Bore on: Labour launches an 'intellectual challenge to conservatism'
Make it quick, Arbenz. I'm expected at a progressive intellectual think-tank called IDEAT in 10 minutes.
The Labour Party has launched a ‘progressive tinktank’ called IDEAT (a-may-zing name….who was holding the joint at the time?) designed to put an intellectual rocket under political conservatism.
Too bad that all this intellectuality has been grossly undermined by the party’s very own propaganda portal, which reported the event in a less than intellectual manner.
Right – take a deep breath and grit your teeth. And keep a stiff drink to hand if necessary.
www.maltastar.com
TOWARDS A PROGRESSIVE AGENDA AS THINK TANK IDEAT LAUNCH CHALLENGE TO CONSERVATISM
Think tank IDEAT was launched amid expectations it will put forward a progressive agenda to influence politics in Malta.
Speaking at the launching of the think tank, Aaron Farrugia, IDEAT’s chairperson, emphasised that this organization while working with the Labour Party it will put forward its own agenda and ideas which might be different or contradict the PL’s executives’ policies.
Yet, Mr Farrugia insisted that it is high time that all those who have at heart an open-minded society to come together and out forward all ideas. “we need to challenge conservatism by putting forward a progressive agenda.”
During the opening speech he laid down the guiding principle of the think tank:
1. An inclusive society within a global age, which respects the needs of minorities.
2. Rights and obligations following the financial crisis in the capital system
3. Quality jobs for everyone
4. Education: “No one should be left behind. No talents should go to waste. We believe that in education lies Malta’s strength to remain competitive in the European Union.”
5. Child care: “If we need to reach certain targets, then we must invest in sustainable child care systems.”
6. Equality: “We have to strive for more equality between men and women.”
7.Social Dialogue: “We believe that the workers and employees should have the best representative in today and to take a proactive role in today’s society”.
8. Sustainable Development: “We believe that sustainable development has to be on the forefront on the country’s agenda to protect the vulnerable. We should not be passive.”
9. Civil Rights: “We need to legislate for everyone. The majority should not impose its will on the minority.”
10. Social Europe: “We believe in a social and competitive Europe, which unties us.”
Labour Leader Joseph Muscat insisted that the think tank has “card blanche” on its policies and hoped it can influence not only the PL but also other parties. “I would not be surprised if other parties would take the ideas that will come forward from this think tank. The time of monopolies is over.”
“The idea that the workers vote labour and the middle-class vote Nationalist is over,” Muscat said, insisting that the electorate have matured and moved away from ‘tribal’ political affiliations. “The time when people voted just because their parents voted a particular political party is something of the past.”
“We need to move forward from the politics of the past and create a political movement that represent all sections of society, and its ideas should go beyond budget rhetoric but reach people’s hearts,” Muscat said.
“Change is not easy. Section of the establishment knows it and is afraid of it. We need to accept it and face it. Even though we might have the media against us, we still need to deliver our message, thus we need to return politics to the people.”
“We should also not be afraid to say that we stand for minorities and that the Labour Party will defend Gay rights.”
“We need to make it personal, we need to meet people, talk to them and listen to them,” Muscat concluded.
Ernst Stetter, Jessica Asato, Godfrey Grima, Evarist Bartolo and James Debono formed part of the panel of discussion.
After 25 years of conservatism in Malta
“Ideas have to be connected with the needs of the people. What we are guaranteed is the struggle and not the win,” Evarist Bartolo, Labour MP said.
He also emphasised that it is high time to challenge the conservative and confessional side of the nation while insisting that each idea that might come out from this think tank has to win the hearts of the people.
However, he also warned about “internal bickering”, which can hinder progressive thinking. Godfrey Grima noted that the same principles of this think tank were the same principles, which guided Bartolo as a young politicians and himself before.
“Politics is very similar to journalist. It is based on credibility. Thus, this think tank has to forget theories and be practical,” Grima said.
He noted that while the country has economical improved, he questioned whether this society has become more open-minded.
“Did society change for the best? And are they any quality European leaders out there?” Grima added.
