A Trip to Spain...and Back to Malta!

My wife and I returned from a brief holiday in Spain yesterday afternoon. The time we spent in Madrid and in Toledo was magical. It really felt as though we had visited another planet! Faced with the many beautiful things that Spain has to offer, neither one of us was particularly enthusiastic about returning to Malta.

When it comes to living in Malta, there are some very positive points that should be mentioned. One is the high level of safety that exists. Another positive point lies in the small distances that exist between one place and another; this makes it easy to visit many spots in one day.

Once a person has spent some time abroad (working or studying or even on a holiday), comparisons are virtually impossible to avoid. My heart sinks when I start making those comparisons and when I become aware of the several negative points associated with living in Malta. Since I had spent over a year working in Spain, it is extremely easy for me to list a number of problematic issues related to life on the Maltese Islands:

1.) Low salaries: At little over EUR 600 a month, the minimum wage in Malta is a joke. Furthermore, with the exception of certain jobs in a small number of areas, many people are paid a pittance when compared to how much they would earn to do the same thing in several other countries.

2.) High cost of living: There was a fairly long time during which Malta had the highest inflation rate in the European Union! How is the average worker supposed to live comfortably when they struggle to make ends meet with the relatively little money that they receive every month? Whilst in Spain, we took a taxi from Puerta del Sol to the Barajas airport (a drive of around 20 minutes). The trip cost us around EUR 22,00. In Malta, one might easily end up paying the same amount of money to take a taxi from Ta' Xbiex to St Julian's (a drive that is often less than 10 minutes long).

3.) Public transport: The public transport system in Malta is a disgrace. Many buses are incredibly old, dirty, and uncomfortable. If you live in, say, Tarxien and need to go to work in Mosta, you would need to wake up very early in order to make sure that you get to work on time. In Spain, the public transport system is absolutely great! The use of the subway allows one to travel from one part of a city to another in only a few minutes. The buses are clean and air-conditioned.


4.) Entertainment: Malta is so small that after a few months, one would have done it all, seen it all...After a while, one ends up going to the same places, seeing the same people, doing the same things. Yes, there are exhibitions here and there, but it can be expensive to attend some of them and it may also be hard to go as a result of the poor public transport system. In a place like Spain, it is so easy to go from, say, Madrid to Toledo and feel as though you are visiting another country!

5.) Degree of conservatism: Although there have been some changes during the past few years, Maltese society could still be regarded as a very conservative one. To me, it is ridiculous that there are still huge debates about whether there should be a condom machine on the University campus! *rolls eyes* When it comes to religion, although fewer people are going regularly to Sunday Mass, the Roman Catholic Church is still quite powerful in Malta. Indeed, a huge number of youth organisations are somewhat linked to the Church.

6.) Making friends: Since many Maltese people do not move from their family homes until they get married, it is plausible to say that most individuals born in Malta stick to the same group of friends throughout their lives. This group would normally include childhood schoolfriends and some other people encountered at work/in some religious organisation. Once it is formed, a Maltese social group tends to be quite strong and does not allow an easy entry to "outsiders". This situation is very different from the one witnessed in other European countries whereby individuals often move to other cities for various reasons (such as finding a good job). In such cases, the person who moves has to start from scratch and this makes it easier to move from one social group to another. Furthermore, the fact that there are more secular groups abroad makes it easier for non-religious people to make friends.

In a nutshell, I strongly believe that Malta is a great place for people who have a certain type of job, are religious, do not have to depend on public transport, are fairly conservative, and who have belonged to a strong social network for many years. I do not match this profile and I do not, therefore, feel very comfortable living in Malta. Yes, things will probably get better as time goes by, but life is short and I am not willing to wait decades until Malta can offer what I can find today in many other countries...

To Love and to Be Loved

Like millions of other teenagers, shortly after my 13th birthday, I was really looking forward to having a girlfriend. Unfortunately, the fact that I was attending a boys-only school and that I had no young female relatives made it quite hard to have access to potential girlfriends.

