Regarding the boycott, one must not forget that the products boycotted were protected from competition by the state anyway so hardly suffered, besides most of the products were not fit for consumption anyway, my childhood was one without chocolate for example!!

I remember the boycott and I supported it. I still do, and I still believe it was right. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it and if you think it was wrong then clearly you understood nothing of what was going on around you.

Product boycotts are used as instruments of peaceful democratic protest, political, environmentalist or other, the world over. The boycott was a weapon to attempt to force Xandir Malta to start behaving like a national TV station rather than the declared instrument of the production of ‘a socialist generation’. Xandir Malta was behaving like state television in the Soviet Union (with whom the labour goverment saw fit to make a pact) and the boycott was the right thing to do and nothing has happened since to make it any less so.

I’m not going to get into a lengthy debate about the stones falling off the Zebbug Band club which used to function also as a PN club. But let me remind you that these people were shot at by the army from the church bell tower, attacked by a labour mob (who tore apart the balustrades on the church square to use the stones as ammunition) and the police themselves. Then, as happens in police states, they, the actual victims, were arrested and tortured at the depot. Eventually they were acquitted, rightly so, but almost 9 years later. What are you suggesting? That some policeman should get compensated for hurting his foot whilst kicking the shit out of them?

Agsin, there is a huge difference between Queiroz (I can’t spell it either) and Zeppi il-hafi. Queroz (nope, still can’t spell it) was sent to serve his sentence in his country because it was considered that his disease was contagious and costly to treat. It may have been an error of judgement but there was certainly no intention to send a message that drug runners can get off scot free.

Again, Zeppi il-hafi was not given a pardon, he was given immunity from prosecution in one specific case, and was prosecuted on the other cases. The case in which he was given immunity is where he admitted being paid to arrange the attempt on RCC’s life and testified against the person he said paid him. Of course the MLP decided they could make political capital by destroying his credibility as a witness, so not only was HE not prosecuted, his client got off scot free AS WELL.

You supported the freedom front fighters? Have you forgotten who led them? Don’t you listen to him today? I’m tempted to say you must have been as crazy and warped then as you are now, but I don’t believe a word of it, you never went anywhere near a PN meeting, except maybe to throw stones and bottles at those attending.

Now go help father christmas make some toys…..

RCC might have been stabbed in the course of doing his job – but so was the policeman who was injured at the Sliema police station and so was another policeman who suffered back injuries when a stone fell from the roof of the NP club in Zebbug. These were never compensated – two weights and two measures.

As for Zeppi l-Haffi he was pardoned (or as you say given immunity) for cases not related to the one he gave evidence in. What drug runner went free -Zeppi l-hyaffi was accussed of drug running and granted immunity. Queiroz (I’m sorry I don’t know how to spell his surname) was also a drug runner he was also set free.When you know youths who were victims of these peoople4 you don’t differentiate between a drug runner who is PN or another who is MLP supporter. I want justice and no amount of legal jargon will convince me that Fenech Adami was right in giving these pardons.

You say – (they still expect us to thank and praise them when they do what is expected of normal political parties on normal democracies) Well at least they do what is expected etc. What about the PN government it has been found guilty of unfair practices and has not yet taken any remedial action. What about JPO he used his political power to get what he wanted and you all said very good man and voted for him sic. I can go on and on about all that is wrong with a PN government but of course you will tell me that I am undemocratic and an elf I was an elf when I supported the Front Freedom Fighters when they were a part of the PN

You are being disingenuous. You might consider applying for a job with the Zimbabwe Herald.

Or I could be generous and suggest that if you were young then you did not understand what was said to you at the meetings. Even assuming you WERE there and you DID read the nazzjon. Which is what we always called it, irrespective of anti-democratic laws passed by the MLP. Of course more often than not many of us needed to hide it for fear of getting beaten up for being in possession of it.

