U hallina, Joseph Muscat – is this the best you could find to write your electoral programme for Malta for 2013 to 2018? Mela l-vera ddisprat.
Left to right: Guze Cassar, Karmenu Vella, Joe Debono Grech, Dom Mintoff at one of those class hatred meetings of his
What was it that Joseph Muscat announced and announced and announced again when he was elected leader of the Labour Party without a seat in the house?
That his would be a coalition of Malta’s fresh, new and progressive people and movements.
He was so keen to have us buy this idea that for a time his party didn’t even have a name.
At meeting after meeting, public appearance after public appearance, his supporters were barred from waving Labour flags and the backdrops and posters never carried the party name.
What was it called? Ah yes, Moviment Gdid.
I thought he was about to draw some of the best respected movers and shakers in Maltese society and business into his fold and use them as poster boys and girls for his magnificent coalition.
Boy, was I wrong. All he got was the usual dross and racanc, the dregs of society who have been pushed to the outer limits because of their dubious lifestyle choices and their own personal bitterness.
And nobody gives a flying Gladys about them.
Look at us all flocking to kiss the hem of his garment because he paid for Marisa Micallef’s scalp, or got some impressionable young member of Austin Gatt’s extended family to put on a red tie and say how he was going to vote Labour in the MEP elections.
I don’t think so, honey. People here move on crazes and whims. One minute you’re the go-to-bar-of-the-moment, and the next they’re embarrassed to be seen there.
Now Muscat announces his shadow cabinet and promiment among them are the trikki-trakki of the past. Because he doesn’t remember them in power, he thinks that we don’t either.
For God’s sake, the man must be bloody desperate – I know I swear like a trooper but one has to in these circumstances – if the best he can do to get his party’s electoral programme written is to dig up a Mintoffjan relic from his political grave and present him to us as the man who will be planning Malta’s fresh, new and progressive future for the years 2013 to 2018 and beyond.
He has got to be joking.
Muscat is either thicker than I thought, thinks we’re thicker than we are, or has absolutely no sense of context or of what suits – vide his Tunis and Egypt remarks.
I suppose he imagines that all those of us who lived under Mintoff’s and KMB’s regimes are going to be just gagging to vote for an electoral programme written by a man who was one of the most senior and prominent ministers in the cabinets of both: Karmenu Vella, seen in this photograph exactly as I remember him, glued to Mintoff’s hip, humouring him and doing his bidding, and like all Mintoff’s other arse-licking lackeys, laughing at his oh-so-not-funny jokes to keep on his right side.
U imorru jiehduh f’ghajnhom.
If you’re wondering from which dusty archive I dug up this picture, I didn’t. Karmenu Vella has it proudly displayed on his Facebook profile: Karmenu Vella’s Photos: Mintoff – Awguri F’Gheluq 93 sena.
And this is the man who, that dumb twerp Joseph Muscat has told us, will be our finance minister in 2013.
There’s just no end to these horrible people from the past. Just when you thought it was safe to get back into the water – and even after 20 years we’re all still on edge – they pop back out of the cupboard again, fangs bared, to give you nightmares of life in the 1970s and 1980s.
Let’s see – what have they burned today? What have they banned? Whose house have they ransacked? Who’s been arrested and ‘disappeared’? Quick, phone your friends and family – there’s a consignment of black market rice at Ta’ Nuna Grocery Store in Johnny Bidillu Street. The power’s gone again. There hasn’t been any water in the taps for two weeks. You pick up the phone and it’s like a party line. There’s a knock at the door and it’s the police. Hide the television, the chocolates, and the copy of The Democrat.
Karmenu Vella was part and parcel of all that. And he’s going to write the electoral programme to shape the lives of the GRANDCHILDREN of that generation whose lives he helped screw up in the 1970s and 1980s?
Joseph Muscat – another f**khead of a Labour leader. It’s unbelievable.
