Erm, Cyrus, is it necessary to sink to their tragic standards just because you joined them?
Here’s Cyrus Engerer, flagging up a video link on Facebook:
Cyrus Engerer
Italian news feature about the 6th anniversary of the independence of Malta in 1979 – Rare old footage of Malta
Dear Cyrus,
Despite everything, I wish you well because it’s dreadful to see somebody so young make so many irreparable mistakes, so please read this.
1. 1979 was the 15th anniversary of Independence Day and not the sixth.
2. If you have confused Independence Day with Republic Day, still that was in 1974, which would make it the 5th anniversary and not the sixth.
3. It can’t be a commemoration of Independence Day because during the Labour government years 1971 to 1987, Independence Day was a normal working day and there were no state celebrations. It wasn’t Mintoff who negotiated independence from Britain, so we had to pretend it hadn’t happened, and that Malta went straight from colony to republic in 1974, and was finally freed (from what remains unclear) in 1979.
4. The Nationalist Opposition organised its own renegade commemoration on 21 September every year, which eventually became a flash-point for anti-goverment sentiment. I can assure you that there were no bigilla stalls or people drinking Cisk. We wore tennis shoes (made in China or by Sanga in Malta) so that we could run when the police began gassing us and charging us with truncheons and shields.
5. Speaking for myself and my friends, we couldn’t give a damn about independence from Britain – most of us were born in 1964 anyway. What we wanted more than anything back then was independence from the Labour government that had blighted our lives from the age of six or seven. Cyrus, I was in my early 20s and the only reason I knew what normal life was like was because I read about it in magazines. That’s why I love them still.
6. In the video, you will notice a symbol with two classical dolphins. That is not the logo of a door-knocker foundry or a souvenir shop. That is the pre-1971 national emblem, our equivalent of the old Libyan flag, which Mintoff replaced with an inept schoolchild’s drawing of a prickly pear cactus, a fishing-boat and….
Fortunately, I’ve blanked it out, but if you call up the YouTube video of Karmenu Vella et al going for Fenech Adami’s throat in parliament in December 1986, ayou’ll see it clearly. The Xandir Malta cameras were instructed to focus on it whenever there were fist-fights in the house. Watching at home on our black and white buzzy televisions, we knew what was happening when the prickly pear and the dghajsa came on. The ‘dolphin’ emblem means that there is no way on earth that video was shot in 1979.
6. If you were my age, rather than my children’s age, you would immediately be able to identify a 1970s gathering of Labour VIPs. Those images are seared into our subconscious, which is why I break out in hives whenever I see a picture of Karmenu Vella. That is not a gathering of Labour VIPs from the 1970s. The fact that everybody is elegant, has good posture, keeps the body contained while talking, and that the men are wearing proper dark suits, tells you that this is a gathering from the pre-Labour era.
7. The video title itself tells you it was shot in 1970.
8. Maybe you just hit the wrong number-key, but either way, I still think you need to be told all of the above.
9. Perhaps I’m feeling stressed and emotional, Cyrus, but I had a bit of a cry when I watched that video – because you know, I’m just about old enough to remember 1970 too. I cried because it’s still shocking to me to think how shortly after that film was made, Malta was kicked down shit creek without a paddle. We could have segued quite seamlessly from that to where we are today, but instead the country was sacrificed to ignorance and a few sociopathic egos, and it took us a good 17 years – an uphill battle until we joined the EU in 2004 – to recover from the harm done in those 16.
Good luck, Cyrus. You’re going to need it.
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The Nationalist Party did not commemorate on 21 September every year from 1971 to 1987. In 1976 it did not
commemorate Independence Day at all.
[Daphne – Damn right, H. Mizzi. Your sociopathic hero, with typical cynicism, called a general election for 18 September – if memory serves me well – which, with two days allowed for vote-counting, meant the Labour victory was announced with Mintoffian timing. Perhaps I should let our younger readers know that he called the next election, in December 1981, to coincide with Republic Day, clearly hoping for a hat trick. Instead he got a flagpole up the nether regions, and tragically, so did the rest of the country.]
So now we should vote for Joseph.
We Nationalists did celebrate Independence between 1971 and 1987 but at great risk of being attacked by thugs, police, lembubi, tear gas, followed by at least one night in the depot lock up.
