DEC15
Issue 2
Contents
Welcome to The Insiter Monthly! Since we know how students have nothing to do during their Christmas holidays other than sitting on their sofa endlessly switching from one boring TV station to another, we’re publishing the second issue of our monthly magaine to make your holidays a little more interesting.
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In this issue you will find three articles on different, but interesting, subjects. Matthew Charles Zammit gives his analysis on the male to female ratios in University organisations, the Nitpicker tells you all about their anticipations for the New Year and Francesca Zammit reviews the Dance department’s 2015 tour. Go on, flip to the next page - you know you want to! Nicole Borg Publications Officer
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Contents 3
Theoretical Equality, Practical Opposite
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Nitpicking for Christmas
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Dance Tour 2015: Report from the Theatre 8
Executive Committee
Administrative Team
Matthew Charles Zammit Claudio Agius Kristina Saliba Rebecca Elizabeth Kemp
Deborah Faye Mercieca Jessica Arena Johann Agius Matthew Debattista Dionne Taryn Gatt Melissa McElhatton Sara Ezabe
Writers and Photographers Matthew Charles Zammit The Nitpicker Francesca Zammit
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Media Team Federico Barbaro-Sant Siobhan Vassallo Nicole Borg Elisa Calleja Cyrielle Delmas
Cover Photo © Lukas Schepers 2015
Magazine Design Elisa Calleja Siobhan Vassallo
Opinion
Theoretical equality, practical opposite Matthew Charles Zammit Back in 2012, then-Opposition leader Joseph Muscat pledged that his government “would be the most feminist in Maltese history.” Less than a year later, Opposition MP Claudette Buttigieg was busy arguing about how the Opposition’s Parliamentary Group, with a 17% female representation, overshadowed the Government’s 13%(!) statistic. Fast forward to 2015, and the current list of MP’s in government is indeed a sight for sore eyes. The current Administration, after having booted one of its female MP’s to the Presidency, and suffered an acrimonious rebellion by another, is only left with three female MP’s on its side, with one Minister and one Parliamentary Secretary in the Cabinet. The Opposition fares only slightly better, with four female MP’s. The Government and Opposition, together with independent MP’s Giovanna Debono and Marlene Farrugia, add up to a grand total of nine female members of parliament, from sixty-nine. This statistic is overwhelmingly depressive for anyone even remotely
desiring a more equal society, wherein the enormous gulf between male and female participation (political or otherwise) is either shrunk or done away with completely. Moreover, as a recent article showed, our situation’s deteriorating yearly, not improving.
National members of parliament c c
Male Female
13%
87%
Well, we can always hope that the young generation will learn from its predecessors’ mistakes, right? Future Leaders Nope. The situation doesn’t change much either in student politics, I’m afraid.
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Opinion Months ago, Insite published an article commenting about the male-female disparity in student politics, highlighting how the current Executive Boards of both student political organisations on campus, Pulse and SDM, had overwhelmingly male executives, with the latter going as far as having no female members in the main executive. Months later, it seems that things have, if only marginally, improved. After each organisation launched their new Exeuctive during their respective Annual General Meetings last week, Pulse’s executive consists of 3 female members out of the current 14-member executive. Meanwhile, SDM’s 15 members had only two female executive members, this of course excluding their respective sub-committees. It has been a well-established fact that the current student landscape is culturally male-dominated, especially the nearer you go to the biggest organisations (in terms of both influence and sheer size). The numbers, disparaging as they are, speak for themselves on a plentitude of different levels. Of course, many would blame such a situation squarely on the feet of our cultural background, and remarking that historically, Maltese female participation in any political activity has always been overshadowed by that of the 4
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male counterpart. And yet, if our supposed future leaders, the future politicians and policy makers of the future, aren’t able to reflect the change which is so urgently needed, then who else can we turn to? Past Problems Such a predominant ratio is not solely confined to Pulse and SDM’s internal executive. Becky Micallef, KSU’s incumbent President, is the first one since 2009’s Roberta Avellino, and only the third female president since 1996. Think about it: We had seventeen different KSU Presidents in the last nineteen years, and only three were female. 17.6%. To make matters worse, from 2012 onwards, Micallef has been the only female candidate for President presented by either Pulse or SDM. A total of eight presidential candidates, and seven of them male. Moreover, KSU’s current executive still has a predominantly male executive, with only five female members in the thirteen-strong Executive Board. Far from being a regularity, this seems to be an ingrained constant, with every single executive in recent memory having such a male majority in its members. Not surprisingly, even the alternative candidates in recent elections have followed this strong trend of constantly having a male-dominated executive. Such a disparity can also be found in the current Junior College council (2 female, 5 male), KSM (2 female, 5 male) and Higher Secondary SRC (3 female, 4 male). And it’s not the leading student councils that share this problem. Student organisations, in general, also tend to follow this trend. By compiling a list of
44 student organisations on campus, 16 have a female President against those with a male President (28). The discrepancy distillates further down when comparing the male-female ratio inside each executive: Only four executives have an equal male-to-female ratio, and another 21 organisations have male-majority executives when compared to the 18 organisations with a female majority.