21 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=1138402794671&set=a.1138402354660.21547.1665435507
Well, the main policy advisor studied in communist Berlin, so why are we surprised?
“He was foreign direct investment advisor to the Vice-Chairman of the Committee for Economic & Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament, the Prime Minister of Malta and currently advises its Leader of the Opposition.”
http://www.napier.ac.uk/business-school/OurStaff/BusinessSchoolStaff/Pages/MarioVella.aspx
Am I correct in remembering a poster saying “Tafdawhomx”? Is it still valid?
So the PL is supposed to be our liberal saviour and rescue us from this so-called conservative and oppressive regime we have been under. Or so I m told by a few new Labour supporters.
Other friends of mine are under the impression that if PL get elected Muscat will bring in new people and will not have any of the past thugs and bullies around.
Needless to say, I didn’t believe a word of it.
I didn’t believe them when they said they were liberal. And although I was curious at first, I ultimately didn’t even believe them when they set up their LGBT Labour. (Are they still around?). And I have a feeling I was right.
Politics in Malta has never been a question of Liberal vs Conservative, as it is in other countries. But I woke up one day and found that – according to what I was told – supporting the PN was supporting conservative ideals.
My reaction was “Since when?”. We’ve never voted on such things. Elections have never been about voting in favour or against conservative ideologies. At least not the ones being projected onto the PN.
The PN is not conservative. Malta is conservative. There are 365 village feasts a year. We live and breathe religion. It is part of our ever day life. So Liberal ideals are hard to come by whichever party you support.
But Dr Muscat seems to have decided to wave the liberal flag randomly just to make those who support the PN, most of whom are more liberal than any Labour supporter, feel guilty, feel like they are actually conservative.
I find that to be a cheap political trick, and so blatantly false that it makes me laugh. But this latest news makes it worse. What a joke.
The Nationalist Party may be conservative by definition, but in reality they are the ones with an openly gay MP and it was a member of the PN who put forward that all-so -precious private members bill on divorce that Dr Muscat went on about should he get elected.
Dr Muscat goes on about a new beginning and change. Change involves more than just moving the goal posts. And it certainly doesn’t mean bringing back the old crowd of Labour.
“Elections have never been about voting in favour or against conservative ideologies.”
Truer words have not been spoken.
“Malta is conservative.”
I’m not sure if I totally agree with you on that. If you had to put politics and archaic legislation out of the picture, I would dare say that Malta is, socially, less conservative than a significant number of Mediterranean and Eastern European countries which are also members of the EU.
There are a significant number of conservative people in Malta I would agree, but there are also a significant number of liberal people in Malta who are now in the most frustrating situation of where to put their vote, as neither party reflects their interests. Chavtastic Labour isn’t appealing at all. But neither is a conservative (as far as social issues are concerned) PN that seems intent on sidelining its liberal elements.
Daphne states that clear thinking individuals in Malta can only get themselves to vote PN. It is, however, hard to be liberal and vote PN without swallowing the bitter pill. Especially when Lawrence Gonzi always puts the conservative ones to run his ministries.
Now that’s a comment (really) worthy of the statement “truer words have never been spoken” (in this blog at least)
I cannot in the life of me understand how one who considers himself a liberal can possibly vote PN. None of the big parties in Malta are liberal but if there is one party that screams conservatism from every pore, it’s the PN. The handful of true Maltese liberals and clear thinkers either do not vote or vote AD, period.
I, for one, admittedly, am not a clear thinker, because I’m so taken by my abhorrence towards one party in particular (and the horrid baggage that comes with it) that I end up voting their adversaries even at the expense of turning a blind eye (or two) to their evident dreadful imperfections.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the story of 98% of the Maltese voters, including yours, dear Daphne. We (sadly) vote for what we think is the lesser evil, which is a far cry from voting the party that truly represents you. Liberalism and clear thinking my foot.