There are obviously thousands who have no knowledge of the Socialist party’s disturbing past, which has worrying echoes in the present.
Most cannot recollect the date when Malta became independent because the Socialists made sure of it.
They do not realize that when independence was granted, the Borg Olivier government had achieved something.
When Labour celebrates ‘Jum il-Helsien’, it celebrates Mintoff’s failure of Mintoff to coerce Britain into paying him what he wanted, and instead forging an even closer personal relationship with another loser – Muammar Gaddafi.
Cyrus’ comments illustrate that even within the Nationalist Party to which he, until recently belonged, ignorance about Malta’s history is rampant, but coming from a former Nationalist and Sliema’s deputy Mayor is just plain inexcusable.
The only silver lining in all this is that Cyrus has finally found the right niche. Congratulations Cyr and may Freddie and Joseph’s charismas be with you always. Thanks for jumping ship and joining the LP’s. Make sure that they will not make you walk the plank.
Karmenu Vella calls it “L-indipendenza gifa”.
Cyrus needs to understand that the same people he played with at the Hamrun festa are the ones who had designs for a ‘Generazzjoni Socjalista’.
They proceeded by setting up the Brigata Socjalista for children, this at approximately the same time the Italians were facing the Brigate Rosse.
Manoel Theatre bears a plaque unveiled by Agatha Barbara dictating the function of the place to be the promotion of ‘Kultura Nazzjonali’.
Cyrus needs to consider whether such Newspeak can ever be eradicated out of the mindset of its creators. Has he ever wondered why Labour focusses its messaging and propaganda on Facebook?
His ignorance of history and the nuances of that particular chapter explains everything. Too late now.
Bravo for that article! Cyrus was an idiot if he thought that that video was taken at some time in the seventies (after 1971!)
So right, Daphne! How very idiotic, though I would not expect any better.
History is what it is and can never be changed. No wonder the wise Maltese condemned the MLP to a lifetime in opposition. The more they comment the better for PN.
The better for Malta, not for PN.
So Cyrus, what the hell were you doing when you used to be on the MZPN bar at Independence?
It gives us to think that you were there for political expediency and not because you truly believed in what Independence means.
From a Nationalist politician I expect an inherent conviction about Independence. So now you are giving us Labour’s version of Independence, and it sheds light on how deep your convictions are.
But Judas was also one of the disciples of Jesus.
Appuntu, just to open the bracket once we’re mentioning the story; in fact he did not understand what Jesus stood for.
Since when does the transfer of patients from one ward to another end up headline news on Maltatoday?
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/three-maltese-moved-from-itu-to-make-place-for-libyan-patients
How did they reach the conclusion that the transfer of MALTESE patients was made, simply to make way for LIBYAN patients ?
Racist and alarmist mis-reporting of the worse possible sort.
H.Mizzi could tell us what the Nationalists were doing in 1984 at the arena when the gas cannisters started dropping across the mall behind the crowd.
Unlawful gathering perhaps? I was there with my parents, so he can’t really say I’m misinformed. Unless I have no credibility of course.
He keeps sounding like one of those holding the Labour Party to ransom.
Joseph’s big plan indeed.
I was there too – I remember it very clearly, even though I was still a child. I’m awaiting his comments with bated breath.
…and they still think Malta is an independent state.
X’injoranza ta’ pajjiz! Ma jafux x’inhu il-poter li jikkostitwixxi stat indipendenti – kollu grazzi ghall-istampa Maltija kif fornuta minn politikanti tajbin biss ghall-ispettakli u t-teatrin.
Kev, kemm int tan-n*jk.
Mela nibdew – l-(M)LP kien u ghadu jghid li l-indipendenza tan-1964 kienet indipendenza taparsi.
Mela skond l-MLP Malta ma kienet indipendenti xejn.
Meta Malta saret Republika, l-(M)LP beda jghid li issa Malta indipendenti bis-serjeta.
U dan sar minghajr xi permess min ghand xi nazzjon iehor, allura Malta saret republika ghax l-ewwel saret indipendenti.
Meta Malta saret vera Republika indipendent allura saret fi stat li ma tiddependi minn hadd.
