Let’s face it: we hold Labour and the Nationalist Party to completely different standards, don’t we
This morning, I received the following email from a woman I know. She had just read reports of ‘Mintoff’s generosity’ in The Times and was appalled.
I share her sentiments.
We hold politicians of the Nationalist Party and those of the Labour Party to completely different standards of quality and behaviour. We expect perfection from the Nationalist Party and whatever they do it’s never good enough, but with Labour, we praise them for not beating us up or perpetrating gross abuses of human rights and fundamental liberties.
There are times when Maltese society makes me utterly sick to the core, and believe me when I say that this is one of them. Nothing shows up the primitive nature of Maltese thinking and attitudes more than some great opportunity for twisted thinking and shockingly perverse reasoning.
We remain, at heart, deeply unEuropean. We think literally, we have absolutely no understanding of irony, everything has to be spelled out – even basic principles and arguments that are taken as read in more highly developed societies, and (this is the most disturbing of all) people admire the qualities in others which, in those more highly developed societies, would be despised.
I believe the real problem is that very many people in Malta just can’t think. It’s not that they don’t think, but that they CAN’T think.
Just consider the manner in which even those who should know better laud Mintoff for ‘bettering the lot of the working classes’ when it should be screamingly obvious to them that the working-claases acquired the trappings of middle-class life, which is what bettering their lot is all about, after 1987. It is since 1987 that they have never had it so good, that they began to live lives and acquire things and opportunities beyond their wildest dreams.
Yet they continue to light candles to Mintoff instead of lighting them to the people who made it happen for them: the Nationalist Party, most particularly the policies of Eddie Fenech Adami.
They’ve been brainwashed since birth, so I can’t really blame them for their screwed-up reasoning. But when those who have had the benefit of a good education do the same, then I begin to wonder exactly what is so fundamentally wrong with Malta.
———-
My friend’s email:
OMG. Dan x’pajjiz qed nghixu fih. Kieku kont izghar zgur nippakkja u nitlaq. Ma nafx minn fejn nibda nikkumenta. See this as reported on The Times.
According to Raymond, this was one of the many ways in which his brother was misunderstood. “For instance, they say he was a miser. But he gave me this Rolex,” he says as he shakes the cherished gold watch worth thousands of euro on his wrist.
To him the wristwatch symbolises his brother’s generosity, even though he knows it was originally a gift from “some head of state” that Dom found too heavy for his own wrist.
Veru generuz kien – jaghti dak li jaqla’ u li mhux ta’ uzu ghalih. U jekk ircevieh minghand head of state mhux ta’ Malta dak? U niftahru bihom dawn l-affarijiet. Ara kieku kien xi Nazzjonalist.
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Is this the brother whose wife he screwed?
He screwed a lot of wives (directly and indirectly) particularly those wives whose husbands lost their jobs because of him, or those that weren’t give jobs because they were Nationalists.
See the generosity, even to his own brother, he only gave him a gift because he himself didn’t want it.
Why do you ask Walter , is that what you do tour brother`s wife daily? No wonder you ask
Macky, my brother had to leave Malta because of that nasty shit Mintoff, so even if I was the same kind of shit he was it would be rather difficult for me to do that.
Still it feels good to say “the kind of shit he WAS”.
WAS. Mintoff WAS not IS.
Ghall-erwieh!
AND YOU SAY IL LABURISTI HODOR U HAMALLI.
YOU DISGUSTING ASSHOLE
You are reducing the faith in the Labour dogma/propaganda to the same level as the faith in the church teachings. No evidence, only superstitious mumbo-jumbo.
That is why I firmly believe that the floating voters, the ones who are tech-savvy, will be by-passed by the rhetorically twaddle.
I know a ‘labour’ woman who has it on authority that JM won’t reveal how he will reduce bills because the PN will copy his ideas if he does.
You try discussing with these people.
Oh God, at first I thought it was just my girlfriend with the view that Labour won’t reveal their policies because PN will copy their ideas, but apparently she’s not the only one.
Exactly my reaction this morning on reading this piece in the TOM this morning. Kemm kien generuz jahasra.
Couldn’t have pictured the man better.
Even as regards to social services he gave what he took from others.
And this afternoon let the circus begin.