[Daphne – I’m sorry, but you couldn’t possibly be more wrong in my case. I vote for the Nationalist Party because I agree with all its policies and think it has done a WONDERFUL job. I can’t believe it has done so much, overhauled the country completely from the Tunisia it was in 1987, to what it is now. It’s unbelievable, really incredible in just 20 years. I’m not religious, so other people’s religion doesn’t bother me. Precisely because I’m a liberal, I don’t regard other people’s religion with intolerance. Also, at the risk of repeating the same argument I have made a hundred times elsewhere on this blog, liberalism has nothing to do with divorce or gay rights. It is mainly about the economy (survival of the fittest), but above all, it describes a political outlook and attitude. In my experience – perhaps I meet the wrong people – people who call themselves liberal meaning they are in favour of divorce and gay rights are generally insufferably intolerant and autocratic. They are the opposite of liberal but the flipside of the Norman Lowell coin. I vote Nationalist not by default but because they are really worth voting for. Exactly what more would you have expected by way of performance? L-ilma jisfen?]
Bajd u Laham, PN is not totally conservative. It is conservative when it comes to social issues, which for me is its biggest paradox. I don’t believe the full economic potential of a country can be fulfilled if, simultaneously, certain minorities are being treated as second class citizens.
Daphne, though being in favour of gay rights and divorce do not necessarily make a liberal, belief in human rights and civil liberties do form part of the package. We may not be Tunisia, but we are still considered the conversavative backwater of the EU for our archaic censorship laws and absence of divorce, amongst other things. If we are in te EU, aren’t we automatically going to compare ourselves with the “big guns” of Europe?
[Daphne – The last time I looked, most of Europe was busy voting conservatives and right-wingers into power, David.]
I understand what Bajd u Laham and David are saying. People in Malta have either voted blindly for their party they adore, or voted against the party they abhor.
There are some floating voters, but they are, for the most part, the exception. Hardly textbook definitions of conservative and liberal supporters. So lets not use text book definitions to describe our parties.
This has been the dynamic of politics in Malta for a very long time. It has never been about voting conservative or liberal.
The PN has conservatives in it but they were not put there because of their conservative ideals, and they have plenty of liberals within the party. People say the PL are the new liberals, but they can’t even come out with an official stand on divorce.
Perhaps they are worried that some members might run away to Iran, or maybe they are too busy booking package holidays for President Mubarak and his people- they’ ll need the rest.
What gets me is that there are many people who don’t see this. And I think they don’t see this because it threatens their poltical agendas.
But what is more laughable is the fact that the PL can let its new supporters believe it is a liberal party while still allowing the likes of Karmenu Vella to have a role within it. Bringing in the same old crowd the Maltese had to battle in the past.
When I became aware of this change I thought it was a joke. Changing a party takes more than just changing the goal posts, Dr Muscat. I find it all very patronising too.
“Bringing in the same old crowd the Maltese had to battle in the past. ”
Now that is a remarkable statement. I hope Joseph Muscat gets to read it.
Why should the Maltese battle against the same despotic lot more than once, considering that blood was shed in the process?
Those responsible for the atrocities of the past should move aside, or else, the leader of the party should move them aside.
At least Alfred Sant had the decency to do so.
It would be interesting to know Toni Abela’s view of what is happening. He resigned from the party, with Wenzu Mintoff, because he objected to those elements. But it seems that for all of Alfred Sant’s efforts, the Partit Laburista is back to where it left off in 1987.
I am afraid that Joseph Muscat is too young to remember certain things. Daphne, you forgot to mention that they ruined our education system.
In his valiant attempt to recapture our future can Karmenu Vella please start by giving a future back to those thousands of Maltese who were denied entry to University by his government thirty years ago.
Maybe he can guarantee them a living pension.
We will be having the living wage, aren’t we? Now that Karmenu Vella will be drafting the electoral programme, we will all be financially comfortable like him.
These few lines are for those who may not be familiar with the recent past of Malta’s history, lest we forget the tragedy we have witnessed and suffered under socialism.