U allura ghaliex Mintoff u KMB xebghu jilghaqu s**m Gaddafi b’mod sfaccat u kien hu li sahansitra ghen il-gvernijiet ta dak iz-zmien izommu l-poter ghax minghajr flus demmija ta Gaddafi qajla kien possibbli ghal Mintoff biex imexxi.
Meta Malta, skont Mintoff kecca lill-Inglizi w holoq “Jum il-Helsien” dan l-avveniment ma kienx xejn hlief l-akbar gidba fost il-hafna li wettaq Mintoff (u ta warajh).
Ma kien jum il-helsien xejn ghax kien biss il-falliment ta Mintoff fin negozjati ma l-Ingilterra biex igedded trattat.
Mela: Mintoff ried Integration u falla.
Ried indipendenza a la Mintoff u spicca fallut.
Minghajr l-appogg tal-PN Malta ma kienet qatt issir repubblika.
Mintoff u KMB farrku d-demokrazija bi vjolenza u fallew it-tnejn.
Fid-dinja ma jezisti l-ebda pajjiz li jista jissejjah indipendenti u ahjar dawk li jiftahru li Malta saret indipendenti meta saret republika, jaghlqu halqhom ghax allura qatt ma semghu bi “global village” jew “global economy”
This is partisan crap, Black. You missed the whole point because you’re one of the brainwashed… er… educated idiots.
Kev, il-Gnus Maghquda ma jaqblux mieghek. Kieku Malta ma kenitx indipendenti fis-sens shih tal-kelma, ma kenitx tkun tista’ ssir Membru – u saret ferm qabel ma saret Repubblika jew “Hielsa”.
Ha naraw, ghidilna x’ inhuwa l-poter illi jikkostitwixxi stat indipendenti.
Don’t waste your time, Lomax!
Kieku Malta ma kienetx Indipendenti il-gvern tal-MLP ma kienx jaghmel il-hnizrijiet li ghamel kemm dam imexxi sakemm dabbarnijlu rasu 25 sena ilu.
It is definitely in 1970. Even the commentator says so: 6th anniversary plus 1964 = 1970. One also sees and hear the commentator pointing out the Minister for Agriculture Dr Spiteri under the leadership of George Borg (Olivier: not said) as Prime Minister.
And at the end the commentator says: Malta, the small island with a big future.
I would not have recommended this commentator as a fortune teller.
[Daphne – It did look like we had a big future then, didn’t it.]
I still remember Lee Kwan Yu, the PM of newly independent Singapore, coming to Malta sometime in 1969, to see the miracle of how from a naval base Malta was moving towards economic independence.
I have a picture of Lee Kwan Yu and my father walking out of Auberge d’Aragon after their meeting. They were close friends seeking a peaceful and friendly way to independence from Britain, We got it before Singapore and that is why he came here.
“If we were Malta, we would have joined the European Union, we would have a different backdrop. But we are Asian. And you’ve got to live with your neighbors, neighbors at a different level of societal development. What they think and do has to be factored into consideration to decide what we can do.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/29/world/asia/29iht-lee-excerpts.html?pagewanted=6
Lee Kwan Yew observed Malta closely to learn from our mistakes. He made sure not to repeat those (Mintoff’s) mistakes.
@Ms DCG;
Of course we did. That was until Mintoff’s Labour Party directed the GWU to bankrupt the country with a seven-month-old strike at the dockyard, which strike was called off the day after the MLP won the general elections of 1971 with the (in)famous sitt voti.
The green “prickly pear”, “dghajsa” and “threshing tools” passport still evokes my humiliating experience at the Swiss-Austrian border when the frontier guard would not believe that it was a valid passport at all.
He directed me to the roadside, took my ridiculous passport to his cabin and consulted some superior, giggling all the time. He returned, unable to conceal his merriment, saluted smartly, waved me on and burst out laughing.
It was a humiliating experience.
So the “…” Daphne wrote referred to the “treshing” tools? Why did you write “…” instead Daphne? Is it a bad word?
[Daphne – Threshing, Yanika. No, the dots refer to the fact that I couldn’t remember what the third element was, that’s all.]
Yesterday I was in Palace Square waiting for my younger one to get bored enjoying herself with the water fountains which meant I had enough time to look at that magnificent facade.
I was surprised (well not really – on other occasions there were cars) how I had never taken notice of something which unequivocally highlights the asinine baselessness of the PL.
