MAR16
Issue 5
March 2016 |
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Contents
Welcome to The Insiter Monthly! Ah, we’ve been waiting for another 2-week holiday for quite a while now, although it would’ve been appreciated if it was a bit later in the year! However, here at Insite Malta we’re not very well known for taking breaks; rather, we want to keep you guys company throughout these days, and what better way to do so than a new issue of The Insiter Monthly?
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Do you want to learn some intel on Airport Impressions and their newest music video ‘Mariette’? Then Clive Portelli’s article is the one for you. Following that, you will find a wonderfully written Maltese poem speaking about the reality of unrequited love, by Romario Sciberras. Last, but definitely not least, you can read Matthew Charles Zammit’s interview with Neil Smart Costantino about the #DrawtheLine campaign. What are you still on this page for? Go on, the entertainment starts from the next one!
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Nicole Borg Executive Editor
Contents 3 Airport Impressions: Some things you need to 4
know about ‘Mariette’ . Poezija - Persona
5 Where’s the Boundary? - Draw The Line Executive Committee
Writers and Photographers
Matthew Charles Zammit Johann Agius Kristina Saliba Nicole Borg
Clive Sciberras Romario Sciberras Matthew Charles Zammit
Administrative Team
Federico Barbaro-Sant Siobhan Vassallo Elisa Calleja Cyrielle Delmas
Deborah Faye Mercieca Jessica Arena Matthew Debattista Dionne Taryn Gatt Melissa McElhatton Sara Ezabe 2
| November 2015
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Media Team
Magazine Design Elisa Calleja
Cover Photo © Siobhan Vassallo 2016
Music
Airport Impressions: Some things you need to know about ‘Mariette’ Clive Sciberras Musical lyrics were always crucial with regards to underlining social values with respect, care and love as the most common. Local band ‘Airport Impressions’ launched their latest single Mariette last February. This Hospice-campaign-related single possesses all three main values, and emphasises the importance to “respect, care and love these persons (one’s parents) until it is too late”. Mariette’s music video depicts the tragedy of losing someone special to you, and portrays the lifetime struggle to gratify your loved ones. One major theme that is central in Mariette’s music video is the idea of the mother figure mostly revolving around the fear of loss of the mother. When questioned about what inspired them to write this song, the Airport Impressions replied that they were “inspired to write this song in a little moment of panic, which [they] believe everyone gets at some stage” when consumed by the fear of the eternal separation from the parents. “Feel the cold when all is gone, when all I have is yours”, the chorus of Mariette is “inspired by a moment of fear, though the message through the lyrics is positive”. Airport Impressions seem to have made use of all natural elements which are associated with
some kind of emotion during the production of the music video. They, for instance, synchronised the wind blowing, in the first scene to the feeling of isolation that the male figure is feeling. .
When realising that Mariette was released as part of the Malta Hospice Movement campain, one can learn to appreciate even more the message behind the music video. It gives all viewers an insight into the daily struggles these people have to face waiting for death to come to them from one day to the next. It shows the struggle ‘to help a mother in return for her love’, the love she gave her child throughout her able years. This single is available and easily accessible online with the aim to encourage people to give a small donation to Hospice Malta to keep on encouraging them in their work. March 2016 |
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Arts
Persona Romario SCIBERRAS Niftakar... Qalbi dlonk titlaq f’tellieqa; kull -hsieb itir barra t-tieqa - lilek; hekk kif nilmah .. dik id-dahka dejjiema fuq wiccek. Meta ltqajna konna nitkellmu - . dejjem nifthemu. u biex nohorgu - . . Il-kliem bejnietna sar bhac-cirasa, nghidu sakemm tehodna xi naghsa. . - l’hemm, Cajta l’hawn u ohra nidhku konna tghidx kemm. Parir fuq kollox tajna lil xulxin, f’mumenti ta’ diqa dejjem maghqudin. . - żmien twil -hbejt gibda Ghal tant kbira, u ta’ din, qalbi kienet saret ilsira. Il-hsieb ta’ bieb maghluq dallamni. . Imbaghad, min kien ifarragni? - - jien il-maskra nżajt U meta fl-ahhar - donnok inblajt. inti bhal B’hafna -hbula -hoxnin rabtuk; . - - gibduk. ‘il boghod, ‘il boghod b’sahha Issa biża’ tahkimni biex insellem iżda xorta nibqa’ nitbissem meta niftakar f’dan iż-żmien; iż-żmien ta’ -hajja kollha lwien.