The socialist era commenced in 1971 and for 26 very long years it did untold harm to this country. Mintoff wanted a socialist generation so he threw its destiny into the realm of a socialist gulag.
Socialism scourged the country by imposing a centralised government and inward-looking economy against the desires and living styles of the Maltese people. Important private enterprise on the island at that time was either nationalised, taken over or engineered into submission. Those that survived did so through reaching some form of North African-style compromise with the regime.
The socialists undermined and ignored systematically the rule of law, doing this with arrogance, political violence, denial of human rights, oppression of the press, and a high handedness typical of totalitarian regimes.
The Maltese suffered too much under the socialist regime and internationally this island was viewed and compared to Albania and similar communist hard line countries.
The Maltese socialists will not change because they are not capable to. They have inherited a hatred mentality which is difficult to eradicate. No matter how much education is thrown at them by this government, no matter how lucrative their income and enterpise becomes, it will not change their mentality.
They will invariably revert to the old atrocious ideology should they be returned to power.
Let no one be fooled into assuming or believing that these horrible times of the past are gone forever
Too bad I read ‘Would you buy a used electoral programme from this man?’ before reading this one. I would not have posted the same comments here because Daphne almost word for word expressed the same remarks here.
But I take the opportunity of adding one more comment. It is almost impossible to justify the (then) MLP electing Joseph as party leader who was too young to remember the Socialist regimes of 1971-1987 and discarded a gentleman (purposely) who was a Laburist, lived those days as an adult and knew quite well not to repeat had he become the leader of the (now) LP.
If the MLP misjudged then, how trustworthy will they be when political judgement is vital in making decisions for the country? We have already had proof that this young punk has no diplomacy skills and puts money first before the plight of neighbouring nations. He knows money, it seems but not the legitimate way of getting it.
Lower taxes, cheaper energy tariffs, subsidies galore and then, where does he intend to find the money?
Students beware – your stipends will go first. Patients will fork out a few meaningful dollars every time they need hospital care and, no, no lower electricity bills especially since the price of oil and gas are projected to go much higher that what we are paying now.
The master of illusion is dropping too many clangers these days and by the time the election comes around he will be discovered for what he really is – a fake.
The old team is in harness. If they expect people to vote for them – good luck to them.
Daphne,
True, liberalism has nothing to do with divorce, but it has a lot to do with giving whoever wants to divorce, the blessed right to.
[Daphne – Yes, I agree with you. But it’s not a deal-breaker/maker for me or for most people. Pro or anti EU in the run-up to 2003: now that was a dealbreaker/maker.]
If one imposes a particular way of life on others then he is not a liberal.
[Daphne – The only people who impose a way of life on others who don’t want that way of life, liberal, are those who walk out on their spouse and children. Nobody else is imposing anything on anyone. We all have free will here, including the free will to be total tossers.]
That’s precisely the divorce stance of the PN – Eddie and Lawrence are happily married and so should the rest of the country, period. That, in my book, is the antithesis of liberalism. But Daphne thinks that voting the PN and being a Liberal are not mutually exclusive. Go figure.
[Daphne – No, they are not mutually exclusive because, as I must remind you once more, the PN is an essentially liberal party. It is the party that has restored our freedoms and basic rights over the last 23 years and liberalised (you have a clue right there, in the verb) the economy. The Labour Party, on the other hand, is right-wing, totalitarian and autocratic, and even if it takes a stance for divorce (which it won’t, because its supporters are conservative and so are most of its MPs), it can by no stretch of the imaginatino be called liberal. A stance for divorce does not make a liberal. Most of the people I hear speaking in favour of divorce are intolerant and autocratic. Or hadn’t you noticed?]
Well, if Hitler claimed he was Christian, the Taliban and Al Qaeda profess they’re exemplary Muslims and that joke of an Italian prime minster is convinced he’s a champion of democracy. So why shouldn’t PN die-hards think they’re liberals? Nothing surprises me any longer. Even if Hu Jintao wakes up one morning and claims he’s a guardian of human rights, for that matter.