All the commemorative plaques on the façade are of a uniform and elegant shape save for the one for “Freedom Day”.
They had to be base – and they put it in marble.
Has any one ever seen the commemorative plaque with Mintoff’s name on it, at the left-hand entrance to the Tigullio car park in Spinola? I’m tempted to spit on it every time I pass by.
Let’s face it – you don’t need to be very smart to get into politics, and sometimes it shows.
I don’t understand why Dr Muscat is now complaining that he is not allowed to take part in the celebrations of Independence Day today when his party would have called him a traitor back in the old days.
I also think that such complaints cause problems for him. His complaints show that he views the Maltese people as a divided people, almost as if they are two tribes, where both tribes should be represented.
This also re-enforces the idea many PL supporters have: that until “their side” is in government there is no one to represent them.
Also, he hasn’t yet registered that there is a display of unity between the two parties, since the President came from the PL, and was put there by the PN.
“Sei anni di indipendenza bene spezi” to be followed by 16 years of destruction. Prime minister Borg Olivier’s dream was turned into a nightmare.
Unfortunately those 16 years cannot be erased too much damage was done to the very core of this country.
Cyrus, stay in Joseph’s skip and do not even try to come out of it as you make an idiot of yourself each time you do.
Giovanni et al
It is no longer kosher to call it “Joseph’s skip”
Since Cyrus joined the Labour Party, it is now known as Labour’s Venus trap (Dionaea muscipula) – a carnivorous plant which traps and digests animal prey.
The gentleman in black-framed spectacles who appears in the first part of the footage is the late Notary Joe Spiteri who was a Minister (of Agriculture & Industry, I believe) in the last Borg Olivier administration ie pre 1971. The year was probably 1969 or 1970.
He is very much still alive.
Spot on, Edward.
What can Labour supporters do, if their leader won’t share his plans with all of us?
Labour plays to its supporters’ fatalistic traits. The difference this time is that the materialistic connotations are manifest.
Hard Work, personal fulfillment and the ability to commit oneself to risk has no place in their language. It’s obviously soemone else’s fault.
As for the missed future, Singapore sent over a delegation to study Borg Olivier’s model of social and economic development.
To celebrate the 1976 election victory Labour supporters burnt all the PN clubs around Malta – that’s how they marked Independence Day.
It was a typo … he corrected himself in one of the comments just 9 minutes after he posted it. You can’t amend errors on FB posts.
Cyrus Engerer 6th anniversary in 1970
Ilbieraħ: 10:29am · TogħġobniM’għadhiex togħġobni.
The worst legacy of the 1971-1987 era is the belief that hamalli and chavs rule, and that all you need to do is be yourself and you can go anywhere without learning how to use a knife and fork or talk properly.
We’ve never got over that.
According to Mintoff’s line of thought, (as opposed to the truth about his failed brinkmanship over the rental amount leading to his ‘face-saving’ republicanism) Cyprus is still a British colony because it has a base. (250kmsq worth of bases in fact)
Although technically…. it doesn’t. When the Cypriots were negotiating their independence with the British, the British forced them to give up some of their land in perpetuity as sovereign British territory, so I suppose you can say there are no British bases in Cyprus because its not Cyprus any more….. And he says WE got a bad deal?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Cyprus_Bases
And starting after WWII there have been US bases in the following European countries…are they all colonies? The tin foil hat wearer will tell us they are…. but I don’t think so…
Germany
Greece
Italy
United Kingdom
Spain
Norway
Sweden
Belgium
Portugal
Netherlands
Greece
Greenland
France
Poland
Turkey
Kosovo
Woah. While I agree perfectly, I suspect that any Maltese politician (except perhaps Simon Busuttil) would use Mintoff’s reasoning here. Horror of the military crosses all political boundaries in this blessed island of ours.
Peter (Borg Olivier), perhaps you could tell us what you think of current attempts by the Labour Party and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando to put your father and Dom Mintoff on an equal footing as the two great statesmen/prime ministers of Malta.
Eddie Fenech Adami was a truly great statesman.
The fact remains that Dom Mintoff was not a great statesman.
Difficult one, Daphne. For sure they had a lot of respect for each other though politically they were complete opposites.
Dom gave my father a state funeral and all the family really appreciated it.