As time went by, the desire became stronger, but I was not having any success at all. All my friends were males and they did not have any female friends. Whenever we used to go out, my mind used to be flooded with images of gorgeous girls and my heart used to be racing like a Formula One car! During those times (and throughout most of my teens), I was extremely shy and that certainly did not help me to start a conversation with a girl I fancied.

By the time I was 18, I had still not had a romantic or sexual relationship with a girl. As more and more people of my age group were talking about having sex here and there as well as about moving from one relationship to another, I felt very sad. It seemed as though everybody was managing to find somebody to love whereas I often felt as though I were invisible.

Shortly after my 19th birthday, the use of the Internet allowed me to get in touch with various single girls. I went out on several dates, but virtually all my encounters were sexless one-night stands. Looking back, I am aware that my appearance during that time could have been better, but it was very painful to go from one date to another - hoping that something would eventually happen - only to be told that it would be better to be "just friends". Of course, whenever things went wrong, the usual phrases were used: "you're not my type", "I got back with an ex-boyfriend", "there was no chemistry", etc. There were even a couple of instances whereby the girls were even fairly malicious - one of them (who is still single) told me that we could not even be friends after our first and only date. Another girl saw me shortly before we met and said that I was so "not her type" that she was not even interested in being just friends!

With such a shocking dating history, I started wondering whether I would ever find somebody to love. A person with whom I could share the ups and downs of my life. An individual who would care about me. I started worrying that I was going to end up like Friedrich Nietzsche (photo posted above). The latter had been a very influential philosopher, but his life was characterised by a horrendous degree of loneliness and unrequited love.

My fears were washed away a few years later when I had my first romantic relationship. Although I am presently happily married, I have occasionally come across blogs written by individuals who are in their late 20s/early 30s and who are still virgins/have never had a romantic relationship. Whenever I read some of their posts, their feelings and thoughts mirror a great deal of what had gone through my mind when I was in a similar situation.

As I come across such blogs, one question comes to my mind: is it becoming harder for certain people to love and to be loved in our times? Considering the individualistic cult - which encourages the belief that if you are fine, you do not have to worry about anyone else - and the enormous pressure to look/dress in a specific way, it is plausible to argue that a number of people might be feeling excluded and totally forgotten when they fail to conform to society's expectations. As a person feels increasingly distant from most of the other members of a particular society, there is a greater likelihood for that individual to suffer from a number of behavioural problems (e.g., depression).

When talking about involuntary single people who have reached a certain age and have still not been in a romantic/sexual relationship, the feeling that "something is wrong with me" could be highlighted by the fact that this reality is almost completely ignored in literature and in most cinematic/TV productions. I remember that even though the Ally McBeal TV series had shed some light on the problems faced by a single woman in trying to find a romantic partner, she was clearly not a virgin or a person who was still trying to go on her first date. Many issues that a virgin has to deal with are different from those of an individual who has had some sexual experience.

Talking about TV productions, I believe that these could often be detrimental in the way that they portray a number of people who do not conform to Western society's expectations. The movie about the 40-year-old virgin was regarded as a comedy, suggesting that a human being who gets to that age and is still a virgin is a figure of ridicule.

Tackling this matter in a scientific way, there must be reasons to explain why Person A goes out there and is hit upon by various individuals whereas Person B may go out there every day and feel as though he/she is invisible. I think that, whether we like it or not, looks play a big part in all this. Many societies have been brainwashing us so much about the importance of having the slender, tanned, athletic physique that whoever does not fit into that equation might have a harder time in finding a partner. In my case, I still remember that some of the girls did not seem to be interested because of my complexion and because I was not 6 feet tall. :) Dress is also important. Although it is not necessary to wear the most trendy items, it is important to wear something which transmits the message that "I care about the way I present myself". The same discourse applies to hairstyles and to other accessories, such as the sunglasses one wears.

Social skills are also extremely important. The subject matter of a conversation, the tone used, the dominance of a conversation....these are all things that could make a difference.

Of course, all this is easier said than done. A person who is obese cannot expect to change overnight. Having said that, weight is thankfully one area that could be controlled. It is much worse when we are dealing with characteristics whereby medical science still cannot be of great help (are there any pills that would allow one to grow taller???).