It seems there is a lot of disagreement as to whether the PN is a liberal party or not. I think the divergent opinions are due to the generational gap between those commenting.
For people who were adults in the pre-90s era, PN is a liberal party because over the past 20 years, it restored their freedom and rights. They can see a tangible difference between then and now.
However, for people of younger generations, the baseline set of freedoms and rights is what we have now. If that doesn’t move forward, as it is the case for quite some time, it’s understandable that they perceive PN to be a conservative party.
By the way, my comments are more concerned with social issues rather than economic ones.
Re Bajd u Laham. The transformation of the economy has been truly incredible from 1987 to date.
Perhaps Bajd u Laham does not know that in 1987 Malta’s workforce was a mere 100,000. Men did not even bother to register for work, much less women. The situation was desperate. Of these, only 60,000 were in the private sector.
Today, there are 110,000 working in the private sector, an increase of 50,000 jobs in the private sector, let alone all the jobs created to compensate for lost jobs.
The only complaint I can perhaps make about the Nationalist government is that it could have moved faster in closing down the shipyards and reforming public transport. But at what price could that have been done? Social unrest by the trade unions would have had to be factored in.
We have perhaps forgotten what the GWU was like 20 years ago. Today it is a spineless sleeping pussy by comparison. This is precisely because slowly people have realised that it is not trade unions which create jobs , but they actually lose jobs . The same transformation happened in Thatcher’s Britain, admittedly at a more aggressive rate, but again I ask at what price?
And this whole thing about gay rights! Where has the PN ever discriminated against gay people? There are so many gay people ( openly gay, even with a partner) in very senior government postions, but these people go about their lives without the need to smooch in the middle of Republic Street as the PN Sliema deputy mayor likes to do .
Does this make him more liberal? No, more of a charlatan if you ask me.
Re your comments on divorce:
@ Daphne: re your comment: [The only people who impose a way of life on others who don’t want that way of life, liberal, are those who walk out on their spouse and children. Nobody else is imposing anything on anyone. We all have free will here, including the free will to be total tossers.]
I think you’re being just that here – a total tosser – when assuming that people just walk out of people’s lives for the sake of it… take a trip down to Merhba Bik in Balzan, Shelter for abused women and go ask them why they chose to leave their homes and did not stay in a marriage where the husband beats the living daylights out of them. You can’t talk about the colour of s**t because you are just guessing as you go along.
[Daphne – I have been to Merhba Bik several times and was the first person to write about the life stories contained there around 18 years ago. I was also a fundraiser for another shelter though I no longer do that. If you were a constant reader, rather than a sporadic one, you would notice that I make exceptions for precisely the sort of situations you describe. They are, however, not the rule. Most people walk out of their marriages because of boredom, not violence. which is precisely why most of them are women (in the UK) and men (in Malta). And yes, they are total tossers and I am sure you will agree with me once you have met some, if you have not done so already. At this point in life, not being 25, I no longer have to guess at these situations because they are all around me.]
@ Bajd u Laham & your comment: “That’s precisely the divorce stance of the PN – Eddie and Lawrence are happily married and so should the rest of the country, period. That, in my book, is the antithesis of liberalism. But Daphne thinks that voting the PN and being a Liberal are not mutually exclusive. Go figure.” I totally agree with you and would like to add that the likes of Eddie Fenech Adami do not need divorce in Malta because if his marriage breaks down he uses his connections with Curia and obtains an annulment instantly like his son did! But the man in the street needs to pay lumps of money and wait years before he even gets a hearing.
Daphne you might think that divorce is not a deal breaker, I think you’re very wrong. I have voted PN since the EU Referendum, but not anymore. This is a civil right and if Gonzi thinks he can take it lightly he is deeply mistaken.