Global warming

Our Mediated World blog is where creative New Yorker Mark Forscher 'reprocesses things he finds interesting' in current affairs, design, media, & music. In this entry he demonstrates the urgency of global warming and quotes Malta's climate change specialist as reported by London's Independent.

Top negotiators described the effort - at a special UN conference in Buenos Aires - as like hanging on to a cliff face by their "fingernails", as the United States and oil-producing countries threw rock after rock to try to dislodge them...

The Americans also objected to mentions of the need to tackle global warming as opposed to adapting to it, and backed an extraordinary demand from Saudi Arabia that oil-producing states should receive billions of dollars in compensation from the rest of the world if they burned less oil.

Eventually a single meeting that could discuss the future was agreed for next May, and other uneasy compromises were reached, preventing total breakdown. "It is a finger-hold, like hanging on by your nails," says Michael Zammit Cutajar, a veteran climate negotiator for Malta who was for 11 years executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. [link to London Independent]

Mark Forscher's portfolio

A closer look at Global Warming

Malta climate profile from World Resources Institute

Malta takes no action to reduce climate change effects - from Greenpeace Mediterranean. What substantial progress since this report?

Unhappy working vacation

Bill Fedun a self employed former military man from Ontario, Canada is in Malta for a working vacation in which he is helping to set up and repair armours for the Palace Museum armoury. Unfortunately the weather, the food and the beer have turned out to be below expectations. Unlike last year, Bill is not in a happy mood:

Oh well...we had lots of company. Lots of grumbling people at the gates of Fort St. Elmo. If any body from Malta is reading this...you lost a LOT of money today you fools! When I was there, it was lovely, sunny and nice, though of course, the streets were flooded with over 6 inches of water at times. Its not like they make provision to drain off rain water...I think I saw the year's supply of rain this morning! There is not a lot of rain here...lots of cactus though.

Yesterday dropped into the Takali airfield. It isn't an airfield any more, of course, though it saw LOTS of action in WWII. Now the local craftspeople are trying to eke a living in the old nissan huts. Seems like an idea of the 1960's, with the tie dyed shirts and embroidered jeans, but these are just plain taudry, and well past their "sell by" dates. There is a plan to change it all...probably by putting up hotels...that seems to be the usual answer to urban renewal around here.

Bill Fedun wrote this other journal last year during a two week visit to study original armours for his business. A good read with beautiful Malta photos. (Malta Journal VIA library)

Grantly Marshall

Tonight, I will be present for an event convened by Poezijaplus in which Simone Inguanez will interview American artist Grantly Marshall – a man with a “taste for poetry as well for the dramatic”. Marshall is in Malta for the Shakespeare festival and is the author of '21 Poems for the 21st Century' (5 Volumes). Besides discussing poetry and reciting Shakespeare works, Marshall will also read some of his own poems. Vince Fabri and Walter Micallef will be providing the music. Everyone is welcome to join us at the Cafe Diva, The Manoel Theatre, Valletta 7.30 pm. I hope to see some of you there!

Best Creative Poetry - Grantly Marshall

Promoting the Bard - Lino Bugeja about 'Spotlight on Shakespeare'

Malta family crest

For those whose family name is Malta, Maltese, Maltesi etc...The Malta family crest pictured here:

First found in Sicilia or Sicily an island in the Mediterranean, a part of Italy. The original inhabitants were Sicels. Research shows that records of the Malta family date back to the noble Maltese family in Sicily, where Remigio Maltese was a castleowner in Lentini and Paolino Maltese obtained the castle of Stafenda in 1230. The Greeks colonized in 735 B.C. Phoenician settlements began in 6th century. Carthaginians arrived 410. Romans arrived, then the Saracens. Then the Norman Conquest said to be Sicily's brightest hour, 1057 A.D and taking 35 years.

Some of the first settlers of this name or some of its variants were: Elis Malta, who is recorded as settling in America in 1848; Cologero Malta, his wife Costanza and their two children, who were recorded in Louisiana between the years 1901-1910.


House of Names -Malta coat of arms products

Blogs and politicians

The Live from Brussels weblog contemplates the use of blogs by politicians:

Luc Van Braekel launches a discussion on his weblog: should government ministers in Belgium blog and RSS more (Ministers moeten meer bloggen en RSS'en). The debate seems to have taken a turn in the direction of: they shouldn't be blogging, they should be governing the country more properly. While I certainly think it would be interesting if these people blogged, I think members of parliament, or aspiring politicians that haven't been elected yet, can get more use out of blogging. After all, it is the task of the legislative branch to debate and represent the people, two things weblogs can help them with. The executive branch however can also benefit of blogging, because it makes it possible to comunicate quicker and more efficiently than via the 'normal' channels. Anyway, if the subject interests you, head to Paris, where my boss is organising an event about blogs and politics next month...

MP's and blogging - a new way to communicate? - from Hansard

Bloggers take on politicians - from the BBC

Blogging European Commissioner

Why politicians should have blogs? (pdf file)

Barbara Bode's trip through history

US based travel writer Kim Davies blogs about Barbara Bode who joined AWAI in Paris and writes a regular column for In Touch, an upscale membership magazine for women. Kim describes her as a recent transplant from Washington to Malta. In fact Barbara now lives in Gozo and she wrote this article published last spring for Transitions Abroad:

Malta is a magical time machine where you are enveloped by history. For curious and adventuresome independent travelers, the island is a perfect off-season destination: affordable, infinitely interesting, safe, friendly, English-speaking….I spent a month there in January 2003 and was so entranced that I decided to move there.