But still may the Lord have mercy on his soul.
Daphne, you are right in insisting that we should not gloss over the terrible turbulent years under Mintoff’s rule. Mintoff could have been all the things those close to him are saying, however, for us who were not mintoffjani, life was hell.
To my mind Mintoff was your typical bully, violence was part of his strategy to cower his oppenents, with a mega chip on his shoulder. A democrat he was not and his oxford experience, rather than opening his eyes, gave an eternal inferiority complex when dealing with the British.
I spent quite a considerable time in Rngland, working and studying, coming away with no particular feeling of inferiority or superiority. I dealt with English who were great, others who were lousy. But that’s the world in general.
What I do not agree with you is your choice of words, which I think you use (perhaps subconsciously) to hurt the Mintoffjani. That trait belongs to the Mintoffjani and also present Labour, but not people like us who are truly european, liberal and progressive.
have a good day
[Daphne – You too. It is not liberal or progressive to allow yourself to be trodden over roughshod or to let the illiberal non-progressives have a field day because nobody stands up to them]
@ steve
why is it so hard for you people to just say you are maltese ?! why do you think that being “truly european” sounds better than saying you are maltese?
[Daphne – ‘Truly European’ is a reference to culture, and nothing else. Maltese culture is not truly European. The sentiments expressed here, even by people who are supposedly from a privileged background, are yet more evidence of this. Imagine people in Britain protesting with a newspaper columnist that she should stop writing what she’s writing, because she might get beaten up and then it would be her fault. It’s the reason why so many people in Malta, including politicians, couldn’t understand why that Danish newspaper didn’t just avoid all that trouble and stay away from Mohammed cartoons, failing which the Danish government should have intervened with the newspaper and stopped it.]
Afterall, according to you lot, after 25 years of PN government, Malta has flourished, no one is suffering, economy is booming, everyone is so happy and everything is running smoothly. So why do you still feel the need to say you are european? why dont you just say you are truly maltese? why are you ashamed of saying it?
They live in a world of their own, we just share the land we live on and they also get to benefit from the rest such as, stipends, hospital, EU membership and so on.
You know, it just occurred to me that we talk and talk about stipends and how scrooge Evarist removed them…..since the PN got re-elected and re-instated the stipends, they also introduced the Smart Card. It seems even the PL forgot completely about this as they only mention the stipends. I’m really curious as to their opinion on these extra funds, because let’s face it, they add up to quite a bit of money, and i get the feeling that they are not mentioning the smart card for one simple reason: If they keep the focus on the stipends, when they get elected, they will leave them, but will have no trouble removing the smart card benefits as they wouldn’t have made any promises on it.
I am pretty sure the stipends were first introduced by Dom Mintoff, unfortunately the hospital is not living up to our initial expectations and the merits of the EU are still being debated by many europeans.
Like you get the benefit of children allowance, pensions ( which prob you will not get) dare i continue? And I don’t want to correct you but free medication was thanks to mintoff. If you are referring to the new hospital I hope you will never need it because you are in for a long wait to use it!!!!!!
They are even bad-mouthing Attard Montalto now, one of their own.
For them it’s Duminku Mintoff – the Untouchable.
Maryanne no big surprise, it is the way of opportunists
Take Boffa, from a voice of the poor to an unwanted leader back to a founding father. Not even Mintoff was spared that gross inconsistence moving from saviour to traitor to the nation’s father.
And by the way it is not only about people it is patently also about the policies that matter. The list is to long to recount, but Trade, Local Councils, VAT , Euro and EU are indelible black spots on their “rekort”. Take the EU, from being the Europe of Cain to wanting to be the best in the same Europe.
So no big deal that Attard Montaldo is currently on the downward phase of this inconsistency roller-coaster after being promoted to Brussels with an impressive vote count.
It is on the lines of visionless opportunistic little politicians.
“Skond id-daqqa nizfnu” and the “end justifies the means” approach.
No wonder this country was always in tethers when they were at Castille
Attard Montalto is “one of their own” up to a point. Don’t forget that he’s what they’d probably call “tal-pepe” – pulit, minn tas-Sliema.
Of course he’s untouchable. Didn’t one of them say First God, then Mintoff?
