|
Do you recall? Joe Saliba, the harbinger of numbers-arguments in politics, and with him the premier’s right-hand man Tonio Borg, exclaiming that voting for their candidates in the June European Parliament elections would guarantee that the right decisions are taken in the European Parliament.
According to Mr Saliba, the European Popular Parties, that loose network of conservatives, held a majority in the European parliament.
Well last Wednesday, that majority simply did not surface. Buttiglione, a self-declared homophobe and Berlusconi-nominee, led Mr Barroso to back down and shy away from the vote.
That morning in the car, I was listening to XFM, and bang in the middle of the short, fresh news, the voice of my good former IVA colleague, David Casa astoundingly confirmed that he would be voting for Buttiglione.
And why? Because according to Mr Casa, he and Dr Simon Busuttil believe in the freedom of speech.
Anyone watching me in the car would have noticed my facial features distort dramatically.
I am not quite sure whether Mr Casa was being serious or not. Freedom of speech is one thing, but stating in black and white that homosexuality is a sin has nothing to do with freedom of speech. It is all about beliefs and statements, and that goes beyond a simple frivolous comment or untimely joke.
What completely boggles the mind is Mr Casa’s unexpected appreciation for Mr Buttiglione’s so-called freedom of speech.
Anyone who has worked or spent some time with Mr Casa, and I knew him well enough, will recall his propensity to surround himself with what Buttiglione would describe as sinners. Sinners being a word coined by Mr Buttiglione for culattoni (sodomites), as one of Berlusconi’s geriatric ministers had the gall to state in an official statement.
When in IVA, there were many occasions when I would brusquely but jokingly suggest that heterosexuals were a minority in the helpers list.
If this newspaper was a tabloid, and it is not, Mr Casa would not have survived such a comment on XFM.
On another radio, this time Radio 101, it was time for spin. The argumentation was simple. The anti-Catholics are intolerant and undermining the right for Buttiglione to exercise his religious beliefs.
This time round, Radio 101 conveniently forgot to mention what Romano Prodi, a devout Catholic, had to say about Buttiglione’s comment.
And this is the wonderful thing about Malta, you can say what you like and no one will question you. Not even your boyfriends and girlfriends.
Our other political rep in Brussels, Dr Busuttil, has obviously very little objection to Mr Buttiglione. He has obviously forgotten all his sermons uttered from the pulpit about minorities during his tenure as head of MIC. As everyone else in Maltese political system, he chooses to the follow party line. That is one sure way of moving in politics.
I will never erase the words he uttered in a Valletta restaurant which I have not frequented for ages, after the 2003 election result were he proposed that given the chance he would militate with a social democratic party. That I believe, was one those jokes that one simply confuses with the real thing.
Both Mr Casa and Dr Busuttil should inform Mr Saliba that things in the European Parliament are not quite the same as he pictured them.
They would also be commended if they reminded the secretary-general that many prominent PN activists are well meaning, normal citizens and have much to offer even though they have a different sexual orientation. They might even go as far as pointing out to him that according to Buttiglione many employees at Pietà are sinners.
Buttiglione’s comment did not only offend the greens and the reds and the liberals but also many Catholics, many of which do not share the same kind of fundamentalist-Hizbollah religious fervour.
Sexual orientation has no ideology, and Mr Casa could be clearly able to appreciate my comment.
Free speech as David Casa illustrated it so eloquently on the radio, is essential and should be guarded aggressively. However I cannot simply forget the innumerable instances when Mr Casa and his bosses have considered free speech intrusive, wrong and unnecessary.
I may not agree with everything Harry Vassallo says, but just see how he is ostracised from NET. What for example, would the PN say if someone in their ranks stands up and says: “Well, I think that abortion is acceptable and the right of every woman.” Would be it a case of free speech? Or perhaps that: “Smoking dope is sort of okay and a personal matter.” Or better still: “Blacks and Arabs are deficient beings and should be treated as such.”
No go, Mr Casa. It simply does not hold, and since we are on the subject of getting arguments right, why not pay a visit to PSI (Peter Serracino Inglott)? I am sure he will come up with a smashing good excuse to solve this bloody mess of confusing freedom of speech with doctrine. He is after the Mister Fix-It of the old PN, is he not?
And if this was not enough for all of us, the other piece of raw news coming out of Brussels was Tonio Borg’s veto on having stiffer penalties for those who pollute the sea.
The truth is that Dr Borg wishes to uphold the interests of the Maltese fleet, a fleet that wins Oscars hands-down for its abysmal record in marine pollution, which by way of analogy could be compared to Sierra Leone’s respect for human rights.
Dr Borg has proven to us, that he is a patriot first and last.
The problem with patriots is they look at the small picture and do away with the big picture. I said, well before the referendum in 2003, that the Nationalists would grow tired of Europe. They are too conservative, insular, unbending for Europe. The same applies to the other parties. And I am not in any way advocating my preference to any of the others.
And this is about oil slicks, when it finally comes to the real sticky subjects, we are going to be one hell of a Member State - insular, inward looking and unable to accept any responsibility for others.
To veto stiffer penalties for polluters is shameful. And this is when George Pullicino is calling on Maltese to accept the so-called eco-contribution as a good idea.
Malta is willing to lift protection levies and subsequently put hundreds of jobs in peril as we open up for unbridled competition, lose out on competitiveness to accede to EU rules but unwilling to strike off a number of oil tankers from our fleet… just in case a number of Maltese legal firms lose out on their handsome commissions and registration fees.
One of the most cherished Christmas gifts I ever had when a teenager was my short-wave radio. Addicted to BBC news and programmes was an understatement. In those exciting years, the seventies and eighties, it was not only the news that I listened to religiously. I learnt loads about music from a ‘unique‚ DJ called John Peel’. He passed away last week aged 65.
An icon who later also produced a programme called HomeTruths on Radio 4, which was a wonderful piece of people-talk, put together on the radio in a pleasant and jovial manner. Peel continued to work in radio at 65, promoting alternative music groups which would have had little chance to break through. The exciting thing about Peel is that he encouraged people to provide for new musical tastes. In a few words he was not a snob and made appreciation of music accessible… even for peasants like me!
|