Opinion
student organisation presidents c c
Male Female
38%
Present Conundrum 62%
I’m more than sure that if anyone were to go ask either a member from KSU or either political organisation what they think about the current situation, the answer would always the same: “We’ll try our best to fix what’s in reality a cultural problem.” And frankly, they maybe right. Our macho, male-dominated culture is deeply ingrained into our way of thinking, as a result of both our colonial upbringing as a nation, and also our Mediterranean heritage sometimes getting the best (or worst) of us. Alas, when looking at this from a statistical perspective, the conclusions are evident. I’m sure that some students will argue that there is a lot of social change being implemented in society at this current stage, while others argue that too little is actually taking effect. Fact is, it’s not enough. A 50/50 balance is what anyone must aim to achieve, and hopefully our successors will take such an aim into account, for the sake of societal progress.
student organisation executives male-female ratio c c c
Male Female Equal 9%
49%
42%
1 The list includes the following organisations: ASA, AEGEE-Valletta, AIESEC UOM, ASCS, BetaPsi, DESA, ELSA Malta, ESN, ESO, GUG, GħTM, GħSL, GħST, Greenhouse Malta, HoASA, IAESTE, ICTSA, Insite, JEF Malta, MADS, MHSA, MIRSA, MKSU, MMSA, MPSA, MUHS, MUSC, MUST, Pulse, S-Cubed, SACES, SDM, SIERA, SPS, SĦS, TDM2000, Third Eye, TSA, UESA, UOMR, UOM – Mdina Knights Futsal, USPA, We Are, Y4TE 2 As listed down on the 16th of December, 2015
Hopefully, in the not-so-distant future, a female representation of just 17% in the most sacred and powerful law-enacting body of our state will be a figure to be derided at, and not set as a benchmark for temporary political expediency.
3 The term “executives” refers to the leading board of each respective organisation, and the term “President” refers to the principal actor in each organisation. December 2015 |
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Nitpicker
nitpicking for christmas the nitpicker Tic-Toc. Time flies doesn’t it? Seems like it was yesterday when I was pointing out the best places to eat or pee and now we’re decking the halls with boughs of holly for Christmas. So what’s happened so far? Well not much. We’ve attended some lectures (and had no idea what people were going on about for a large part of them). We had better things to do, like daydream. And now here we are, right in time for Christmas, with a bunch of assignments and some ‘helpful pointers for the exam’ that only serve to befuddle us further. Then there were the graduations. You can’t help but admire the Chancellor and the Rector as they congratulate each graduate, shake their hand and inquire, with suspicious genuineness, about what they plan to do next. Do they ponder the inevitabilities of life? Take this man for instance. He might cheat on his wife, become a murderer, a pornstar, or worse, graduate as a lawyer. Or this woman: she might take up embezzlement as a means to earn an income, or, horror of horrors, become a politician.
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I suppose that’s the downer with officiating the next generation. You’re no better than the Moirai, the Ancient Greek fates, who would unwind and (blindly) cut the thread of each individual life. Likewise, the Rector has no idea how things will turn out in reality, but he can make fairly good estimations based on past history. It’s a tad like having no idea what 2016 will be like, but being fairly sure that it will be largely similar to the time period spanning from 2015 to your year of first conscious thought. Don’t worry, some of us aren’t quite there yet either. But this I feel is an important point. As we inevitably approach another New Year and its related festivities, it would be wise to remember why we delude ourselves. The illusion of a New Year as a chance to turn the page is universally embraced because we feel like we could have done some things better, and the memory of those shortcomings is burdensome to our egos. It’s neat to reboot and say the mistakes of the past have passed and can be buried.
Nitpicker
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You’re still that failure.
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But they haven’t passed really. You’re still that failure. Or, at the very least, there is the same difference between December 31st and January 1st as there is between June 30th and July 1st. So in that sense, my message is overwhelmingly encouraging: we get to turn a new page every time we go to sleep and wake up. But we don’t get hammered, and in the great scheme of things I fear that is what makes all the difference.