Even though this argument doesn’t stop them blaspheming left, right and centre.
Go figure.
They say what goes around comes around.First Mintoff took Malta for a ride today Malta is taking Mintoff for a ride.
Tonight at 2100 approx: call for a vigil…it’s the third day and he might just do it you know, being salvatur and all that.
And a very lnng one, too. Min jaf kemm ha’ jinten izjed, erba sighat f’din is-shana li hawn.
Who knows how ANY of you DISRESPECTFUL people…..including the so-loved OWNER of this blog Die ???
And don’t delete my comment you mother-fucker-galizia
[Daphne – Motherfucker is a perjorative used only for men. I shouldn’t need to explain the reasons why.]
ja buffu
Soon someone will propose that Mintoff should be declared a saint. This country is insane. How dare Oliver Friggieri for example say on television that Mintoff is now in the company of Borg Olivier. I would rather say that he is now in the company (again) of Muammar Gaddafi, Nicolai Caucescu, Kim Jong Il and several other despots and friends of our dear leader (sic). He will be given a Catholic funeral and he will be now surrounded by many priests that he so much detested. That is cruel and farcical at the same time.
but the priests who also detested him will also attend.
So Daphne, since you completely ignored my comment on a previous entry, I’m going leave this here. You accused me of being “Labour” (lol, laughable) just because I’m an unbiased person and a person who detests partisan politics (unlike yourself). It’s because of people like you I won’t be voting at all come next election (don’t start with that “if you’re not voting, you’re voting labour”). Just accept the fact that there are Nationalists out there who are disgruntled and disillusioned with the current state of the party. Stop making yourself look like a child by calling those people “Labour”.
hear hear
Historical comparisons where diabolical humans such as Mintoff are revered after death are common:
These are some extreme examples of political leaders who destroyed millions of lives, yet are held in very high regard by the very people they killed and brutalized.
1. Mao Zedong killed 78 million people.
2. Vladimir Lenin directly killed 4 million, but indirectly via Stalin, Mao and others killed 180 million.
3. Alexander The Great killed 2 million when less than 150 million people lived on earth.(The equivalent of killing 250 million today)
4. Queen Victoria’s rule 1837-1901, during which over 10 million were killed in Africa and India.
Poor little Mintoff was a small fry, having killed no more than a few people and all of them indirectly. I think he was clearly an absolute creep but you are really blowing his awfulness out of proportion.
Good riddance to bad rubbish, because that’s all he was.
WHO EXACTLY DID HE KILL WHEN YOU SAY A FEW.
THE POLICE OFFICERS THAT SERVED UNDER MINTOFF WERE GIVEN PROMOTIONS WHEN PN WERE ELECTED .
.
I thought I was going crazy. Seems everyone in Malta is doing his or her utmost to twist the facts. Finally here is something closer to the truth as I lived it:
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2012/08/22/dom-mintoff-a-dominant-figure-in-malta-for-30-years-did-great-harm-to-his-country/
Believe me, I was shocked as much as you are when I read this, maaaaa tal-biza x’pajjiz dan!!
Insult lejn l-intelligenza tal-HMIR.
Come on, let’s all pray for his ‘sole’. And it’s not me who’s saying this.
albert galea
Today, 11:53
All the hatred of the so called PN catholics is coming out. The man is dead, you should now be praying for his sole
Roll away the dawn,
Roll away the dawn and let me see,
The land of the free,
Has anything changed at all;
Sweet liberty,
Sweet liberty is in our hands
It’s part of the plan,
Or is it a state of mind?
Horses and men,
Horses and men are on the field,
They didn’t yield.
Many have fallen here;
Never forget
Never forget what they have done,
The time will come,
When it will change again.
Never forget!
Jafu dawn li qeghdin jaghmlu dan l-elogji kollha kemm qatel nies bil-ghali?
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2012/08/22/dom-mintoff-a-dominant-figure-in-malta-for-30-years-did-great-harm-to-his-country/
No more said.
its a pity he forgot to mention l-interdett u id dnub mejjet. no mention at all of the mortal sin if you vote labour.
no mention at all that the priest asked you who you voted for after your reconciliation, and if you said labour he did not give you a blessing.
no mention at all of how priest in malta, preached that if you vote labour you go to hell.
no mention at all of how people had to be buried in the “mizbla”
This priest is another one who should be ashamed of himself, as he is just twisting the facts and ommitting facts.
