Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1356256
13 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 MARCH 2021 OPINION I'm not necessarily a fan of the carceral society we live in – although there is great importance of jailing these people who, until a few days ago were going up and down the stairs of the OPM with fancy suits and a disgusting aura of prepotence, hijacking the democratic instruments of our society One thing that might explain this psy- chic identification with Muscat is per- haps the fact that, in his Opposition days, Muscat famously used to meet a huge number of people and stakehold- ers, charming them with his vacuous all-inclusive rhetoric, perhaps even be- friending them, and giving them formal or informal advisory positions. It is no wonder, then, that when the façade was dropping, these same people – apparat- chiks, ultimately – literally could not account for it, and were not willing to be consistent in their thinking, at least not publicly. These same apparatchiks take up many people's time on Facebook en- gaging in tiring and twisted discussions, and presenting apologies (in the sense of 'defence', not in the sense of saying sorry) for their favourite party. Being a member, formally or informally, of a party is absolutely not a problem. The problem arises when the party propa- ganda serves as your moral and political conscience, instead of one's thinking. Another group of apparatchiks are those people who in the past or cur- rently would be benefiting in some way from the current ruling class, either by having advisory positions or would be benefiting informally behind the scenes through some job or favour. When faced with accusations of docility, they would say, 'ah, but we have done our bit internally. You don't see us do any- thing publicly – but we raise hell inside the party headquarters. We don't wash our dirty laundry in public.' Something close to this is said to have been going on inside Castille on that infamous No- vember 2019 Cabinet meeting – you know, the same occasion when journal- ists were locked inside by the 'muscle apparatchiks' – that culminated in that 4am press conference by Muscat. Pre- sumably, some Cabinet members, and it's not clear who they are, are said to have created some trouble 'internally' by asking the PM to resign. But none of them effectively condemns in a straight and unambiguous way what was going on beyond cryptic statements. So this excuse of 'internal scheming' is really part of the problem. It dismisses any serious attempt at democracy and cultural critique. Mind you, I have ab- solutely no doubt that should the situ- ation have been the other way round, and these atrocious actions were to happen under a PN government, these same people – because these people are obviously not stupid: a few of them are even academics or academically-mind- ed – would surely change the discourse and say, 'ah, but we need courageous people who speak truth to power.' And then they would start quoting the Hannah Arendts and the Zygmunt Baumans on the dangers of totalitari- anism, the importance of critical think- ing, the problems of complacency and the relevance of the public sphere and civil society. Arguably, the same quo- tations and critiques that are being put forward now, dismissed by the party ap- paratchiks as naïve idealistic ramblings – 'that's not how the real world works, you know'. This just goes to show how deep and insidious the grip of the polit- ical party is. This is something that we need to face if we want to a stronger democracy. One way of doing so, surely not the only way, is by solidifying even further polit- ical education, both formally in schools and informally as a society. We need to be educating on what constitutes ac- ceptable and unacceptable criticism, justification and defence. Celebrating someone's death – or making up ex- cuses for it – is simply not on. Nor is gleeful relishing in someone else's go- ing to prison, if this is not coupled with a proper politicisation (to politicise does not mean to add a partisan layer on something, but rather to connect an action with the broader socio-political factors at play) of the issues at stake. I'm not necessarily a fan of the carcer- al society we live in – although there is great importance of jailing these peo- ple who, until a few days ago were go- ing up and down the stairs of the OPM with fancy suits and a disgusting aura of prepotence, hijacking the democrat- ic instruments of our society. There is something crucial in the images of Keith Schembri absolutely exhausted, with eyes shut, being driven to prison at night. There is something of a demo- cratic victory in this. But we must rec- ognize that this is not just a matter of sticking it to Keith Schembri et al, but a broader issue of political corruption and the state of democracy in this coun- try. We also need to emphasize ethics education. I say this not only because those in power have been abusing from their position. But also because of those agents who find themselves working in top positions, or end up caught up in all sort of seemingly bureaucratic or 'prag- matic' twisting of facts (if they're, say, an account, financial advisor or lawyer) that ultimately amounts to crime. Apart from the 'big shots' (Kasco, Tonna…), we saw less-known financial control- lers, perhaps ordinary Joes and Janes, who finish their academic degree and find themselves – perhaps also through ties of family and friends – in a slick po- sition. No doubt that they relished from the luxury and the privileges that come with these positions. Just look at the photos of Joseph Cus- chieri, former MGA Chairman and MF- SA CEO, enjoying himself like a fool on Yorgen Fenech's yacht. Or think of the all expenses paid trip to Las Vegas by Cuschieri and his colleague Edwina Li- cari, former legal counsel to the MGA and later to the MFSA (note the pattern in job mobility), now accused of drafting – while holding the MGA post – letters responding to the authorities on behalf of Yorgen and his casino. No doubt they enjoyed their moment of such proximi- ty with power and money. But we saw a few of them last Saturday, weeping and sobbing in court as they were denied bail. They weep because their world came crashing down, as the hand of justice was more far-reaching than their hidden schemes. I have to admit that, on some human level, I feel some sort of sympathy for them. But, on the other hand, these would be the same people who would laugh off any talk of ethics, propriety and civility in public office, civil service and business when they were rolling on a high. So I would emphasise that we need to boost even further ethics education as a formal component of profession- als' education. We need to spend more time in education speaking about vir- tues of responsibility, accountability, trustworthiness, truthfulness. And the dangers of thoughtlessness, the dan- gers of having people who are so will- ing to lie, deceive, steal, corrupt, fraud. And the virtue of having the courage to stand up to such wrong-doing, to say 'no' when it matters – because I do not doubt that some of these people were coerced, sometimes informally through pressure, or wanting to suck up to the Brian Tonnas of this world. But then that's what you get (and should get) for making such decisions – they're now in prison. 'I was just doing my job' is no excuse, as the trial of Adolf Eichmann taught us. That's why, as a country, we need to destroy this political idolatry, to stop opportunistically defending the inde- fensible, or be too late in condemning it. We must learn to more efficiently stand up to these people, not from a moral high ground of purity, but for the sake of political seriousness, respect for democracy and the belief in a politics that serves the people.