High Rise Buildings In MALTA

This is a highly debatable subject... is high rise buildings good for Malta and what is it bringing to the  economy and to the land on the island. The first high rise building in malta was Portomaso Tower, A 23 story tower in which is mainly used for office use, with a  club on the top level, residences for multi millionaires, a marina and a lovely promenade to walk trough with restaurants all around. Portomaso was completed in the year 2000 and is the tallest high-rise building in malta at the moment and "it is today considered to be the island's most exclusive residential, leisure and business address...".


Although Portomaso is the tallest of it's kind in the near future lets say in around 10 year it will be one of the smallest of its kind on the island. The biggest concern is with the recent go ahead of the 2 40 story buildings in Sliema. These Skyscraper status buildings has raised a massive controversy and alot of concerns mainly from residents, environmentalists local councils and also the average man on the street so basically the majority of the population.Basically the completion of  Portomaso started all this as said by some people. In my opinion I don't think that this is the case as with nowadays policies and seeing who are the investors of these 2 buildings they would have still gotten the permits needed. These buildings not only means a big transformation to the coastline and its surroundings but means that the high end property behind these towers will drop drastically in price as they would not have any views or sunlight to hit some apartments. Another project similar to these is the 36 story Corinthia 6 star Hotel in St Georges Bay in St Julians.The €400 million project is aimed to bring more high end spending tourists to the island. This will be The biggest project in it's industry on the island. There are more examples of potential high rise buildings in malta but if I had to sat something about all of them I will never stop typing... 

My opinion on this subject is abit controversial as I kind of agree with the fact of high rise buildings but I then don't agree on some factors. The pros of having high rise buildings in malta is good because more virgin land could remain on the island and you are using more used or abandoned land  for these projects and also brings more space for new residences as we are growing at a fast pace  . On the other hand what I don't agree on is the fact that these buildings are being built exactly infront of the sea whilst blocking the blocks behind it, I mean 40 stories is no joke it will affect the neighing apartments drastically, another point is the fact that these apartments are going to probably be super expensive which only foreign multi milliners could afford similar to what happened with Tigne' and Forth Cambridge,which is not helping the footprint as local people still need to buy a place to live at an affordable price.Last but not least these high rise buildings should only be located in one are if they had to be built as I think its not fair not to give a chance to the investors but then don't over do it with building them all over the island. An in-between has to be found between the consumer and investor for these types of projects and I feel that for once we need to take honest decisions and do whats best for malta and its breath taking promenade and not favour something because of who the investor is and who he knows.....

References :

• "Portomaso | Tumas Group". Tumas.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 25 Nov. 2016.
•  GmbH, Emporis. "Portomaso Business Tower, Saint Julian's | 136726 | EMPORIS". Emporis.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 25 Nov. 2016.
• Ltd, Allied. "Up, Up And Away: The Tower Economics Of High-Rise Buildings". Times of Malta. N.p., 2016. Web. 25 Nov. 2016.
• "Updated: Corinthia Group Confirms €400 Million Investment In Six-Star Hotel In St Julian's - The Malta Independent". Independent.com.mt. N.p., 2016. Web. 25 Nov. 2016.

Ali Ferzat

Ali Ferzat was born back in 1951. He is a Syrian political cartoonist which has published around 15,000 drawings between Syrian ,Arab and international newspapers and has become one of the most sought after cartoonists in the world. 

Artists such as Charlie Hebdo’s team and Ferzat have lived power from below clearly as Hebdo’s artists death was one because he mocked prophet muhammad in some of their cartoons. The audience around the world was all asking “ How could someone holding a pen pose such a treat to another person…” Ferzat has encountered some brutalities in the shortcoming past where back in 2011 his fingers where shattered after criticising the Syrian president.

 Ferzat has been an ideal example of power from below and of political corruption, he is now exiled from the state of Kuwait because of his drawings and he puts the blame on “ the regime for the well understood message: ‘ Someone holding a pen can be seen as a threat’.” he also encountered Power from below also when he was threatened by Sadam Hussein himself, His work brought him fame but also got him a lot of enemies with politicians all round the states. He was also banned from Jordon in Libya. Ferzat thinks of his drawings as a “mission” and I think that if all the violence didn't stop him nothing will and states that “ I was born to be a cartoonist,to oppose to have differences with regimes that do these bad things.This is what I do”.

The problem with these artists is the fact that these artists can’t speak out their voice and opinions with drawings. The corruption and brainwashing is so evident in these states is very evident as the amount of deaths and vandalism done from not only politicians but mainly followers is unreal. as Ferzat once stated during an interview “I was not surprised about what happened. Those artists did not carry a gun or a weapon. They only carried a pen, just like I did. It appears that the pen is mightier than any weapon.”

References:

 "The Broken Fingers Of Syrian Cartoonist Ali Ferzat". from.sham.with love. N.p., 2016. Web. 13 Nov. 2016.

Power from Below

What i think “Power from below” means is a prevailing perspective on power which cannot explain why political protests from the bottom of societies can sometimes result in reforms that reflect the grievances of the protestors. 

something similar to what i could relate “Power from Below” was a particular case where we had this assignment and this particular tutor gave us the set brief and started giving us extra work to do at home.It was supposed to be exercises that will help us… anyways the lecturer gave us a lot of importance to them and at the same time we had to do both the work expected and this extra help. now with 4 other assignments it wasn't easy and the work of us students was what it was and when the deadlines arrived the pressure was on to finish all the expected work. The final result wasn't perfect i have to admit but it was acceptable. when the results came out we noticed that half the class or habit more had failed by a really bit something like 3 marks or so, we had asked the lecturer to meet up with us and we net as a course and the meeting commenced, he was supposed to stay and listen to our questions and try help us but instead he just gave us nearly the same amount of work in the previous brief and told us you have 2 weeks to complete good luck…. which in my opinion is a perfect example of  the title, as a course we decided to send an email out an hear our voices as the bottom of society would do to show that it’s un fair that we are treated like this.. anyways we had this meeting and the date was moved and at the end we mostly all passed. 

My point about this circumstance was that in societies like school the hierarchy system shouldn't be used. but we should all work together for one goal which is get the best mark possible and work harder.Sometimes we have lectures that help us to succeed but a lot of the times we find a lot of lecturers which only want to give us a really hard time and push us more than our limits… I understand that that is a style of teaching and I personally use this teaching methods when at work but there is a limit to where you stop pushing, Us students of MCAST should have more freedom to speak about our concerns and actually work on them, I know it’s hard dealing with all these students but atlas they could try and change some things. I guess it’s time for the students to start acting and hopefully one day something will happen.