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Review
dance tour 2015: report from the theatre
Francesca Zammit Sweat dripping to the floor, heavy breathing and electricity coursing through the air: this is the experience you get looking down at the performance of the Dance Tour 2015. Sitting in an intimate theatre, leaning back on cushioned risers, we experience the hard work of the third year Dance Studies students of the University of Malta’s School of Performing Arts. Produced every year by the Dance Studies Department and amalgamating both local and international choreographers with the dancers of tomorrow, this performance is a reflection of what the island has to offer in terms of dance in the near future. Dancers of tomorrow but definitely already the artists of today, these performers prove their artistic skills in the way they perceive space (and the lack-of), and in the way they perceive walls and strangers, history and literature. It is not only technique that is explored and showcased, but an exploration that reflects the process of creating art. Collaborating with international artists like Volkhard Samuel Guist (Romania) and Dana Raz (Israel), alongside Sandra Mifsud, Malaika 8
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Sarco-Thomas (both based locally in Malta) and Gaby Davis, a Dance Studies graduate now based in Chichester, the diversity of those involve gives the performance a variety of tastes and experiences. From comedy to taboo, Joan of Arc to the Little Prince, the performance will have you tense up, laugh out loud, question yourself and smile a little. Maybe you take life too seriously, or maybe not seriously enough; either way the performance will have you question yourself, as every good piece of art should. If the four performers are strangers to you, then you will experience the distance in between you close. Their performance is so naturally honest that to those of us who have known them for quite a while, this performance is nothing different from hearing them laugh in the corridor or seeing them fool around on the balcony; sure the lighting is better, their clothes better coordinated, but the overall feeling is genuine. There is no barrier between performer and person, between the stage and the audience—for once, no barriers in a world that is currently reveling in them.
Review In Choose Your Stone by Volkhard Samuel Guist, barriers are created and broken; walls are built and torn down by four dancers. We see so many question marks and views, investigating how stone affects our society. Do we build walls or bridges? While architecturally similar, their political significance is a world apart. Horizontal or vertical stone, which will we choose? Do we have the opportunity to choose, or has the choice been made for us already? Do we have the power to break stone? Lead an army and win like young Jeanne?
people, or the weather, or her daughter’s new boyfriend, a doctor wasn’t he? Sitting on stage, or rather downstage, Stefania Catarinella will tell you about her strangers, beautifully in English but much more richly in Italian. Her technique is to be reckoned with: a strong classical background dressed in a contemporary feel as Dance becomes theatre.
Creator of My Little Box of Bubbles, Dana Raz is an explosion in dance class and an explosion in choreography. Her piece leaves you puzzled, and don’t be fooled, not even the dancers know what she had in mind. The choreography is a collaboration that sparked off from the dancers; Raz merely diced it, shook it and re-coordinated it. She has taken the four dancers and fixed them like Performed by Margherita Borg, A colours in a Kandinsky. Matter of Faith will make or break you. Resisting is futile, abandon hope Lights, laughter and sex… Taboo, choreographed all who come, Joan will be victorious. by Dance Studies Department alumna Gaby Young and brave, embodies the Davies, presents an eloquent, definitely not subtle, character Joan of Arc in every cell of yet tasteful rework of the novel Flowers in the her body. Through the piece you will Attic. Patrick Laera and Fabiana Mangialardi fight with her, cry with her, and die carry the performance effortlessly. You will with her. You too will find it hard to witness a sinful taboo and you will sympathise differentiate the space between you with God. How oddly uncomfortable it is to see and the dancer. everything, to witness weakness, trespass, and a lustful betrayal. In a second solo you will investigate space: the space between us, on the Uncomfortable seems to be a recurrent feeling bus in the streets, in the theatre… The throughout the show, but then art is not known to Space Between Us will make you make people content. On the contrary, it is made uncomfortable, almost as to tantalise your mind, taunt your morals and uncomfortable as when random challenge the norms. people start telling you about their daughter’s new boyfriend. We’ve all The 2015 Dance Tour comes to Malta (Hamrun, Msida), Gozo (Nadur), Holland (Utrecht, Rotterdam) and Italy (Bari) throughout been there, while keeping everything November and December. The Dance Studies Department’s next to ourselves, minding our own performance will take place at Junior College in Msida, where business, headphones blaring as the Masters in Performance Studies (Dance) students present final lady next to you comments about the works from their Craft of Choreography unit at 19.30 on Friday 15th January 2016. For tickets contact Priscilla.grima@um.edu.mt. lateness of the bus, or the too many December 2015 |
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