I Don’t Want To Live In A Normal Country
Is Malta a normal country? What is a normal country? And why should that be good enough?
Malta I love you
But under flags red and blue
You are truly fucked
I am heartbroken
Malta you’ve broken my heart
We can’t reconcile.
———–
“This is not a normal country.”
I agreed, listening to those words spoken at Daphne’s six-month vigil. I agreed; this reviled corruption, raunchy collusion, rabid construction, is not normal.
On reflection… isn’t it normal?
What is a normal country?
Where are these normal countries?
Is America a normal country?
Japan? Egypt? Lebanon? Hungry? Peru?
Is Nigeria a normal country?
Britain? Russia? Thailand?…Israel? Ireland? Haiti?… Mexico? Norway? Nepal? Germany? Sudan? Pakistan? Oman?
If a place always smelt of urinal cakes, you can justly say – “The smell of urinal cakes in this place is normal.”
E se tutto il mondo è paese (and if all the world is a village) – our village sure smells of urinal cakes.
Isn’t this reality, we are calling abnormal, normal? Doesn’t this make Malta a normal country?
– A very normal country at that.
I do not want to live in a normal country. Nothing good comes from normalisation.
I do not want to live in a country where air is dust, the sky an exhausted grey.
I do not want to live in a country where wildlife is road-kill, birds cannot sing, fish are poisoned.
I do not want to live in a country, where ideas are feared, voices silenced, debate discouraged.
I do not want to live in a country where the murder of a journalist is normal.
I do not want to live in a normal country.
I want to live in a good country.
I suspect we all share this sentiment.
A good country is not a utopia. A good country can only strive to hold itself to higher standards, in everything it does.
A good country provides for an educated, healthy democracy. Protected, enlightened by its institutions. Cared and loved for by its state. Above all, transparent in action, and deed.
A good country will never be perfect. Societies will always be faced with problems of their own making, or otherwise. It is how we deal with these problems, as a society, within our environment, that makes a country good or normal.
Malta is a normal country. Can Malta become a good one?
- Fuck if I know.
- Is it even worth a try?
- I feel naive.
An island nation 54 years young. Our servile past made us hospitable pirates. Our Mediterranean roots fill us with boastful omertà. Our religion has turned us into charitable bigots. A bipolar people, divided amongst ourselves, by ourselves.
A product of our past, which if not understood, will produce our future. A future that looks painfully normal.
Today I struggle to see the good in this country, the good in us. I struggle to see a good future.
I struggle through this heartbreak.
But to resign to heartbreak, is to resign to love.
And without love, there is no hope.
As I am but a fool, I will continue to profess my love for you. And look for hope, amongst the cranes and choads, amid the traffic and tribalism. Finding it in the colours of the garigue, under the simmering summer sea, in the “Bonġu ħi” of a stranger.
St. Augustine wrote: “Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.”
We are an angry people. An anger misdirected, drowned in alcohol and drug fuelled celebrations. An anger veiled in happiness, and fried chicken.
They say that when push comes to shove we are a courageous bunch. George cross ’n’ all.
Can we direct our anger at the way things are, and pluck up the courage to change them?
Malta can only be good as Malta – Not as Dubai, or Shanghai, not as St. Kitts and Nevis, not as Britain, nor Italy. Malta can only be Malta. And Malta can be good.
We must do away with red, blue, hamalli, pepe. They exploit our divisions for their own gain. We cannot afford to rely on the Delias and Muscats of this island – the fatheads do not care about you.
Muscat had his turn he fucked up. He duped you with his call for unity, misdirecting us with civil liberties.
We must demand better of our state.
Delia should never be given a turn – a brown nosed toad that will never become a prince.
Elections should not be a popularity contest. Outcomes bought, and sold by those who can throw more money around, shouting sweet nothings into the public’s ear.
They repeatedly betray our innate want to believe in one another.
Are you still willing to take these fatheads at their word?
Two years to build a power station – fuck you.
Build think tanks, not fletsijiet.
Malta is at the centre of an international migration crisis. We get away with looking the other way.
We are in the unique position of being a border country between Africa and Europe; we are where Africa and Europe meet.
The White Rocks complex should not be demolished, and replaced by exclusive luxury flets for the fatheads.
Convert and integrate the existing complex into an international think tank. Dedicated to better understanding the issues migration creates, to find solutions that celebrate, and protect human migration – not castigate it as a problem.
Why attract fuffa educational fronts, capitalising on virgin land, and exploiting our heritage?
Use our heritage to illuminate us, not only sell us.
Prioritise people not cars.
Why should I nearly die five times from cycling between Siggiewi and Zebbug?
You cannot cure our car addiction with bigger, wider roads. You don’t treat a heart murmur with cocaine.
How many bypasses can you pull off before a fatal cardiac arrest?
We need a new, clean infrastructure.
Stop piling on this primitive one.
Pwieret please, by all means, regale our landscape with contemporary architecture.
What you and the P.A. are peddling today, is not architecture – it’s criminal.
We need to understand our islands, before we can imagine our architecture.
Continuing down today’s path will be the end of Malta. We might as well change the country’s name to The Developed Republic of Bugibba.
We are faced with many challenges, on multiple fronts.
The problems are not easy, neither are the solutions.
Democracy should preferably be practiced daily, and protected by all.
Delia away
Muscat anon
Reds
Blues
Blow yourselves.
Why are we waiting for a leader to ride in on a mule? We only have ourselves.
We cannot afford to hate each other. Jesus said it is counter productive. Only together can we hold the bastards to account, only together will we have the courage to strive for a good country.
I hope to live in a good country.
———–
Malta I Love you
You need to look at yourself
Cause I can’t no more
Sahha,
S.T.B.
Tag someone who needs to read this
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