Bżieżaq

Ħafna fostna għadhom ma fehmux kemm hu diffiċli li tressaq lejn pajjiżna investiment dirett ġdid. Jiġifieri investiment li se jwaqqaf negozju fostna u jħaddem in-nies.

M’għandniex suq tagħna kbir bżżejjed, m’għandniex riżorsi naturali u ninsabu bogħod minn swieq li jeħtiġilna nimmiraw għalihom. Veru li r-revoluzzjoni diġitali ġabet qrib ta’ xulxin lill-imkejjen kollha tad-dinja. Għamlet hekk għal kulħadd u allura ma rbaħniex xi vantaġġ li hu tagħna biss.

Quddiem l-isfida ta’ kif se niġbdu lejna investimenti meħtieġa bilfors li jqumu ħafna inċertezzi. Wara kollox fl-aħħar għoxrin sena, minkejja li dħalna fl-Unjoni Ewropea u bdilna l-munita nazzjonali tagħna mal-ewro, il-volum tal-investimenti privati u publiċi relattiv mal-ekonomija baqgħu jonqsu.

Fil-ġirja wara investimenti ġodda, minħabba dawn il-problemi, ta’ spiss wisq tidħol it-tentazzjoni tal-bżieżaq, tal-proposti li tant ikunu sbieħ li nemmnuhom għalkemm ikunu ħrejjef. Jipprovdu l-miraġġ li fl-aħħar sibna tweġiba soda għall-mistoqsija eterna: kif se niġbdu lejna aktar investimenti?

***

Apoloġiji

Għadni niftakar kif wara li fl-1987 il-Partit Laburista temm żmien pjuttost twil imexxi l-gvern, kienu jfuru s-sejħiet minn ċerti persuni u setturi biex il-Partit jagħmel apoloġiji għal din il-ħaġa u dik.

Illum, sentejn u aktar wara li l-Partit Nazzjonalista temm perijodu itwal minn tal-PL fil-gvern nistagħġeb kif l-istess nies u l-istess setturi mhumiex jitolbu apoloġiji ħafna aqwa mill-Partit Nazzjonalista.

Għax ara, fost l-abbużi li ħarġu fil-beraħ kellna wħud li jaqbżu kull limitu. Pereżempju, il-fatt li ministri Nazzjonalisti ħbew kemm damu fil-kariga, mill-Parlament u mill-Prim Ministru tagħhom, li kellhom fondi sostanzjali barra u li fuqhom ma ħallsux taxxa – anzi gidbu dwar hekk.

Jew il-fatt li l-isptar Mater Dei inbena taħt kundizzjonijiet ta’ tmexxija u sorvelja tal-mistħija, b’dannu enormi għall-interess nazzjonali.

***

Letteratura u teatru

Matul is-snin, bqajt nirrifletti fuq ir-rabta, jekk teżisti, bejn letteratura u teatru. Uħud minn ħbiebi kienu jgħiduli li l-kitba teatrali ħaġa, u l-letteraura ħaġ’oħra. Kont nifhem x’kienu jgħidu u f’sens wieħed għandhom raġun. Wirja teatrali tuża l-lingwa bħala wieħed mill-mezzi tagħha, li mhux dejjem ikun daqstant importanti. Min-naħa l-oħra, li jeżisti teatru ”letterarju” hu stat ta’ fatt.

Ġieli t-test innifsu li jintuża għal ċerti wirjiet, u f’dan qed ninkludi ċ-ċinema, jitfassal apposta biex ikun antiletterarju, kemm fl-istil u kemm fl-użu tal-lingwa. Il-vulgarità inkoerenti titqies bħala ċ-ċertifikat ta’ naturaliżmu ”postmodern”. Dan m’għadux aktar avant-garde imma sar il-kurrent ewlieni.

Parir ċiniku għal min għadu jrid jixxokkja, qaluli, hu dan: Ippreżenta wirja fejn ma jkun hemm lanqas kelma ħażina waħda.

 

English Version – Bubbles

Many still do not appreciate how difficult it is to lure new direct investment towards this country – meaning fresh funds that arrive to establish a good business and employ people.

We lack an internal market that is big enough, we lack natural resources, while the markets we could target are not close by. True, the digital revolution has brought most locations in the world close to each other. However that applies to all and implies no particular advantage for us.

When meeting the challenge of how to attract the required investment flows,inevitably we must overcome numerous uncertainties. Actually, during the last twenty years, though we joined the EU and swapped our national currency for the euro, the levels of private and public investment relative to GDP kept declining.

In the quest to promote new investment, it becomes increasingly tempting to chase bubbles in order to counter the problems one faces, and to start believing proposals that are so incredibly promising they amount to fairy tales. They provide the illusion that at last we might have found agood reply to an eternal question – how can we induce more investment to come our way?

***

Apologies

I can remember how post-1987, when the Labour Party came to the end of quite a long stint in government, some people and certain sectors of our society would repeatedly make calls on the Party to apologise for this or that.

Today, more than two years after the Nationalist Partycame to the end of a far longer stint in government, I’m surprised at how the same people and the same sectors of society are failing to demand much deeper apologies from the PN.

For no matter how one looks at it, abuses committed under their watch were really over the top. There was for instance the fact that during their term of office, Nationalist ministers failed to declare to Parliament and to their Prime Minister that they held substantial funds abroad on which they never paid tax – and indeed lied brazenly over the matter.

Or the fact that the construction of Mater Dei hospital was abysmally managed and supervised, with huge detriment to the national interest.

***

Literature and drama

Over the years I have puzzled over the link, if it exists, between literature and drama. Friends used to tell me that theatrical scripts and “literature” are incompatible. I could understand what they meant and that within certain parameters, they were quite correct. A theatrical show deploys language only as one of its tools, and this tool is not always so important. On the other hand, that a ”literary” theatre does exist is a reality.

Sometimes, texts that serve as the basis for dramatic presentations, including the cinema, are purposely drafted in an anti-literary mode both in style and idiom. Incoherent vulgarity has acquired the stamp of a “post modern” naturalism. It is no longer avant garde but has becomemainstream.

I’ve been told that a piece of cynical advice now being given to those who still wish to shock is the following: just produce a show which does not feaure a single vulgarity.