The church in Malta those times, preached that labour was bad and evil, so it could continue to make people live in the fear of God. And you all believed it and still cannot see that Mintoff was not fighting God, but he was fighting priests like this one who invented lies and distorted the facts, even inventing a mortal sin!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/21/dom-mintoff?newsfeed=true
The best comment so far ifo the late Dom Mintoff was the old wise guy who said solemnly these maltese words: Any cheques bar the salary emanating from the government of malta are only thanks to Dom Mintoff!!! When he did such a sweeping statement, i wanted to ask him these questions:
A) do you know how much was the population at that time and today?
B) do you remember that only three children were granted the children’s allowance? Ghajb for those bormlizi who are still having families of eight or ten children!!tghid kien itijom!!
the last question:
C) how much money did he allocated for the single parents at that time or houses allocated for single mothers or single persons?
Am still very worried, however, facebook comments from youngsters who am sure they never remembered him one single day of his politics and yet they call him Salvatur!!if only god granted them five months of the gold mintoffian days am sure there will have to do without pc’s, laptops, mobiles, colour tvs in every room etc
Mintoff will be remembered for his crazy idea about the Marsa ship building,
Cannot recall the number of liners built in this yard.
And what about the second hand telephone system that never functioned.
Daphne,
I think you are right that some people can’t think. I think it comes from the way we are thought at schools. Never to understand anything but just to study by heart.
I think that the tributes showered by the PN on Dom Mintoff are an insult to all of us who for sixteen whole years risked our lives in our struggle for freedom and democracy. Actually it was a struggle for survival. I was really disgusted. I did recite a short prayer for the repose of his soul and I was determined to let him rest in peace, but these comments were really disgusting.
Duminku Mintoff mhux il-Rolex
biss ta lil-Raymond, imma kuntratti kbar bhal tad-Deutsche Welle. Nahseb li dak iz-zmien Raymond kien ghadu ma jafx li konkos ghandu bzonn iz-zement.
I want to make it clear from the very start that my english is not top notch but contrary to what you preach, this admission does not take away the right to express myself. I am pretty sure that ‘Mein Kampf’ has no grammatical or spelling mistakes but does it in any way morally elevate its content? An illiterate man may never aspire to be a poet but should we humiliate him about it in order to stop him from complaining about any social injustice? I think you see my point.
I’d like to point out that you give me the impression that you are somewhat disturbed by maltese democracy in the sense that if (as you say) most maltese can’t think then why should they have the right to vote? Why should we just make you decide everything for us? You always seem to back your arguments with logical and objective opinions but could you be missing the possibility that you have been “brainwashed since birth” and that your opinion is purely subjective. Being an atheist I may also be tempted to think the same about religious people but I would never think of offending them for the following reasons.
1) I might be totally wrong in my convictions.
2) I prefer to convey my thoughts respectfully because this will promote tolerance.
3) Life is to short and it would be a waste to indulge in hate towards those who do not agree with me.
I was a bit hurt from your previous comments regarding Dom Mintoff but then again I don’t have the right to ‘not be offended’. This is the nature of freedom of speech.
You assume that all those who do not agree with you are stupid and retarded labourites and it really weighs to think that you are assuming the same thing about me.
I still need to understand the whole point of your blog. Is it just a rant leading to more polarised opinions?
Regards
Robert
All I know gallettu that Malta lost a great man! The greatest man that we will ever have! Maybe u don’t agree and I respect that but just remember that thanks him we are a free country and not a country run by other. But I guess you choose to close your mind and not admit it.
Kemm inti bniedma mill-aghar u antipatka Daphne!!! Jirra taqla daqqa ta platt f’wiccek!
Watching Super One. Should the lack of dignity surprise me?
Mintoff was carried in hearse number HRS006.
That rules out half the population making use of it.
Right now I’m watching One TV. This is a funeral not a cortege.
The Bormla people are clapping for the person who removed the feast which unites Bormla, from a public holiday.