More than a Mediterranean resort, Malta is a place of burial vaults built before the Pyramids, temples that pre-date Stonehenge, and caves from the Punic Wars. A dozen UNESCO Heritage sites dot the islands. You can see catacombs and viaducts erected by the Romans, villages established by Arabs, and the historic evidence from victorious battles against the Turks in 1565 and against the Axis powers in 1940. And then enjoy evenings out at the theater, opera, dinner, and the casino.

Malta Off Season - Take a Trip Through History by Barbara Bode

American Writers & Artists Institute and International Living (AWAI)

Travel writing from advicegoddess.com

Online gaming in Europe

Legal Memo on Online Gaming in Europe, prospects for 2005 via the European Commission:

Eventually, one may not forget that it is very likely that regulatory models adopted by the United Kingdom, Malta and Slovakia will lead to serious Internal Market distortions, underlying the need of a European initiative in the field of remote gaming and associated services. At the occasion of the first report on the application of the Directive on electroninc commerce, the European Commission acknowledged that "Online gambling is a new area in which action may be required because of significant Internal Market problems and that it would examine the need for a possible new EU initiative."

2004 Online gaming Regulations - Malta

A day in the life of a Maltese teacher

A renegade rebel who writes poetry, plays the piano and is enthusiastic about photography. She leads a complicated life, mistrusts those around her and hopes to save enough money to buy a new Mazda. Equipped with a degree in Information Technology, Maria is currently teaching uncouth young boys in a state school until she finds the ideal job as a software developer. She recorded a diary for a day at school:

09:38 Eeeeeeeekkkk! Break in middle of corridor. Was stopped by a colleague from the other classroom. "Do you have key of room 11?" Oh shit. I had forgotten to hand the key in and the lecturer had spent a whole 8 minutes going around corridors and staffrooms looking for me in order to be able to start her class. Grrrrr! Apologizing profusely (actually just twice) I stormed off for my staffroom.

09:40 Bleh.. Switch on PC, check mail, reply to yet another couple questions about assignment which was to be handed in today.. Start having lunch while checking Google News. Yet more detail about the Tsunami disaster, more gadgets built, more criticism on politics, more speculation about M. Jackson.. The world lives on.

10:32 Oops! I have another lecture now right? Right. Hah. With the Tarzans. Let's hope they stay quiet today.

11:17 "Jekk m'inthomx se taghlqulu se nitfaghkom il-barra il-hamsa l-intkom!! Michael, aghlaq minn hemm" "Din ohti miss" "Michael ghidtlek ghalaq jew tmur barra, iddeciedi" "Ok miss".. Trust the boys to search online on anything (actually on one hottt topic in particular) BUT what they were requested to do. Men!

Alexis Callus has resigned

Alexis Callus has just quit as deputy mayor of Safi. With a letter faxed from the headquarters of the Nationalist Party (PN) he announced his departure from the local council in which he represented the Governing party. Although a number of stories emerged this week about his racist activism which included running an extremist website, he continued to enjoy the official backing of the PN. If the PN is serious about it's European credentials, it should now ensure that Callus and his followers are not permitted to remain active within the party.

MLP national protest tomorrow at 2pm Freedom Square Valletta

Family before country?

PrimeMinister Laurence Gonzi's decision to allow his nephew Alexis Callus to represent the Nationalist Party (PN) in local government should not be allowed to discredit this country in Europe. Callus, a racist activist who promotes the activities of extremist Norman Lowell, has the full support of the PN to stay on as a deputy mayor in Malta's south east. If the PrimeMinister sustains his loyalty to his nephew, he could be leading his already unpopular administration into a road that could secure it as the most unpopular and untrendy Maltese Government since the early eighties. This blog aside, the opposition's secretary general Jason Micallef and the pro-Labour media have been the most vocal in condemning racism while calling for the resignation of Callus. Not much from other circles apart from the PN's official defence of Callus. Finally the silence is broken by prominent journalist and former PN media chief Lou Bondi who wrote this piece for today's Times:

Alexis Callus, a 24-year-old Nationalist Party local councillor and deputy mayor of Safi, should resign his post in the council as well as from the party. Enough facts about his beliefs and activities have emerged to prove that he flirts heavily with racist ideas and subscribes to an extreme-right wing political philosophy. It is quite clear that this young man is not politically mature enough to realise the danger of the ideas he has been playing around with...

Mr Callus is not just an extreme right-winger. He also embraces other views which are as colourful as they are despicable. NGOs who help refugees and illegal aliens in detention, for instance, are called "the new mafia". Archbishop Michael Gonzi, in this PN councillor's view, was right to deny Labourites a decent burial three decades ago. And he opines that this government looks positively at such a view. Politically, this man lives in his own world.