They both wanted the best for Malta in their different ways and styles. I think going by their daily comments and from the legacy my father left, people appreciate my father’s contribution to the nation.
Erm, it was clearly a typo!
Comments:
Stanley Cassar Darien 6th anniversary of the independence of Malta in 1979?
Yesterday at 10:21
Cyrus Engerer 6th anniversary in 1970
Yesterday at 10:29
Give the man a break! You know very well that he is an asset to our country. I hope that all parties manage to continue to attract candidates like him . You upset a lot of Labour supporters because they claim that you are not fair in your writings but they are missing the point. Your Target Audience is Nationalist voters who might be thinking of voting for the “others” in 2013. The idea is to spread Labourophobia.
[Daphne – I don’t have a target audience, Mr Cassar Darien. This is a blog, not a marketing tool. I am in the entertainment business, not politics. The belief that I am in politics has thrown the Labour Party off kilter. While they run after me, somebody who isn’t ever going to stand for election (and even so, that would make me just another candidate) the real politicians are left to wander past unscathed. The reality, though, is that I no different to, say, Claire Bonello, Marie Benoit, Josanne Cassar and the rest, except – I gather from the reception – that I tend to be more fun to read, largely because I’m not sitting on some fence with a post up my butt, or pretending to have ‘fashionable’ political views (always a killer, that). Anyway, you’ve obviously inherited your political views from the family. I wouldn’t imagine you spent too much time lying around listing the benefits of the one versus the benefits of the other. Please don’t tell me you voted against EU membership, which is why you’re now planning to vote for the man who spearheaded the campaign against it. Don’t you have any self-respect?]
How exactly is Cyrus an asset to our country?
Clowns are assets too.
asset as in “small ass”?
That’s a bit harsh! Who are the family?
I am 37 old, moved out when I was 19 and spent 11 years living overseas way before Malta joined the EU. If you are referring to my parents and siblings then you are totally off the mark. We are all very different and perfectly able to decide for ourselves and I have no idea why you would bring that up anyway. Dr. Sant sued my uncle just before the last election after certain comments that he had made on Net TV. I am not sure of that though.
Just out of interest, is there a reason why you deleted the paragraph that I wrote about that particular website?
I have no idea who I will be voting for in 2013.Would love to vote for the Labour Party if they come up with with an Electoral manifesto that is well researched and if they show that they are organised. I voted for your good friend Edward of the AD last time around after the whole JPO saga. You were busy voting for the good dentist but you seem to have changed your positive view of him.
I do not share your enthusiasm for this administration.The economy seems to be doing well but nobody (including MPs) seem to be able to tell me what the goverment had to do with this apart from some Socialist actions like propping up companies that were about to go under. I think that Gonzi is an asset but do not agree with a lot of his recent decisions, policies and dogma. One will have to wait and see what the three parties will come up with. Eighteen months can change a lot of things.
The PN has become a serial election-winning machine and it’s gonna be very difficult for the LP, whatever anyone says.
No idea if I have any self-respect, have my good and bad days but thanks for asking. My point was that Cyrus did not become a bad person just because he switched from one-central left party to another and I do not approve of the bullying tactics adopted recently in his regard.
Call it a Freudian typo.
A small mistake if you think Joseph’s Labour is relatively close to the PN, something he’s trying very hard to sell us.
Which it isn’t.
MLP is the party that repeatedly screws up our oppoertunities.
Look at Singapore – a country that obtained its independence more or less at the same time as Malta.
It was a poor country then, surrounded by weaker economies. Look at it today. It is permamently on the world stage as an economic ‘power” – not a G20 but still consulted on a regular basis.
They were lucky and grabbed the opportunities that came along. Most importantly they had a 17-year headstart ahead on us. In 1987 Malta needed to begin from scratch.
This video indicates how quickly the momentum of building up an economy, reputation etc can vanish at a snap of a finger.
Moody’s downgrade is already an indication – these analysts know who will be in power in 18 months’ time.
As a child I was brainwashed by Xandir Malta about the “sleepy” Borg Olivier government of the sixties.
That was until I was commissioned to put up an exhibition about Dr Borg Olivier for the 1986 Independence celebrations.
