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Six Years of Quality Blogging

Today J’accuse turns six. We’ve gone a (very) long way since the 10th of March 2005. Both the national and international blogosphere have changed tremendously as befits the speed of change in the ether. From the definition of Wankellectual (first introduced on the 15th March 2005 when some bloggers had no idea the blog world even existed) to today’s commenting of the Jasmine Revolution we’ve seen all sorts of changes.

J’accuse never underestimated the power of the net. Thanks to  Mark Vella (Xifer – let’s give credit where it is due) and his constant nagging, I set up a blog and we kicked off somewhat hesitatingly back then. Six years. That’s an eternity on the net. We like to believe that although we provoke and criticise we do so fairly – in the supreme interest of the discovery of the truth. In fact, notwithstanding so many changes we insist on keeping one thing constant: quality blogging.

Which is why we urge you not to be selfish. Pass the word and share the (free) links. J’accuse… the truth if I lie… will still be blogging for a time yet (so you don’t have to).

Merci
Jacques

Interesting Facts (will be updated)

***
Here’s a blogroll from our first year (2005), give us a shout if you recognise your blogname (I’ve put some authors in brackets). This, my friends was Blogosfera Mark I (apologies for the absence of (mostly dead) links:

Quod Principi Placquit

Triq il-Maqluba (Antoine Cassar)
Malta 9 Thermidor (Fausto Majistral)
Books & Beans (Pierre Mejlak)
Inutile de Dejeuner (Gybexi)
Wired Temples (Robert Micallef)
Ajjut! Ajjut! (A.O.)
Neebother (Justin BB)

In alio pediculum

Xifer (Mark Vella)
Tgedwid
Xemx u Xita (Alex Vella Gera)
Nigredo (Nigredo)
Waweasill
Bananazzurri
Chef Condom
Toni Sant (as himself)

Illiud Latine dici non potest

Diverse Ramblings (Maltagirl)
Kenneth (the guy from Mellieha)
Lost in Thought (Sharon Spiteri)
Rites of Passage (hmm)
Thea (…) Planet
Hsibijiet
il-Krizi…u kif teghlibha (Alex Vella Gera)
Rupert Cefai (Bertu)
L-Istrordut Kroniku
Le Pont Mirabeau
Mill-Art (AVG)

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For all of it’s current lease of life J’accuse has been based in Luxembourg City. It will be moving (along with us) by May 1st to Dondelange, a tiny village on the outskirts of Luxembourg City – follow the move on J’accuse.

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Non Sequitur is the longest running rubrique of J’accuse. It has not yet reached 100 posts.

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Last year J’accuse introduced the Zolabyte – a running series of guest posts inspired by the original J’accuser Emile Zola.

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J’accuse was awarded a prize for quality blogging at thê THINKABOUTIT! blogging competition organised by the European Journalism Centre (EJC).

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J’accuse is also available on twitter, facebook and as a column The Malta Independent on Sunday.

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Jasmine Politics

Speaking of Heroes

BBC news is reporting that Malta may be objecting to an EU decision to extend sanctions on Libya. As fighting in rebel held territories worsens with heavier attacks by Gaddafi’s forces Malta seems to be shuffling its feet when it notices that the sanctions might hurt its own pocket:

A European Union decision on whether to extend sanctions on Libya is being delayed by objections from Malta. BBC Europe business correspondent Nigel Cassidy understands that Malta fears further sanctions could damage some of its companies. Diplomats from the 27-nation EU bloc are discussing a freeze on dealings with the Libyan Investment Authority. – BBC news

While the local minded connoisseurs of international intrigue might be busy racking their brains trying to link Gaddafi to the Labour party (of course the safety of Libya’s insurgents depends on Labour’s kitty) our representatives in Brussels are hedging on the possibility of some effective action. J’accuse already warned that the façade of our “hero brigade” might melt away faster than butter in the August sun.

What use is it, really, that we tut-tut about financial comptrollers shifting Gaddafi’s money from beach to island when our own government is unable to get in line and squeeze the bastard’s finances dry?

