Full marks go to the General Workers Union for its effort to safeguard the interests of foreign workers in Malta. It's an action programme that is much required if as a society, we truly believe in social justice, given the exploitation and discrimination that such workers often experience. What makes the GWU's initiative more than necessary is the climate of prejudice which seems to encourage the belief that the bad treatment of foreigners in our midst need not be considered problematic.
The GWU's endeavours serve to highlight the existence of the problem, as does the fact that the union is proving to be an effective agent in trying to get it cleared. In this, government services as well as representatives of the private sector should make sure to extend their full support. Economic success and all the projects by which we generate wealth should in no way be allowed to gather momentum on the back of exploitation.
Wise guys who claim that the GWU's greatest duty is to protect the interests of Maltese employees, period, fail to understand that with its stand to safeguard the welfare of foreign workers, the union is also doing precisely that. When foreign workers get a job wherever without getting as well the social protection they need, employers find it easier to offer less attractive job conditions to their Maltese workers.
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ROCKS WITHOUT SHADE
Many moons ago, my friend Lino Farrugia wrote aplay entitled Bla bla Dell - Rocks without shade. I frequently remember his play when reading about how trees get uprooted (and seeing it happen) to make way for new roads or the construction of new hotels and apartments. At a time when climate change is triggering heat waves that spread ever wider and for longer, it makes no sense to discard environmental measures that could mitigate this phenomenon.
Not just in Malta, but wherever natural greenery comes alive, from the Amazon to the Kalahari, rocks create no shade, but trees do. We already have too many rocks - the tree count comes to much much less.
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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Many features of how the field of artificial intelligence is developing are impressive - its incessantly accelerating rate of innovative change, the fundamental transformation of perspectives in major sectors of the economy and society, and the impact of AI on human life.
Some are mostly interested in the financial impact - the billions and billions of dollars that are being channelled to AI investment, the blind rush to buy shares in companies that are organising these investments and the profits being anticipated as a result of all the trades going on. I tend not to be so impressed by all this... and rather agree with the sceptics who are waiting for the bubble to burst. As of now, the companies which have been heavily investing in this area still need to post some significant profits.
Which should not be taken to mean that AI is going to be much ado about nothing. To the contrary: It is radically changing how we live, how we communicate with each other, how we understand and believe in ourselves and those around us, how and whom to trust. In this meaning, the impact of AI is not simply impressive - there is reason to consider its progress with apprehension.