When I researched, I found that in a mere seven years since Independence (1964 – June 1971), the government had built a new university in Tal-Qroqq, a new power station and desalination plants in Marsa and Gozo, state schools, industrial zones, yacht marinas, and given incentives for the building of beautiful hotels geared towards really upmarket tourism, run by international chains.
Plans were in place for a new airport in Gudja, for the Marsaxlokk freeport (yes, already in the sixties, before ‘containerisation’ of cargo)… the list is endless.
And most crucially, the emphasis was on encouraging private initiative and economic growth through confidence.
All this when Malta faced a dockyard rundown and endless strikes, and it was Dom Mintoff, not some pussy like Joseph Muscat, who was leader of the opposition.
George Borg Olivier was indeed a visionary, and definitely the best prime minister Malta ever had. It is indeed a shame that in June 1971 , “the people” kicked him out of office by the tiniest number of votes.
What a lot of one track minded people….Jesus Christ… Mintoff was not perfect I fully agree, he was some sort of Demon No absolutley not, Social Services, Free Health, Free Education…hmm none of you or any of your kids would have been able to make it to the university because it was an exclusive club, Minimum wage just to name a few. Most of the thing we today take for granted were fought for and introduced by Mintoff so please call a spade a spade !! same applies to Borg Olivier who if im not mistaken had the 7th June tragedy under his belt, Karmenu (insomma dan forsi le) Eddie, Sant, Gonzi and Muscat….. Kullhad ghandu it-tajjeb ul hazin, some maybe more then others but back in the day both parties had their fare share of violence ie Tal- Gakketta Blue, the meeting in Zebbug were molotov cocktails and bricks were thrown from the PN club etc… so please let bygones be bygones, we forgive and not forget so we do not let anyone commit these atrocities once again
[Daphne – Brian, your crass ignorance and determination to remain completely uninformed are just tragic.
The university was NOT an exclusive club before 1970. Anybody who qualified academically could get in. Whether they wanted to is another matter, and most people didn’t want to. Many families even objected to being forced by the law to keep their children at school until the age of 15 or 16. They thought it was a waste of time when they could be earning money.
UNIVERSITY EDUCATION WAS FREE OF CHARGE IN THE 1960S, BRIAN.
You only have to look at your own Labour Party to see that. Lino Spiteri, Dom Mintoff, the late Philip Muscat, Leo Brincat, Louis Grech, Edwin Grech, Karmenu Vella, AST (eh, dak ghax kien tal-pepe), John Attard Montalto (ditto), Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici (dak ghax kunjomu doppju) and Alfred Sant went to the ‘exclusive club’ that was Malta’s university. And they didn’t get in there post 1971. Those are just the few who came immediately to mind in the last few seconds.
On the other hand, it was THE LABOUR GOVERNMENTS OF THE 1970S AND 1980S which completely restricted entrance to the university by a series of measures designed to keep people out, and not because they didn’t have the intellectual or academic competence, either.
University departments were closed down, courses like THE FUNDAMENTAL BACHELOR OF ARTS were eradicated (because we didn’t need useless BAs, so they had to do something useful and become a BEduc instead, a teacher), the Medical School was decimated, and the university became a pale shadow of what a university should be. If you had been 18 then, Brian, which I doubt, you wouldn’t have got in.
I certainly couldn’t, with my 14 O-levels (12 of them on one certificate) and three A-levels, and even if I could, there was no course that was suitable, because the only courses available were utilitarian ones: law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, archiecture, engineering, public policy, and teaching. Did you know that this was the situation? No, obviously not.
The university in its current ‘open doors’, ‘stipend to all’, mature students, thousands flocking through including total morons who have to repeat years even though they’re in their late 20s like Charlon Gouder, is entirely the creation of the post 1987 PN governments.
HEALTHCARE WAS FREE IN THE 1960S, BRIAN. IT’S BEEN FREE FOR A LOT LONGER THAN THAT.
Social services? What social services? Money from Gaddafi for a children’s allowance system, land stolen from its private owners to be parcelled out as plots, houses requisitioned from their owners and given to bazuzli families (social housing through theft – disgusting), huge labour corps to soak up unemployment, ratcheting up the public sector payroll, and the dockyard kept on to break the country’s back because Mintoff was not going to lose face by closing it down because the British told him to go and f**k himself and pulled out its naval base.