Business I hear you say? It’s not just John Dalli who has those interests is it?

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J'accuse : They love me all

“To men fighting for their lives day by day in the foulest of physical conditions it was nauseating to read, day after day, the lying official communiqués in the Press.” I came across this quote in a book by BBC journalist John Simpson (Unreliable Sources, Macmillan 2010) that is turning out to be an excellent and informative run-through of “how the 20th century was reported”. The quote itself is from an unnamed book by A.J. Cummings, editor of the News Chronicle early last century.

John Simpson’s work provides an authoritative insight into how the relationship between the press and the world altered − starting from the Boer War at the close of the 19th century and ending with the Iraq war at the turn of this century. It shows how the press managed to morph into various forms: from a useful tool of government propaganda at the height of jingoistic enthusiasm, to the inventive “journalism” based on ‘stands to reason’ assumptions. The quest to ‘report’ (and be the first to do so) eventually got entangled with political motivation and eventually political slant.

Conflicts

As I type, BBC World News is showing an e-mail from a viewer questioning the wisdom of a news item (by John Simpson incidentally) from Libya that might have been useful in reporting the strife in a particular corner of the world but might also, the viewer argued, have put the lives of those reported in further peril. Journalists working in war conditions are often faced with dilemmas − they need to substantiate the claims of aggression, murder and violence but to do so they need hard evidence. The battle lines are also drawn in the field of information.

Colonel Gaddafi and his son Saif have proved to be adept at manipulating the one great weakness of public information: doubt. The Gaddafis may be psychotic, they may be a rambling caste of lunatics but they are demonstrating a knack for playing with the weak-kneed and abusing the loopholes opened up by questionable precedents in the past. Early in the struggle, Muammar displayed this knack by bringing into play the Tiananmen and Moscow exception. It was not just down to

braggadocio: Moscow and Beijing sit on the Security Council. Gaddafi was speaking directly to the capitals, reminding them of the precedent they had set.

This week, as the battle between rebels and faithful forces (it is not such a coincidence that this kind of plight sounds like a more mundane plot to Star Wars) seemed to be moving towards a desert-induced stalemate, Gaddafi and Saif went into a PR overdrive. Don’t laugh. I’m not referring to pills in Nescafe bull. I’m referring to the enormous effort to sell the idea that this was a legitimate sovereign government under threat from foreign forces. Precedent, precedent, precedent. The international community hesitated to echo the word in the street: “Gaddafi Out!” We ended up with sanctions and more evacuations.

Perception

In 1935, following the Italian invasion of Abyssinia, the League of Nations had also displayed an uncanny ability to hesitate − its inability to take effective action has been linked to the inability of the members to give the necessary importance to Abyssinia and their fear of driving Mussolini into Hitler’s hands. The script in Libya is not identical to the Abyssinian question, but the move by Gaddafi to appoint new envoys at the UN and to continue to plug the line that his is a government under siege that is being falsely depicted in the news is intended to destabilise concerted international action.

Gaddafi’s targets are the weak-willed members of the international community. They are those who hate to be reminded of cosying up to the dictator, or worse, those who hate to look at him and see a bad copy of themselves. They are those who fell for his trap of “precedent”. Russian TV has promoted newsclips denying any air raids on civilians. The corroboration of Gaddafi’s assertions seemed misplaced in the light of other news items from the rest of the world. While conspiracy theorists might revel in this 2011 equivalent of the moon landing denials, you do get to wonder how much of this corroboration was scripted with Chechnya on the Russians’ mind (or the early rumblings of the Jasmine revolution’s spread to China).

bert4j_110306

Neighbours

Closer to home we had our own set of weak-willed who seemed to be prima facie advocates of caution. Their enthusiasm to play into the hands of Gaddafi and his spin soon unmasked them though. From (EU Commissioner) John Dalli to (former politician) Reno Calleja, they inexplicably pandered to the “wait and see” approach − sometimes even venturing on the “denial of violence by Gaddafi” line. Dalli stopped just short of accusing the international press of a montage that was intended to denigrate the Green Book Writer. It will be hard for Dalli to wriggle out of this mess. What counted for Joseph Muscat, with regard to image damage when it comes to management in times of crises, will also count for Dalli if what seems to be his inevitable leadership challenge ever comes true.

