Read this, Joseph Muscat and those who think as he does (because it suits them to do so)
He tells us to forget the past because the past is right there with him and trying to become our future.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has marked the 80th anniversary of the day Adolf Hitler became chancellor by saying yesterday that his rise to power “should go on reminding Germans that democracy and freedom cannot be taken for granted”.
The anniversary has sparked a great deal of interest in Germany, where voices claiming that Germans should ‘forget the past’ are rare and unpopular.
Mrs Merkel said: “Human rights don’t assert themselves. Freedom doesn’t preserve itself all alone and democracy doesn’t succeed by itself. (…) This must be a constant warning for us, Germans.”
She was speaking at an exhibition, “Berlin 1933. On the Path to Dictatorship”, in the former headquarters of the Gestapo (note to Super One’s Jackie Mercieca and a couple of silly women writers who have somehow been persuaded that they’re smart: this would be the real Gestapo, and not Tonio Fenech asking how Labour plans to fund its power station and LNG terminal complex).
It took just six months for the incoming chancellor to (quoting Mrs Merkel) “wipe out all the diversity” of society, and in doing so, she emphasised, he had the support or at least the acquiescence of a large part of the population.
Hitler was made chancellor on 30 January 1933. His propaganda chief, Joseph Goebbels, wrote in his diary:
The hour has come! We are at Wilhelmstrasse. Hitler is chancellor of the Reich. Like in a fairytale.
Hitler rose to power when the parliamentary system was unable to secure a stable majority. Campaigning on simplistic themes, he rallied millions of those who had suffered severe losses in the Great Depression.
Within five years, the world was at war with Germany and within another seven years, 60 million people had died.
Mrs Merkel said ahead of the anniversary that Germany has “an everlasting responsibility for the crimes of National Socialism, for the victims of World War II, and above all, for the Holocaust”.
“We’re facing our history,” she said. “We’re not hiding anything, we’re not repressing anything. We must confront this to make sure we are a good and trustworthy partner in the future, as we already are today, thankfully.”
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What a contrast between Merkel acknowledging the racial cleansing in Hitler’s time and how the German politicians have severed themselves from the awful past and took the path towards democracy and economic success, with Muscat’s Labour Party which is still attached to the politicians of the 70s and 80s who gassed, shot at and attacked civilians while exercising their democratic rights, armed only with the required police permits to hold public meetings.
Our wonderful, prosperous little country is about to enter another dark period in its history.
With the same warped personnel, who decimated the land in the 70s and 80s, about to be elected again, we now stand on our own cliff, a jump into oblivion, or a sane future.
The outcome of the election appears sure, the aftermath appears to be a disaster.
So sad, so much potential, such a waste.
So Joseph Muscat is standing for election on the 2nd and 4th districts – not even his home town.
Pretty obvious he wants to garner the most votes from Labour strongholds, and surpass Mintoff’s record and probably Eddie’s all-time record as well – to go down in history as the youngest prime minister with the largest number of votes. What a megalomaniac.
This should also be read by that rat Berlusconi, as well as by his fellow Italian and Maltese Mussolini apologists.
Daphne,
I have the precise same fear as you have pin-pointed in this blog above prickling away inside me.
It took time for people to grasp the full extent of Hitler’s “leadership” qualities and when they did understand, though he got the roads right and the alm percentage tax almost right (like that counted in the total sum), it was too late.
In the case of exposing Joseph the liar as dangerous, the specific reasons and specific origins of this lying technique even at Super One, I wouldn’t be timid in mentioning that it was precisely Mintoff who gave Joseph this specific road map. This I know by Joseph’s direct acknowledgement. He told him how to go about it, who to befriend and Joseph did. And he’s acted upon it.
It was cruel to have to live through Mintoff’s years.
To have the same lying base psychologically refined and applied by Joseph & Co. is plain dangerous, on top of doubly cruel.
To people like him the electronic media is a plus.
People don’t think beyond the necessary. They transmit. Repetition retweeted. Layer upon layer of lies. They smile and laugh. Effect not content. Event not value. Claims otherwise, get layered in another pile: separate, distinct, the two rarely meeting. Everyone in their virtual world.
Malta is not a virtual world. It is real. People have identities and families and work to do, jobs to go to, school to finish. The country has projects to accomplish. It is not virtual. It’s no game. It’s not facebook.
