Corruption has become an increasingly powerful and controversial issue, and not just in Europe.

In Peru, it dominated the presidential election, when the daughter of former President Fujimori managed to be one of the two candidates who made it to the second round. Fujimori was accused of having breached human rights because of his authoritarian approach to government. In addition he was found guilty of brazen corruption. Similarly in Brazil, the same issue contributed greatly to the campaign against President Rousseff, culminating in her impeachment.

In China during past years, the current leadership of the Communist Party has run a vigorous anti-corruption campaign in all branches of the state.

Meanwhile in Europe for the second electoral campaign in Spain within six months, after having seriously damaged the Popular Party which had been in government, corruption is now undermining the socialists, though they were in Opposition. New allegations have surfaced about corruption in regional administrations under their control.

The political importance of these developments can be explained in two ways.

State treasuries find it hard to tolerate any longer the enormous losses of income that corruption implies. At times of austerity, when citizens are being called upon to accept sacrifices, whoever makes such calls while ignoring the incidence of corruption is bound to provoke against him/her an enormous wave of popular anger.

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Monuments

It is another sign of the times that the 7 June monument has been left without a permanent “home”. The government is carrying out a public “consultation” to discover where it can be placed.

Not so long ago, I wrote in this blog that much of the meaning that used to be given to this country’s historical and political anniversaries has been lost. In part, this phenomenon relates to a post-modernist populism where all that can carry a significant meaning needs to be grounded in the contemporary, and commercialised. This is generating indifference towards history. Where it exists, it soon gets trivialised.

Partly too, it could be due to our educational systems which are failing to generate a strong awareness concerning our identity and the island’s historical heritage.

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In Maltese or English

That the Maltese are especially proficient in the English language is probably another of our myths. While it’strue that a percentage of the population speaks English round the clock, according to a recently published survey, it’s not quite clear that the same percentage applies for those who can then write well in the language.

On the same tack, also those who speak Maltese, hardly know how to write it correctly. If they ever received a serious introduction to the grammar of the language, they probably soon did their best to forget it.

The problem is not what would happen were English to be taught as a first or second language. It’s whether we could all end up deficient in speech and writing, in Maltese and English. Or that we proceed to develop forms of expression that are a hotchpotch of both.