If my memory does not fail me, it was in the early eighties thatthe band march "Hibs Champions" was composed by the De Paule bandmaster, J. Xuereb, to commemorate one of the football premier league's victories by the Hibernians, the local football club. As an individual whose childhood was spent in Paola, but unenthusiastic football supporter, I remember the local band playing this march over and overagain during the traditional morning march on Sunday in honour of the village patron saint in the early eighties, each time they won the league. What few realize is that such music can have political significance. This band march was inspired by the famous Radetzky March.Like the great composer, Johann Strauss Senior, the local bandmaster based his piece on the beating of the drums.  What is less known is that Radetzky's March was composed by Strauss to commemorate the suppression of Italy's liberal aspirations.The beating of the drums was a call for Austrian soldiers to suppress the Italian uprising. The crushing defeat of the Liberals in Italy came at the hands of the Austrian General Radetzky, after whom, this march was named.

The storythat the Hibernians were seeking to enroll Ched Evans, a convicted rapist,until the end of the season has made international news. Soon many bloggers started beating the drums and I intend joining in the chorus. I shall not go into the details of Ched Evans' case, but from what I have read,his case is not as clear cut as is normally understood by the term rape - a voluntary and arbitrary assault on somebody: the incident appeared a bit messy to me. Female rape commonly requires three criteria, sexual penetration or intercourse, force and the victim's non-consent. In Evan's case, (and I am making this conclusion from what I read in the English press) the second criterion, that of force, was completely absent.

At the same time, I am baffled by the local and international controversy that this story has generated. The issue ended up as a stand-out piece in the leading British press. What was most interesting was The Daily Mail's reference to another team, with the name of Hibernians, in Scotland, which disassociated itself from the local Hibs. Incidentally, both the local team and the Scottish one stand for Hibernia, which is the Latin name for Ireland.The explanation for such a name is to be found in the history of migration: Irish migrants founded this Scottish team in 1875.I presume that there is a historical connection between both teams. Local tradition at Paola holds that the Maltese team was set up by Scotsmen who,at the turn of the twentieth-century, wereresiding in the village. Therefore, the presence of a club in Scotland by the name of Hibernians, can be a historical clueof the origins of thefootball club at Paola. The local club'scolours are black and white.These colours neither follow those of Ireland nor the ones normally associated with Paola, which are red and yellow. This is a further proof of the intercultural identity that was present at Paola at the turn of the nineteenth century. The black and white colours are a Scottish inheritance.

Malta has had her own share of political controversy. Our Minister of Justice, Owen Bonnici and the Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat,have offered different views on the matter. I stand behind the reasoning of the Justice Minister. He is right. If somebody has paid for his crime, he should be given the chance to start afresh. I am a bit sceptic of all this 'Protestant' ethics that, thanks to Anglo-American propaganda,is becoming very intrusive in Malta, where people who have paid for their "sins" are still persecuted and accused of being perpetrators. Wasn'tthe Anglo-Saxon world the first to embrace modern hedonism? Was not the UK one of the first European countries to embrace sexual and political liberation?What's wrong if someone in the Mediterranean is taking advantage of the same hedonistic situation created in the UK and embraced by the European "gauche divine"? Was it not leftist American academics,whodefined sexual violence and rape as the inevitable consequence of men's nature? In her book, Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape, Susan Brown-Miller views rape as a primary means by which men as a group maintain political and social dominance over all women in patriarchal societies.

I will not go into the matter of the statement issued by the British Ministry of Justice. I am here discussing principles and the general perception that developed around this case. Unfortunately, what the Italians term as 'giustizialismo"or the use of justice for political ends, is gaining ground in Malta. This is extremely dangerous. Nor the American Far West model of justice will not solve problems related to crime, whether sexual or any other. On my part, I am totally in favour of restorative justice.

Hence, I findPrime Minister Joseph Muscat'sstand very strange and servile. He resorted to Twitter to exert pressure on Hibs to stop it seeking to bring Ched Evans to Malta. Unfortunately, the way the Prime Minister reacted gives the impression that he was acting as Britain's most obedient servant. Like the Conservative Cameron, he is more interested in crucifying an individual rather than helping him to reintegrate in society again. As a politician coming from the Left, I was expecting a much less servile approach from our Prime Minister. Moreover, I do not think that the Prime Minister's arguments about role models hold ground here. The Prime Minister should remember that immorality takes different forms and shapes and sins are not only of a sexual nature.

The Malta Confederation of Women's Organisations' declaration on this matter, that employing Evans is problematic and erodes public trust is far fetched and distanced from reality. It could only be interpreted as covert political move in reaction to the Prime Minister's statement. The Confederation of Women's Organizations should know better that sexual reputation is fluid. The secular state should not repeat the same mistake it did in the nineteenth centurywith prostitutes and homosexuals, in labelling them "sexual deviants" and "predators". It is now time to move away from these stereotype views, developed during the Enlightenment about women's sexual vulnerability.

For these reasons, I am even more puzzled by the statement issued by the Hibernians club president Anthony Bezzina. I know Paola well, including all the past gossip about the Hibs. Thus, I don't know whether I should laugh or cry after reading Bezzina's press statement. I concur with him that "no decisions taken by our (or better his) Club shall be subjected to financial considerations". Definitely, it is not in his company's interest to defy the wishes of our Prime Minister. Businessmen know through experience that it isextremely rewarding to dance to the tune of the Prime Minister of the day.

The story of the eighteenth-century English Patriots, who used the famous song Rule Britannia to defy the Georgian monarchy, comes to mind. Local established bloggers tended more to take the Patriots stand and defy the establishment reasoning thatChed Evans should not come to Malta because of his past history. I too view this story from their perspective.

The fact that Evans is seeking to join a British club will spare both the Hibernians and our Prime Minister further embarrassment.This story could have taken a different twist if one had to consider that both Joseph Muscat and Owen Bonniciwere elected from the Fourth District and Paola is part and parcel of this district. But, I am sure that their positions and stand went beyond issues of local politics.

My last piece of advice goes to disaffected politicians.While I may agree that man is not the best judge of his position, and this can explain the British Justice Ministry's preoccupation with sexual perpetrators, man will always remain the best judge of his feelings. Our actions and decisions, whether of a political, social or economic nature, are finally determined first by feelings and then reason.