all over the place. It’s like two people tossing a coin ten times and the result is 7 heads and 3 tails. Joseph is suddenly “right” because he backed heads while Gonzi is wrong because he called “tails” all along?? Meanwhile Labour chose not to call heads or tails but wins prizes for being constant in not taking a position. Is this a crazy world or not?

Engerer

Will Engerer manage to change Labour into a real progressive party? Does he have the clout? Will it matter? It won’t to the token voters who just see Labour as the new lesser evil away from GonziPN. The question is “what will it take for them to notice that MuscatPL is same, same but different?” How long till we will be discussing how MuscatPL failed to take leadership on civil society issues, or worse still how its attempts to play the populist led to a hodge podge of botched legislation? We’re kicking off with “kids’ right to maintenance till they are 23″…. quite a good start to raise unprincipled, spoilt brats whose concept of politics is waving the blue/red flag whenever duty calls….

In un paese pieno di coglioni, ci mancano le palle – j’accuse 2011

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Mediawatch

5 bloggable newsitems

In full markbiwwa.com style of course. (We dig the style. We plagiarise. We acknowledge). Here goes the roundup of Monday Morning Blues & News.

 

1. BLACK CAB fury

The UHM has come out in support of the black cab taxis after it was announced that new regulations would prevent them from using the special bus lanes. The black cab taxis are right of course (I never thought I’d say this). The use of fast lanes by taxis is common in most major cities in Europe and I can see no reason why Malta should be the exception. Still more bad planning? Big Yellow Taxi

2. LAWYER TO BE PAID to watch DVDs

It’s not exactly a permanent job, neither is it a dream job but lawyer Joseph Mifsud has been appointed by the court to watch a collection of DVDs that were found in the possession of David Gatt who still stands accused of being involved in an HSBC heist. Apparently the collection includes The Godfather and “films by Bruce Lee”. All in a day’s work eh? Kung Fu Fighting

3. ARRIVA service normalising

It would seem that eight days into the launch – and once the Bus Driver Plot has been thwarted – Arriva’s service will be running on time in most places. Arriva has been obliged to subcontract minor routes for the time being. If the action of the Renegade Bus Drivers was not a sanctioned strike then I would not be surprised were Arriva to sue for damages and losses caused by the disruption. Sabotage

4. In the Net

Labour will experiment the umpteenth revamp of the notoriously error-prone Maltastar.com under the guidance of Evarist Bartolo. Meanwhile Andrew Azzopardi has added his blog to the increasing list of blogs by “old media” pundits. The signs all point to the Maltese MSM belatedly discovering the utility of blogs and blogging. Undoubtedly presence on the net will be even more crucial come next election – we wonder what role an evolved Facebook will play by the time the heat is turned up. Don’t Believe the Hype

5. Sanctioning the Illegal

Finally, the Times reports that plans are underway for MEPA to sanction a number of illegal boathouses in St Thomas Bay and Dwejra. This kind of news is always baffling and frustrating. The “legalisation” of illegally built property is an insult to the law-abiding citizen and an affront to society. Do we care? Bah. I fought the Law?

*IMAGE NOTE: The accompanying image is of Gaetano Scirea. In this day and age when the image and memory of the recently departed are being used as a smokescreen by cowards to hide from their objective responsibility we choose to put up the image of a model footballer who never failed in his line of duty and was an example to all. Storia di Grande Amore

Scirea non telefonava a Bergamo e Pairetto, ed a giocato e dato la sua vita al calcio ed alla Juventus. Quando sputi e spari menzogne sulla nostra maglia insulti un grandissimo uomo come Scirea.

JU29RO

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Mediawatch

ça chauffe, les chauffeurs

The ARRIVA tsunami continues. The “teething” problems are being dealt with and I am also told that Austin Gatt gave a good performance on Dissett (still got to find time to watch that one on streaming). One of the big deals in the ARRIVA saga has been the issue of working time for the bus drivers. The 57 who tried unsuccessfully to cause a major strike had a gripe about “split shifts” and there were also a number of figures being bandied about with regard to salaries and hourly payments.