What has the PN done about all this? Joe Saliba, the PN secretary general, said that Mr Callus admitted his mistake and was "forgiven". This is not good enough. It would have been acceptable had Mr Callus committed one foolish mistake. The facts, however, show that he adheres to beliefs that are clearly at odds with those of the Nationalist Party. For a party to forgive someone who commits a genuine mistake and be prepared to take the flak is a magnanimous act. To accept that the PN is represented in Safi by an extreme right-winger with racist views is not.

Racism, xenophobia and neo-fascist beliefs cannot be treated lightly, particularly at present. The Nationalist Party, a Christian democratic party in government of an EU member, cannot have a man who embraces them speak in its name. Mr Callus, a deeply misguided young man, is free to join a party which shares his views. But that party cannot be the PN.


Alexis Callus - a PN policy maker by VictorVella

Plastic surgery in Cape Town

A Maltese 77 year old woman has just been transformed by a plastic surgeon in Cape Town. From Mediscapes blog:

Let's call her Marrion and she was from Malta- that sun splashed rock in the Mediterranean. Ibiza it's not. God's warm English Waiting Room- it is- and when they all die, Marrion tells me they can't get cremated (For Malta's Catholic) so they get buried at sea. At least that's warm too. A hot tub for eternity I would imagine. Try that in Cape Town. You can't even dip a toe in the ocean, and we have two oceans. The iceman cometh even on the hottest days of summer. You shower on the beach. Swimming is for the brave. Or the desperate. And By the way it's not summer here. It's just that winter never arrived and it's nearly Spring. Lucky, Lucky for our clients. No umbrellas needed. Pass the Sunblock.

Beautiful Marrion had a full facelift and an upper and lower Blepharoplasty which shaved at least a decade and a bit from her previous facelift. Her surgeon at the last moment of the consult wanted to do a bit of laser around the mouth and chin to try and undo the smoking wrinklies and crevasses- areas the facelift doesn't touch. But I managed to convince her that Surgeons aren't make-up artists and she would never find a matching base for the laser area. Did she want to look like a chipmunk and did she want to have to spend 6 weeks indoors allowing the area to heal? Surely not in sunny Malta?

Sojourn in Sicily

The histories of Malta and Sicily are intertwined. For millennia Malta and Sicily served as land bridges for migrations of people from the east to the west Mediterrean. Prehistoric populations settled here and the Phoenicians and Greeks established major trading centers on both islands. Under the Roman Empire both Sicily and Malta became well-known for quality textiles and Malta's new rulers incorporated the islands into the province of Sicily. Malta, with Sicily, was ruled by the Vandals and the Visigoths in the 5th century and four hundred years later many inhabitants fled to Sicily following the Muslim conquest of Malta. Roger I, gained control in 1090 with Malta coming under the rule of the Norman kings of Sicily. Before the knights arrived, Sicily and Malta were both ruled by the Aragonese. Malta is today an excellent base for visits to Sicily, with numerous Maltese travelling regularly to Catania, Taormina, Palermo or Messina for short holidays. Caroline M. Jackson writes about her trip from Malta to Sicily for travellady.com:

From this small island smack in the middle of the Mediterranean, we were heading north on a daytrip to Sicily. By 6.30 am, we had cleared passport control and boarded the sleek catamaran which would make the crossing in an hour and a half. Operated by Virtu Ferries, the three-year old Norwegian-built catamaran more closely resembled the interior of an aircraft than a ferry. Expecting a great view after sunrise, we plunked ourselves on seats facing the sloping draped windows at the prow.

Minutes after our departure, I asked one of the uniformed stewards if we could open the drapes, only to be told: “You wanna seea the insida of a wava and get sicka?” Remembering the apostle Paul’s experience of getting shipwrecked in a storm off Malta, I meekly returned to my seat. Beside me a row of Finnish passengers were tucking into exquisitely packed boxed breakfasts. I unpeeled my banana and began to read my travel guide. Separated from mainland Italy by the Strait of Messina, triangular-shaped Sicily was named Trinacria (Greek for three points). Eighty-three times bigger than Malta, Sicily is 175 miles wide and 110 from north to south.

Sicily from Wikipedia

Smithsonian journey aboard SV Pantheon May 2005 -Malta and Sicily

Snooker

Malta is the venue for the next snooker European Open. Scottish defending champion Stephen Maguire is the favourite. From the World Snooker Association:

All of snooker’s leading stars are heading to the Mediterranean island for the event, which runs from January 31 to February 6 and will be staged at the luxurious Hilton Conference Centre in Portomaso.

Welsh Open runner-up Stephen Hendry is next in the betting at 9/2, followed by John Higgins (8/1), Paul Hunter (10/1), Mark Williams (10/1), Neil Robertson (25/1), Ken Doherty and Peter Ebdon (33/1) and Matthew Stevens (40/1). The likes of Whirlwind White, Steve Davis and Maltese hero Tony Drago will also be competing for the title.

The tournament will be televised by Eurosport and you can also catch up with the latest news on www.worldsnooker.com. Visit www.maltadirect.com/snooker/index.htm for details of package holidays to the Malta Cup

Global snooker centre

In this Q&A, 'Tornado' Tony Drago talks about Chelsea, gangster films and his mother's food.