It is very understandable that the thought process following a rejection or surrounding one's chronic single status could be quite painful. Indeed, a 27-year-old female blogger wrote that "I am trying not to dwell on the reasons why no-one has ever been interested in me romantically, or at least not enough to do anything about it, because it is too depressing, and frankly, too humiliating. Terminal loneliness is fairly ghastly at the best of times, and when a difficult patch in life coincides with the realisation that the overwhelming majority of ones’ close friends are married, engaged or likely to be that way within the next year, it’s pretty hard to take. I think even my mother, previously the champion of remaining independent and only being ‘friends’ with men – and she doesn’t mean the sort with benefits – has started to realise that there is something fundamentally off about a twenty-seven year old daughter who has zero romantic history. Single and twenty-seven is one thing. Twenty-seven, with no past entanglements at all is quite another."

As a chronically single person grows older and more of their friends become entangled in romantic relationships or start having families, it becomes easier to think that "something must be wrong with me". Furthermore, as previously single friends are no longer available, it is very likely that such people will experience severe loneliness. Katya, a blogger in her 30s, wrote the following about many of her weekends: "A lot of my weekends I don’t do much at all, and what I do do doesn’t vary much – grocery or clothes shopping, watching TV at home, a trip to the shop to buy a newspaper, a visit to church (yes I go to church but that’s most definitely not why I’m a virgin. I disagree with a fair few of the church’s rules on sex and relationships). Obviously all of this is done alone. Often the only people I speak to are shop assistants as I hand over money".

I strongly believe that many societies could do more to help those people who yearn to love and to be loved. Local councils could organise events for single individuals to meet and to do things together. Even if no sparks fly following a couple of events, it would still be possible to develop new friendships with people who are in a similar situation. Local councils could also organise a number of events aimed at boosting the participants' self-confidence. Of course, for such events to be organised in the first place, it is fundamental to live in a caring society. A society where no person is left behind.

It is hard to regard most Western societies as caring ones. Yet, it is never too late to start doing something to change the status quo. It is never too late to start contributing to the building of a better world for everyone.


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Things I Still Cannot Explain

I consider myself to be a very scientific person. Having studied psychology, I enjoy analysing things. Furthermore, I believe that understanding the world allows us to make a number of positive changes. When people stop questioning things, it becomes quite easy for them to absorb many beliefs in a dogmatic way. For the past few years, I have always ended up pushing religion away from my life because it is way too hard for me to believe something just because I am told that it is the "Truth".

Having studied a bit of physics, I am aware that there are a lot of things going on in the universe which we cannot witness with our naked eye. Of course, the fact that we cannot see something does not mean that it does not exist. The electron had existed for countless centuries, but it was not identified before 1897. Having said this, the discovery of certain particles in the universe is hard to compare with the discovery of, say, an entity that plays an active part in human life.

Although I believe that various phenomena could be explained quite easily nowadays, there are a few things which I still cannot explain. Two specific events are mentioned below.

The Prediction

In October 2006, the Malta Labour Party won the general election. The Labour Party had not been in power since 1987. A few days following the Labour Party's 1996 victory, I remember that I was talking to some friends at the Junior College in Msida. One of them said that a certain woman from Girgenti had predicted that Dr Alfred Sant's government would not last for more than 2 years. (I believe that the same woman was also famous for having visions of "the Virgin".) When I heard the prediction, I was very sceptical; I told the guy that since Malta had become a Republic in 1974, such a thing had never happened. In September 1998 - almost two years following the Labour Party's victory - a crisis within the Labour Party sparked an early election. The Labour Party lost that election and the Nationalist Party was returned to power.


A Visit to a Psychic Medium

In July 2008, I went to a Maltese psychic medium. Although I had read a great deal about a number of famous psychic mediums such as James Van Praagh, I had never been to one. I had received some positive feedback about the Maltese medium and I decided to go with a very open mind. I clearly remember that I called from a phone that did not belong to me, but I cannot recall whether I gave my name. The reading took place around two days after I called.

At first, the guy seemed to be completely off the mark. He said that there were three spirits close to me. One was of a young male called Ivan. The medium stated that he was a dancer from Santa Venera. Nothing.