Luxembourg’s l’Essentiel has carries an article today about coach drivers for private companies who are complaining about their work conditions. The first comment was a shocking reminder of the arguments made last Saturday by the renegade workers: “The other day I started work at 04.45 and ended at 16.4.5. I got paid as though I had worked 8 hours.” The monthly salary for a private coach worker is 2650€ and the article claims it is 800 or 900 euros less than public service drivers in Luxembourg.

The problem, it seems, is working time and what counts as work and what is not. In their case, the Luxembourg private coach drivers complain that hours waiting for delayed planes at airports are not factored into their salary.

Whether it is Luxembourg or Malta that we are talking about the dignity of the worker is at stake. The question really is one of defining what constitutes working hours and how they are to be calculated. Companies like Arriva who operate in multiple EU countries (UK, Germany, Greece) cannot have the luxury of ignoring EU legislation. It’s one thing denouncing ridiculous demands such as those seen last Saturday, it is another to abuse of a worker’s right to a just salary and proper working hours.

LUXEMBOURG – Les chauffeurs de bus des compagnies privées avouent leur détresse et déplorent leurs conditions de travail

«L’autre jour, j’ai pris mon service à 4h45, j’ai terminé à 16h45. Le tout a été payé comme si j’avais travaillé huit heures». Joël (son prénom a été modifié) et ses collègues n’en peuvent plus de leurs conditions de travail.  Et de leurs salaires. Avec plusieurs années d’ancienneté au compteur, Joël émarge «à 2 650 euros par mois, on a des écarts de salaires de 800 ou 900 euros avec les chauffeurs de la ville de Luxembourg».

Qui plus est, les journées sont longues. «En moyenne, on a une amplitude de 11h30, et il faut y ajouter les trajets entre la maison et le travail. Et on ne nous paye que 40heures par semaine. Sur les transferts depuis l’aéroport, il arrive qu’on attende deux ou trois heures, si un avion a du retard. Ces heures ne sont pas payées. Bien sûr, on peut toujours laisser le bus et aller au café, mais ce n’est pas l’objectif».

Tant qu’à ne pas être payés, les chauffeurs préféreraient passer ce temps «libre» chez eux. «Et j’ai déjà enchaîné plusieurs semaines de six jours de suite, je n’ai jamais vu les jours de récupération auxquels j’ai droit. Ce n’est pas humain ce qu’on vit. Pourquoi tout le monde a le droit de travailler huit heures, et nous, on a juste le droit de crever dans nos bus».

Jérôme Wiss

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Mediawatch

T.G.I.T.T.C.B

In case you are wondering that stands for “Thank God It’s The Times Comments Board”. In the good old days of early blogging when online newspapers merely reproduced their daily content without a hint of interactivity it was a J’accuse pastime to pick on the weak and deserving – famous among which was the Dame of the Grammatically Incorrect a.k.a. Lorna Vassallo.

Our TGIL section (Thank God It’s Lorna for the uninitiated) flourished in accordance with the Dame’s latest outbursts. Nowadays, thanks to the democratisation of the comment boards – what with online papers vying for the biggest goof allowed to splatter his thoughts to all and sundry under a fitting pseudonym, the sport is a bit like shooting on the Red Cross.

Be that as it may, it does not mean that some sport may not be had with the more prolific of commentators (who incidentally persist in arrogating the moniker of “Bloggers” to their thick selves). Where better to begin than the arduous Frans A. Said from the Times? Here he is commenting on the court hearing of the hit-and-run case in Qawra. We accord him the Lorna Treatment (i.e. my bracketed comments in red).

 