Sharon Spiteri's musings

Sharon Spiteri, well known to readers of The Times, is back in the UK where she has been supplementing her journalistic experience with a degree from Cardiff. Refreshed from her Malta break she is now in Glasgow to take on her PhD ambitions. A theatre enthusiast and lover of red wine who I know well from the BJ's jazz days, Sharon will thankfully keep in touch with her friends via blogging and emails. This is her take on the news in Malta:

... so in Malta the two most watched programmes are news programmes. The first is the kind which takes place in a large studio with a panel of “guest experts” and an audience which is present and allowed to comment (something like Jerry Springer) but the topics are culled from news items. They had an asylum one a couple of weeks ago and I’m still waiting to get the recording for the pleasure of three hours of pure, unadulterated racism aired on live TV *sigh*

The other is a Parkinson’s type of programme which varies from one-on-ones to round-table debates. Anyway Maltese people are obsessed with politics and the news and see the two as interchangeable. The 8 p.m. news on state television, for years the only news programme, is still an “institution” despite the fact that it’s crap and that it has some serious competition from other stations.

News in Malta is extremely sanitised, no corpses, no mention of suicides, no sex, no foray into the private lives of public persons. I once wrote that a murder victim had been found in the text book position of autoerotic sex (asphyxiation/strangulation during sex) and all hell broke loose hehehehe. Another time I said that a murder victim was homosexual and I was sued for libel bahahahahaha!

Sharon Spiteri: Musings from Scotland

Virtually in Malta

From today's Times of Malta:

More than 1.7 million visits were last year made to www.visitmalta.com, the Malta Tourism Authority's destination website, an increase of nearly 20 per cent over the previous year. An average of 4,700 visitors accessed the site every day.

The primary points of origin for visitors to the site were Italy (18.7 per cent of hits), France (13.7 per cent), the Netherlands (11.6 per cent), the UK (11.4 per cent), Belgium (7.4 per cent) and Germany (5.4 per cent). During 2004, Dutch and Japanese language versions of visitmalta.com were launched, in addition to the existing sites in English, Italian, French, German and Chinese. A Spanish language version is due to be launched at the FITUR travel fair in Spain later on this month.

also featured on Holland Today News

Government inefficiency Part 1

The title from Julian Manduca's story in MaltaToday says it all: "Brussels allocates funds to a radio that does not exist". During a press conference just before Christmas, Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech proudly announced a successful bid for 300,000 euros from the European Union to fund a project for the Voice of the Mediterranean (VOM). What he did not say was that the Malta based radio station, a partnership between the Maltese and Libyan governments, had closed down twelve months before and the European money was going elsewhere.

It would have been more useful had the Minister explained to the sleepy reporters in attendance what happened to the 800,000 euros worth of equipment most of which had just been purchased for the plush offices that housed the controversial head of VOM. The extravagant Richard Muscat had, according to MaltaToday, awarded a contract for a monthly 8000 euros of public funds to his own son's internet company. Rather than replacing Muscat and investigating the alleged mismanagement, the Authorities closed down the popular station and appointed the Nationalist parliamentary candidate as Malta's ambassador to the Irish Republic where he continues to enjoy his lifestyle.

VOM - Dead or resting? Richard Marlowe in his new look blog explains why he thinks this is a lost opportunity for Malta

MLP asks for VOM explanation from Parliamentary committee

Temples and Tombs intrinsically woven into our history by Minister Zammit Dimech

Globalization

Four OpenDemocracy writers are attending the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre. They are blogging about the main developments at the global event for non-governmental organizations. At the same time, other OpenDemocracy writers are participating in the World Economic Forum in Davos and producing this blog. The Davos Conference has it's own official weblog.

Paul Hilder, in his latest essay for OpenDemocracy, proposes a map for 21st century democracy and discusses the challenges for the traditional political party in the context of globalization. Can it reinvent itself in a way that matches transformations of society, technology, and personal identity? He draws on global democratic experimentation to present a vision of the political party for an age of “open politics”:

Our critical imaginations should be sharpened by the awareness that parties as formerly understood may be disappearing. Who benefits, and how?

George Papandreou’s interview in openDemocracy (“Go ahead George, change it all”, December 2004) creates an opportunity to ask this question in a positive fashion. Most party leaders are defensive about the hollowing-out of the organisations they rely on. But Greece’s opposition leader sees the need and opportunity for a profound change if parties, and democracy, are to be renewed in the age of globalisation. Papandreou calls for a new kind of “open party”. That ideal, as yet found nowhere in reality, is novel even as aspiration.

At the beginning of constitutional democracy, the authors of the Federalist Papers, the founding debate of American politics, deplored parties as schismatic factions working counter to the interests of the commonwealth. Two hundred years later, could “open parties” instead bring public life closer to achieving the common good? What could they look like? Are they even possible? Would they depend, in turn, on a new pantheon of sun-god leaders?

African and Arab blogs

The latest post of Tripoli based Highlander links to a long list of blogs from Africa and also to the voting lists of the Arab Blog Awards. She also kindly mentioned this weblog. Thank you Highlander - I voted for you in all three categories:

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that many Africans were blogging from my beloved continent ( after all I'm African too ) check out this quite extensive list with relevant links. Hope you will enjoy another aspect of the blogging world.

