What a pity Xandir Malta didn't archive its footage
Published:
August 30, 2011 at 4:37pm
With all this talk of Gaddafi pumping money into the Labour Party, I thought I’d remind you (or let you know) that in the 1976 election campaign, Muammar Gaddafi had spoken on Xandir Malta TV to warn that he would shut off supplies of Libyan oil to Malta should ‘a pro-NATO party’ get into government.
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Do you think that this is still relevant, even after more than thirty years?
[Daphne – Of course it’s relevant. It’s the hot topic du jour. Or hadn’t you noticed?]
Seems that both parties are more interested in seeing who had the closer ties to the gaddafi regime rather than involving themselves in providing for policies which can actually translate into Malta being a hub for humanitarian aid (as stated by Dr Gonzi).
You relayed the streaming of EFA more than once, showing his eloquence and that, in fact, he was probably on of the greatest statesmen of the maltese islands. On the other hand, there are many questions regarding the presidential pardon given to Joseph Fenech by Ugo Mifsud Bonnici, while EFA was PM.
There are always two sides to the proverbial coin.
Richard, it’s called soul-searching and it’s an essential process in any civilised society with a historical memory.
If you want to live among people who move from one day to the next without addressing or assessing the past, find a hunter-gatherer tribe and join it.
“History is the sum total of things that could have been avoided”.
No it was not George Vella who said this. Neither was it Leo Brincat or KMB. It was this European politician by the name of Konrad Adenauer.
Has anyone at Maltastar ever heard of him?
The editor is too busy sampling wine and making inane comments
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002527937723&sk=wall
[Daphne – X’imbarazz ta’ nies.]
Of course it’s relevant, Mr. Borg. Some of the people who rubbed shoulders with Gaddafi at the time are still very much in the public eye down in Labour’s skip …. erm, glasshouse.
They’re called skeletons in the cupboard.
A visit to the National Library should provide many interesting front pages of l-Orizzont and It-Torċa of those years. I must find the time to go and look them up.
Then you’d better hurry. Pages have been known to be defaced or “megiked” away.
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/29/a-qaddafi-family-photo-album/?src=tp
Yes, scarily normal-looking and almost Maltese, too – especially the ugly shell tracksuits of the 1980s.
Even more interesting would be to get hold a copy of the footage of Mintoff’s visit to North Korea.
Or a photo of one of Mintoff and Gaddafi’s many get-togethers. Someone needs to go through Aisha’s albums.
@Daphne Yes Gaddafi is the hot topic, but not Gaddafi’s ties with Malta and much less so his ties with the MLP of 30 years ago.
[Daphne – I think I know a little bit more than you do about what constitutes a hot topic.]
David Ellul, if not for you, then for people old enough to remember Gaddafi’s presence and influence in Malta, it is very relevant indeed.
A potted history of Mintoff’s relations with Gaddafi provides interesting background to that 2008 agreement between Joseph Muscat’s PL and the Jamahariya.
What did Muscat sell, for how much? Note that the net beneficiary could not have been Malta, as the country was not party to the agreement.
1971
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Svc0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=uZADAAAAIBAJ&pg=5342,4430701&dq=gaddafi+malta+nato&hl=en
See the background here (1977 article) http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3e4gAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vXIFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2569,1613333&dq=gaddafi+malta+nato&hl=en Mintoff…His particular chum is Libya’s Muammar al-Qaddafi who gave him a loan against Mintoff’s personal signature as an individual in 1971, when the island faced bankruptcy if Britain refused to renegotiate a base agreement. Mintoff warned Qaddafi he couldn’t repay if London declined a new rental pact. The libyan was preared to write off the loss. But the deal was concluded in the end and Mintoff paid back Qaddafi. This encourage Mintoff to elaborate his present policy of active nonalignment, seeking to bring the norther and southern Mediterranean halves together.
and here (1977 article) http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=s4ksAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AM0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=5615,3127479&dq=mintoff+nato+gaddafi&hl=en
It is also no coincidence that Mintoff has close relations with nearby Libyan dictatr muammar el-Qaddafi, the oil-rich wildman. They are as close as tiles in a mosque and totally cemented. When Qaddafi says ‘frog’, Mintoff jumps. In fact, Qaddafi personally loaned Mintoff USD60million when Mintoff’s regime brought malta to bankruptcy. The wily Qaddafi tied his loan to Britain’s renewal of its lease on Malta’s bases. But Britain renewed thema nd Mintoff repaid him the USD60 million.
Might not matter. Western journalists are pouring over Ghaddafi records and documents found in his compund and other government buildings. Labour louts and leaders (Dalli too?) must be shitting in their pants.
I was still a child at the time, but, now that you’ve mentioned it, I do have a vague recollection of Gaddafi’s TV appearance and some mention of “zejt”.
While in those Labour times Flamino Piccoli could not even address a PN meeting and was threatened with arrest under the infamous law of ‘Indhil Barrani’, Gaddafi was given live air time on Xandir Malta to warn us that he will shut off oil supplies to Malta if PN is elected.
Gaddafi also addressed a Labour political meeting at Birzebbuga.When they quoted him to Eddie Fenech Adami, his famous reply was “Who’s this man? I only know (recognise) Mintoff.”
Richard,
‘It seems both parties are more interested in seeing who had the closer ties to the Gaddafi regime’
The Nationalist Party did not have ‘ties to the Gaddafi regime’. The Nationalist Party in government maintained official relations with a bordering country.
Really! I don’t recall this announcement. I was far too young – just got into pre grade.
What I clearly remember is having to study Arabic not because of any inherent tie to the Maltese language but because Mintoff believed it would surpass the standard of education at the time – yeah right, close the church schools, base our economy on factory floors, limit university education and learn Arabic.
And the teachers came from Libya, of course.
Daphne, are you obliged to refer to Malta Labour Party as Partit Laburista? Nothing’s changed, same mentality and same people so why help them ‘rebrand’?