the revolution continues

Some months ago this blog described the situation in Iran as potentially revolutionary. Events during the past days show that the people defying the regime have grown fearless and by shooting in the crowd during a religious festival the regime will continue losing legitimacy. Two factors will determine the success of this revolution; the army's loyalty to the regime and the possibility of splits in the clerical regime. What's sure is that what's happening is something authentic and indegenous. Those seeing the hands of imperialism in this are ignorant fools. But the west has to be careful not to offer opportunities of confrontation to the despotic regime.

blame it on obama

I am always fascinated by the eagerness of left-wing movements to mobilize against the west and the US in particular and their reluctance to show the same antagonism towards the Chinese. If the west is to blame for what happened at Copenhagen (which is surely the case), China and its proxies (some of the most brutal dictatorships in Africa) are twice to blame.

Father unknown

I completely disagree with the recommendation made by parliament's select comittee that the father unknown option should be removed. Do we really want the state to assume draconian powers to police the personal and sexual life of individuals? Are we going to have mandatory DNA tests? Are we going to force mothers to reveal the name of the father?
For the sake of argument, what will happen if a person had more than one sexual partner in the period of conception?
I am all for fathers assuming parental responsibilities but let's face it; i fully understand why some woman do not want to name the father.
They might have enjoyed a one night stand but they might not want that particular man to be the father of their child. I am sure that the life of many kids would be worse off if these fathers are involved in their life.
This issue has nothing to do with welfare, for women declaring their child to have an unknown father do not earn anything more than those who declare who the father is.
As a parent myself I feel offended by the notion that fatherhood is equated to sperm provision. One is a father because one loves a child and not because one was involved in its procreation.
One is not a father by some biological right. One becomes a father through love, care and affection.
Rather than policing the personal life of single parents, the state should guarantee full reproductive rights for women and assist those who still want to become mothers by providing them with the proverbial fishing rod... which means a greater investment in child care centres, education and training.

our fate is in your hands...

Watch the impassioned plea of Tuvalu which was largely ignored by world leaders.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUyZOgcHn-Q

In coalition with Franco

Before every general election we are always warned that third parties bring instability. Now we are assisting the absurdity of the Prime Minister pleading to an insignificant MP visiting him in his own home accompanied by his wife...just to hold his one seat majority together. We have already assisted the fall of a one party government in 1998. The clash between Sant and Mintoff was epochal and dramatic. The clash (?) between Gonzi and Debono looks absurd and comical. I am sure that Franco Debono will not bring the government down. But he stands as a reminder that one party governments are prone to instability. I dare say that a coalition between two responsible parties tied by a programmatic deal will bring more stability than a coalition between the Prime Minister and an unruly backbench full of personal agendas.

A Hideous Monument

Let's face it the sette giugnio monument is hideous and essentially patriarchal as it glorifies mythical muscular men. It is down right ugly. Its removal from Palace Square is not bad news as far as am concerned.
Europe is full of such monuments mostly dating to the 19th century but this one dates back to 1986 when we should have known better.
I am not saying the Sette Gignio has no significance-mainly as an episode of popular rebellion triggered by economic rather than constitutional reasons.
I find the connection between the riots and Malta's constitutional development tenuous. Essentially what we had on that day was a bread riot by hungry unrepresented people which coincided with a parallel meeting of Maltese notables clamouring for a constitutional reform to suite their very limited conception of democracy.
I won't judge by the standards of today when mob rule and violence are abhorred. Probably a mass of uneducated and hungry people deprived of any real representation had no other option but violence to make their voice heard. Anger at merchants who were profiteering while people were hungry has triggered riots throughout European history.
The riots did coincide with the convocation of national assembly by a conservative elite but the target of popular anger were Maltese merchants and the Brits intervened to protect their property and life.
The fact that the Brits shot at the Maltese obviously had a symbolic effect.
The National assembly did not have universal suffrage in mind. What they wanted is a greater share of power for the elites.
Real self government only came after the war when universal suffrage was introduced mainly thanks to the labour party.

Blood on a plastic face

Physical violence is never justified. So is any attempt to make political capital of the solitary act of a person who has been under psychiatric care for the past 10 years.
If Berlusconi uses this episode to criminalise the opposition, this act of folly could be the prelude of “la svolta autoritaria,” perhaps another chapter in “la strategia della tensione.”
Fortunately this time round, the victim was the omnipresent face of the cavalliere rather some innocents on a train or customers in a bank like those murdered in Piazza Fontana 40 years ago.
But the risk exists that the bloodied face of Berlusconi may well become Italy’s Reichstag.
Sometimes the solitary acts of the insane can set historical forces in motion beyond the limits of the conjuncture.
For this episode fits perfectly in creating the conditions for an authoritarian presidential system-which was the final goal of the Silvio's mentor the Grandmaster of the Masonic Lodge P2-Licio Gelli-one of the architects of the "strategia della tensione".
Berlusconi is no normal European Prime Minister. He belongs to the same ilk as his soul mates in Russia and Belarus.
Surely the bloodied face of the aspirant monarch has become a powerful signifier in the wasteland of Italian politics.
For the action gives the tycoon the look of a Christ martyr even if something in his disfigured face did not seem right. For the aggression which bloodied Berlusconi's face has also helped expose the Frankenstein features a man who had one too many face lifts. It showed the Michael Jackson in Silvio Berlusconi.
It is this exposure of the artificial and non human qualities of Berlusconi face which may well neutralise any attempt to canonise the tycoon through an undeserved image of martrydom.

in the name of the cross

The recent attacks on Cardinal Tettamanzi by the traditionalist Lega Nord-which condemned the cleric for speaking for the inclusion of immigrants instead of defending the cross threatened by a European court decree- proves my earlier point that in the hands of the far right the cross might well become a 21st century swastika.
If the Church has to save the cross from anyone, it is not from left wing secularists, who share with christians so many moral values (probably everything except matters related to sexuality with which the church is unfortunately obsessed), but from right wing "traditionalists" who deny important universal values accepted by the four great European traditions: liberalism, socialism, green politics and christian democracy, all of which helped in making post war Europe the most democratic space on the planet.
The greatest risk facing the cross is not the ruling of an international court but its exploitation by the usual dirty bunch of climate change deniers, immigrant bashers and simple minded populists .