On another note I made friends with a Maltese blogger ( * me waving to Robert*), since I love Malta very much, ladies and gentlemen I give you a 'window' on Malta : WIRED TEMPLES.

Many emailed me that they could not find the link to vote on the Arab Blog Awards, well obviously it was because I only linked to the site per se and not the voting section - as you probably noticed I did not canvass for votes . But if you are really interested than why not? here it is* best Arab ( English)* best every day life* best politics


New Year's Eve in Libya

Chess blog

Xadrez diario is a blog dedicated to chess news from around the word. This week the Malta International Open Chess Tournament came to a close:

On Friday 21st January the Paradise Bay ICT came to its final moments. The seventh and last round closed the programme of play. On first board GM Stefan Djuric and IM Saad Belouadah made an early draw; they started the round with 5 points each and thought they would be unreachable at the level of 5.5 points. In fact the only one within reach was Torben Sorensen who however faced the visitor from Monaco Patrick van Hoolandth; his sole hope to reach the top two was in winning the full point; winning strategy would lay him open to grave risks. Van Hoolandth would defend with drawing possibilities without risking dangerous skirmishing.

Looking the other way

The Nationalist Party is currently busy covering the steps of Alexis Callus, it's representative in Safi who has admitted to having been one of the promoters of last Saturday's gathering of racists and Nazi sympathisers. The event which took place in the town where Callus is deputy mayor representing the Governing Party stirred a huge controversy on the island particularly after it emerged that Callus's views were allegedly well known to his uncle the Maltese Prime Minister. While the Maltese Authorities remain steadfast in their support for Callus, the rest of Europe is commemorating the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the biggest Nazi extermination camp. From today's Guardian news weblog:

"I realised that they were prisoners and not workers so I called out, "You are free, come out!""
This is a quotation from Vasily Gromadsky, one of the Russian officers who liberated the Nazi extermination camp Auschwitz in 1945.

Today is the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the biggest of six Nazi death camps, where up to 1.5 million of the many millions of victims of the Nazis died as part of the "final solution" to exterminate the Jewish race.

Mr Gromadsky's story is told on the American Public Broadcasting site, which carries good material on the liberation and is one of many excellent Holocaust history resources on the internet.

The anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz has been chosen as an appropriate day for Holocaust Memorial Day, which is being commemorated around the world. Ceremonies are being held at Auschwitz, Krakow and Westminster Abbey.

Read more...


MLP calls for resignation of Safi Deputy Mayor - the Malta Independent

RACISM AND ANTI-RACIST RESOURCES AND ORGANISATIONS

Racism reddens our faces

The more sensible Ranier Fsadni, from the same camp, clearly does not exert much influence on the current strategists of the Nationalist Party. His article appears today on The Times. He should forward it to the Prime Minister:

There is a streak of Maltese racism that has come out more in the open since the incident at the Safi refugee camp two weeks ago. The way the incident has been discussed by some people - in public and in private conversations - has brought out a hostility not just to refugees but to non-Europeans more generally.

Now, Maltese racism should be combated because it is bad in itself. It is a self-destructive fantasy of power and human worth that, by denying full humanity to some people, destroys some of the racist's own humanity. But it is self-destructive in other ways. It threatens our economic future for a start. Being a fantasy that is completely cut off from how today's world is economically organised, racism is a threat to our competitiveness...

The Maltese people began that evolutionary leap into nationhood under the Knights when the population grew from some 20,000 in 1530 to 100,000 in 1798. That rapid population growth on such small islands was effected in part by a transformation of the economy - with our ports becoming hives of trading activity and cross-cultural interaction.

On its own, however, economic growth was not enough. The influx of foreigners was also necessary. It was an influx both routine and at times extraordinary, made up of refugees from the Ottomans, captured enemy soldiers and liberated Christian slaves; their numbers matched or exceeded, in terms of proportion of Maltese population size, those of today's refugees.

What is striking is how completely most of these foreigners - including non-Caucasians - were assimilated: today many Maltese are surprised to learn that we are a "melting-pot" that includes, among others, Jews and Africans. Multi-racialism, like cross-cultural exchange, is the very tissue of our identity as a nation.

Racism reddens our faces...and our balance of payments - the full article by Ranier Fsadni

Outdated Archbishop

Toni Sant defends cyberspace against the fire of the outgoing Maltese Archbishop :

It appears that Archbishop Mercieca is grossly misinformed about the nature of the internet and its true powers. I was shocked and dismayed to read today that he preached a dire warning about the ills of the internet, without exhibiting any idea of the incredible power it has to enable individuals to raise their voices above the humdrum of mainstream noise and mediocrity...

In decrying the dark side of the internet without much regard for the liberating aspects of the Net, the Archbishop chose to convey to his audience that there's still hope for old media to retain their sense of power over the masses. It's interesting to note that his audience this morning was made mostly out of old-fashioned journalists, who are little more than mouthpieces for Malta's main political parties; bastions of relative truths. For the sake of the Catholic Church in Malta, let's pray that the new archbishop (will he be appointed this year?) believes that the Internet is better that Mons. Mercieca declared it to be this morning.

Increase in internet subscriptions in Malta from MaltaMedia

Tensions in Malta

Kate McMillan, the Canadian artist who blogged about the immigration controversy in Malta has generated a number of comments in reaction to her posts.

