It’s Ferragosto and the end of summer is nigh. Before you know it September will be upon us and the autumnal schedules will have been resumed. That’s why this is the weekend when we try to enjoy the culmination point of the aestival months possibly with the family at a well-stocked barbie. The 15th of August is Malta’s real 4th of July − our real national holiday. Like most of Europe we enter into an induced come for the three days on and around Santa Maria’s feast day. Or so we thought.

Bad break

For different reasons, Europe’s leaders have been called back to work earlier than they had hoped. There was an economic crisis to face in most of the continent’s capitals while David Cameron got the stress test that he least expected when London started to burn. As markets crumbled and streets burned, it was clear that this was not your average idyllic summer night and that rather than stoking the carbon in the BBQ, the politicians would do well to stoke some life into their beleaguered economies.

Since the Norwegian massacre unfolded a few weeks ago I couldn’t help but notice the feeling of impending doom that seems to pervade the news these days. With this feeling comes the sense of urgency to do a true and proper Baden Powell and “be prepared” for all future inconveniences. Surely as squares across Europe were getting occupied by the “indignados” and as nation after nation of the EU 27 trembled as the dreaded “D” word threatened to change their lifestyle, surely, Malta’s savvy community would be up to scratch with the news.

Like hell

To be fair we had been distracted by the stories of the ex-priests. Then there was also Arriva and the blessed routes to deal with. Not to mention trickles of Cyrusgate and the conspiracy. And the heat. Which is probably why only two weeks ago, in the middle of a new economic depression worldwide, a BOV public offer of €40 million was fully subscribed within a few hours after opening. It’s all fine and dandy then isn’t it? I mean if investors feel so comfy putting their money in banks right now then there surely is nothing to worry about is there?

The thing is I am not so sure that this kind of subscription does not betray some kind of cocktail of oxymoronic naive bullishness based on the eternal premise that Malta’s universe is totally independent of anything else around it (and therefore eternally immune). This is probably why the feedback from the man in the street tends to be something in the lines of “come next election I’m voting Labour to spite those bastards who have been in power for too long”. It’s the usual Q.E.D. (quod erat demonstrandum − what has been proven) … the Maltese political voters’ acumen still boils down to black and white assessments.

Ask questions

It would be good if people started to ask questions. When it comes to their vote they should begin to ask “what am I voting FOR” and not “whom shall I NOT VOTE for”. It makes one hell of a difference. It’s the difference that would make people realise the disastrous choice with which they will be faced in two years’ time. They might still be in time to force the parties to clean up their act. Yes, people should be more demanding of their representatives and the parties they vote for. They should want clear answers and clear conditions. They should not just fawn haplessly and swallow every politician’s word as though it were the sacred truth.

I’m not advocating mindless violence and rioting here. That is absurd and counterproductive. I don’t think that the streets of Qormi and Mqabba will rise in flames as did Enfield and Hackney. On the other hand I would expect more questioning. Questioning of opposition politicians who shoot from the hip about the doom and gloom but are unable to provide clear commitments and solutions. Questioning of Nationalist politicians about where they stand with party values and whether they agree that their party proceeds down the path of umbrella politics.

We asked questions of one politician this week. We had been attracted to a blog post of hers in which she analysed the current economic crisis. Great, we thought − over at J’accuse − here’s a Maltese budding opposition politician (already on the Labour executive at a tender age) giving her two cents’ worth on the euro crisis. Then we were disappointed. It turned out that the post was taken − lock, stock and barrel − from an article in the Financial Times and that the plagiarised version was being passed off as the politician’s own. Apparently, switching a few words here and there amounts to paraphrasing − and that’s ok right?

So we posted our discovery on J’accuse. Within a few hours Nikita Alamango’s (for that was the politician’s name) was removed from the agglomeration of blogs on the timesofmalta.com site. It was not the first time our blog pointed out such political naughtiness and some perpetrators of plagiarised tomfoolery (what we call Scissorhands − cut and paste you see) still return to haunt the pages of our dailies − probably for want of anything better. It has nothing to do with the colour of the plagiariser but with the nature of his or her act. It is a betrayal of trust with the reader − and in the case of political articles an attempt to deceive a voter by passing off other people’s work and ideas as ones own.

Golden harvest

The thing is, as we have oft repeated in this column, you reap what you sow. If you do not question politicians, parties and their motives and their capabilities then you are simply voting on the basis of instinct, partisan affinity or − as seems to be the case this time round − out of spite. We are caught in a vicious circle and this is not the best time to trust the country in the hands of a party elected on the basis of half-baked voter decisions. This is not an invitation to vote for one party or another (as far as we are concerned it’s “same, same but different”), it’s an invitation to the voter to THINK and to QUESTION and to stop being the gullible passive bunch of partisan emotions that s/he tends to be.

I hope that like me you’re spending a pleasant Santa Maria break. I’ve been enjoying the sampling of foods (in a controlled manner of course − there’s some tails to fit into come November) and the idyllic weather that graces these islands. Come to think of it, the weather is probably the best excuse we have for being so detached from the realities of the outside world. Then again, this week it was Cyprus’ turn to plunge into economic misery. So bang goes my amateur weather theory.

www.akkuza.com (fresh blogging since 2005) and www.re-vu.org (we don’t publish anything) are happily providing you with thought provoking beach reading through this last summer break − sorry, we don’t do sudoku.