Let’s have a discussion about this
This article by Michael Briguglio was first published in The Times last Wednesday (19 March) and is being reproduced here with his permission. This is the most sensible piece ever to be written about AD – and it comes from the hand of somebody who is an AD councillor in Sliema. It deserves to be read and discussed, particularly by those AD activists who are currently hunkering down in their bunker and laying out the sandbags, claiming that ‘they’re all against us’, ‘the system is against us’, and ‘people don’t realise that they need us’. Let’s have your feedback.
AD should look ahead
Michael Briguglio
Alternattiva Demokratika’s general election is what it is, no more and no less. AD achieved a bad result in the local council elections too. No councillor was elected. Within the local council context, there is no electoral law which makes things difficult for small parties. But should AD cease to exist? I, for one, disagree. I believe that AD should look forward and do away with self-righteous bitterness and unrealistic aspirations. Move on!
It is true that, as far as general elections go, the electoral system does not favour small parties. As I see it, however, it is useless whining on this. It makes much more sense to get down to business and devise political strategies based on concrete reality rather than idealistic wish lists.
To begin with, an AD strategy aimed at changing the electoral system is a non-starter and will only encourage the larger parties to tilt away from such reform. If anything, this issue should be dealt with by independent civic-minded forces that aim to bring a balance between democratic representation and governability.
AD should do away with discourse, campaigns and initiatives that are larger than reality. It should also avoid “I-know-it-all-and-everyone-else needs-us” approaches. Instead, it should have realistic aspirations and be more down to earth. It should stop being bitter and should be honest with itself on its true size within the Maltese political context.
AD should aim to consolidate its results in certain previous local council and European elections. This in itself is very difficult and nothing is to be taken for granted – the current local council results are a case in point!
Being an AD councillor myself (the only one who got elected twice in a row, in 2003 and 2006), I can assure everyone that this requires a lot of hard work. (In this regard, it is interesting to note the experiences of the British Green party. It does well in European and local elections – it is represented at European and local levels but, so far, has never got elected in general elections.)
AD should involve itself in a long political march rather than an impulsive and larger-than-life strategy. Politics is not a wish list but is deeply related to the particular political, cultural, ideological and economic realities of a particular society.
Voters are not brainless idiots but weigh things out before voting. And, yes, in general elections it is not surprising that 98 per cent of the electorate vote for governments and stability. A look at value surveys in Malta (which have been carried out since the 1980s and which form part of the World Value Survey) easily confirms the value priorities of Maltese people.
While continuing to give importance to environmental issues, AD should also embrace social-oriented ideology and discourse, which is in synch with the material aspirations of thousands of Maltese people. Issues such as the family, the cost of living, work and security are cases in point.
AD had a wrong strategy for this general election. Period. I have been saying this for a long time and I predicted such an outcome given the wrong strategy, which was not realistic, was too negative and was too cut off from various aspirations the Maltese people had. However, I did not go public as I did not wish to harm the party.
I would like to augur a prosperous future for AD but for this to come about there has to be a sober and realistic analysis and changes eventually made. Unrealistic expectations can only result in deep disillusionment. In sum, I believe that AD should carry out an open, sober and democratic debate within its ranks, giving a level playing field to its activists, including those who left or were sidelined.
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Hello Daphne,
I think Mr.Briguglio’s article makes a lot of sense. Weird however, how such a positive post-mortem is not fed to the party stalwarts prior to election campaigning.
“Deep disillusionment” is the feeling I got of Mr.Vassallo when on Xarabank. I had a much better impression of the man. Can someone please explain what propelled AD to go all-out against the government on essentially every issue?
I believe that AD still think of themselves as a party which gathered around 23,000 votes for the European Parliament. They did this because voters, like myself, thought that Arnold Cassola COULD make a good European MP. And I bet that the great majority of the votes were from the NP: maybe sosmeone can confirm this by telling us who was the second choice on the vote.
AD: that was a one off. And I am sure that it would not happen again, not even when we have another ballot for EP.
So please try and take the cue from Michael Briguglio: you are too small and too insignificant to be treated as a grown up. Find your little space if need be but do not overgrow: otherwise you will be clipped back to your size.
