GUEST POST: “It has now become dangerously fashionable to preach that Mintoff did good”
Muammar Gaddafi, Dom Mintoff and Lorry Sant on 31 March 1979 – the day the British sailed out and Gaddafi flew in.
This is a guest post, which means it was written by somebody other than Daphne Caruana Galizia.
The misinformation being shovelled out by the Labour media machine is breathtaking in its misuse and distortion of historical facts.
In many cases, outright lies are being propagated as solemn historical truths. Half-truths, downright lies, distortion of facts and figures are being repeated over and over again until the people at the receiving end of this barrage are starting to doubt their own experiences and even worse, they are starting to repeat this misinformation as coming from their own true life experience.
Part of the mantra goes as follows. Everyone makes mistakes. The intention was good. You cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs – and so on.
Even when an action/decision was evidently wrong, there are excuses. There were the pressures of the job, geopolitics, opposition to ‘reforms’ by the ‘conservative establishment’, misguided politicians in the MLP who did not fully understand Mintoff’s vision, sabotage by the CIA and Europe of Cain, and more in that vein.
It has now become dangerously fashionable to preach that it was never Mintoff’s fault but always someone else who messed up. And that Mintoff’s intentions were good, never mind that the results were bad.
We owe our standard of living to reforms set in motion by Mintoff, they say. The aim of this propaganda is two-fold: to repackage Mintoff as the architect of the way we live today, and to take all the credit away from Eddie Fenech Adami, who really did it.
Some things were not so good, we are told, but there were more things which were good. So that means Mintoff was a good thing for Malta. This is twisted reasoning.
Even if imported chocolate was not available, life was on the whole rather good as we were masters of our own destiny.
The police and Lorry Sant only beat up people who deserved to be beaten up. And those who were beaten up were beaten up because they were provocative.
We are seeing exactly the same argument made right here on this blog – and on Facebook – in Daphne Caruana Galizia’s regard. She should stop writing bad things about Mintoff because somebody might do her harm. And then it will be all her fault.
This is crazy. What is even crazier is that the people repeating this insane argument do not see the inherent danger in what they saying. They do not see that their reasoning, if we can call it that, undermines the very essence of democracy.
But they are too busy telling us that in any case Mintoff did not agree with beating people up. He never beat anyone up himself. He did not set fire to The Times with employees trapped on the upper floors.
He did not shoot Raymond Caruana. He did not sack and burn Opposition party clubs or ransack the leader of the Opposition’s home. He did not suppress free speech.
Others did it in his name and without his knowledge and when he found out he condemned it. He even wrote a letter to Mabel Strickland to say how sorry he was that her newspaper building had been burned down.
That’s how good Mintoff was.
The small amount of hardship inflicted on an extremely small minority of the population was justified for the greater good, we are told in the new mantra. The irony is that many of the people repeating this stupidity are anti-socialists.
They say they hate socialism. And yet they are blissfully unaware that what they repeat is the socialist mantra: the sacrificing of individual rights to the greater good.
Anyway, those people say. Mintoff’s victims didn’t really suffer that much anyway, because they had it so good for such a long time. They might have lost their property but they didn’t deserve it anyway.
Due to Mintoff’s social conscience we no longer had any beggars in the street. So doesn’t that good outweigh the bad that he did? At that time everyone could buy cheap tuna and mackerel. Wasn’t that enough?
With Mintoff’s blessing, free CARE food packs were provided for needy families.
Mintoff created Air Malta, Enemalta, Telemalta, etc. All jewels (family silver?) in Malta’s crown. Now all our family silver has been sold to outsiders.
Mintoff created the welfare state, pensions, children’s allowances, the minimum wage, free education for all, student stipends (an outright lie), and more of the same.
Mintoff created the ‘middle class’. Now this middle class can only stay in the middle if it votes for Joseph, who is inspired by his great hero and intends to continue where Mintoff left off. Never mind Fenech Adami and the new Malta created since 1987.
We now have Nationalist politicians and sundry philosophers conniving and abetting in this whitewash, by telling us that Mintoff did good, or worse, that the good he did on balance outweighs the bad.
Where will it all end? In tragedy.
14 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
An exceptional and frightening read.
Thank you.
This is what happens when you throw pearls to swine. You get called a hypocrite.
