Muscat celebrates freedom from L-Inglizi
Imnalla hlisna mir-regina, halli t-texpejer Malti jispicca jhallas mijiet ta' miljuni ghad-dokjart
There’s been a bit of a Joseph Muscat overdose tonight. You’d think it was Joseph Muscat Day tomorrow rather than ‘Freedom’ Day.
He was all over Super One this evening, and now he’s on BondiPlus. Oh, and did you watch Anglu Farrugia on Super One? What a yelling-Johnny. Somebody tell him that the time of such angry rhetoric and hamallagni is long past. Mintoff is almost in his coffin.
Now www.timesofmalta.com reports that Muscat ‘heralds a new awakening for Malta’ at his Freedom Day commemoration. Labour always says it wants 31 March to be celebrated by all, but then it insists on holding the festivities down at Birgu, near that hideous partisan monument which is indelibly linked with our memory of the despised Mintoff.
Having given up on Barack Obama as a source of inspiration, the cliched Muscat is now ripping off Martin Luther King: he has a dream he said, of freedom, and of the awakening of a new generation. Too much sexual sublimation there for my liking.
And as per usual, the festivities were held beneath umbrellas, because it always rains on 31 March. I think they call it pathetic fallacy.
For Muscat, the time is ripe to continue licking Mintoff’s backside. “The will of the son of a British services cook – Dom Mintoff, prevailed,” he said. Well, tell us about it. “At just 33 years old Mintoff got into government, swimming against the current, and brought about the freedom which earlier generations could only dream about. And now Mr Mintoff is back with the crowd at Vittoriosa, where that dream had come true.”
Joseph Muscat doesn’t know much about history. Earlier generations of Maltese didn’t dream of freedom. They worried about where their next meal was coming from and whether they would live to the next day. Dreams of freedom are a luxury for those whose stomachs are full and who are free of disease.
Here’s the good bit. Muscat said that he was only five years old on 31 March 1979 but he “followed the proceedings on television.” I must have seen a far more important event than ‘Freedom Day’ on television at five years old – the moon landings – and I have the memory of an elephant, but I can’t remember. Muscat is truly exceptional. “As the son of the Republican generation, I can declare that the time has come for a new awakening by the people, who should appreciate the hardship of their forefathers to set a new course for Malta,” he announced. The only merited response is a giant raspberry. What a jackass.
Now for the boasting, which is never far off. “The spirit of Mikiel Anton Vassalli, Manwel Dimech and the first progressive movement is being rekindled,” he said. In other words, he’s right up there on the history-stage with the greats.
Then the brass-necked nerve: “The dream of the Maltese needs to be given new life within the reality of the EU.” Honestly. And then the psychological projection: “Malta needs to shed its inferiority complex. The government needs to shed its inferiority complex.”
Then Muscat shouted: “Viva Malta Indipendenti! Viva Malta Repubblika! Viva Malta Hielsa u Maghquda!”
Do you know what I think? That mentally, the bloody Labour Party has been treading water for 30 years, and dragging the rest of the country in its navel-gazing wake. Enough with the freedom and independence introspection already. And enough with the jackass party leaders. Really, enough.
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If I don’t write a short comment I will not be able to sleep tonight. This evening was one of those ‘overdose’ nights. Had to watch news and Bondiplus, both treating the same subject.
Why did I get the feeling that the Mintoffian ministers were idealising what really happened? I was unfortunate enough to have lived through those years and tonight I felt like I was watching some film about another country and it certainly did not convey the same feelings I had while growing up during those terrible years. All I can say is “ma x’biza what terrible memories!”The truth is that Mintoff could never accept that Borg Olivier obtained independence for Malta and he had to ‘invent’ some other national milestone.
Another thing – Marlene Mizzi stood out like a sore thumb among the Birgu crowd. It must have been her greatest Lenten sacrifice to be seen there today. I wonder where she was 30 years ago. Now I’m off to watch the last part of Meet the Parents or I really will find it difficult to go to sleep.
