A lesson from civilisation: Hollande shows the vulgarians of the Maltese government how these things are done
The president of France, after a brief appearance without pomp in which you’d think he was an airport manager, melts into the background and makes himself invisible when the hostages get down from the plane. Only when they have hugged and kissed and embraced does he reappear unobtrusively to greet one or two hostages with no ceremony. He is not accompanied by half the ministers of his cabinet, various military commanding officers and heads of the security service, and there is no press conference. He does not even speak to the press.
Because as a civilised Frenchman he knows that in some situations, the most important person on the scene is not the most important person in the country, and that he has no place in what is a very emotional encounter between those who love each other and who have suffered the torture of believing they would never see each other again.
And he also knows that this is not about taking credit for bringing them back, but about being thankful as hell that they’re back at all.
Compare and contrast, and also take note of the way in which the prime minister so ill-manneredly gives his back to the woman who pulled the whole thing off. Horrible manners, giving your back to a woman like that, and even worse when she is the heroine of the day.
You know what – when I think of all the truly insufferable snobs (and believe me when I say there were very many) who voted these vulgarians into power, I laugh.
They always had so much to say that was contemptuous about Lawrence Gonzi, because they thought him not quite as smart as they, and then they go and elect a bunch of hamalli who don’t have the barest idea of how to behave in the most fundamental of situations, let alone in more complicated ones which require an entire arsenal skills in the ability to understand behavioural codes and handle situations as they are supposed to be handled.
I laugh even more heartily when I think of how they spend their time cutting people down to size, looking down on them and scathingly dissecting their terrible manners and uncouthness and then – oh tragedy! – they can’t do that with the people they’ve chosen to run the country because that would be admitting a failing on their part, and we can’t have that, can we.
Yes, my dear friends (you know who you are) – the people you’ve put in charge are a bunch of hamalli and you just can’t admit it, can you.
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It is obvious that the prime minister wanted to seize the opportunity to ‘slam’ the media for daring to criticise him and his government about their wrong priorities during the previous week, when they completely ignored the situation in Libya and the fact that a Maltese man had been abducted there, and spent their time in photo sessions with Cameron in the UK instead.
“…il-hidma fis-silenzju li saret minghajr hafna storbju zejjed…”
The emphasis of the prime minister’s speech is around that bit.
His spiteful nature comes out in these moments, in front of the cameras. This is like that episode in front of the NET TV cameras, after he had escaped to Milan to watch a football match instead of appearing in front of the Parliamentary Committee to testify in his case against Dr. Simon Busuttil.
So basically, the prime minister thinks that his job is a trip from one photo session to the other to celebrate the glorious moments, but he hides from the media during times of crisis.
I can’t help but compare Muscat’s handling of the situation to Lawrence Gonzi’s, especially with regard to “il-hidma fis-silenzju li saret minghajr hafna storbju zejjed”.
The Gonzi administration never shied away from at least giving a general outline of what was being organised in coordinating efforts to rescue civilians in Libya. It didn’t prove to be an obstacle and Gonzi just did what he had to do, giving credit where it was due.
Muscat never kept us informed about anything that was being done, giving us the impression that nothing was being done. The woman responsible was shoved aside (literally). If it weren’t for Ms Caruana Galizia, quite a few people wouldn’t even know about the details behind her story and her efforts.
“Yes my dear friends (you know who you are).”
And so do we, and they’ll be forever cursed by their own children for what they did to this country.
I doubt it. They simply wouldn’t give a toss as they won’t have any moral fibre. This is caused by parents who obviously have none.
These children will be monetarily wealthier reaping the benefits of the shady deals their parents made and can choose to bugger off to some other country which hasn’t been pillaged. Or else they will simply swing to the other side and seek to reap even more benefits.
Imbasta jippuppaw sidirhom. Għax għalhekk biss jinqalgħu. Ma tgħaddix ġurnata li ma nesperjenzawx xi ħmar il-lejl (nightmare). Verament ġabuna tal-ħabba gozz.
U ppuppah sidru ilbierah ta! I honestly thought his chest was going to explode.
Who is the heroine? And why was the Dear Leader frowning when her name was being mentioned?
Also, how come none of the bellends in suits had the basic human decency to greet Galea by hugging him?
Seems to me that the situation called for this.
[Daphne – Men from that sort of background don’t embrace other men whatever the circumstances in case people think they’re gay. The only time you see them doing it is if they’re drunk at a festa or wedding.]
Maybe they wanted a confirmation from Mater Dei Hospital that he is not carrying an infection? After all, you can only expect so much life-risking heroics from members of the Maltese government.
Why does kitten from Malta come to mind?
Maaa kemm hu zattat. And where was Martin Galea’s family?
But Joseph was busy working on attracting more investment to Malta. Up to now, since the first day of being elected as Prime Minister of Malta, Joseph Muscat has attracted the following long list of foreign investments (Only he is very modest and does not brag about it at all):
1. Selling our most modern power station to the communist Chinese government (95% of all Chinese companies are government-owned).
2. Selling passports.
Surprised at the fact that Joseph showed up on time at the airport – the only time he did not let people wait. Why? Of course, now I realize. He couldn’t afford it as otherwise he would have been left out of the action. Stupid me.
[Daphne – Not quite. See my latest post: http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/07/the-returning-hostage-had-to-wait-for-the-pm-rather-than-the-pm-wait-for-the-returning-hostage/ ]
“Ghamilna kollox fis-silenzju.”
Yes, because they had no choice. But when Martin Galea got back, all we saw and heard was them.
The snobs tear into the Nationalists because they expect a lot from them and eventually castigate them and revel in their humiliation.
With Labour it has always been different. They hope against hope that after so many years in the wilderness things would change.
Now that it hasn’t they are not shocked, perhaps a bit disappointed, and will take their shit passively until they can stomach it no more. When will we ever learn.
“…il-hidma fis-silenzju li saret minghajr hafna storbju zejjed…”
This means one of two things.
a) They were doing nothing at all.
b) They didn’t have a clue of what they were doing so the best way forward was to remain mum and ride on the result if it was positive or find some excuse if it ended up in disaster.
Not even Silvio Berlusconi is this pompous. After the Nasiriya disaster he refused his place in the front rows of the church to the families of the victim.
He said it’s the family’s place not that of a politician.
The French clip made me feel emotional and joyful. The Maltese one made my skin crawl, especially seeing Martin Galea’s face, still tortured, yet in Malta.
Shameful to say the least.
I think even diehard left-wingers could gauge the lack of joy in that ‘reception’, the joy everyone craved. Although this was a tremendous day for Martin Galea, seeing him standing there, being used for marketing, I felt shame.
Not a doubt about the hamalli bit. But it won’t change now, Daphne, whoever is in charge.
I’m afraid that’s what that over-populated school they call Uni is producing… nothing but hamalli with “degrees.”
Of course there are exceptions, but will they bother to go in for politics?
I can’t see it, I’m afraid. We’ve turned full circle; we’re outnumbered and there’s no way out (apart from emigration or death). But you’ll have plenty to write about.
This poor man went from being held hostage in Libya to then be held hostage by the Prime Minister.
Muscat’s words that they are now going to turn him over to his family, couldnt have been more truer.
X’zibel ta’ nies.