He then described a woman who seemed to match my mom's physical description ("light-coloured eyes, fair, and stout"). During the session, I was taking notes, but I was not volunteering any information. The medium said that there was a family connection between me and her, meaning that she was a blood relative. The medium was supposedly conveying information that he was receiving from my mom when he told me "inti ma tantx temmen" ("you are not much of a believer") and "inti z-zghir" ("you are the young one"). True. The most shocking part came when the medium told me the exact date of her passing! He was also spot-on regarding the cause of her death.


I am aware of the fact that with reference to both cases mentioned above, it is still possible to argue that the "information" was the result of guesswork. Having said this, I keep asking myself: was it just guesswork? Or could it be that such cases represent phenomena that still cannot be explained very easily using our current knowledge of the universe?

What Makes a Communist?

Almost whenever the term "Communism" is mentioned, many people tend to think of a secret police force, labour camps, repression...but what does it mean to be a Communist in the 21st century?

Several decades ago, Liu Shaoqi had written an essay entitled How to Be a Good Communist. Although written many years ago, certain parts of his work could still be relevant to our times. Take a look at the following excerpt:

"What is our most fundamental duty as Party members? It is to achieve communism. As far as the Communist Parties of different countries are concerned, in each country it is for the Communist Party and the people there to transform it by their own efforts, and in that way the whole world will be transformed step by step into a communist world. Will the communist world be good? We all know it will be. In that world there will be no exploiters of oppressors, no landlords and capitalists, no imperialists and fascists, nor will there be any oppressed and exploited people, or any of the darkness, ignorance and backwardness resulting from the system of exploitation. In such a society the production of both material and moral values will develop and flourish mightily and will meet the varied needs of all its members. By then all humanity will consist of unselfish, intelligent, highly cultured and skilled communist workers; mutual assistance and affection will prevail among men and there will be no such irrationalities as mutual suspicion and deception, mutual injury, mutual slaughter and war. It will of course be the best, the most beautiful and the most advanced society in human history. Who can deny that such a society is good? But can this good communist society be built? We say that it can and will be. Marxist-Leninist theory has explained this scientifically and beyond all doubt. A factual testimony has been provided by the victory of the Great October revolution and the successes in socialist construction in the Soviet Union. Our duty is constantly to advance the cause socialism and communism in accordance with the laws of development of human society, so as to make socialist and communist society a reality as soon as possible. This is our ideal."

When looking back at what happened in Russia and in Eastern Europe during the existence of the Soviet Union, there is no doubt that many mistakes will be identified. Having said this, it is important to bear the following points in mind:

1.) A top-down approach to doing things was very common for a fairly long period of time in human history and certain changes in one's behaviour do not happen overnight;

2.) Russia and the Eastern European countries spent decades living in a state of siege (one should not forget the fear of a nuclear war during the times of the Cold War). When a population lives under such conditions, there tends to be a certain degree of paranoia.

3.) The construction of Socialism on the scale witnessed during the 20th century was unprecedented. Of course, when you are trying to do something for the first time, you are bound to commit a number of mistakes.

The mistakes committed by various Communist parties during the 20th century might have discouraged many potential Communists from joining such organisations. A 21st century Communist will admit that several mistakes occurred in the past, but he/she will criticise those errors so that they will not be repeated in the future.

At this stage, it is very important to note that just because one or more Communist parties committed numerous errors does not mean that the whole Communist belief system is wrong and that it should be discarded in favour of....neoliberalism?? Superstition? Communists have traditionally attached a great deal of importance to scientific thinking. Unlike the typical religious fanatic, a Communist knows that what might seem good today might need to be revised tomorrow. Marxism-Leninism was never intended to be a dogma.

So, what makes a Communist in the 21st century? I would say that the defining characteristic of a Communist is their strong desire to put an end to the capitalist economic model in order to replace it with a much fairer system. A system whereby resources are shared and distributed according to need.

