Accessibility in Malta

In this blog I’m going to discuss briefly some issues of the lack of accessibility in Malta.

Accessibility is not only for mobility impaired people who use wheel chairs, but also for people who use pushchairs/prams, elderly people who make use of walking strollers, etc. But the most people who really need accessibility are wheelchair users, people who needs their independency when using public pavements.

Most pavements in Malta, especially in central areas are typically inaccessible. Mostly because roads are so narrow that there isn’t space for pavement. For example the town where I live (Rabat), the pavements are really narrow that wheel chair users couldn’t pass and alternatively they pass from roads which might be dangerous for them. 

I frequently notice a lady who uses an electric wheel chair nearby my house, who uses the road on daily basis independently and I notice some of the struggles she meets along the way. Form one point of view it is a positive thing to see a physically impaired person being independent, but on another point of view most of the pavements aren’t accessible for her, so she has to use the road which is really dangerous for her and car users, which are at risk of causing an unfortunate accident.

Simple ramps are surely necessary for wheelchair users, there should be multiple of them along a pavement for an easy access. Some pavements that can be accessible and wide enough for wheelchair users, will also have obstacles such as having poles installed at the middle of the pavements (especially during the feasts lots of decoration poles). Other common obstacles in Malta are holes, trees, garage slopes, damaged pavements (which are made of cheap materials and sometimes take weeks or months to get fixed), etc. Traveling around Malta, one will find lots of these obstacles. Another thing that we might also take for granted is how car users tent to park randomly on the pavements causing a temporary obstacle. So, I think educating the citizens is also necessary to respect these people accordingly.   

For me as a person who do not need any of these aids such as a wheelchair, I don’t really understand the difficulty a wheel chair user might encounter along his/her way. I believe that if the authorities put themselves in the shoe of these people by testing out the Maltese roads by literally get on a wheelchair themselves, I think there might be solutions to more improvement in our roads when possible. However, I don’t really know if they already are conducting similar tests to understand their needs. Although, sometimes I can see that when a new project is being done, they are now taking into consideration accessibility, which I believe that it’s a step forward in improving physically impaired people’s lives, who needs to be independent as everyone else.

In addition, hotels and restaurants in Malta are improving and adapting for everyone’s needs, by designing accordingly to accessibility, which is another way for them to be competitive and user friendly. 

Reference:

Cutajar, K., 2014. A walk on the pavement. Times of Malta. [online] Available at: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141128/opinion/A-walk-on-the-pavement.545941 [Accessed 25 November 2016].

Meeting Ali Ferzat

The meeting with Ali Ferzat was quite interesting and inspiring. The fact that I got to know about him and his works before the talk, made more confident to attend this talk with some background knowledge. For me the subject is now clearer and I got to know better the true reasons behind his drawings. I must say that it was an honor meeting him, and feel his true passion and experiences. 

During the talk, Ferzat talked about his drawings in relation to the ongoing events and situations happening in Syria. He mostly focused his talk on the war happening in Syria rather than his drawings themselves. He seemed to be very passionate about the subject and how he express the society’s voice through the caricatures.

He is an artist who really practices what he believes in and that he wants a change to happen in his country. He also believes that by time his country will be great again and most importantly, he wants his country to be democratic (“freedom and liberty”) again. Art is a form of communication which he believes that it is more powerful than words. An interesting point he made is the comparison between him and the government, where he states that he only carries a pen which is more powerful than the weapons that the government is using. By this he is saying that he wants back the democracy and hoping for an end from the dictatorship happening in Syria. He mainly wants to give voice for the minorities and try to reach a powerful message for them. He wants everyone in the world to know about these situations. So, he is free to have anyone use his drawings in protests, magazine, anywhere. This should bring more awareness about these civil wars and hoping for a better, peaceful country to live in.

A quite catchy and powerful statement Ferzat said during the talk was that “Politicians are licking their own blood”. Honestly, I didn’t quite get what he wants to say by that statement, but I’m sure that it has a great meaning for him and his country.

During the talk he talked about when he was kidnapped, and after that incident he believes that now his drawing are more powerful than before. He talked about how only one drawing had shaken the regime that led him to be abducted and beaten almost to death, which resulted him to have some bones from his hands broken. This shows that when drawing in such way, he is constantly risking his life and he doesn’t even fear that, what all he wants is for the Syrians’ best.

I really admire him for the courage he is showing, after all he had been through, and this also gives courage to Syrian citizens, while he fearlessly still continues to critically draw against wars, corruption, mafia and dictatorship.

This talk made me realize about the situations going in Syria, which most of us might not be aware of or might take for granted. I also made some brief research on the wars happening in Syria, which I felt really devastated knowing that thousands of people had died during the previous years, and more people are still dying every day because of these civil wars. These are tragic realities happening now, in the year 2016, which I believe that it’s not acceptable when we are living in an advanced world and I really hope that such drawings will continue to have a powerful voice towards these people who are suffering physically and emotionally, the deaths, the hunger, and poverty which no human being deserve!

Reference:

Rodgers, L., Gritten, D., Offer, J. & Asare, P., 2016. Syria: The story of the conflict BBC news. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26116868 [Accessed 18 November 2016].