Toni Abela was just as tan-*ejk, saying that “the government should shed its inferiority complex”, as if the government, not being a person, can have one. Even if it could, it would not.
As for the average labourite … well, that’s a different story,
… and gives us a different view of his pate. Click on the 2nd video (entitled “Dr Muscat’s entrance on stage”) on this link, and watch all 10 seconds of it for a different kind of illumination:
http://www.maltastar.com/pages/ms09dart.asp?a=757
Regarding my previous comment, I would like to point out that I don’t think there’s anything wrong with men with receding (or non-existent) hairlines.
I simply find it funny that in most of his posed shots, he’s pictured with gelled or fluffed-up hair up-front, when there’s not much more behind it. It only goes to prove that he’s desperately trying to look young – otherwise, why bother?
“Too much sexual sublimation there for my liking.”
Mela nsejt is-“slogan” li kellhom sena ilu – “The only way is up”?
A year ago, their slogan was “the only way is up”; their catchphrase is now “direzzjoni success” … with an arrow pointing to the right.
Thought they could have a single article without any cock-ups? Think again!
“On the 31 March 1970, Malta pledged to become an instrument of peace rather than war, Abela said.”
Woops, missed this jewel:
““After the fall of Berlin, we came face to face with harsh realities which we cannot avoid,” Toni Abela said referring in one instance to the thousands of immigrants escaping from persecution and impoverished countries and landing in Malta.”
Er, would that be 1945 or 1989?
The fall of Berlin is one thing Baxxter; the fall of the Berlin Wall is quite another.
My point exactly.
The only thing I recall about 31 March 1979 is the triumphant Gaddafi surrounded by his armed bodyguards at Birgu.
[Daphne – Joseph Muscat remembers watching the proceedingly admiringly on television at the age of five (!). I remember writing in my diary, at the age of 14, that the British are leaving and instead of having ‘freeom’ we’re going to be overrun by Libya, and sure enough.]
Maryanne is spot on when she says. “The truth is that Mintoff could never accept that Borg Olivier obtained independence for Malta and he had to ‘invent’ some other national milestone.” Mintoff had to give something to his supporters to celebrate and to be proud of, even if it meant distorting history.
According to the Independence agreement, the British were due to leave Malta in 1974. Mintoff simply negotiated an extension of five years – so what! The departure of the British came about because they decided to leave – it was not a choice made by Malta.
Just a few months after “Jum il-Helsien”, there was the attack on the house of Fenech Adami, on the Times and on the Curia. For many people, especially those who lived through those dark days, “helsien” became (almost) synonymous to violence of the Mintoffian thugs. The Maltese said “no thank you” to “helsien” in 1981, in 1987 and in 1992.
Freedom Day should be celebrated on 9 May. That was the day in 1987, that the Socialist party was kicked into opposition where it has remained except for a brief intermission in 1996-98.
why is freedom day celebrated on 31st march the british were still here on that day and our first day of freedom was the next day
[Daphne – Speak for yourself. My first day of freedom was 10 May 1987. Thank God it hasn’t stopped since, except for when that bewigged marionette with delusions of omnipotent grandeur and too much dependence on whisky found himself unexpectedly in power for 22 months.]
The only Freedom Day thrills so far, and they are minor:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090331/local/sit-down-protest-at-freedom-monument
Some say we became free of the British in March 1979 but we really ended up under the yoke of ‘fellow Maltese’ in December 1981. We were free of the British, but free of choice, free of democracy, free of access to computers and other basic technology, and even free of telephones. You were free to get A-levels but that didn’t mean you were free to go to university. We were free to stay in Malta because we couldn’t travel. On 9 May 1987 we truly became free, and then only after a mammoth struggle against ‘fellow Maltese’ invoking their right to rule because they had more parliamentary seats though they had fewer votes. As to why we celebrate the 31st March while the British were still in harbour, it is because the next day was 1st April and Dom Mintoff did not want to give us any more clues that we were all going to be victims of a collective April Fool joke that was to last for the next eight years.