Malta’s press and people have enjoyed the limelight of this Libyan Crisis in a weird way. I had a bit of a problem with this sudden heroic status of our government and state because of its aiding and the “evacuation” of people caught in the midst of the Libyan Civil Uprising. Mind you, I had no problem with what was termed ‘heroics’, the government was after all doing the decent thing.

We cheered boatloads of Koreans, Chinese and Croatian workers entering the harbour. They were fleeing a war zone but it was OK − not just OK but heroic − for us to assist them in their plight. Only a few weeks back we would have had only one type of response to boatloads of refugees/immigrants fleeing their troubles. I guess our reply then would scarcely have qualified us to lick the boots of heroes.

Love
Communication has become vital in today’s world. A simple twist of words and a dedicated barrage of counter-information can make a dictator sound like the victim of a foreign conspiracy. There will always be those who are either too stupid, too duped or too involved to ask the right questions. Today’s press holds an important weapon in the battle for truth and justice. When wielded by the wrongpeople it can cause anything from irreparable damage to mental stagnation.

I wonder, though, what it will take to convince someone like John Dalli that the half a Libyan body (torso up) lying in the streets of Benghazi does not love Gaddafi. What media orchestration could have hospitals unable to take new patients, blood running on the streets and hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the country? Are all these people so stupid to have swallowed the media montages to the hilt? Really John: can you believe Muammar Gaddafi when he smiles at the BBC correspondent and says: “The people… they love me all”?

Jacques René Zammit blogs daily at www.akkuza.com… celebrating six years of pioneering quality blogging in Malta
on 10 March.

This article and accompanying Bertoon appeared yesterday in the Malta Independent on Sunday.

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Jasmine Politics

A testing time for Heroes

La Stampa reports another wave of immigrants landing in Lampedusa. By ten o’clock last night four boats had arrived in less than 6 hours carrying 218 persons. The Libyan border with Tunisia is one massive refugee camp while the south to north migration seems to not have been deterred by the troubles in North Africa. This combination, added to the fact that the last thing on the mind of North African authorities is the policing of the ships leaving their ports, threatens to become an explosive nightmare and an eyeopener for the likes of the Swedish Foreign Minister.

Intanto non si ferma la nuova ondata di sbarchi di immigrati nordafricani sull’isola di Lampedusa. Dalle 22 di ieri sera sono state quattro le imbarcazioni arrivate in poco meno di sei ore, con a bordo complessivamente 218 persone, tra cui una sola donna.

Will the Maltese authorities work just as hard to provide a safe haven and a promising future for the waves of refugees and immigrants that are bound to start hitting the island as the weather gets fairer? Will the heroic and valiant efforts put at the service of the international community be maintained? This could be seen as a crisis as well as an opportunity. This is our chance to show the Swedes, the Canadians, the Chinese, the Russians and any other country that has been using Malta as a bridge for evacuation that there really is no difference between a boatload of Somalis, Eritreans or Sudanese fleeing a war-torn country and a Frigate-load, Hercules-load or Catamaran-load of Canadians, Chinese, Croatians or you name it fleeing a war-torn country.

This is when the Heroes with a capital H will begin to shine.

 

Photo from Wall Street Journal.

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Sleeping Bitches & Galliano

A serialised long post intended to reassure readers that while we normally let sleeping dogs lie there is no reason to believe that we are reluctant to call a spade a spade.

N.B. To be read in doses. Reminder to Daphne-lites: You are free not to read on. On the other hand the breaking down into parts of this post is intended to facilitate cutting and pasting for better presentation while posting in other blogs’ comment sections.

I

The intellectual standards of this too-complicated-for-plebs blog do not normally allow us (the Royal We for Wankellectuals) to descend into the pits of mud-slinging that can be discovered daily in other quarters of the Maltese blogging world.