He also said that a perversion in the media exists and that the political parties should dismantle their media. “It is a matter of credibility, when the traditional media, switches against the PL just before General Election it loses credibility.”
“It is one thing to lie. It is another to be accepted that you are saying the truth,” Grima added.
However, Bartolo said that until a credible PBS is set up, it will be impossible for the PL to dismantle its media.
James Debono, Maltatoday journalist, noted that while “progressive issues” might be relative from one country to another one should not compromise on human rights, in particular to the subject of immigration and state welfare.
He also added that the State should not use the Welfare state as a way to punish people but rather to help the most vulnerable.
The two foreign guests agreed that with the change of the US president, progressive ideas would be able move forward.
However, they warned that even though the Left-movement have been given a good momentum, it is still lacking to get its arguments across to the people and unless this is done, very little change can ever happen.
My god – I really, really want to vote for this party. It’s just so HOT! Have their people been at the drinks cupboard, or what? It’s like watching some really sheltered sixth-formers having a go at life while wearing (in a non-ironic way) their Che Guevara tees and friendship bracelets, and all without the benefit of an EFL course.
I didn’t touch it, promise. I copied the whole thing and pasted it intact. With all this talk about winning people’s hearts (because their minds, presumably, are rather more difficult to get at), it’s a damn shame the Princess of Wales is dead and they have to make do with Mrs Micallef instead.
If all else fails, they can put her to work in the subbing department – if they have one. But then again, she might get carried away and write a few parables instead of sticking to the task in hand.
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My stiff drink was an Isle of Jura single Malt! I feel it’s going to be a very difficult three years or more. Must stock up on the good stuff! Daphne, who is the shadow minister and perhaps eventual minister of economy in the LP? Anyone halfway decent?
[Daphne – The shadow minister for finance is Herr Flick, Leo Brincat. Mine was a G & T.]
I might have a go at that bottle of Pimm’s I’ve been saving for a special occasion. Blimey! There’s a bottle of Unicum beside it.
[Daphne – Unicum! I love it. I brought a bottle back from Budapest. That reminds me….]
You know, Daphne, we share the same taste in drink. If I were twenty years older.
[Daphne – You’re most unlikely to be in your early 20s, sweetheart, and anyway, I’m spoken for.]
Have you guys ever tried Amarula: it’s a South African tipple. Not easily found in Malta though.
[Daphne – Coincidentally, I had some s couple of days ago in, of all places, a South African restaurant in Bruges. A bit too Baileys for me, though.]
Daphne, ‘spoken for’? Don’t think anyone has ever ‘spoken for’ you–way too independent. Ah, Bruges–a magical town, did you take the boat cruise around the canals?
You’re wrong. Charles Mangion shadows finance. Brincat shadows the environment.
[Daphne – That’s right. I lost track of all the chopping and changing.]
I hope they include a good English teacher in their think tank.
Aaron Farrugia……wasn’t he “Elve Aar” who led the Lil’elves before the last elections ?
I never said I was in my early 20s. I told you I was on the wrong side of 25. But still (not for long), on the right side of thirty (or I’d have topped myself off). So have you tasted pálinka? The best one comes from Transylvania, in an unmarked plastic bottle, and made by someone’s grandmother. In Bourgogne they make something similar called “riquiqui”.
[Daphne – No.]
Baxxter, I had some last week. It’s powerful rotgut, tastes of rat poison, but it does hit the spot after a fashion. Have you ever tasted Bratislava absinthe? Now that’s a stiff drink.
Hmm, can you still find real absinthe? Even in France, the erstwhile home of Verlaine and all those fags, what they market as absinthe is in fact absinthe minus wormwood. Bunch of fags, what.
Bratislava eh….no, but I’ve tasted Becherovka, given to me by some filly courtesy of her grandmother. Mario, pálinka is not a drink for cocktail parties. It’s meant to be drunk either 1) in the Budapest underground, à la “Kontroll” or 2) while staring wistfully at the Carpathians.