Mr FRANS H SAID

Today, 15:37

I am a frequent visitor to the said area (said area being Qawra – Frans does stick to the Rumpole of the Old Bailey style of writing in order to feel more self-satisfied and pompous when he presses send). Excessive speed is the order of the day (Għamillu Excessive Speed bil-bajd u bacon), any time of the day (Qawra – the city that never slows down). Black exhaust is part of the idyllic scene (decide man – is it idyllic or is it full of black exhaust? Would Manet or Monet have painted Black Exhaust into their landscapes to give it that “idyllic touch”? Et In Qawra Ego). Excessive radio and silencers, but our police are deaf. (This one is worthy of a Lorna Vassallo Prize – the cumulative effort of trying to complain about too many things at once has the effect of nullifying Frans’ argument. Picture (a) Excessive Radio: What is that exactly? Like too many stereos strewn on the kerb? Is he asking for the deliberalisation of the radio waves? (B) Excessive Silencers: Again. Thinking before typing might help Frans. Is this a car that has 20 silencers? If it does, doesn’t it make it very silent? I know he probably means pimped silencers that make more noise but hey who am I to get into Frans Said’s head?And finally (c) the police are deaf: Sorry? Somebody has swallowed an excessive dose of stupid pills today. Let us begin by saying that if the force has decided to become an equal opportunities employer then so be it. But here the complaint seems to be linked – the fact that all the non-sensical phrases combine to one sentence make is a pointer. So checklist time: (a) excessive radio (Bad) (b) excessive silencers (still mysteriously bad) = Conclusion : BUT THE POLICE ARE DEAF. As an illiterate Maltese once asked his English private lessons teacher: because?)

Parking on handicapped slots (OK So Frans is angry but bear with me. What exactly is a handicapped slot? Is it a wrongly painted parking space – a trapezoid parallelogram perhaps?) , but the wardens only appear like rats and disappear again. (And if handicapped slots were not enough, here comes the Gunter Grass of Maltese bloggers (sic). The warden is a rat. Discuss. Does the problem consist of the fact that the warden is a rat (the bastard) or that he disappears (may I point out that the disappearance is repetitive – hence the need to append the word “again” to the end of an already useless sentence).
It is in places like these that speed cameras are required not on the Burmarrad Road (what if they do both frans?). But the Local Council can earn more from Burmarrad than in high tourist areas (the King of Non-Sequiturs. Again we are having problems visualising some of the concepts. What is a High Tourist Area? Is it like a High Elf in Tolkien’s world? Do they walk on stilts? Or is the area itself on some form of plateau?)

But who cares (Delirium sets in just as he was getting hot. He’s tired now and has lost the “question mark” key on his keyboard). The parents do not, as otherwisde they would have hidden the car keys (I’m dying here. The caring parent hides the car keys. Should I really comment?) Who bought such an expensive car/ (Who indeed? The rant against handicapped slots, deaf policemen, excessive radios, excessive silencers, misplaced speed cameras and high tourist areas ends in a very investigative non-sequitur: who bought such an expensive car. Frans’ levels of exhaustion have reached their climax. The question (that gets a slash instead of a point of interrogation) is probably prefaced and followed by a million thoughts that did not find their erratic way from overheated brain to question-mark deficient keyboard. Sadly we’ll never know where the final rhetoric came from).

Finally, do not worry, eventually he will get a suspended sentence, his driving licence (which in any case he does not possess) will be suspended for a few months, and Bob’s your uncle. (What? Me? Worry? No driving licence to suspend and yet Frans thinks it will be suspended. He had to add the “Bob’s your uncle” at the end of the letter. The phrase is currently vying with that other all time favourite “tell it to the marines” as the most uselessly overused phrase among Maltese commentators.)

This has been J’accuse deciphering Frans Said so you don’t have to.

Q. What do you tell a deaf policeman in Qawra who is helping a rat warden issue a ticket to the man who has just spread more radios and silencers across the road?

A. Tell him anything. He can’t hear you.

 

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Mediawatch

Sfegatati

We’re in our 7th year of blogging and the fourth one of our Sunday column and we like to think that J’accuse has had a rather consistent “editorial line” throughout this time. When I started blogging I chose “la verité si je mens” as a sort of motto for J’accuse. “The truth, if I lie” is an apparent contradiction picked up from a social commentary comedy film by the same name that pictures the world of the “tunsian-jews”. We later appended another motto – “ludendo castigat mores” – he makes light of serious values. I still like to believe that J’accuse remains an outlet of personal opinion and commentary on current events and beyond.

Dedicated readers will have noticed that my position on national politics is one that insists on the importance of proper representation and as a corollary points out the inadequacies and drawbacks of the bipartisan grasp on local politics. In other words we dish out deserved criticism to whoever falls within the line of fire of our argument. It is with huge disappointment that I still find that my blog is seen as a vehicle of “the PN” or “the PL” by some parts of the reading world. There could be a reinforcement of my original thesis here since anyone who is groomed to think in PLPN terms will only be able to be “hurt” by criticism of “his party” without seeing the wider picture of why the criticism is there in the first place (and by ignoring the fact that the criticism is meted out to other parties too).