Back in 2007 J’accuse (6 on the 10th of March) had a tough time moderating the bitching and haggling in the comment section. Having realised belatedly the usefulness of the new media (thanks to the eyeopening sessions on J’accuse in mid-election campaign) some of those commentators went on to open blogs  of their own… perpetuating their inimitable style developed in the comment section.

II

That was then. Meanwhile, we remained happy to discuss politics and not people, ideas and not looks, values not prejudices – all the while observing the development of the use of the new media. We continued to ask questions – in particular with regards to different parts of the Fourth Estate. Others chose what a colleague of mine called the Slash and Burn style of journalism – and got their accolades from their acolytes.

Today, I feel obliged to put up this post after a sincere demonstration of concern by readers who via e-mails and phone calls wondered whether I would ever reply to what appears to be a sudden fixation by Daphne Caruana Galizia on what she calls a “Class A Wanker” (actually she claims to have called me so several times bah… sticks, stones and girls in a playground).

III

I would normally have no time to check the lesser side of her blog – the Runs – having long abandoned any hope of finding any intelligent conversation by the various aliases. I have no problem with checking Daphne’s daily postings because I cannot honestly expect to comment on the internet news without taking into account other blogger’s points of view and slants on the news. I have no time to waste on the ramblings of the Daphne-lites in the comments section though and were it not for the signalling by J’accuse readers and a sudden mention in a post attacking an article by Saviour Balzan (but mainly based on the usual “guilt by association” approach – more on this later)  I would not have noticed the revival of the DCG fixation.

It transpires that a few Daphne-lites have been stoking the columnist’s easily flammable temper by posting interesting observations about myself or my blog. It also turns out that Daphne is stupid enough to think that I would actually post on her blog with an alias. I have never hidden behind an alias and never will. What did happen – as I confirmed by using common sense and a bit of research – is that a person who commented regularly on this blog (using his first name to boot), and who is based in Luxembourg, started to do so on Daphne’s (using the same first name).

The paranoid reaction to the endless nit-picking by this particular commentator was to send him back to “his own blog” to play. Yawn-inducing paranoia had come into play.

IV

Daphne and the Daphne-lites have a fixation with the unreadability of this blog. Incredibly they also have a knack of referring to it constantly. Does that classify as irony? Sadly for the rent-a-crowd in that corner of the net J’accuse shows no signs of abating and remains a steady reference point for the more balanced approach to analysing current affairs. (Did I mention that we turn 6 on the 10th of March?).

Of course our analysis might not always fit in to the jigsaw puzzle of the World as Seen from the Runs. Here are a few (unanswered) examples:

  • PLATEGATE or Why Now? Part 1: J’accuse was the ONLY presence in any part of the press asking the most pertinent question in the Daphne Caruana Galizia vs Consuelo Scerri Herrera saga. If Daphne had collected such a wealth of information over a long period of time alleging inappropriate behaviour by a Magistrate … what prompted her to start blogging about it?  Why did she choose that particular moment? Was it so hard to admit that it had nothing to do with civic conscience or journalistic probity? WHY NOW?
  • RAYMOND CARUANA or Why Now? Part 2: Almost a year passed and we had a similar situation. DCG upped the ante on Illum journalist Julia Farrugia. Suddenly more than 25 years after the actual facts DCG developed an acute sense of journalistic investigation and went on a whole trip piecing publicly available information together to develop a story. What you think about the story is irrelevant. Daphne’s timing is not. It is irresponsible to say the least. But very typical of journalism that is not at the service of the public and the truth. It is journalism at the service and use of private means and ends. I don’t buy the stories of Daphne being some poodle to RCC or some other masters bidding her to do this and that. What I do read is a very unprofessional and unethical application of journalistic skill. Why now indeed?
  • JPO: Funny how JPO is now accusing Daphne in court (under oath) of being a slave to political masters – ready to do some spin damage at their beck and call. J’accuse can vouch that Daphne was busy insulting anyone who dared criticise crocodile tear Jeffrey during the Mistra saga. She backed the nationalist party’s outright defence of the man even in such instances when he was given a press card to ask questions to Alfred Sant. Press decency my backside… the imperative was save Jeffrey… save the party. Especially from people who were “setting themselves up as objects of hate”… yep this was the time when Daphne heaped insults on anyone who dared propose that the PL/PN option was a blind, valueless cul-de-sac…. we would be vindicated come the divorce issue (among others).. but hey what counted was the character assassination at the time.