You sound like an idiot, so do yourself a favour and find out the facts. Also you’re nuts to think you can argue with people who ACTUALLY WERE THERE and even contradict them on facts that they experienced. Imagine if I were to pop round to my mother’s right now and contradict her about the conditions in shelters during the war or what she picked up to eat at the Victory kitchen. How stupid and arrogant would I have to be to do that, when she was there and I was born more than 20 years later?]
“Your crass ignorance and determination to remain completely uninformed are just tragic.”
You couldn’t have pinpointed the matter more accurately – crass ignorance and sheer and utter determination to remain completely uninformed.
I tell them: read this book, read this law, read this whatever to get your facts right. Don’t believe me – I might be biased. Read your books.
You know what they tell me? It’s because you’re a Nazzjonalista iffissata.
No, darling, it’s written in a book by an eminent jurist – not by Glen Bedingfield.
Who cares? That’s what we’ve been told and that’s what we believe.
I truly and utterly despair.
I love reading about Maltese history. It is particularly difficult to find information about certain events in English. I know all about Black Monday and the Mizbla, but other events are less prolific.
Daphne, could you address “Tal- Gakketta Blue.” From a brief Google search I ascertain that this was some sort of party militia. Is this correct? What is your experience with this group, since you have mentioned that you were active in the party during these years?
[Daphne – I apologise for not replying earlier. I was not active in the Nationalist Party in those days. I have never been active in the Nationalist Party or any other political party. You’re looking at 1981 here, when I was 16/17. It was an extremely dangerous general election (and in fact it led to the perverse result where the Nationalist Party got more votes than Labour, but Labour got more seats and so the government). In certain areas, people who were known to favour the Nationalist Party were threatened and it could be predicted that attempts would be made to prevent them reaching the polling-booth, as in fact happened. The Nationalist Party asked for volunteers who would stand about the streets and ensure the safety of electors around the polling booths. This is in itself an indictment of the government at the time, because this is the police force’s job. Those volunteers had to wear something to make sure that people who needed their help could recognise them. A manufacturer donated those cold-weather puffa jackets that were commonly used at the time – the election was held in December – and obviously picked blue (the alternatives as I recall were red, white and black – this was a ‘one product’ economy and incidentally, mine was red). I seem to remember that the volunteers in our neighbourhood were a couple of waterpolo players among others.]
Also, what of Mr. Gatt’s linking of George Borg Olivier to the June 7th tragedy? It is my understanding that this took place in 1919, which would have made Olivier 7 years old at the time. Perhaps he means Enrico Mizzi, who would have led his party in a decidedly anti-British (and pro-Italian) sentiment. What are your thoughts on this incident?
[Daphne – Yes, I imagine so. I have written about my thoughts on Sette Giugno a few times but can’t find any links by random searches. Those events have been subjected to a great deal of political myth-making and the most salient information has been conveniently left out. The facts – as opposed to my thoughts – are these.
1. The price of bread in Malta depended on the cost of imported wheat-grain, because no grain was grown here, and so was completely out of the control of Maltese millers/bakers. The grain was milled into flour by millers in Malta.
2. When the international price of flour rocketed in the aftermath of WWI, the price of bread in Malta obviously went up too. The millers in Malta were blamed for this, though it had nothing to do with them. On 7 June 1919, there was some kind of flashpoint. A crowd of men and boys set out to burn the mills in the exact same scenario we saw 60 years later with The Times of Malta newspaper building. All but one mill were razed. This is the bit that we never hear about. The result, ironically, is Farsons beer. The Farrugia mill was one of those destroyed, and they began to move into beer-making instead. I don’t suppose I need explain to you the sheer stupidity of burning the mills – quite apart from the violence, of course. If your protest is about the cost of bread, you don’t make it more expensive – or completely unavailable – by destroying the means of production.
3. Still literally in an incendiary mood, the rioters carried on to Valletta, the aim being not to protest outside the seat of government, as the myth would have it, but to ransack the houses of the millers, who lived there. This bit, too, we never hear about. I had an eyewitness account of the ransacking of one of those houses from my paternal grandmother who lived close by. The rioters forced open the front door and made their way inside, throwing furniture, ornaments and clothes out of windows and balconies to the crowd below. One assumes they pocketed the jewellery. My grandmother remembered in particular a piano being thrown from an upper storey and smashing into the road, with people scattering to avoid it, and men waving women’s underwear out of a window and shouting (in Maltese) “Look at the kind of underwear rich women wear.” I wonder at the time why she found this particularly disturbing, seemingly more than the smashing, breaking and stealing, until I understood that at the time it would have been as gross a violation as doing the same thing in a strict Muslim community today.
