Between an amnesty and three carnivals

I am not the law-and-order type and tend to favour initiatives which send a message of inclusion towards marginalized groups in society, especially those living in institutions where they can be subjected to arbitrary power. Therefore I am not shocked by news of a limited amnesty to prisoners.

What irks me is the link between a change of government and the sentencing regime. Even more disturbing is the portrayal of a change in government as some sort of epochal, joyous event warranting an amnesty for prisoners.

For me this is reminiscent of autocratic regimes who are in the habit of celebrating their party's victory by dishing out national favours.

Why not wait for next year's 50th anniversary of Malta's independence to grant such an amnesty?

Still despite my reservations, for once I cannot criticize Labour for being populist.  Moreover, Minister Emmanuel Mallia's focus on the prison system is welcome.

Hopefully this goodwill gesture will herald a more humane approach. But this demands concrete reforms like making parole an effective instrument, making the police conduct system less an impediment in life for first time offenders and an effective programme aimed at the integration of people who leave prison.

One peculiar aspect of the amnesty is the exclusion of paedophiles from any of its benefits.

As much as I detest paedophilia and crimes against children in general, I find the exclusion a bit arbitrary in the sense that there could also be other crimes with serious consequences (for example, human trafficking) and sends a message that these people are damned...

Three carnivals instead of 1

Parliamentary secretary José Herrera is toying with the idea of having three Carnivals a year: the traditional one before Lent, a second one in May for floats and a summer Carnival.

I would like to make a counter-proposal. Why not simply stop referring to this non-event as carnival anymore?  If we do that it would be much easier to divorce carnival from any historical and cultural context and have three feasts for the float and costume enthusiasts.

For carnival is not about floats and costumes but about the reversal of power roles (coupled with wild fun) just before Catholicism's penitential period of Lent. It was a sort of concession to the masses, which the masses creatively used to mock the establishment.  In some countries the mockery has been retained through political satire, while in others it is the sinful part which survived.  Except perhaps in Nadur, In Malta carnival is neither sinful nor subversive.

In the absence of any of this, carnival is simply a day where the carnival organizers exhibit their wares representing the same repetitive themes year after year.  

And now that we are at it why not also have Lent three times a year too... and for that matter three Good Friday processions too? I guess that would be good for tourism too.