Time to de-virtualise.
I would also start delving back to have another look at any casualties around Joseph in his climb of the Stairway to Heaven.
I have one in mind. Classic case of who to believe when the rubbished one calls for help. Well at that time not even I fully recognised this snake-oil technique in practice. That’s not the way we (yes, as distinct from them who lie, cheat and steal their way forward) do things in private or in business no matter the threat or the prize. When it’s not as public as this, the exposure time takes years to slowly unfold into a comprehensible picture, especially when a person is adept at managing this mine-field of lies and deceit by further divide and rule. I thought, then, the tactic was theory-related and only used to do good. It took time for the rest to be revealed.
How easy here and now to reestablish the divide by stating its exact opposite (Malta Taghna lkoll). How manipulative. Catapulted right back to the time where ignorance and fear ruled.
When you were careful who you mentioned your political views to.
When the utterance of this could effect your life and livelihood, for ever.
The other person told me his story. I didn’t have enough research into this tactical same source at the time to fully understand the functioning. I didn’t want to believe that such a way of conducting oneself was possible.
In retrospect, with the knowledge gained, I see the why and the how. It is not easy to pin down.
That is why I will harp on about legal right vs moral right. They are not always aligned.
What a person like Joseph does, he does knowingly.
On from that.. has anybody asked Anglu what he didn’t agree with any longer, specifically? If you think about it, for all the qualities we don’t agree with in him, for Anglu not to have agreed with Joseph it must have been something major.
Just over 35 days left to see what exactly it is that we see.
Many thought Anglu to be so dangerous when in fact he showed himself to be mummy’s boy.
The Germans at least could have a closure to the Hitler years. Most of those who committed such atrocities in Germany – were tried in the Nuremberg trials and condemned. So the German people had the opportunity to come to terms with their history.
The greatest mistake Eddie Fenech Adami made was to “forgive” what was perpetrated in the “golden years” and nobody was brought to trial, thus setting the stage for socialists re-writing of our recent history.
When I saw “Ghanja ta’ Poplu” I was surprised how much I had forgotten.
To add to the above, the PL, after three weeks into the election campaign, and umpteen years in opposition, all that they could come up with is an extra unneeded power station and the great idea of having people on government boards chosen by the people through what? Facebook? Tele voting?
Joe Mifsud is of the evil click now. I take it his contract requires an audit.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130130/elections-news/pn-condemns-mp-s-arrogance.455453
Xi hlew ta’ lsien. Ihajjrek tippartecipa f’Malta taghna lkoll.
Eddie Fenech Adami, please take note. In your haste to rebuild a country and put our dirty past behind us, you did us a disservice. History cannot be repressed for it is it is likely to be repeated. This was your biggest error in your admirable fight for democracy.
The PN’s proposal to send the young ones out on their own has been labelled an utter waste of money.
Is it because Labour considers gaining perspective a dangerous trait?
I say it should be made compulsory. Weakens their clutches.
While I don’t personally believe in the eternal responsibility of Germany for the crimes the Nazis committed ‘per se’, I would say they have the responsibility to keep the memory alive only so that we may all learn from it.
Likewise, Malta should keep on remembering the atrocities and events of the 1980s and learn from them now.
It wouldn’y be fair for us to do this for the Labour Party itself to be damned for all eternity, because, technically speaking, its basic creed is redeemable (unlike Nazism).
However, when its leader adores the architect of these atrocities and surrounds himself with his surviving cohorts we have a responsibility to “[face] our history” and not let ourselves be swept away by apologists and current Labour propaganda.
Otherwise, we will learn “that democracy and freedom cannot be taken for granted” the hard way (again), like the Germans did before us.
What is the basic creed of post-Boffa Labour? No, really?
To kick the Westerners out, that’s what. I don’t think that’s redeemable at all.
I was referring to pre-Mintoff Labour, which should have been based on socialism (not Communism).
I don’t think it’s a question of Socialism or Communism.
From Mintoff onwards, MLP has always been anti-West. That, to me, is an irredeemable sin. Opposition to Europe was merely the manifestation of a decades-long credo. And those Imperium Europa lunatics would do well to remember this.
