Readers will be familiar with the broad thrust of John Milton's epic poem, Paradise Lost. It tells the story of the fall from grace of Adam and Eve and, by extension, that of humanity at large. A number of key dimensions of the poem have interesting resonance for Malta today.
Paradise Lost follows in the epic tradition of starting in medias res (in the midst of things) with the background story being filled in later. A bit like Malta learning ‘after the fact’ of the epic scale and depth of the criminal acts perpetrated by the government and supporters of the Muscat regime. We are still in the infancy of learning about, but not yet beginning to come to terms with the real cost of that criminality (e.g. the constantly evolving sagas of Vitals/Steward, Pilatus, Electrogas etc., etc.).
Milton’s poem begins after Satan and the other fallen angels have been defeated and banished to hell where (in its capital Pandaemonium), they employ rhetoric to organise their followers. Together, they seek to corrupt the newly created ‘Earth’ and, with it, ‘Mankind’.
A bit like Malta in the era of ‘change and continuity’ promised by the newly installed Prime Minister Robert Abela in company with many of the same acolytes and supporters (both visible and opaque). Rhetoric and corruption is indeed the order of the day.
In the aftermath of his installation, Abela never shied away from letting us know that his Malta is ‘heaven’ (‘Paradise’), a ‘best’ in Europe, sometimes even a ‘best’ in the world. Never one to miss an opportunity to praise himself and his regime, he even reminded his followers that they are now living the dreams of their forebears in both freedom and general well-being.
The chasm that exists between the Malta of Abela’s ‘heaven’ (and that of his fantasist supporters) and the reality of life in Malta’s political purgatory (or political hell) could not possibly be wider. One would need strong drugs to buy into his hallucinations.
The real costs of Abela’s heaven are colossal and growing by the day
The real costs of Abela’s heaven are colossal and growing by the day. The most immediate and visible cost is in the theft of public resources and the country’s ‘commonwealth’ and their transfer into the private wealth of selected individuals. It is highly unlikely that even a fraction this stolen wealth will ever be returned to its rightful owners.
This institutionalised theft of the public’s wealth implies another, longer-term cost – the loss of the badly needed benefits and services that wealth would have generated. Education, health, culture, the environment, infrastructure, and social well-being have been radically short-changed (despite our ‘robust’ economy).
As has been catalogued time and time again, vital public institutions from the police, the army, the courts, and civil service as well as the country’s economic, infrastructure and planning institutions have been castrated and stuffed with routinely (and often spectacularly) incompetent and corrupt party supporters. These public institutions have now often become personal fiefdoms to be abused, plundered, stripped of public value and ‘pigged upon’ with absolute impunity.
Abela’s ‘paradise’ is now a country more deeply polarised than ever. Traditional political tribalism has been strategically and expensively manipulated with many buying into its numerous lies and fantasies believing that ‘magical’ unnamed others will pay the eventual cost. Public life has become increasingly debased with growing numbers of weary, angry, demoralised, and disengaged individuals and communities.
These latter aspects of Maltese life along with its increasing aggression, vulgarisation and debasement underscores that even the imaginary ‘heaven’ or ‘paradise’ was indeed just that – a ‘imaginary’ political hallucination for mass consumption. Yet there are now growing signs that this is about to change for a variety of interlinked reasons.
While an apparent ‘normality’ continues on, people have become expert in looking disgustedly over their shoulder at the country, its direction and at those manipulating it. Young people despair the future on offer, speak out but are ignored and consequently plan on leaving or actually do so.
When a society actively and knowingly cheats its own children, it is indeed rotten. Malta’s ‘Paradise’ has indeed been grievously usurped.
As someone who chose Malta (as distinct from simply being born here), it is my right and my duty to speak up against the rape of this land. Sitting sullen and silently critical in the corner is not a meaningful way to live here. The current state of Malta is by no means simply a matter for Maltese despite the jibes and threats of the fanatics and the apologists.