Ali Ferzat - Cartoonist

Ali Ferzat is a Syrian cartoonist, who works for various newspapers, magazines and has his own magazine named al-Domari, and also won international awards. His drawings are very controversial within his country, which most of his topics addresses militarism, corruption and women’s rights, also against dictators.

His drawings are another form of communication with the goal to express opinions, emotions and people’s rights in which citizens and other people around the world can relate to, at the same time giving them voice and hope.

“I speak in all languages without speaking any language”- (Ali Ferzat, The Guardian interview, 2013)

The cartoon drawings are a very good example of ‘Power from Below’. These drawing are simply drawn by just pen on paper and are very powerful, through their meaning. The way these drawings are drawn are to show powerful meanings through metaphoric caricatures, only created by one individual. One day, Ali Ferzat critically drew about Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria, this led him to be seized and beaten. This event shows the power of his drawings.

Theme: Violence (Ferzat, A., 2002. The Guardian)

This is one of the most drawings which I think has a powerful meaning, which consists of a simple gun, with its trigger in the shape of a blade and a piece of finger cut below it. Its main message is that while one is using a gun against someone to physically hurt him/her, at the same time it is actually hurting the one using it, subconsciously and mentally. His approach to this drawing might only be targeted to his fellow citizens, but I think anyone around the word recognizes and relates to the message being interpreted within.

Theme: Women's rights (Ferzat, A.)

 This drawing is about the women’s rights. It is showing how women are typically used and manipulated by men in Syria. It’s like women has to do only what men orders and that they don’t have the right to speak or express their opinion. This drawing is just showing the current realities, with the aim to make people realize that it’s not the right thing to do and the fact that he’s a man is also giving hope to women that not all men should behave that way.  

Theme: Dictatorship. (Ferzat, A., 2002. The Guardian) 

The meaning of this drawing is that all dictators are giving more importance to their own benefits and having enough money to buy weapons, while at the same time treating their people badly by starving them. As soon as I saw this image, I didn’t get what it’s meant to communicate, it actually made me confused. Maybe it’s because I’m not experiencing any of the mentioned issues their country might be experiencing. Well, when I actually understood the scope of this drawing, it actually made sense as it is very metaphoric and could have a powerful message to which citizens can relate to.

Now that I saw some of his drawings and their powerful meaning and the impact on society it made, I really think that drawings are a powerful way to reach great criticism. This also reminds me about the attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine (satirical magazine), where a number of the magazine workers were killed and beaten because of the high criticism the magazine company was showing through cartoon caricatures. This incident also is a great example of how art is actually ‘Power from Below’.

References:

Stelfox, D., 2013. Ali Ferzat, cartoonist in exile. The Guardian [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/19/ali-ferzat-cartoonist-exile-syria. [Accessed 11 November 2016].

Stelfox, D., 2013. Ali Ferzat's cartoons – in pictures. The Guardian. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2013/aug/19/ali-ferzat-cartoons-in-pictures. [Accessed 11 November 2016].

Power From Below

There are different definitions and meanings of power. Being a politician is a type of power. Other power is more different as it might involve numerous people of groups which forms into mass or crowd, by different individuals, and that is ‘power from below’. Power can be both positive or negative, depends on how it is being used. Below I will be mentioning different types of perspectives of the term 'Power from Below'.

An example of power from below is when an issue that might not be addressed well during the governance of a country may cause to have individuals that forms a group to protest or sign petitions for it. In that way individuals, will be in power of acting/standing up for the situation being. Due to that, one individual will not have enough strength to express his/her own opinion, especially when people who are considered as middle class or lower class.

On the other hand, a government may seem to give power to its citizens, by showing the best picture of its governance and may start to give people money through reductions of things, etc. This way people gets manipulated to vote for the political party in government. However, the other political parties opposing the government may also show people a better picture from what it’s being delivered by the present government, also intending to manipulate people to vote for them too. In my opinion in Malta this matter happens a lot, which leads to have people to lose interest in politics. Apart from that, politics is always a large debate around Malta and sometimes I lose interest in it as well.

Money is also a source of power from below within society. For instance, having organizations collecting money for charity will eventually improve other people’s life by having individuals giving small amounts of money which eventually result in bigger amounts collectively.

Social media is a very powerful tool, that society has, which can be considered as power from below. It can serve as a good tool or sometimes a weapon. For instance, trends start from one person, most probably a celebrity and influences the society to act to a certain way. It may seem to be something which is small but will turn into something big once it is into social media.

Another form of power from below is when a small misunderstanding or misinterpretation happen, it may lead to rumors, that might affect a victim’s life. It may cause bullying towards an innocent person who will be the victim of a rumor. It is a tendency in us humans that when negative news or gossip is happening, we tend to show more interest and give it more importance than anything positive. I think that education, may do a huge difference, to educate people to act in certain manners in different situations, this will eventually change the way that new generations start to think.

Reference:

Fox Piven, F., 2008. Can Power from Below Change the World? American Sociological Review, Volume 73. Official Journal of the American Sociological Association. Available from: http://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/savvy/images/asa/docs/pdf/2007%20Presidential%20Address%20(Piven)%20ASR%20Feb%202008.pdf [Accessed 5 November 2016].