The past should be discussed and analysed, but it is important to be able to move on in a constructive way. As stated in an article published by the Progressive Labour Party, "The working class has no reason to hang on to outmoded ideas, refight old battles, or embrace errors made by our heroic ancestors in the communist movement." It is essential to identify other groups in society that have had enough of capitalism so that more attention could be given to what unites such groups rather than what keeps them apart. At the end of the day, capitalism enjoys the support of several millionaires and billionaires; without a strong opposition, it would be extremely hard to do much in terms of social justice.

There are many parties that do not call themselves Communist, but which offer many interesting arguments when discussing the struggle against capitalism. Taking the Socialist Workers Party as an example, this organisation does not describe itself as a Communist one and it is very critical of the events that took place in Russia and in Eastern Europe during the existence of the Soviet Union. This does not mean that whatever they say is incorrect. I believe that the 21st-century Communist should be able to identify those points where it is possible to agree and to also employ rational arguments to criticise any assertions that might not appear to be factually correct.

I have recently borrowed a book entitled Anti-Capitalism: A Guide to the Movement. Published in 2001, the book contains numerous articles written by members of the Socialist Workers Party. Although I did not agree with the contents of every article written by the representatives of this party, I found myself agreeing with many of the points mentioned by Colin Baxter, one of the contributors to the book. I think that few Communists would disagree with the following words penned by Baxter:

"Those who hope to change things by persuading corporate bosses to behave morally are genuine utopians." (p. 330)

"Capitalism depends on an ever-expanding class of workers. Each, to live, must enter into a contract of unfreedom, agreeing to obey their employer. Each must compete with other workers for the privilege of being bossed and exploited. Each, to eat, must spend her wages on goods produced, not for need, but for profit. Workers for Ford, Nike, Safeway and McDonald's don't simply make cars, shoes, groceries, hamburgers; through their effort and weary sweat they reproduce and fatten the corporation bosses and their system." (p. 330)

"The capitalist system absolutely dominates the world, shaping everything humankind does." (pp. 330 - 331)

"So far as the working class is concerned, the argument goes, surely it's not the force it used to be? It's shrunk, it's defeated, it no longer has the capacity to change the world. But what's the working class? It's not confined to manufacturing. It's not confined to manual jobs. It's composed of everyone who, in order to live, must depend on earning a wage. In those terms, it's still growing. Shop assistants in supermarkets, computer technicians, teachers, nurses, bank and insurance workers and the like are, in the proper sense, workers...Today the majority of the world's population are workers - or would-be workers, the unemployed." (p. 332)

"A strategy for changing the world that doesn't directly involve that majority will always fail. Socialism has to speak to every facet of people's lives, and not least their working lives. It has to be about the majority empowering themselves, taking control of their workplaces themselves, putting themselves as people before profit..." (p. 333)

"Socialists have to change: they must be more open to impulses from without, more discussive in style, more able to relate to a multitude of new issues and arguments. They need to learn new ways of uniting in agreed common action with people who agree with them on many things but not all. Socialist organisations need, of course, to be inwardly democratic." (p. 335)

As more time goes by, it is hoped that more people will learn about how destructive capitalism is. Hopefully, more people will also learn about the possibility of building a much better world by embracing Socialism. There is no time to waste. As long as capitalism is allowed to reign, thousands of people will continue starving, losing their jobs, losing their homes, and seeing the environment around them being destroyed in order to generate huge profits.

A Sad Conversation

A few days ago, I received a call at work. The person had applied for a post and he was calling to enquire about whether the vacancy was still open following his interview. The caller had apparently been unemployed for over a year.

When he called, I already knew that the post was no longer vacant. I told him so. He thanked me for the answer. As he did so, I could sense a certain degree of sadness in his voice.

When I put the phone down, I felt angry and sad. What has happened to the right to work? Why can't the government do more to eliminate unemployment in this country? Given that Malta is supposed to have the highest inflation rate in the EU, could you imagine what life might be like for a person who has been unable to find a job in over a year?

A Visit to the Public Library

Last Saturday, La Delirante and I visited the public library at Belt is-Sebh. This library had been built for the masses by a Socialist government in the 1970s. It is important to remember that back then, a relatively small percentage of the population was able to buy books on a regular basis. The library was, therefore, an excellent place for a person to visit in order to borrow a book and acquire knowledge without paying anything.

