Collective punishment and spring hunting

Lino Farrugia, secretary of the bird murder federation (FKNK) writes the following letter in today's The Times:

"A news item in The Times (October 29) reported that the European Union has cautioned Israel against imposing collective punishment against the 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by reducing the territory's fuel supplies. 'I think collective punishment is never a solution,' Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU's Commissioner for External Relations, told reporters in Jerusalem, adding that she would raise the issue in meetings with Israeli leaders during her visit.

It looks as if the EU is not averse to using two weights and two measures. Why did it not caution Malta for imposing 'collective punishment' against the 14,000 hunters on the Maltese islands by cutting short the May 2007 shooting season? Not only did the EU not warn the Maltese government against such a measure, but EU Commissioner Stavros Dimas actually congratulated the Maltese Minister for the Environment for taking it.

Does EU Commissioner Dimas consider expediency to be more important than justice?"

Lino Farrugia, very conveniently, is missing one important fact - that spring hunting goes against the EU's Birds Directive. Mr Farrugia may whine as much as he likes, and stamp his feet until they turn blue, but the fact remains that whatever his opinion on the reason for the government's decision to stop this year's spring hunting season a few days earlier (be it a collective punishment or not), spring hunting should have been abolished at least upon Malta's entry into the EU. Actually, all hunting should be abolished since all birds are sentient rights-bearing individuals, but in this case, since spring hunting is illegal throughout the EU, even a speciesist would concede that at least spring hunting in Malta should legally be abolished.

What Mr Farrugia, and our dear government, should note, is that despite over 80% of the Maltese population are against spring hunting, if the government keeps on insisting on retaining it, the whole country risks hefty fines from the EU. Now how about that for collective punishment!

The only difference in this case is that the collective punishment would not be brought upon us by the EU (which is obliged to follow and enforce its own regulations), but would be brought upon us by the Maltese hunters and their lackey - the Nationalist government.