I was at those meetings but I did not feel hatred for the MLP supporters, the vast majority of whom were victims of Mintoff’s subversion of democracy on the same level as us, and hatred for them was not the message being broadcast. I felt hatred for the MLP thugs, some inside and some outside the police force, and that was perfectly justified. I felt even more hatred, disgust and revulsion for them when I read the sworn testimony of those who were beaten and tortured.

I too was very disappointed that not enough people were convicted, but in a situation where the police force was still controlled by these people its understandable, if not excusable. It is also an unfortunate principle of democracy and the rule of law that you cannot retroactively amend the statute of limitations. Many of these people did however fade away, and others who refused to fade where made to do so by the public service commission. Ultimately, it seems to me, a price was paid for peace and stability. One day we will know whether it was worth it, perhaps. Alfred Mifsud makes the same point today in the Independent about a similar tactic with the Drydocks. He thinks it wasn’t worth it. On that score, I tend to agree with him, but then again we’ll never know.

I have been using my brain for decades and apart from reading the Times of Malta, unlike you, I did not find it difficult to listen to the MLP at all, in fact I listened very, very, very hard. I am still listening. And am I still not happy with what I see and hear. For some reason the MLP continues to attract individuals (like you, for instance) who have a very tenous grasp on the princples of democracy and the rule of law (they still expect us to thank and praise them when they do what is expected of normal political parties on normal democracies)

Finally your comments about Zeppi il-hafi and RCC are either based in ignorance or downright malicious. Zeppi il-Hafi was not forgiven, he was given immunity from prosecution in a specific trial in exchange for giving evidence, a practice common in most modern democracies. The fact that the trial did not come to a satisfactory end is shameful, and the blame lies squarely with Alfred Sant and the labour party who subverted the course of justice by using a criminal trial for political ends. Yes, I listened to the MLP there, and what I heard them say was that they’d rather a drug runner went free as long as they could somehow score some political points off the government.

With respect to RCC, he was stabbed in the course of doing his job, in other words it was compensation for a job related injury, even if of a bizarre nature, and I find absolutely nothing wrong with his being compensated.

“The labour party surrounded itself with violent people and even embedded them in the police force, which became an instrument of oppression rather than a protector of our citezenry.” Those same policemen were later promoted under a PN government. What I also remem ber is Fenech Adami and De Marco hyping us up “Fuq il-Fosos” I can still feel the hatred we had for the policeforce and the MLP supporters. I found it very hard to listen to what the MLP had to say in later years. It was only when Fenech Adami forgave Zeppi l-haffi and compensated RCC for being stabbed. That I started to realize we had all been taken for a ride. WAKE UP!
@ Corinne Vella Wednesday, 25 June 2203hrs “For the same reasons that non-Labour agent provocateurs would put bombs or their own or their neighbours’ doorsteps?” Well actually I came to the conclusion that there were thugs in both parties, and some others who, taking advantage of the political situation, planted bombs for their own personal reasons.

@ Lill-Xewka Wednesday, 25 June 2256hrs First of all, it’s compEnstion (dead elf giveaway). Actually it’s CompensAtion not compenstion (dead elf giveaway?)
“was actually at a house NEXT to the station” – Have you ever been near the Sliema Police station? Can you tell me which house is NEXT to the police station? The bomb was planted right under the window of the police station in Rudolph Street – there are no houses next to the police station.(Which newspaper did you read?)

As to softening my stance, did you expect me to keep hammering at how disgruntled I am with Schulz’s choice? Joseph Muscat knows what I think of him politically and he also knows this will not change. I haven’t spoken ill of Gonzi for ages but it does not mean I support Gonzi.

My focus is maintaining an EU-critical faction within Labour, not changing its leadership. That, for me, is important. So it’s a wait-and-see stance, rather than anything else. Let’s just say that, given his olive-branch attitude, he is on indefinite probation. Otherwise, I am not a politician but a political activist, and I neither backstab, nor appease. But there is a time for everything and it’s certainly not bashing-Joseph-on-Daphne’s-blog time.

To conclude, the battle has only just begun.