V

Taste. Daphne is big on guilt by association and character assassination. Who will ever forget the “zokk u fergha” campaign? Just look now at the Mintoff-Labour-Gaddafi saga as Daffers turns into a one-woman CNN of sorts reporting such great events as which flag is flying over the Libyan embassy in between harassing Graffiti poster carriers in wolf-in-sheeps’ clothing outfit.

The Saviour Balzan post referred to above was a clumsy attempt at throwing a number of perceived “nasties” together. Here’s the list of persons supposedly manning the barricades in some imagined revolution :

Salvu Balzan, Roger de Giorgio, JPO, the Prisoner of Zenda from Brussels, Matthew Vella, Al Jazeera Stagno Navarra, Choccies Benoit, Josanne Cassar, Secret Weapon Astrid, Julia tal-Guy, Charlon ta’ Albertown, xi Claire Bonello max-shag ta’ Norman Lowell, Ronnie Pellegrini, David Friggieri and Jacques Rene Zammit. Jason Micallef will man the field hospital and the Communications Coconut can be used to sneak messages below the radar across AnAmy lines. Don’t forget to take Reno Calleja with you, my dears, u xi AST ukoll ghax dak espert kbir fir-regimes. U jekk ghandkom bzonn xi covert operative, tinsewx li ghandkom il-Guy tat-Tunny Net.

 

Hospitals, covert operatives, regimes… jeez imagination does run wild at night doesn’t it? Oh Well, should our revolution ever need a kitchen stocked with such WMDs as crockery of the finest kind we know who to turn to don’t we?

In one fell swoop Jacques René Zammit is equal to Reno Calleja is equal to Ronnie Pellegrini is equal to Roger Degiorgio etc etc. It’s obvious. If you haven’t swallowed the “blog is unreadable” line then you might as well believe that Jacques Zammit, Reno Calleja, AST and Franco Farrugia (another one bandied around who I do not know from Adam) have one and the same objective.

Anybody who knows me or any of the above would know that this couldn’t be further from the truth. Daphne is more comfortable avoiding subjects such as Plategate or constructive criticism of the faults in our representatives operation and chooses to build on the guilt by association. The frenetic, paranoid attempt at bunching everyone who she disagrees with into one caricatured bundle is much easier on the mind of her readers anyway.

That way she can let fire with the Wanker or unmarried or nerd or whatever she perceives as the latest trendy insult…

VI

So yes. We’ve taken some time to look at why Daphne has suddenly worried our readers with a few gratuitous insults aimed our way.

Read my lips (or my characters):

Jacques René Zammit has never insulted Daphne Caruana Galizia.

I have criticised her modus operandi. I have criticised her argument but I have NEVER insulted the person.

There must be something to be read in the fact that Daphne Caruana Galizia has never replied to any of the critical arguments posited here and elsewhere. If the answer, like her friend Lou’s is that she does not read the blog… that it is boring …it still does not explain the insults. If you chose to take note of criticism then you might as well have the decency to reply with counterarguments. Insults or character attacking with guilt by association does not help.

Don’t get me wrong. Insult as much as you like.. after all it is a free world and I am fully aware of the heat and kitchen argument. It’s just that it is good for readers to know where the insults are coming from and what they are all about. It goes without saying that the level of insults, inventions and character assassination attempts will be expected to increase over the coming days.

I’ll do my damn best not to bother much with anything coming my way from that corner of the net and I kindly ask readers to do the same. J’accuse goes on with its publish and be damned approach at blogging.

This wankellectual is almost done. Now for the finale… the answer you have all been waiting for:

VI

What is the difference between John Galliano and Daphne Caruana Galizia?

One tends to dress weirdly, hurl abusive insults in what sounds like an alcoholic rage and has a funny moustache when all made up…

…  the other was fired by Dior.