One of the most interesting things about the aforementioned library is that it has several books that are no longer found in local bookshops. For example, I borrowed a book entitled The Marxist-Leninist Teaching of Socialism and the World Today. Published in 1978, the book was printed in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Such books are extremely engaging because they reveal several thoughts that were popular during a specific period of time.


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Stephen Gowans - A Different Voice

I discovered Stephen Gowans's blog, What's Left, around two years ago. I consider it to be an extremely interesting blog that dares to challenge many of the dominant ideas that are broadcast by various pro-capitalist TV channels in the Western world. Furthermore, his posts are usually backed by extensive research.

Sadly, the views of bloggers such as Stephen Gowans do not seem to attract much attention. This could be due to the fact that when one does not have the sort of capital that various TV news channels have, it is extremely difficult to make oneself heard.

Earlier on today, I came across an article that he had written in April 2009. Although the article focused on Cuba, I was struck by the last part of the post. Talking about former East Germany, Gowans stated that "After experiencing two decades of a resurrected capitalism, half of East Germans want to return to what they had before. Reuters, hardly known for promoting socialism, revealed that a public opinion poll had found that 52 percent of East Germans had no confidence in capitalism, and most of them wanted to return to a socialist economy." A 46-year-old IT worker from East Berlin said, "We read about the ‘horrors of capitalism’ in school. They really got that right. Karl Marx was spot on. I had a pretty good life before the Wall fell. No one worried about money because money didn’t really matter. You had a job even if you didn’t want one. The communist idea wasn’t all that bad."

Taking a look at the comments that were left regarding the aforementioned post, I was struck by the first one. More specifically, one of the readers wrote the following:

"I was born in an Eastern European country which was formerly communist. My Dad did not have much love for that system, but even he admitted that there were good things about it.

1. Paid vacations for all. There were government resorts where you paid a pittance to go with your family and not have to worry about being broke after coming back.

2. Free health care. When there was a public health risk because of a disease, ie flu, the authorities immediately setup mobile vaccination units and told people to immediately get vaccinated. If you did not, they came to your house and made sure you got one (for free, of course)

3. You always had a job and when you got old, you were guaranteed a pension and could live out the rest of your days in peace.

4. It was against the law to be unemployed. If someone did not want to work, and they were healthy, the government found a job for you.

5. Public order and a very low crime rate.

This author is right about the fact that socialist countries may not have offered the high end luxuries that capitalist countries offered, but in a socialist country everyone was guaranteed a safe life with all the basics taken care of.
Many people there would like to go back to the old socialist system.
The world has two choices: luxuries and high tech toys in a capitalist system, or do without them but have all the basics taken care of in a socialist system.
It’s really a trade-off."

Using a Marxist-Leninist analysis of current events, I believe that Stephen Gowans does a great job when discussing the nature of journalism. Many people hardly ever seem to pause to question certain features on TV or to go beyond what is written in a newspaper article. Gowans, on the other hand, stimulates the reader to ask a number of very important questions pertaining to the media: who is writing an article? What is that journalist's socio-political background? What message are they trying to convey via a specific article? What issues might have been brushed aside for fear that they could challenge the points raised in the article? Focusing on the two US journalists who were recently tried and convicted in North Korea, Gowans wrote the following:

"Are Ling and Lee politically neutral? No journalist, no matter how hard she strives to be impartial, is free from class or national allegiances. As journalists employed by capitalists based in the dominant imperialist power, it is inevitable their reporting on north Korea would have had a decidedly pro-capitalist, pro-imperialist tilt, at odds with north Korea’s interests. Ling and Lee are every bit as much warriors in the struggle between Washington and Pyongyang over the question of whether the whole of the Korean peninsula will be dominated by US geopolitical interests as US military and intelligence personnel and Washington decision-makers are. Their battlefield, while it may not be one of missiles and artillery, is people’s minds, and is every bit as important. Ling and Lee are not innocent, politically neutrally journalists, who accidentally stumbled across the north Korean border. They are promoters of an imperialist ideology who almost certainly intruded illegally on north Korea with unfriendly intentions. The evidence suggests they are guilty as charged."