From the WesternStandard blog:

I agree! When legitimate concerns on these issues are suppressed, then things begin to fester, the discourse envenimates to the point where only emotions matter! Words like "purity" and "homogenous" begin to dominate.
Posted by: John Palubiski January 24, 2005 08:37 AM

It's a recurring theme, isn't it? When will governments learn that when they apply curbs of political correctness to so-called race/culture sensitive issues, the result is to spawn Norman Lowells who then gather supporters because they can find no one else to speak to their concerns.
Posted by: Kate January 24, 2005 08:25 AM

Illegal immigration is one thing, but this Norman Lowell is quite another. I'm not completely sure who he is, but I do believe his mother was that infamous Nazi collaborator, Lotta Krappe!
Posted by: John Palubiski January 24, 2005 08:15 AM

From OutsideTheBeltway blog (comment entries started by Wired Temples):

It’s more like non-coverage by US media. The BBC and French media had extensive coverage of the efforts to keep illegal immigrants out of the Chunnel entrance in France and the status of the immigrant camp nearby. I also recall the constant reports of Albanians coming across the Adriatic to Italy. The flow of economic migrants isn’t anything new, but publicity of this sort only give people like LePen and Lowell a platform to spew more of their ideology.
Posted by: DC Loser at January 23, 2005 21:31 Permalink

Maltese is considered by linguists to be a dialect of Arabic, albeit more distinct than, say, Egyptian v. Levantine Arabic. The population is as homogenous as a mongrel, combining Arabs, Berbers, Italians, Greeks, and assorted invaders over its considerable history.
That said, there is certainly something to be said for trying to maintain a currently identifiable Maltese culture and not letting it get diluted by accident of history.
Posted by: John at January 24, 2005 01:26 Permalink

John, Point taken on maintaining an identity. But let’s take history as a continuum, I would assume every group in its time has tried to maintain its identity, but over time things conspire to change it. The current Maltese identity wouldn’t be what it is if it hadn’t been influenced by migration patterns over the millenia. One could say those “accidents of history” were what made them who they are today.
Posted by: DC Loser at January 24, 2005 08:47 Permalink

Lt Bell, What would you call what Lowell is doing? As far as I can tell, he’s a racist nut case. But things like this give him a platform to foam at the mouth and get him on TV. He’s using all the right neo-nazi buzzwords in that article, so his disclaimer is pretty unconvincing.
Posted by: DC Loser at January 24, 2005 08:51 Permalink

DC Loser: Of course! I merely note that people tend to resist change, particularly change that they do not instigate themselves. I’m bemused by the way some immigrants move to a place because it either offers opportunities that do not exist in the place they’re leaving, or have benefits that do not exist in the homeland, then try to replicate the conditions they just left. Whether it’s done to “protect ethnic identity” or simply resistence to change on the part of the immigrant, they seem not to realize that they are tending to make disappear that which was so appealing in the first place. Assimilation is always a two-way street, but the receiving culture should have “dibs” on the interpretation.
Posted by: John at January 24, 2005 13:34 Permalink


The benefit of the doubt? - The immigration controversy in Malta

Maltese across

A number of Maltese workers are relocating abroad in search of new employment opportunities. From yesterday's Glasgow's Daily Record:

Ten bus drivers from Malta were welcomed to Scotland yesterday as they started a new working life here. They made the 1500-mile trip from the Mediterranean island to work for Stagecoach Bluebird in Aberdeen.

One of them, Emanwel Buttigieg, 41, said: 'I have come here to get away from the heat. In Malta, we work long hours with no air conditioning.' There is a 5000 shortfall in experienced bus drivers across the UK.

Under water

Finding peace with oneself in Malta according to Leigh's blog:

Probably my most fond memory of the last ten years is the summer I spent in Malta in 1997. I learned to SCUBA dive and was introduced to a whole new world under the surface. At the risk of sounding very corny, being under water is the only place I truly feel like I belong! I made some very special friendships which I am pleased to say are still in tact, and made peace with myself finally.

So now I sit ten years down the line and seem to have come full circle. I am about to embark on another journey in my life for which I am feeling anxious, a little scared but mostly excited. There will be times where I don't know what to do, I won't have any money, and I will just make it up as I go along.

In the family

The controversy surrounding Alexis Callus, the Governing Party representative who has actively promoted a meeting of Nazi sympathizers held on Saturday, could be indicative of Malta's current state of affairs. The meeting addressed by ultra right winger Norman Lowell took place in Safi, the town for which Callus is the deputy mayor representing the Nationalist Party. Callus confirmed to the Times that he was actively involved with the website (now offline) that promoted the policies and activities of Norman Lowell's racist party Imperium Europa. The secretary general of the Nationalist Party denied on Sunday that a member of his party was involved in the extremist get together in Safi. By Tuesday, he was admitting the involvement of Callus and as today's Times reports:

"the Nationalist Party has accepted the apology of a deputy mayor who admitted involvement in 'radical right' website www.uliedmalta.com promoting a right-wing activity and does not seem to be planning any action against him. Asked whether the PN was contemplating to proceed against Alexis Callus, the Nationalist deputy mayor of Safi, party general secretary Joe Saliba said: "Mr Callus was honest enough to admit having made a mistake. That's enough for me""

One startling fact carefully concealed by the Nationalist Party and overlooked by the mainstream English language media is that Alexis Callus is the nephew of Malta's PrimeMinister Laurence Gonzi. No wonder the Nationalist media rallied behind Callus who participates in internet discussions with the pseudonym "OperazzjoniC3" - a reference to the Nazi-Fascist plan to invade Malta during World War II. On the other hand, this incident could throw some light on why the Nationalist Party always resisted calls to change the party name. With a name like that and with the collapse of Christian Democracy in Europe, the Nationalist Party has an extensive identity problem.