Or you can try spirytus rektyfikowany, 95% proof, just about at the limit of what is allowed by physical chemistry (fascinating mechanism whereby water vapour is absorbed by the liquid). This one should be drunk at room temperature, while looking wistfully in a general easterly direction, contemplating the vast open spaces, as yet untouched by civilisation.
Baxxter, I suspect that if we ever had to meet, we would soon be propping each other up, possibly naked and with just boots on, swinging from some swing in the snow, and very very drunk.
[Daphne – Sigh (of impatience).]
Rectified spirit eh? That should be an experience. In Bratislava you can still find a very good absinthe, avec le wormwood.
Last week in Turkey I had some home made raki, which as at leat 75% proof, and not sweet at all. Those Turks are Muslims after my own heart, they drink and smoke themselves to oblivion in a most agreeable manner.
I love assaulting my palate this way. It makes me feel alive. Now, I’m off to pour myself a stiff drink – a friend’s grappa…..home made, mind, from some obscure village near the Gran Sasso.
@H.P Baxter
You get in line bro, there’s a whole queue out there and you’re way way back :)
Hey D. Good to know the fan club’s still alive and kicking.
I was only joking. She’s old enough to be my mum for heaven’s sake.
Go see The Graduate and you’ll change your mind kiddo!
I ‘think’ the ‘Think Tank’ just ‘tanked’. Just opened a bottle of Pomme from Switzerland–should have the giggles all night. What a laugh.
So this is what intellectuals get up to in their spare time, Labour novelist and Sant hagiographer (and father of the man with the golden gun) Frans Sammut gives us a tantalising glimpse into the thrilling social lives of Labour’s intellectuals, singing Va Il Pensiero in Gozo. I found this (where else?) on timesofmalta.com.
Frans Sammut (1 week, 2 days ago)
Is it because I like Kenneth Zammit Tabona so much that I loved his article? With men like Kenneth around I feel our country stands a better chance of joining what our forefathers used to call “the march of progress”. I have always strongly believed that artists should show the way, not only on account of their intelligence but by virtue of their innate perspicacity, sense of fate and above all, their honesty and sheer sincerity. Keep it up, Ken! We’ll meet again in Gozo in better times and we’ll sing “va il pensiero” with more verve than that “friend” of yours, the painter.
We’ll meet again in Gozo in better times and we’ll sing “va il pensiero”. Instead of monti d’orati they will have colline d’argilla.
I would have bet my last cent that Grima and Bartolo would be involved in this with their unachievable ability to diffuse the difference between objectivity and subjectivity. I hope their contribution in the creative process is not that of collecting information – I’m not sure if this requires the sweetness of Cassis or a Strega kick
Is that Ernesto Che Guevara?
[Daphne – Errrrm, yes.]
No, it’s that guy with the hat from Xarabank.
I thought it was Cat in the Hat
With deadpan delivery would have made a brilliant Monty Python sketch. BTW, what’s up with maltastar.com’s search gizmo? I’ve tried to locate the article but it’s either going round in circles or running into a dead end. Anyway, trusting you did a good copy and paste job, a couple of comments at the end of a long and hard day: #3. Quality jobs for everyone – Another summer or two and all the shitty stuff will be taken care of by the boat people. #8. Sustainable Development: “We believe that sustainable development has to be on the forefront on the country’s agenda to protect the vulnerable. We should not be passive.” – Noted. We’re taking the people to the streets. #10. Social Europe: “We believe in a social and competitive Europe, which unties us.” – No more pussyfooting, we want to opt out.
[Daphne – http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:ZTBUNhXLpS4J:www.maltastar.com/pages/ms09dart.asp%3Fa%3D4421+IDEAT+maltastar&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk#
Like much that the Labour Party takes a long time working on, maltastar’s search facility doesn’t function. When you key in IDEAT and then click on the link to the article, it takes you back to the homepage. When you copy and paste the article ‘link’ into your browswer, it gives you a dead result. The same thing happens when you search ‘IDEAT maltastar’ through Google. The article shows up, but the link takes you to the home page and not to the full article. So what you do is click on ‘cached’, and there it is.]