These same people were abandoned by their ‘father’, who never bettered their lot. They were suffocated with the pollution generated from the dockyard and had a long ugly wall running through their commercial area, not to mention that Bormla had the lowest number of new graduates when he ruled the roost.
I recall a certain Bugelli challenging him at the university on these lines. Mintoff called the students “Qabda qtates imhallsin”.
With this show, Labour is tying a weight round it’s neck before it jumps in the electoral sea. Sant hasn’t settled his battle with Mintoff and it’s present leadership which sidelined him and KMB.
I stand to be corrected but Mintoff and KMB were never invited on ONE TV or radio.Yes there are two different standards for the parties, or rather Labour has no standards to live up to.
Does anyone recall the Labour supporters’ reaction when Eddie was bedridden and had to go to vote on a stretcher? And later when he went for his heart surgery in the US, instead of wishing him recovery, questions were raised by Labour as to who forked out the expenses for the successful surgery?
I think Labour don’t have any standards.
Daphne, of all the pieces you’ve written this is by far the truest. I agree with you 100%. It’s so shameful!
Just noticed all my spelling mistakes above. That’s what happens when one types whilst watching television.
The bastard’s arriving at the palace shortly. Valletta is pretty crowded. I would have liked to have been there, to make surely he’s really gone. Pity he’ll never go away from our memory.
George Abela is leaning out of the balcony. I think he was sending a message on his mobile phone.
The One commentator just referred to Kingsway as “The Ryoal Mile”. Mur ghidlu, l-Mintoff, who renamed it Republic Street.
I grew up with faint but still very vivid memories of watching grown-ups around me rushing and running frantically around to avoid beeing beaten.
I remember my dad being very cautious when buying the newspaper. I remember being deprived of so many things which at that time I really didn’t realize.
I stopped bothering about this country’s people. It’s amazing how people quickly forget the recent past. It must be in our DNA.
After all, historically, we have always beeen conquered and suppressed and we still looked up to whoever suppressed us.
The more you mistreat this people, the more they forget. And the more good you do to this people, it is never enough.
Watching people making a demi-god out of this man is pathetic – other words that could be better, fail me.
It is one of those moments when I feel ashamed that these are fellow Maltese.
I’m not sure my opinion is appropriate for a private blog. I do share some sentiments with you Daphne. I lived the same hell that the 80s were, I missed a lot of boats that are never coming back. Like many others of my generation my life could have taken a different turn were it not for the baggage of having been born in Malta under Mintoff’s rule and my socially disadvantaged background.
I understand the importance of remembering and educating the younger ones to ensure that history does not repeat itself. However, there comes a point when one has to look forward to bigger and better things in life and self-pity only leads to bitterness that prevents you from enjoying the present.
If you manage to live happily despite the baggage of the 80s, kudos to you. However it is not for everyone. Granted this rock is steeped in illiteracy, the inability to think rationally and not exactly anybody’s idea of finesse. However, living overseas for any stretch of time is an eye-opener. The same rudeness, illiteracy and everything. Think of last summer’s riots in London, think of knife crime.
It’s humanity in its entirety that’s just not right and it takes rose-tinted specs to bring children into a world as rife with so much injustice, oppression and cruelty. Then again, I doubt the world as a whole has even known a time of such prosperity and civilization.
Finesse is all well and good, a worthy objective and all but not the be all and end all and certainly not worth living with a negative outlook just because a chunk of the local population is what it is. This rock is a wonderful place to be, if only it is experienced and lived with the expat mentality of not getting too deeply involved in local affairs.
Why do we constatnly have to whinge about our lot? Do we have any idea how much harder life overseas can be? Our salaries may not be anything to write home about, yet we enjoy quality of life only the rich and famous can afford. Hope that’s a comforting thought.
Of course Mintoff was very generous, but obviously with other people’s property. Remember the requisitioned premises which were then used as party clubs or passed on to the ‘red eyed’ guys!!
Yes. The Maltese on average CAN NOT think critically and objectively.
Thinking is a tool and it is not available as standard in all humans.
It needs to be worked on, it needs to be cultivated; it needs to be sharpened. One needs to be brought up in a family and society that questions all that is important.
One needs to be raised in an environment where it is a given that truths define authority and not vice-versa. I agree with you that this is a real problem because in this world we now live in with dishonesty, lies and bullshit being the order of the day, being able to think critically is a fundamental requirement.