Colourful underwater

For German speakers, the Der Reise weblog describes the colourful underwater world at the rocky coasts of Malta. It also tempts readers with the pleasures of diving, golf, cliffs, temples and more:

Sportbegeisterte erwarten an den felsigen Küsten Maltas exzellente Tauchreviere mit Felshöhlen, Schluchten und einer farbenprächtigen Unterwasserwelt. Auf allen drei Inseln gibt es Tauchschulen, die Kurse und Ausflüge ausrichten. Der „Royal Malta Golf Club“ ist mit seinen 18 Löchern und 5.054 Metern Länge für Anfänger und Fortgeschrittene ein passendes Spielfeld. Der Platz wurde von Sir Henry Torrens gestaltet, der bereits auf Golfarealen in Irland und Südafrika seine Handschrift hinterlassen hat. Wanderer locken die bequemen Wege ohne allzu große Höhenunterschiede im Landesinneren oder die Küstenpfade im Süden und Westen. Die Klippen von Dingli mit ihren prähistorischen Spuren oder die Türme von St. Lucian sind dabei begehrte Ziele.

Mixing German and Maltese culture

Back to the eighties

My Ahn'Ahna jew M'Ahniex entry yesterday, quoted by Mark Vella's Xifer blog was a reminder of the eighties - the decade that gave us so much! An entry about Malta's unreliable power supply posted yesterday in candlelight by MaltaGirl is another reminder of those formative years:

The power cut started at 7:20pm and it's now *checks mobile* 8pm. I am sitting at the dining room table studying Finite Element Analysis by candlelight (the candles from my Advent wreath) and blogging the old-fashioned way - in longhand. Our whole block is without power but we have no idea about how widespread the cut is. The next village to the north has power, as does the one to the east, but Ghadira (miles away) doesn't!

In First Year, we spend a month at the EneMalta training centre in Marsascala during the summer. Most of it was a complete waste of time and money, but it had its interesting moments. I enjoyed learning different ways to splice overhead power lines, and I distinguished myself by injuring myself twice: once I burnt my ankle (was arc-welding while wearing shorts, and my nylon sock caught fire) and another time I cut my knee on the metal shielding of an underground cable while learning how to splice it (I still have the scar). Anyway, while in training, one of the instructors brought out a map of Malta's grid system, showing all the substations and how they are linked together. (It was a biiiiiiig map!)

At times like these, I wish I could have one of those maps and see exactly where was affected :-) Wouldn't like to be one of the engineers and technicians currently scrambling to locate and fix the fault, though...

Books and Beans

Gozitan Pierre J Mejlaq is a writer/translator based in Belgium. He is warmly welcomed to the Maltese blogging community. This week his former lecturer Brenda Murphy is visiting him in Brussels:

Brenda Murphy is such a wonderful friend. She was one of my favourite lecturers at the University of Malta, introducing me to Semiotics and Cultural Studies. She was also my tutor while I wrote my undergraduate dissertation Exploring Identities: The Maltese Migrant in NYC in a Post-9/11 World, in which I analysed whether a group of Maltese migrants in NYC felt more New Yorkers following 9/11. I might blog about my findings one day.

Brenda arrived in Brussels on Sunday afternoon. She brought me a bag full of Twistees (Malta's very own crispy snack) and some delicious buns baked that same morning in Qormi, Malta's capital of bakers. I met her in the evening and went for a stroll around the old quarters. Dinner with Brenda at the Manneken Pis restaurant turned out to be very inspiring. We talked about my new academic adventure (as she wants me to describe it) and I slept thinking of how lucky I am to have friends like her.

Malta - Waterford's new baby sister - Brenda Murphy reports.

World Cup in Gozo by Pierre J Meilak

Dun Gorg Preca

My grandfather Crispin Mangion of Sliema was a close associate of Fr Gorg Preca, a Maltese priest who was beatified by Pope John Paul in 2001. Fr Preca created an organization which has now grown into the Society of Christian Doctrine M.U.S.E.U.M. with around 110 Centres and 1100 celibate male and female members. From a profile published on Malta Today:

The Church in Malta felt the need for this society but feared that its members were not sufficiently trained to teach children. In 1909, Dun Gorg was ordered to close down all his houses . But soon the curia's order was retracted. After many years in 1932 Archbishop Mauro Caruana approved the Society. After that date, Dun Gorg guided his Society with greater calm. Everyone revered him as a saint.

World War II affected Dun Gorg and the Society adversely but still it continued to expand. In 1952 it spread to Australia. That same year Dun Gorg was nominated a Papal Secret Chamberlain with the title of Monsignor. But he never donned a monsignor's vestment and actually left the document which conferred on him the title, on the Archbishop’s table and never bother to claim it back.