@ Brian*14
‘Can someone please explain what propelled AD to go all-out against the government on essentially every issue?’
AD thought it was a Lion (no, not tal-Bidla, imma tal- Koalizzjoni) – but it turned out to be a Pussy cat.
I did … I did tee a pootty tat!
(With apologies to Warner Brothers)
In my opinion, AD’s leadership was wrong to push the koalizzjoni idea, given that if this were to happen it was always going to be on a David – Goliath scale size-wise. As Mike Brigulio points out, the Maltese want stability. It’s no use harping on about coalition governments in Europe. We are essentially conservative people, generally averse to change, even when this is for the obvious better, and for us, a koalizzjoni involving a minor party is scary. Period.
The strategy was wrong, and it’s not surprising that after a adopting a similar one, i.e. negative, with a lot of noise and threats, AD ironically finds itself in the same boat as the hunting lobby. This was AD’s big chance – no critical issues, such as that of EU membership, and attention focussed on things such as transparency, good governance, an efficient administration, the environment and so on. And yet, thousands preferred not to collect their voting document, not go out to vote, or even go to the polling station and deliberately spoil their vote, rather than vote for AD. This is where, in my opinion the questions need to start. Up till the early 70s the PN was a party that mainly appealed to the church types, lawyers and businessmen. Today it’s unrecognizable (even if more remains to be done). The MLP still needs to go through a change. Again ironically, AD, which should be the most progressive of the parties, is the one that has moved forward the least since its inception.
“However, I did not go public as I did not wish to harm the party.”
So Mr. Briguglio was willing to compromise his principles out of loyalty to his party?
How about some loyalty to his fellow citizens?
[Moderator – I think what he meant was that going public would have done more harm than good at the time.]
Brian*14: Michael Briguglio did say all this to the party before the elections. He says so in his penultimate paragraph. As possibly the only party person with a background in sociology and politics, he is possibly the best qualified person in AD to speak about the party’s social relevance and political role. He says he was ignored. That says a lot about AD.
Actually I agree, his letter made a lot of sense. The last Sliema council elections I was still registered there (I am Sliema born and bred and proud of it but I now live in Rabat) and decided that on a local level the more voices the better so I gave him a high vote, especially since he seems to be doing a good job on the council.
Goes to prove that this elections AD were simply obsessed with getting elected, no matter the cost
AD started off as a pressure group. It also owes its origin to disenchanted Labourites who wanted to clean up the MLP (some have returned). The MEP elections were a one off.Probably next year they will garner less votes. Labourites and Nationalists will close ranks and vote for their party rather than AD next time round. AD committed Hara-kiri in dropping its mask and shooting all cannons at PN, whilst using kids gloves with MLP. They need a REAL leadership change and a policy rethink. What the man in the street wants is to get along in life, educating his kids in peace(when I was a college sixth former between 1980-1982 peace and opportunities were the last things on our minds), having moderate comforts, and earning a decent and honest living. What we do not need are unstable or aggressive governments, crazy policies and weird experiments with our way of life. So please AD, do some honest soul searching; MLP please elect a decent leadership for the country’s sake and apologize for the evil 70s and 80s, and PN continue listening to the people’s wishes.
I too, like Peter M formed part of the circa 23000 voters (1) in the hope AD would get a seat in EP and (2) in appreciation of the fact that AD’s stance in 2003 enhanced our chances of joining the EU.
The end result – AD will most probably never ever get my vote again, thank you very much.
G Grima: I share your thoughts and you’re absolutely right. Back in ’76 coming out of church one evening, I witnessed the burning of a particular PN club (there were many as you well know), a scene I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I was only 14.
To all Blues, Reds & off Whites, to them and us, us and them, Happy Easter…
I will be cheering all, over a pint + of beer….and beer is serious stuff. Alongside with dogs it’s one of the most faithful friends humans have. Together they never let us feel down. This was one of Bernard Shaw’s perceptions, of life.
Cheers Bernard…and you Daphne
G. Grima,
I agree with your posting 100/cent.
When the love affair ends between the MLP and AD this will be the AD’s campaign poster for 2013
http://www.jameshumphreys.co.uk/images/gp_poodle.jpg
That’s Harry’s hand…it slimmed down after filling in 37 VAT receipts.