An analogy to Canterbury Tales

Readers may ask why I am making an analogy to Canterbury Tales

The answer is because some of the moral lessons garnered from this masterpiece written by Geoffrey Chaucer can be compared and contrasted to events happening in modern age.

Briefly, the story relates about a group of pilgrims travelling to Canterbury Cathedral – they all compete in a storytelling contest. This overarching plot, provides a reason for the pilgrims to tell their stories, which reflect concerns sparked by the social upheavals of late medieval England.

Likewise, in Malta these past eight years, there has been endless events from both sides of the political divide which when recounted can add up to tales of greed, corrupt practices, vices, lust and an occasional homicide. Poetically set in a tavern, Chaucer wrote his legendary tale which over the centuries has stood the test of times.

Literary scholars compare its grandeur to that of the contemporary Italian maestro Boccaccio. For lovers of Chaucer, in my opinion the three most interesting stories are that of the Friar, the Miller and the Pardoner (remittance of sins). The web of intrigue and corruption even in medieval England makes them no different from home-grown scandals we read nowadays in modern times.

To delve more deeply in the famous tales, may I start with the one conjured by the Friar. This tells a story about a corrupt friar who, seeking to cheat parishioners of their money, is himself cheated. Their tales introduce the theme of corrupt church officials abusing their positions for financial gain while also illustrating the rivalries among different religious professions.

The story runs parallel with today’s local scandals where financial regulators, the police and Attorney General have occasionally slowed down their prosecution fervour stymying prosecutions and aiding transgressors to continue in his/her ways running unscathed. In

“These persons aided with architects, financial consultants and top lawyers combine their acumen to acquire vast stretches of public land at fire sale prices later converting them into upmarket tourist or luxury residential complexes.”

less than two years, we witnessed resignations of a prime minister, a chief of staff, an energy minister, a finance minister and a minister of economic affairs from cabinet. This is quite a carousel.

There were two resignations at the top echelons of MFSA and MGA and the appointment of a new finance minister, Attorney General and Police Commissioner – these contributed to the creed that a root and branch reform was overdue.

The list of tales in modern days can include the national oil procurement scandal which made the headlines prior to the 2013 elections and the main protagonist was granted a state pardon to reveal bona-fide details yet surprisingly, so far nobody has been arraigned. A more recent case involves the Gaffarena property deals which were struck with the Lands department on favourable and dubious terms allegedly earning millions. Back to the Canterbury Tales and another popular story is that told by the Miller. This is a typical story representative of greedy people.

The author highlights that the miller is dishonest with a golden thumb, as he steals grains, and charges three times more than the original price. Hence, he is a wealthy man whose utmost concern is to increase his profit. Here, one may make an analogy to a number of public land grabs by cronies under the pretext of promoting job creation, tourism. Typically, the list involves a number of personalities close to the party in power (surreptitiously financing their payroll and other functions like bankrolling a TV station and publicity debts).

These persons aided with architects, financial consultants and top lawyers combine their acumen to acquire vast stretches of public land at fire sale prices later converting them into upmarket tourist or luxury residential complexes. A list of such acquisitions cannot be exhaustive but one may mention various upmarket commercial premises, five star hotels, luxury condominiums, some complete with marinas where budding Michelin restaurants are de rigueur. Moving on to the next pilgrim’s tale which features the Pardoner.

He is a symbol of evil, who comes from Rome along with his bag of false holy relics to deceive innocent people. He believes that the extortion of money is possible only by preaching against the greediness of money. That is why he walks around with holy relics and preaches the evils of money. Out of greed, he robs many innocent persons in the name of religion. Ironically, he is not ashamed of his wrongdoings and corruption.

In my opinion the closest to this type of story is the lax attitude by regulators for banks and financial services which opened the way for licensing of sleazy banks, shoddy private pension schemes, alleged money laundering activities, illegal trading of Libyan oil over the high seas and sale of government property such as hospitals (three for one euro).

Tales of unproven kickbacks float in the air intoxicating the virtuous. All this is camouflaged under a feel-good factor of repetitive annual national surpluses, full employment followed with the plague of gentrification. This analogy to the Canterbury Tales continues with the presumption that as the state propaganda machine hails the benign state with a galloping GDP, it adorns the actors at Castille with superlative qualities.

The impression is that they toil to create sustainable job opportunities, reduce the cost of living, the electricity cost, direct taxation and relinquish self-interest, especially manifested by regular increases in welfare benefits. The party faithful were groomed that it was precisely through controlling material self-interest – including “greed”, “nepotism” and “patronage” – that steady improvements in the economy come about. Therefore, the state was spinning a tale – it was converting vice into virtue. Social progress during “L-Aqwa Zmien” resulted from the passions and vices of rulers, and their devious schemes were compensated by self interest, allowing them to accumulate wealth in Panama companies or secret Dubai trusts.

This reminds me of the factors that led to the lowering of Moody’s grade to negative from stable together with the grey listing by FATF. Regrettably, they result in a pincer effect. Surely, one of the basic lessons learned from Chaucer’s masterpiece is that when one finds himself in a deep hole, he had better stop digging. Another remedy is that we need to form a non-partisan task force to seriously clean our slate from allegations of tax evasion, poor reporting of UBO registers in a holistic drive to improve good governance.

Scandals braced to the brutal assignation of a journalist are often aroused by selfishness, hypocrisy or pride and one observes that, in every complex society, vice mixes with virtue, which is never a nexus for social unity.

Perhaps, our redemption involves a difficult transformation of personal interests culminating in a virtuous life hailed as a function of collective wellbeing.