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Interview
WHERE’s THE BOUNDARY? DRAW THE LINE Matthew Charles Zammit Insite’s Matthew Charles Zammit talks with SDM’s Secretary General, Neil Smart Costantino, in the aftermath of their #DrawTheLine Campaign. What were the aims intended for the campaign, and do you feel you achieved them? We always aim to be a pro-active student organisation, and unfortunately we believed that although setting up debates and discussions would be informative and productive, we thought that these would not attract the attention of some students who simply go to lectures and straight back home. Thus we opted to create a campaign which would hit a social nerve and make everyone stand up and note what’s going on - hence bullying. The main aims of the campaign were
to first and foremost raise awareness that bullying is not a problem that students come across only at primary and secondary level, where it is more thoroughly addressed in my opinion. Of course, raising awareness would be nothing without proper action, which leads me to our final aim of the campaign which is creating and presenting a policy document to all concerned authorities on what we believe that is lacking and what should be amended in the current existing framework. Thankfully, with all the hard work of all our members and contributors we are steadily edging towards reaching our goal, as following the end of our events on quadrangle on Wednesday, we are now officially in the final phase of the campaign, which is the finalization of the policy document, which was published on the 21st of March. March 2016 |
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Interview The campaign was based on a large number of student organisations collaborating together. What was the idea behind such a massive collaboration? Different organisations target different areas across campus, and they also look at all issues from their respective perspective. Consequently we believed that by creating such a collaboration between so many organisations, students would realise that this is not just another event on quadrangle. What was the intention behind choosing “bullying� as the theme of your discussion? And what aspects did you focus on? Being based in post-secondary institutions, we noted that there are some lacunae in the legal frameworks with respect to bullying at this level. It is true that some services do already exist, however unfortunately they are not marketed enough, if at all. We believed that this is rather worrying, given the fact that bullying is a really serious issue, even more so at this level as it tends to take a turn towards psychological bullying, which can have detrimental effects on an individual. Therefore we went on with our idea to launch this campaign, focusing on ideally all aspects of bullying, but most importantly the bully - we need to understand that even though the bully is doing something very, very, wrong he is nothing more than a victim himself who needs to be treated with the utmost care and attention.
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Interview Why did you feel that such a topic had to be addressed in University and Sixth Form colleges, rather than in potential hotspots like primary or secondary schools? When looking at the legal framework which exists in the Maltese Islands we noticed a trend that somewhat neglected University and postsecondary institutions. The reason behind this can be quite understandable given the fact that at Primary level and Secondary level students are brought up in a more close knit environment where a lot of individual attention is given. Even with respect to informative talks and campaigns, there seems to be a halt when it comes to post-secondary level, which is a pity really.
Students (EDS), and take our policy to a European Level. However, it is fundamental to underline that while having policy in place does mean a lot, not empowering it and not putting it into practice will make it useless. As a result we will make sure to include that action must be taken in all cases, both in regard of helping out the victim of the bullying, but equally important to tackle the bully in a way which will make him realise of his wrongdoing and improve his actions.
Now that the campaign at University is finished, what next? What are the end results you wish to achieve? The events at the University of Malta marked the end of all events relating to Draw the Line. We dedicated January to raising awareness through social media and then February was the month in which we launched the survey, met all relevant authorities and also held event at Junior College, MCAST and Sir M.A. Refalo in Gozo. From now on, we will be extracting all the details coming out of all these events and research conducted from the surveys and existing frameworks to include in the policy paper which will be presented to the House of Representatives by, hopefully, the end of this month. We will then go on to present the policy paper to the European Democrat March 2016 |
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