Malta would do well to change it’s society from one that accepts blindly to one that is critical about all.
Now in Malta we are disadvantaged. We are born into a society where it is natural to maintain a belief in a non existent entity.
Our young lives are highlighted by events that dance around this creative fiction and we go on growing up with daily sessions of conscious and subconscious brainwashing all designed to make us accept as true and real that which is not.
Don’t you think that this creates a nasty precedent? Don’t you think that if one is used to accepting things on faith without first assessing the facts about the matter one is more likely to accept other absurdities on faith; like astrology, fairies, PL having a plan and Dom Mintoff’s untouchable demi-god status?
Hi Daphy Carry Galy, I’m in hell today. It’s fun.
Listen, I want you to suck my dick, please :-)
Dominic Mintoff
XX
[Daphne – Oh hi, Mintoff. I thought you preferred young men.]
who told you that you’re not one daph?
[Daphne – I don’t know how things are at your end, Chris, but where I come from, people are usually able to work out what gender they are from roughly the age of 18 months.]
I wonder what Raymond gave to Mintoff in return for that freebie Rolex.
Afraid to post my comments? What a load of bollocks this blog is.
[Daphne – There is a queue of 1000 comments. It should occur to you, given that I have uploaded around 2000 obscenities and death threats so far, that I am afraid of nothing, much less a little coward with an internet connection who’s too afraid even to comment under his real name.]
I quite like Eldarion, I think I’ll stick to it. :) Oh, I’d hardly say I’m little, being 6ft 2 is pretty awesome. As for coward, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Believe me, Daphne half of the things I’ve been through, even at such a young age would amaze even an old woman like yourself.
[Daphne – Men always tell me they’re six foot two when they feel they’ve been challenged. They’re usually a foot shorter. Also, I don’t find six foot two impressive. Too many members of my family are that height, so it’s not as though I’m going to be “Like, wow!”
I would suggest that you work on your confidence-building, get out there and get yourself a girlfriend. There’s somebody for everyone, and Maltese girls tend to be small, so don’t worry about your height. If you think I’m old, then you must be very young. So you have time to work on improving your assets and fulfilling those wishes.]
Daphne, I do have a girlfriend, a lovely one at that. Why would I lie about my height? As for my age I’m between 21-25.
[Daphne – People in their 20s do not think of people in their 40s as old. They think of them as their parents’ age. Yes, you have a lovely girlfriend in the same way that you are 6’2″ – the standard mythical height, apparently – and have done things I wouldn’t believe. It’s all a bit Wayne’s World, but never mind.]
But before I start sounding like our good friend Franco. I just wanted you to know two things. A) Unlike most people which commented these past few days, I was one of those which knew you were completely within your right to write the way you did and not once did I threaten you. B) I am somewhat puzzled by you branding me “Labour” when my family, during the 80’s were nearly deported for there political ties and beliefs. Daphne all I’m trying to tell you is this, there are Nationalists out there who won’t be voting and Nationalists who disgruntled and disillusioned by the current state of the party, that doesn’t make them “Labour”.
[Daphne – If people don’t vote for the Nationalist Party then they are by definition not Nationalists. ‘Nationalist’ is not a state of being. It is support for a political party, culminating in a vote. How can you call somebody ‘Nationalist’ who dislikes the Nationalist Party and won’t be voting for it? Logic is not the Maltese population’s strong suit, but this really beats it all. Of course, it doesn’t mean they are Labour. It just means they support no political party and so will not vote.]
Your family were almost deported in the 80s – and you’re still not convinced who the better evil is?
Phew – you’re 6’2 of idiot!
Thanks for the replies (See I can be nice). As for “Maltese Population” I’m of Scottish descent, so logic is quite a strong suit I can assure you. Have a good night Daphne and when you have a Pimm’s No.1, G&T or a good old Johnnie Walker (black or blue) send them my regards.
I think the whole thing about Mintoff (reading all the comments) is that he had really and truly managed to divide the Maltese and he has managed to create a hate-barrier which is very hard to bring down.
It all reminds me of the French revolution, when the ignorany hordes not knowing why shouted hate towards the nobles and those who were better off then them.