Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/852418
14 'HOPE' is said to be the last thing to ever die. But whether this was ever said to Immanuel Mifsud is another question. Like many others, the winner of the 2011 European Union Prize for Literature also doubles up as a public commentator on social media sites such as Facebook... and among his various posts about Mediterranean literary festivals or local theatrical productions, one particular observation stood out this week: all the more so for ap- pearing against a stark backdrop of funerary black. "I have given up hope, but I ad- mire those who continue hoping for this country'. Admittedly, Mifsud (the author) is not known for light-hearted op- timism: though there is an unde- niable streak of (mostly dark) hu- mour running through his novels and short stories. But there was something ominous in that bald declaration of his. Not only does it appear to foreshadow a with- drawal from public life... but it also clashes rather conspicuously with another dominant message pervading the country right now. But let's start with the obvious. What, exactly, has Mifsud 'given up hope' on? And what had he hoped for to begin with? "Let me put it this way: there are a lot of things I see around me that I had once hoped would change. For example, I was one of those who voted in favour of EU membership [in 2003]. I had no doubt we should have joined the EU. When the referendum cam- paign was going on, the idea that was pushed forward most by the 'Yes' camp was that membership would benefit Malta economical- ly, more than in other ways. To be honest, my own personal interest in EU membership was twofold: first, from the artistic perspective, I was convinced – and I think time has proved me right – that Malta would acquire more visibility. Today, we have Maltese authors being published abroad, artists ex- hibiting overseas, etc." Mifsud's own work has in fact been translated into several Euro- pean languages: including Albani- an, Bulgarian, French, Romanian and Serbo-Croat. "But I also expected – and this is where I think I was severely mis- taken – that once we formed part of such a big political entity, the inherent 'pettiness' of local poli- tics would die a natural death. I feel that basically, this same 'pet- tiness' is still there. Our member- ship in the EU, from that aspect, did not help. "In fact, it did not even have an effect. For instance, we still yearn for the same old politics of the past: characterised by hampers, promises... I don't think that's the way forward. And that's just from the political perspective. There's also the environment: we have reached a stage when noth- ing matters anymore. Nothing matters. You build on land that was supposed to have been pre- served in its natural state? Don't worry, no problem. We can build on ODZ, so long as we pay a com- pensation fine. "We have become so accustomed to measuring everything in terms of money, that even if we destroy a plot of virgin land, we can always assuage our conscience by simply 'paying something' to make up for it. I expected we would become more sensitive and sensible to- wards our environment: but it's not the case, absolutely. I think even our interpersonal relation- ships are being affected: not just by the lack of space around us, but also because of the mental- ity – which is not new: this has been coming for a long time, but now it has reached a certain apex – that the only important thing is 'me', and 'what I have'... and we don't give a damn about anyone else, or – and this is where the real trouble begins – about those who will come after us." This is not, however, a recent phenomenon. On the environ- mental front, Malta has tradition- ally tended to limit its outlook de- cidedly to the present scenario: we have a tendency to plan only for today's needs, without any serious long-term vision for the future. Some would say we have the same approach to politics, too... hasn't it always been this way? "One thing that is different to- day is that there is also a sense of optimism in the country, that I consider to be fake. Take the La- bour Party's slogan, for instance: 'The Best Time' [L-Aqwa Zmien']. The impression this gives is that, basically, we can no longer im- prove. We have reached 'the best time': there is no further progress to be made. In a sense, we are see- ing Fukuyama's 'the End of His- tory' happening right now... even in our political discourse. There are no new ideas; there is no room for new ideas. We were in a race for progress, but someone told us: 'Listen, the race is over. We won. We came first... and now there's no point in running anymore.' "It's like we all died, and are now in heaven for all eternity, with nothing more to aspire to. I think that's a dangerous mental- ity. That kind of talk only deadens our sensitivity towards certain things that... no, actually, they're not 'good' at all. The way we're building everywhere, for instance, isn't 'good'. But we're not even us- ing words like 'good' any more. It's 'the best' now: we are speak- ing in superlatives. I think this sort of language is dangerous, even because there is a new ten- dency to label all critical voices as 'negative'. And this attitude walks hand in hand with the same fake optimism. We are expected to al- ways have a smile on our faces... to believe that everything is not only 'good', but 'can't be better'... and if you find something to criticise, then you're being 'negative'. I'm not saying this only about one side or another... it is the discourse that is dangerous in itself, regard- less who resorts to it. Excessive optimism always worries me..." Coming back to his concern with the arts: in other countries, it generally falls to writers and artists to pick up the baton of 'op- posing the establishment' when all else has failed. Is this true of Malta, too? As both an author and an academic, does Mifsud see the local arts scene playing its part in addressing social and political re- alities? "I think the different artistic genres are responding in different ways. The most active genre, when it comes to 'opposition' in this sense, is music. Obviously, within the musical genre, there are differ- ent styles. But if you listen to what is being written today by certain bands within... shall we call it the alternative scene? These are not bands you'll hear on prime-time radio... they are coming out with very powerful messages. Natu- rally, they're not the musical es- tablishment; they're not the most accepted or promoted bands. They're not Eurovision material, to be clear. But they exist. "In the sphere of literature, I think there is also an interesting movement happening at the mo- ment... mostly involving young writers. But I think the biggest disappointment has been theatre. Theatre, I think, has entered a cer- tain comfort zone – it has become more lavish, let us say – but it is no longer providing any real sense of criticism. Now: this is not to say it hasn't become more liberal... in recent times we have seen produc- tions that were rather 'osé'. But even that has become fashionable these days. Don't forget we have now removed censorship laws: to be 'osé', in this day and age, is not as daring as it was 40 or 50 years ago. We are treading on terrain that is now 'safe'. I'm not saying this to criticise those productions: but the sense of theatre as 'op- position', as 'criticism', I feel that is missing from the theatre scene today." And yet, if there was one liter- ary form that has traditionally al- ways been at the forefront of social commentary, it was the theatre. Playwrights such as Francis Ebe- jer and Oreste Calleja touched on deeply relevant social issues in their time... is nothing of that sort being written today? "I'm not seeing it. We're get- ting better quality productions... productions which can offer a certain mental challenge to their audience. But they're not taking the challenge to the establish- ment. And it's not just theatre. This is something else that I used to dream about a lot around 10 years ago or so; I dreamt of having a more critical citizenry in general. We are still far from that today. Some people, however, may be getting the opposite impression. "What's happening today is that many of us are very active on so- cial media. We may put up a criti- cal comment that gets, let us say, 100 'likes'... and we begin to think that makes us critics of the estab- lishment. But even on the level of social media, at the end of the day we all form our own cliques. Those 100 'likes' are not neces- sarily representative: there will be thousands of others who will not have seen your comment, or who disagree with it. I think that this culture of 'optimism' I mentioned earlier is affecting even those of us who 'oppose' – and I don't mean 'oppose' as in 'disagree with eve- ryone'... but those of us who tend to polemicize issues. I think we're being influenced by this opti- mism, too: in a very strange way, perhaps, but we're affected all the same." What about University? Often we hear criticism to the effect that students worry more about park- Interview By Raphael Vassallo maltatoday, SUNDAY, 23 JULY 2017 We were in a race for progress, but someone told us: 'Listen, the race is over. We won. We came first... and now there's no point in running anymore.' It's like we all died, and are now in heaven for all eternity, with nothing more to aspire to 'L-AQWA ZMIEN' The best of times, the When you see that, at University, student politics only ever takes place between Pulse and SDM... and we all know who those two are... it starts from there, really STUDENT POLITICS