The latest manifestation of the pigeonholing of J’accuse into “the other side” (a relative term) was on Saturday’s l-orizzont. A geezer by the name of Joe Fava had this to say:

Dan il-fatt lampanti, jiġifieri li llum GonziPN tilef kull nitfa ta’ kredibbiltà huwa aċċettat minn kulħadd. Saħansitra anke opinjonisti anti-Laburisti sfegatati bħal dak li fil-ġurnal The Malta Independent on Sunday, l-għaxqa tiegħu jakkuża b’kull malformità politika lill-PL u biex jikkopja lill-awtur famuż Franċiż Emile Zola jintitola l-kontribuzzjoni tiegħu J’accuse (jien nakkuża), kellu kontra qalbu jistqarr li l-opinjoni pubblika tant irriġettat lil GonziPN u tant qiegħda temmen lil Joseph Muscat, li kieku xi ħadd jgħid li Joseph Muscat ivvinta t-‘toaster’ u l-‘washing machine’, jemmnuh ukoll!

Whatever drugs this guy is taking should be distributed freely to the sad and bored of the land. J’accuse is not an anti-laburist, nor is it an anti-nazzjonalist. It is anti-bipartisan opiates. Incidentally Joe we acknowledge openly the Zola inspiration and we like to say that we are not copying the words but the spirit of J’accuse. It is evident that you have not noticed how the fact that the people are currently in gullible mode with regards to Muscat was not a complement nor a grudging acknowledgement. It was part of a wider argument that claimed that Muscat has gained such trust (if trust it is) through deceit and abdication of political responsibility.

Sfegatati we may be. But our tireless quest is the age old one shared by philosophers of old and young thinkers of new. As some friends commented on facebook there are good conclusions to be drawn out of this. Two in particular:

1. if ‘re getting it from both sides it means you’re doing something right! (M. Tortell)
2. There are worse things in life Jacques!! … Either one of them could be calling you ‘friend’… (C. Cassar Torregiani)

Q.E.D.

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Divorce Mediawatch Politics

Silence of the Nats

There’s an eerie, deafening silence coming from the PN HQ in Pietà. Yesterday night Joyce Cassar of the No to Divorce people did her flipping utmost to try to divorce her movement (tee-hee) from any association with the priests, the nuns, or the church (as she put it not so mildly). And she also did her damndest to underline the fact that she is not working in cognito for any political party. Damn right she isn’t. On the other hand the PN silence of the matter is as politically absurd as Joseph Muscat’s attempt to get his testicle-less Labour linked in some way to any possible achievement of the YES vote without doing anything.

JPO has introduced one of the greatest minefields that Gonzi’s PN ever had to face. The feeble, abstract party line opposing the introduction of divorce pales in comparison with the numerous activists and natural blue-voters who are all out in favour of the introduction of Liz Taylor’s second favourite right (up there with inheritance). Speculation is rife about whether a YES or a NO vote can benefit one or another party. Only in Malta. The PN has taken the best tactical position – it is slowly vanishing into nothingness. Notice. Vociferous party flag wavers and even party sympathisers have gone AWOL. The usual suspects have supposedly “had enough” of the divorce debate. Others, who are all noisy and cantankerously irritating when it comes to womens’ lib and the like have suddenly taken a sabbatical (apart from the random swipe at the levels of nothingness the NO camp can reach).

The PN cannot cope with the fact that the intelligent voter – in a civic sense – would have no qualms with voting YES any day. Not being in control of the critical swinger (who might be scared away from voting AD but is less easily bullied into voting on some misinterpreted principle that only the current batch of neo-catholicmullahs would understand) is very very scary for the PN crowd. They just don’t want to alienate him or her. Thankfully the intelligent voter will also not fall for Joseph Muscat’s false bravado and his empty no-progress brigade. Which means that the less the PN gets associated with any decision the better the chances to keep the status quo.

Hence the silence.

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