 

When they say let sleeping dogs lie… it doesn’t mean you have to allow them to twist the truth. – J’accuse 2011

 

ADDENDUM: Note to TYOM people. You will inevitably reproduce this post because it deals with your pet hate. I know it is useless “forbidding” you to do so because what is good for the goose is good for the gander but if you do so then also have the decency to publish this addendum:

J’accuse DOES NOT and WILL NEVER endorse, support or in any way agree with TYOM, its content or its style.This kind of site can only be a disservice to the idea of proper use of new media and to the proper development of political discussion.

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Immigration Jasmine

The Devil You Know

Joseph Muscat must be chewing his liver by now. The Libyan Crisis has propelled our Prime Minister back up in the popularity stakes thanks to the wonderful transformation of our island into the Florence Nightingale of the Mediterranean. After the early hesitant pussy-footing Prime Minister Gonzi took a stand in line with the UN, the EU and the major policy-makers of the West. The “neutrality” issue was only bandied about by remnants of the “That 70’s Show” that still tend to appear as uninvited warts in our political constellation.

Thankfully, Muscat’s labour distanced itself from the likes of Reno Calleja but it was already too late. Muscat had dilly-dallied and hedged his bets too far. He had once again proven himself to be a massive FAIL in the statesman department. All the better for Lawrence and his troops who could draw cheques on the well thought international reputation bequeathed by his nationalist predecessors. There is no doubt that on an international level most voters with a thinking head on their necks would prefer the consistency and statesmanship of Lawrence Gonzi any day.

Behind the Scenes

It’s not so airy fairy behind the scenes though is it? We may be passing through a moment when Facebook is full of Maltese of all colours and creeds declaiming their pride to be Maltese and joy to see their nation at the service of humanity and humanitarian activity. As shiploads and planeloads of escapees from Libya entered our air and sea ports we clapped enthusiastically and patted ourselves on the back for a job well done.

David Cameron stopped short of granting a new George Cross to the island (the reference to the first period of assistance by the Maltese was not so cryptic was it?) and US viewers got their umpteenth chance to discover that Malta was an “independent tiny island” in the Mediterranean (so we also got the publicity Joseph had crassly craved for).

But we kept smelling something fishy. For behind the statesmanlike dealing with the crisis there was an incredible volte-face at both a political and popular level. Just think of it. We were watching a boatload of 2,000 workers who had lost their job due to the events in a troubled nation. Few, if anybody, were calling for them to “Go Back to Their Country”. We were suddenly the most hospitable of nations – an oasis of opportunity.

What difference is there, I ask, between a boatload of Eritreans displaced by Civil War and a boatload of Chinese displaced by Civil War? The Chinese are going home I hear you say? Oh so that is what it takes does it? So what you  mean is that so long as we can wash our hands from the responsibility of safeguarding the human life ourselves then we are quite happy to don the nurse’s hat and play the hero. Is that it?

Libya no More

Until a few months ago we have seen boatloads of Sudanese, Eritreans and Somalis heading to our country. All we could think of was “Go Away”. When we panicked and when we could not draw the attention of the international community to our plight (hell, despite all efforts the Swedish foreign minister still finds claims of immigration exodus “an exaggeration”) we turned to those who offered an alternative: Muammar Gaddafi’s Iron Fist (with the connivance of Signor Maroni and the EU Commission).

We were happy to turn the boats back to Libya and then like the proverbial monkeys closed our eyes, ears and mouth as to the consequences. They were another people’s problem. So yes. Until a few months ago we bargained with Colonel Gaddafi of the “pills in Nescafe and Al Qaeda in Benghazi”. We asked the man who paid mercenaries to shoot on his own people, his own blood, his own nation to help us solve the illegal immigrant problem.

We trusted a mad man to provide us with a humanitarian solution. He obliged. Later he would come up with the 5 billion euro blackmail as the lives of thousands of persons became subject to a barter with a Europe that was too busy to care.

Still patting yourself on the back?

 


From OpenDemocracy.org:

EU migration control: made by Gaddafi?

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