MIDIocrity
Yesterday was the last day you could have signed the petition demanding the Government to effectively take back Manoel Island from Midi. Those guys who built that rich-man’s ghetto for their friends on Dragut’s Point. The same guys who gave us that most important shopping complex Tigne Point. The same guys who have been patiently poised to do the same to Manoel Island.
A cursory visit to MidiMalta.com’s, a click on their About Us page and a quick scroll through their Our Team of Chairmen and Directors, you will see it pack with the usual cadre of craggy vanilla pods bearing those ever familiar family names. Their chinless headshots whispering all you need to know about their prospective future for Manoel Island. Isn’t it beyond incredible that a crusty old crotch stain like Joe Gasan still enjoys sitting on so many boards even after being embroiled in the Electrogas scandal?
You can only gawk at the avarice of these individuals. Their avarice and ignorance. You’d be forgiven to think that the money they made from developing Tigne Point would have been enough for them. That after all these years they might say, ‘Maybe we don’t need to do replicate this perfected parasitic model on Manoel Island. Maybe we should be content with what we’ve done and reaped. And maybe we should give Manoel Island back to the public.’ But no, banish the thought, ‘We’ve got the shareholders to think about -and anyway look at all the public gardens we are going to build for you!’
Some of you will be thinking, ‘Don’t be naive. That’s not how it works.’
What about the government then? Surely since Midi has failed to fulfil it’s contractual obligations, they can take back Manoel Island. Surely they recognise the urgent need for a green lung in the Sliema-Msida-Gzira area, already turned into an urban cesspit by developers. Surely with all the money being spent by Project Green, Miriam Dalli would consider Manoel Island worth a euro or two. Maybe it isn’t in her power to do so, or maybe it just isn’t in her constituency.
Some of you will be thinking, ‘Don’t be naive. That’s not how it works.’
Midi has said Moviment Graffitti have misled the people with regards to their petition. I would say it was Midi who have repeatedly mislead the public. For years they've promised us Manoel Island’s regeneration. Peddling their rendered fiction of luxury living that is accessible to all. Luxury sea-view apartments, commercial outlets, another casino, another astroturfed pitch, another hotel. Some trees left to wither in the open spaces of their creation, to be enjoyed while you sip your iced frappaccinoraszobbi. It will be great, we pwomise.
If only there could be an example of the complete negligence and greed such a project delivered by these developers would look like. Just look across the bay and there it is, Tigne Point. These islands are inundated by examples of abhorrent developments. I wonder how many of these developers actually still live in Malta and not in Villas in Sicily, the new Madliena Heights. Commuting to Malta from a Ragusa pontoon on their AssinMoouths.
We haven’t even spoken about the island itself or the Fort Manoel or Lazzaretto Wharf. I could say, how as a kid, I used to enjoyed going to lunch at the Yacht Club (Maaaa), leaving the adults at table to explore the abandoned fort and its environs with friends. Languid summers spent on those splendid steps leading down to the sea. The architecture workshops and parties we held in the fort’s square looking out to Valletta’s Marsamxett side. I had the privilege of enjoying all of this and more on that tiny island. And this was when it was left to rot by the state and businessmen alike. It may have been dilapidated and dodgy at times, but it was our idyll, it had soul. And I can assure you that if Midi were to go ahead with their project, no matter how much open space they promise us, that soul will have been chocked under mountains of their cement and excrement.
And again some of you make be thinking ‘Don’t be naive. That’s not how it works.’ And even more are thinking, ‘Maaa, does he need to use such vulgar words?’ And I’m thinking ‘Yes I do and maybe you’re right, I’ve poured enough bile on them to make my point.’
What can be done? Could a compromise be found? - if Midi are hell bent on retaining Manoel Island, and the government is too bent to bother listening to the plethora of people and NGO’s imploring them to intervene. Then this could be a simple solution. A win-win-win if you will. The Government could mark Manoel Island as a site of natural and cultural importance. Nobody could argue that it isn’t. It’s in spitting distance of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Not to mention boasting it’s own old fort and quarantine hospital. Midi can become custodians of Manoel Island, on condition that no flatsijiet, no hotels, no starbucks, can be built and the entire island and foreshore will remain public. Maybe allow them to build one lido. I think you’d agree that a restaurant by the sea there would be quite pleasant, but not with a jetty. Otherwise the polo-shirt brigade will spend their days zooming in for a plat vongole on their rubber rhibs (sorry it seems like I had a hack of phlegm left). Midi should be granted a lease to restore and develop the fort, wharf and shipyard into something that would actually benefit Malta. Just to pluck out an example from the ether -a world class concert hall and music conservatory. Fuck looking for a grotty garage complex to give to musicians, give them Lazaretto. And in return for this act of public service possibly allowing the developers leeway to commission some funky new addition to the fort, some opinion splitting Frank Gehryesque tumour on the top. Aim for that Bilbaoification effect- that should appease them.
As with every compromise a little should be given by each party - even though we seem to have given them far more than they have given us, which mainly amounts to asthma and diabetes. So to recap - The Government gets to look good with a voter base that doesn’t particularly like them and adds another national gem to it’s portfolio. The developers get to retain custodianship of Manoel Island and transform it into a world recognised aforementioned national gem. And the Public gets to keep Manoel Island. Win-win-win.
I mean come on, how much more could they possibly want. They already have Tigne Point and individually god knows what else. Shouldn’t they be satisfied, even grateful with being given a fucking baroque fort to digest and develop? Don’t they even feel a tiny pang of guilt for what they have done and for what they are about to do?
Again - I know - ‘Don’t be naive.’
Maybe when those inevitable bull dozers and cranes come, some naive individual will simply blow the only bridge to Manoel Island and cut themselves off from this mainland of Midiocrity.
And before you clutch them pearls and think ‘Maaa, he’s inciting violence…’ Look at what is going on around you, and remember the real local bomb makers are currently on trial in court room no.22.