Wealth and worldly things never attracted him. He lived a simple life with spartan means. In fact he only got electricity installed in his house in 1958, when one of the Society members took the initiative to have it done for him. Till the end, Dun Gorg continued to teach in all towns and villages of Malta and Gozo. Many were enchanted by his words and deeds by his simplicity, humbleness and meekness. His words to the Society were "Teach, teach and teach, something of it will remain."

Watch the broadcast of Fr Gorg Preca's 1962 death plus other links (real player)

Hear the voice of Fr Gorg Preca

Pope John Paul's speech about Fr Gorg Preca

Swansea, shoes and superman.

Superman obsessed girl from Swansea likes fruity drinks and fashionable footwear. Searching for inspiration, this week she listed this blog as one of her favourites. In appreciation, I will one day take up her Timpana offer! Wired Temples is in sexy company. From the extraordinary woman in a mediocre life:

Mr muse (the temp, while my own muse is kicking up the heels of her very own fuck-me shoes) is either sleeping or off doing something unsavory to himself.. either way, he's not doing his job, so here I am.. Uninspired. So while I am STILL blocked as to what to write.. you can check out these blogs which I regularly pop into. If I was slightly cleverer than I am, I would have a column in the sidebar of my blog with links to these sites.. but no! So I'll do things the easy way and just list them in this blog right here. Have fun:

http://propellaworld.blogspot.com/
http://mark-reed.blogspot.com/
http://www.chillspace.org/
http://ikeaboy.blogspot.com/
http://tarheelsak.blogspot.com/
http://manganic.blogspot.com/
http://porkpieman.blogspot.com/
http://home.comcast.net/~mattthepm/mattthepm/
http://wiredtemples.blogspot.com/

Forbidding divorce

The International Herald Tribune/Boston Globe reported yesterday that with the introduction of divorce in Chile, only Malta and the Phillipines continue to forbid it:

For supporters of the law - the right to divorce, especially for mistreated spouses - was long overdue in a society in which by some estimates almost 10 percent of adults are married in name but living apart, unable to legally divorce or make financial transactions without their estranged partner's permission. In updating its marriage code of 1884, Chile became the last country in the Americas to legalize divorce. Malta and the Philippines are the only nations that forbid it.

Critics of legalizing divorce, including the Roman Catholic Church, have warned that the new law will fuel a host of societal ills, from broken homes to delinquent children. They cheered the recent news that only 1,035 divorce petitions were filed from mid-November through the end of December. The Justice Ministry had predicted that tens of thousands of people would file. Legal analysts say that many people may be waiting to see how much bureaucracy is involved in the early petitions before filing their own.

Yet even before the divorce law, marriage was becoming an endangered species in this predominantly Catholic and traditional society, with the annual number of new legal unions plummeting to fewer than 58,000 in 2003 from about 105,000 in 1990, according to civil registry figures. More striking in a country in which most prominent Catholic schools do not admit "illegitimate" children, and in which until 1997 there was no law granting child support or inheritance rights for children born outside wedlock, more than half of children in Chile now are born to unmarried parents, one of the highest rates in the world, according to national statistics.

Trish Wilson's blog

Mediterranean Hub

The 'hubbing' vision for Malta championed by Joe Woods is still relevant today. Mr Woods explains his vision of promoting Malta as a Mediterranean hub:

By developing Malta into the hub of the Mediterranean it can make itself relevant in a market of 220 million people and a very relevant region in the emerging global scenario. Our geo-strategic position and the different cultural influences we have had over the years, make Malta an ideal interlocutor between Europe and the African continent. Historically we have played host to numerous cultures, being a seafaring nation. This enables us to understand both the European mentality and the immediate North African culture.

We also have a good infrastructure set up with advanced telecommunications and more than adequate air and maritime distribution. Malta is also a safe haven for workers and their families and is generally cheaper than most European cities. These are aspects that give Malta a unique characteristic. I have identified about six business sectors that have developed hubbing initiatives. There are opportunities in tourism, financial services, education, aviation, maritime and information and communication technologies. To mention some specific examples Bank of Valletta, Globe Financial Services, Malta Freeport Corporation and Maltacom training centre are a few organisations who are pursuing hubbing strategies.

Malta as a business gateway from CountryProfiler.com

Malta as an ICT Hub - Report of a Conference

Former US Ambassador to Malta promoted the islands as a business hub

The longest history

Revel Barker wrote this for the Independent (London). Via the library of maltavista.ru:

Malta's history is the world's longest, but easy enough to follow. The islands, as ancient continuous cart tracks still show, once formed a land bridge between Sicily and what is now Libya. The oldest manmade structures on the planet (constructed by giant women, according to folklore) are the temples of Ggantija on Gozo. The Phoenicians came here and planted cotton, and the Romans called the place Melita, the Greek word for honey. In AD60, St Paul was shipwrecked on Malta, and as something of a VIP (and Roman citizen) was taken to meet the local governor who he converted and who, in turn, converted the island - thus making it the first Christian country.

Fast-forward to 1530 when the crusading Knights Hospitaller of St John, having lost the Holy Land and then been driven out o