4. This has a fairly good description of what happened then http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sette_Giugno. Basically, the people who were killed were engaged in looting and ransacking, and one was a random passer-by, yet they have been portrayed as heroes shot while peacefully protesting, and while the violence against private property in Valletta and elsewhere has been disgracefully depicted as Malta’s equivalent of the Amritsar massacre.]
Of course, the latter incident is nearing 100 years in age, and as we know, it is often fruitless to analyze a modern political party based on it’s past-century’s forebears. I am most certainly not a Jacksonian Democrat. :)
Thanks Daph I love it when your Ticked off
Still like your blog though keep it up !!!
Mintoff introduced the children’s allowance in 1976, just before the election.
He had the Ombudsman also in the electoral programme but he never introduced it.
The Ombudsman would have been overworked during Labour’s tenure.
Re-writing history, Brian, or are you just repeating what you hear?
At the Zebbug MLP demonstration, which purposedly passed in front of the PN club, there were no Molotov cocktails.
Free education?
Before long we shall be told that it was the MLP which introduced the stipends system.
I think George Borg Olivier’s mistake was when he refused to consider the republic. By doing so he implied personal misgivings with the party’s historical links, leading to Mintoff’s access to Aldo Moro, whose interest it was in 1969 to keep in check Gaddafi.
Gaddafi was after all the fresh young thing next to Nasser’s Egypt.
I could be wrong.
You should have seen the Facebook status updates of Cyrus and so many others, including that erstwhile psychologist, Charlie Farrugia, who had the gall to ask: could anybody tell me why we’re celebrating Independence Day?
Would you believe it that so many people rushed to tell him that Independence Day is a non-feast?
How can they be so brainwashed?
Every idiot should realise that Independence was the first, most essential and crucial step towards full automony, far more significant than anything which followed.
Believe me, I am astounded not so much at the 25-year olds who rushed to agree with Charlie Azzopardi and others, but at people who are old enough and supposedly well schooled enough to know better.
I have to admit, though, that if at 25 you don’t know what independence is, our education has failed you miserably and that you are, frankly, an abysmal failure.
And then I see these videos by Cyrus as though to prove that independence was obtained in 1974.
It’s a real case of “where ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise”.
I despair – I really, really, really do.
My God, Daphne you know your history! Well said. Air Melita (Air Malta) was also a nearly completed project before the 1971 elections. So was the Regional Road inaugurated by Lorry Sant.
Mintoff introduced children’s allowance….and a police state.
And the government housing units which today face the Chinese Garden in Santa Lucia were ready and handed to the Labour administration for distribution to their party supporters.
In those days the MLP battle cry was “9 million pounds government debt”; “Gvern fallut poplu batut”.
Some of the projects which Mintoff shelved were the Msida bridge instead of which we now have Lorry’s “accident black spot”, the Malta-Gozo causeway, the coast road (part of which was ready), the Gozo Hospital and the Zebbug-Siggiewi bridge.
Mintoff preferred paying the consultants a golden handshake rather than using the same money to build a road which had to pass through Santa Venera, for which the houses were already requisitioned by the PN and one of the houses was converted into the Santa Venera MLP club and has been the subject of a legal dispute with the owners ever since.
The water desalinators at Hondoq ir-Rummien and the Marsa power station were shut down and left to rust because according to Mintoff water was costing us more than whisky.
Peter, you pressed the right button for me to go down to this memory lane.
In those 16 years Mintoff unfortunately instilled class hatred
The leader of the Labour Party is sulking because he was left out of Independence Day celebrations. Well – if his party, and its scribblers ,belittle this Day, I think it would be impolite to invite the leader to celebrations of a day his party does really and truly not consider suitable.
[Daphne – We’ve been through this already, last year, the year before that, and the year before that. The Leader of the Opposition has no role to play at the ceremonies. It’s just the leader of the government and the head of state.]