What neither of you know is that there was a much uglier (language wise) article earlier – a sort of promo announcing the forthcoming attraction IDEAT. Unfortunately that article vanished from the face of the net… and we are destined to never see such a marvel again (until the next one comes along that is).
Wow, thanks. Sounds like the stuff of intellectuals …
You know, the musings of this thing-tank (intended spelling) makes me think that their ideas are a product of an unnatural coupling between Erich Honecker and Hugo Chavez, with Che’ and Marx somehow contributing to an unholy gene pool.
I couldn’t believe what I was reading. It’s a mish-mash of austere Marxist-Leninist doctrine, 1970s Eurosocalism, with an occasional jigger of Latin American “La Revolution” thrown in, and a bit of hdura here and there as well, just for the heck of it. Inkella ma’ nkunux ahna…..
If this is the best the PL can do, then God help us all. Aaron Farrugia the Elf, Evarist the wannabe priest, James the Lisping thespian, Kenneth the New Gay, Marisa the paid hack, Frans the Odd, along with an obscure German and an equally abstruse Spaniard thrown in as a sop to “diversity”. It almost makes Dame Tempra, the woman from Mgarr who wears gardens on her head, look and sound like St Theresa of Liseux.
Didn’t we have enough of this socialist intellectualism during the 1970s and 1980s, which gave us drivel like Wardakanta and Gensna? Do we really need a rerun?
[Daphne – You know what they say. Those who forget the past (or who never knew the past happened) are condemned to repeat it. That’s why I wrote that they’re like a bunch of sheltered sixth-formers reinventing the revolution.]
Now, where is that bloody Green Elf Absinthe….maybe I can drown myslf in that bottle.
Kenneth’s intelligence, honesty, sheer sincerity? What initelligence, what honesty, what virtues? Of painting naked pictures and uttering stupidities to get paid by The Times and not having the guts to listen to his critics, because The Times censors them? Are these the intellectual leaders we want to show us the way, according to this Frans Sammut? And it’s not Va Il Pensiero but Va Pensiero.
After reading the above I need a few shots of Jamesons or Johnnie Walker. Well, I think this winter I’ll just drown my ‘political’ sorrows and blame The Times. And I think Kenneth ZT should have stuck to art.
Bugger the schnapps, I’m sure I had some meths somewhere…
If this is the intellectual side of the Labour spectrum can you imagine what the drones are like?
I’m afraid, if it doesn’t include the Electric Light Orchestra, it can’t be really be intellectual.
[Daphne – It has to talk about Camus, too. I was thinking that earlier when – to my surprise and delight – I read about the ultimate in intellectual t*sserdom: a ‘symbolic voyage’ on a French naval vessel, designed to promote harmony in the Mediterranean by holding intellectual discussions in various ports of call. In Tripoli, they’ll be talking about Camus. http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=95236 ]
Isn’t that forbidden under newtrrrrrarrrrità rules? It’s a NATO vessel tal-barrani, for heaven’s sake.
Daphne, I was actually invited to participate in this “voyage”.. . One look at the brochure for it and I ran a mile. How people invent such utterly pointless things is beyond me.
Dear Daphne,
This is very interesting. Your guests’ comments posted on this blog are even more.
It seems that this IDEAT will be the PL thinking forum and a “centre of political studies”. I just hope they will not follow the PN’s political school AZAD on its riduculous courses.
I was just seeing the list of courses by AZAD, which is described as “centru ta’ studji politici”. It was published this morning on page 6 on the PN newsletter, In-Nazzjon.
So, the PN centre of political studies is offering the following courses:
“L-ewwel Ghajnuna fid-Dar”
“Sigar u Pjanti” (“minn Peter Caruana” it says)
“It-Tisbih tad-Dar”
“Il-kcina u Sahhitna”
“Nifhmu lil Uliedna”
I’m sorry I will not bore you with more…. or you might risk running out of gin.
At least they have one course which seems to be related to politics: “Kif Tikteb Rumanz”.
I hope IDEAT will not follow AZAD.
@Joy Saunders
Painting naked pictures? Are you sure? Pictures of naked people maybe but naked pictures? That would, my dear, be rather difficult to pull off.