Joseph Muscat is just another leader of this anti-Western party. He cares nothing for our European identity, or the supremacy of Western civilisation, or, indeed, the survival of Europids.
Mintoff was a monster who spawned many offspring, including Joseph Muscat.
Pre-Mintoff, it was good, honest, British-style Labour, but that’s neither here nor there. That was another party altogether.
You’re right, of course. Labour has been perverted very deeply into an anti-West party by Mintoff and his followers.
I was just expressing a glimmer of hope that it may not be permanent.
That being said, however, if we ever have to go through something like the 80s again – or how much can be allowed by our supposedly modern situation – then I think I’d be all out for Labour in its current form to be banned altogether for its extremism.
After WWII, the atrocities were not swept under the carpet; there had to be the Nuremberg Trials for justice to be done. Unfortunately, for the sake of a quick reconciliation, here in Malta that ‘justice’ has not been done. As the culprit were never arraigned in court and found guilty, they arrogantly go around projecting themselves as innocent as a day-old baby and as pure as vestal virgins!
The lack of justice for the sake of reconciliation (which, technically is a paradox, as both go hand in hand) has indeed left the wrong message for generations. It’s amazing just how far-reaching the effects were because of this!
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it – George Santayana
Angela Merkel’s words couldn’t come at a better moment for us in Malta. In our case, it’s been only 25 years since we last had a government which suppressed democracy, freedom and human rights on wholesale basis.
Hate to say it, ciccio, but be prepared.
Has anybody thought why Joseph is contesting the 2nd and 4th districts (both Labour strongholds)? One theory being touted is that he is so hell bent emulating Eddie Fenech Adami that he wants to outdo him in obtaining more number 1 votes than him. Maybe, maybe not.
I suggest all Anglu Farrugia supporters not to vote Labour at all. I am sure Anglu himself will not vote Labour. It goes also for Adrian Vassallo and marie louise which she herself declared she wishes not to contest . I have a feeling many labourites will not vote at all especially those the energy plants.
Justin Caruana: Dawk mhux parti mill-familja taghna
Joseph Muscat: Malta taghna lkoll
This is a subject which touches me deeply. My friends and colleagues Paul van Dyk and Peter Heppner had produced this masterpiece a few years ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V66cr41DNnM
It provoked a national debate when it was released. Many German intellectuals and political leaders greeted it with a sort of sober contrition, and in its own way, it helped Germany come to terms with its history.
Now I know there are some video production geniuses among you. Perhaps we can something similar, with scenes of jubilation from 2003. We didn’t go from Tal-Barrani to Brussels, but from Floriana, or wherever it was that the Maltese flag was raised in 1964, to Brussels, with a long, terrible, shameful hiatus in between, and we’ve moved beyond since 2003.
It strikes me that each time we’ve taken a leap forward in a good direction, it wasn’t narcissistic patriotism that drove us, but a recognition of our belonging to the wider world, to Europe in particular. It’s the same sort of sober, dignified humility which helped Germany move on.
Thank you for sharing this video.
Wise words from Bundeskanzlerin Merkel. In the 70s Dom Mintoff was known as little Hitler in Germany.
The Labour Party keeps telling us to forget the 1980s because they were a very long time ago and they will definitely never be repeated.
They conveniently forget that the last time Labour showed an utter disregard to democracy wasn’t in the 1980s but as recent as 2003 when they insisted that partnerxip, Svizzera fil-Mediterran or whatever it was had won the referendum even though the result clearly showed otherwise.
Fenech Adami suppressed history at the time because it’s what Malta needed then. MAybe NOW is the time to start addressing the pain Malta suffered in the 70s and 80s under the still existing Labour politicians.
I propose that the PN should take up Joseph Muscat’s hint re the elimination of prescription where it regards corruption and extend it further to include crimes against constitutional rights.
All parliamentarians take an oath to be faithful to the Constitution. It then should follow that anyone found to have personally breached constitutional rights should be barred from standing for elections. If is proved that an individual does not honour the constitutional rights, he should not be in Parliament. Or does our system interdict a person only if he received a two maltese liri bribe?
I think the Nationalist Party should seriously wake up and get its secretary general out of his slumber and try to drum up some sort of reminders of the past – with names mentioned. Come on, for heaven’s sake WAKE UP. Having a good election manifesto is not enough. Get on with it.