Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1297549
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 11 OCTOBER 2020 Raphael Vassallo OPINION Ashamed to be Maltese; proud to support Bulgaria IT may seem far removed from everything that's happening in Malta right now; but way back in 2003 – in the build-up to the Iraq war – American country band The Dixie Chicks managed to torpedo their entire career in the space of a single second. "We do not want this war, this violence," lead singer Natalie Maines famously said at a con- cert in London, to wild applause from the crowd. Then she add- ed – to even wilder applause – "And we're ashamed the Presi- dent of the United States is from Texas…" Ka-BOOM! Within days, American radio started drop- ping The Dixie Chicks from their playlists; within weeks, their records were being burnt in public conflagrations across the country… and to cut a long story short, the backlash was so severe that the band itself never really recovered in the end. There is even a documenta- ry about the whole affair, aptly entitled 'Shut up and Sing'. The title alone comes across as a cautionary tale about that elu- sive concept called 'freedom of expression'. Put simply, it can be summed up as: "Yes, you are free to speak your mind… but that doesn't mean you are also immune to the consequences of what you actually say." And of course, it doesn't apply only to the microcosm of Coun- try & Western music. Sticking to the same part of the world for now: some of you may be aware that there is a US Presidential election going on as we speak… and (albeit for different reasons) the underlying tensions are every bit as severe as they were back in the time of the Iraq war. Can you imagine the conse- quences, then, if Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Bid- en were to address the nation on live TV, and casually de- clare himself… "ashamed to be American"? Even if he stopped there, it would almost certainly be enough to scuttle any realis- tic hope of defeating Donald Trump later this month (or in- deed, ever). But if he were to al- so add: "In fact, I'm so ashamed to be American, that when I travel to other countries… I lie about my nationality, and claim to be Canadian instead…" Yikes! Never mind a 'backlash': something like that would prob- ably jump-start a full-blown sec- ond American Civil War. And OK, I know what you're prob- ably thinking. That's because we're talking about the United States of America: a country that (let's face it) tends to take 'patriotism' to extremes… But I reckon it would be an in- stant suicide note for European politicians, too. Take Angela Merkel, for instance: would she get away with telling reporters that she uses, say, an Austrian alias when travelling, to avoid letting on that she's actually German? I somehow doubt it (and the same goes for Emma- nuel Macron pretending to be Belgian; Boris Johnson pretend- ing to be Irish; or – dare I say it – Bulgaria's Boris Borissov, hiding behind a fake Russian passport…) Yet here in Malta – a country that has somehow managed to turn 'self-loathing' into an in- stant political virtue – we have a newly-elected Opposition lead- er (no less) who seems to think it is perfectly acceptable to pub- licly disparage his own nation- ality… and with it, the identity of the very country he hopes to one day lead as Prime Minister. And of course, this raises a few questions concerning his future career in politics. For instance: if Bernard Grech prefers to iden- tify as 'Greek' while on holiday, to avoid the embarrassment of putting up with criticism of his real home-country… then: a) how does he intend to pro- tect Malta's reputation in inter- national political fora (as, after all, both Opposition leaders and Prime Ministers are occasional- ly expected to do)?; b) where would he stand, if Malta's interests were to one day collide with those of Greece (as indeed can already be said to be happening, in the case of im- migration)? And – last but not least… c) why the heck doesn't Ber- nard Grech just apply for Greek nationality through that coun- try's 'Golden Passport' scheme, and get it over with? That way, the next time he is asked by for- eigners about his nationality… he'd be in a position to spare himself all the embarrassment, without having to also resort to a bald, barefaced lie. Ah, but wait, let me guess: you didn't know that countries like Greece – and Austria; and Spain; and Portugal, etc. – also have their own equivalent of Malta's much-maligned 'Indi- vidual Investor Programme', did you? Well, I can assure you they do. And this brings me to anoth- er small problem with Bernard Grech's open disavowal of his own nationality. For starters, it's not as though the things that Things like the 'Venice Commission' only have any value, insofar as they can be used as political weapons against the Maltese government… and only when the government happens to be occupied by a political party that is not the PN