“Much rubbish has been spouted out, even by his enemies in the Nationalist party. So much hypocrisy. ………… Now, they come out telling us how wonderful Mintoff was.
(Marie Benoit on The Malta Independent on Sunday)
What would she have said if he wasn’t given a state funeral?
You should also read comments on thetimes.com where somebody even counted the number of priests taking part. If you ask me, there were four bishops too many.
Very tragic indeed as history is going to be repeated with many of the same old cronies
It is thanks to Mintoff that we have a new airport. Because he never invested in a new one himself.
It is thanks to Mintoff that we have a powerstation in Delimara. Because the Nationalists built one in his backyard.
It is thanks to Mintoff that we have peace and serenity. Because they had to be restored after he brought us close to civil war.
We owe it to Mintoff that we have freedom of expression. Because of his oppression, we voted the PN in government to restore it.
It is thanks to Mintoff that we have democracy. Because of his gerrymandering in 1981, we had to change the constitution.
It is thanks to Mintoff that Malta joined the European Union. Because he brought down the Sant government.
Well said.
If the Labour Party was serious in its intention to govern, led by a real leader, I doubt we would be at this stage.
The vacuum created by Muscat is having its effects.
I call it the Mintoff syndrome, who knew how to hog any space required by democratic dialogue.
One other myth is that before Mintoff (ie before 1971) there was extreme poverty in Malta with beggars all over the island, banging on doors for a piece of bread. I have heard this utter nonsense so many times during my childhood.
Actually, saying that violence is a result of provocation is the best proof that these people are violent.
Because if, when someone criticises or even insults you, the only reaction you are capable of is violence ‘Toffendili l-lijder nigi ghalik’ it shows you are incapable of debate, discussion, and civilised argument.
In short, you will be acting like some fundamentalist or thug in a Third-World state or some banana republic
I wonder if Santayana had this situation in mind when he said that ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’
On Friday evening, the day before the Mintoff funeral, I was sitting near my wife while she was fishing. A very friendly and inquisitive nine-year-old girl from Bormla struck up a conversation with my wife, all in Maltese, while the girl’s mother and father stood nearby outside their parked vehicle.
As the little girl became more confident and adventurous in her conversation, she asked my wife, “Are you with Joseph?” The girl had taken her conversation with my wife, this attractive and grandmotherly stranger, to the next higher, and for her most natural, level. My wife, naturally, answered “Yes.”
In this exchange, there is the pure innocence of this girl from Bormla, who adopts the faith and aspirations of her parents. There is also the cultural divide that for now shields this child, as a child, from the larger history and a larger truth.
Yet, there also are the seeds of “identity” being planted and implemented as another article of faith, as much as the family is the natural home for the foundations of religion, education, and an eventual future for when this child becomes an adult.
One can only hope that children, as adults, maintain their natural curosity and inhibitions to dialogue, so that eventually their convictions and aspirations will be founded upon a genuine respect and tolerance for individuals, and respect for ultimate truth.
When a political party and its adherants disregard the latter, it is no wonder that an entire generation grows up and is fitted with its emotional armour in defense against most, if not all, rational discourse.
There still is possible hope for the children, but the generation of their parents and adults cannot be transformed so easily: Joseph himself [in his attempted political reincarnation] is one of its products: “Believe in me, follow me, do not doubt, I am your truth and salvation, your identity, your being.”
Any person who becomes an adult is expected to use their powers of reason and to seek truth–not to be automatons or carbon-copies of someone else’s personhood, or a mini-me of their parents. Adults, committed to this, must provide the tools and personal space for individuals to achieve this.
God bless the little girl from Bormla and her parents. God help us all.
Milli jidher hadd mill-Lejburisti ma jhobb lil-partit jew jinteressah mill PL tal-lum ghax dawn fuq Mintoff jidher li kellhom u ghad ghandhom fissassjoni. Dal krib kollu!!!
This article deserves much more prominence and in-depth discussion.
When I see all these posts I cannot but ORGASM .. PL today is so great and perfect that all you PN moaners can talk about is the past …
By the way, the pic at the top with Mintoff and Gaddaffi is really nice, can we now have the one where GonziPN awards the Gieh Ir-Rebubblika medal to Gaddaffi please?
[Daphne – Try communicating with reference to your solitary sex life for once.]
nice try .. but you did not keep to the argument ..