A monumental battle
The Ghaqda Duminku Mintoff, which has published a hagiography of the dead sociopath already, is now going to war with the Labour Party on the subject of a rival monument to that same dead sociopath.
The Malta Independent reports:
The monument is designed by Johan Scerri and his wife Mrs Scerri. The most prominent part of the monument is a statue of Mintoff on top, accompanied with a torch, which is the symbol most associated with Labour and Mintoff (far bottom left), a bunch of sailors, and a family – “something Mintoff held dear to his heart” – and which shows the father carving stone, representing the worker, and last but not least the Maltese flag.
Transport Minister Joe Mizzi, a committed Mintoffian, turned up to the press launch of the design for this monument. The Malta Independent reports:
Mr Grech explained the foundation’s intentions to Mr Mizzi, which led the minister to state that as long as the government is consulted on where the foundation intends placing the monument, there shouldn’t be a problem.
In the true Mintoffian tradition, neither the Ghaqda Duminku Mintoff nor the cabinet minister sees the need to make any reference to planning laws or the MEPA.
The Transport Minister acknowledges that it is the Ghaqda which will decide where it “intends to place the monument” and then tells them that as long as they “consult the government” about this, “there shouldn’t be a problem”.
That many of us out here see a problem is just not an issue.
But then the Labour Party popped out of left field and disowned this monument (it has its own plans), so the Transport Minister was left out on a limb. The Malta Independent reports:
In a statement, the Labour Party said it had no involvement in initiatives involving its former leader except those the party organises.
It said that on Tuesday it will be commemorating the first anniversary of Mr Mintoff’s death with an exhibition of the drawings for the momument the party will be erecting. The winner will also be announced.
Transport Minister Joe Mizzi at the launch of the design for a Mintoff monument from which the Labour Party has disassociated itself (because it has its own plans).
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That’s one erection that’s hard to beat.
Hehe, well observed Mark! Wonderful composition. It is really a mirror image though: it’s the left one that usually hangs lower.
Just pathetic!
The recurring theme of Il-Perit associating with sailor-boys has become an innuendo of farcical proportion.
This is sick. A monument of the man should be made, and placed in the area of Kastilja. As was with Boffa and George Borg Olivier. He should not be made more prominent that others and possibly out of the way, as to reduce the harm he still does during his death.
The idea of the drunken bahrin barranin stepping on the Maltese flag is in truth of how we were treated during his dictatorship.
That’s life – statesmen get a simple monument or a bust representing the person (and automatically his/her achievements).
On the other hand, dictators, destructors, manipulator, etc need a monument larger than life in order to help the imagination to conceive a myth abouth the achievements, given that the people will not be able to reach a similar conclusion by seeing a simple monument or a bust.
Kastilja? Certainly not! His monument should be placed somewhere insignificant. If the people in Cospicua want it there, let them have it.
A dog turd would do nicely.
Maybe near the Delimara power station or at the bottom of St Peter’s Pool.
I had already suggested the Maghtab Mountain. Should be quite visible there.
Being the refined individual that he was, they will be in his memory, producing a monument with him scratching his rear end.
How were sailors dear to Mintoff’s heart? He did his utmost to get rid of them, or i.e. they dumped his country when he started upping the lease price, making his own followers unemployed.
I’d guess the depiction of British sailors is meant to be another act of Mintoffian effrontery, to Britain in general, the ‘great man’ having kicked them out – or so the Labour propaganda went – at the end of that nation’s lease period.
Not to mention the lack of aesthetics…actually I can only describe this proposed monument as downright ugly. Will this end up being another eyesore like the Freedom Monument in Vittoriosa?
A monument to the man who made the unacceptable mainstream. Malta has not yet recovered.
That means this horrible design is the perfect monument.
Birds don’t look at the design.
The symbolism of Labourites stepping on the flag fits perfectly.
His posture also bears an uncanny resemblance to Hussein’s statue at Firdos Square: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/04/08/world/08monuments.large3.jpg
The M/LP should ensure that Dom’s monument be erected in Piazza Gavino Gulio, and must not forget to include the insult that Dom made in reference to Drydocks workers, when he stated the workers did not have testicles – ‘Minghajr Bocci tal-Laham.’ and also that they cannot even draw a boat – ‘Ma jafux l-anqas ipingu frejgatina.’
In other news; Even more meritorcacy!
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130819/local/disgraced-gozo-channel-chairman-given-second-chance.482740
Dear Maltese Public,
Kindly stop putting words in my mouth and going on and on about this “meritocracy” business. I never said that dirty word and it is really not my fault if you misheard.
What I promised you during the election campaign is PERITOCRACY and I assure you I am doing my very best to humbly follow in the footsteps of our beloved Salvatur ta’ Malta in everything I do as I lead the country.
Yours,
Joseph Muscat
Actually the word he intended was ‘mediocracy’ but he just couldn’t get his tongue around it.
We got exactly what he promised.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mediocracy
Get the Luqa monument, plant it in front of the former Malta Shipbuilding, either paint it red or wrap it up in a Maltese flag, and you have the Mintoff monument. Lest, daqshekk.
Don’t forget to get Mary Spiteri to sing during the official launch, and then let the poor chick weep a bit and hug the monument. After that, get Jason to announce the start of a mini carnival, with fireworks in the background. U barra bid-daqq. (Jaqq).
” a bunch of sailors, and a family – “something Mintoff held dear to his heart” – Oh really? I have a very different impression of how much Mintoff loved the British sailors and the way he treated his family. Who the hell wants to remember the man they themselves called traitor.
Continues to divide the MLP, even after his death.
Liistess qed nghid jien. Kien waqqaf partit kbir u kissru meta spicca. U issa hemm il-glied bejn il-partit u l-grupp Mintoffjan.
Looks like we’ll be having 4 to 5 Mintoff monuments spread around Malta and Gozo.
If we’re not careful we’re going to end up with in every corner. Constant reminders of Duminku – as if we’d need them.
I don’t understand the meaning of the cock on the little plinth.
Oh and I support any initiative to build a monument to Mintoff. The more, then better. One never knows when one will need to go for a slash.
Oh it’s an urn. It looks like a hen or a rooster on the small image.
You’re confusing it with the label on the tee-shirt the father is wearing.
Whose father? What label?
The monument should feature a horde of aristocratic workers on a truck, wielding lengths of chain and sections of lead piping, the whole to be perched on a stone pedestal carved in a bas-relief of naked, contorted citizenry as in the Msida Workers monument.
…a family “something Mintoff held dear to his heart”.
Now, let’s see, Mintoff certainly never held his own family dear to his heart. So, which family would that have been? That “bunch of sailors”, perhaps?
He loved some members of his family more than others, and this gave Lorry Sant leverage over him.
No. His brother’s wife.
I must commend you on your excellent choice of title.
In this design what ’embarrasses’ me most is the fact that the Maltese flag is shown down there in a rather insignificant position.
Since the monument is just slightly reminiscent of this: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/42946603
the expected behaviour of visitors, especially on the anniversaries of the great leader’s passing away has to be this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSWN6Qj98Iw
All we need is yet another large horrendous composite monument such as the Jum il-Helisen monument in Birgu (or the Dun Mikiel Xerri one in Valletta) this time in memory of Mintoff!
Aesthetically, one need only compare and contrast the Jum il-Helsien monument to the simple flowing eloquence of the one commemorating Independence in Floriana – so much more is achieved with significantly less.
As for the proposed design of Mintoff’s monument may I suggest a few minor changes that may better portray how most of us will remember Mintoff:
1) replace the sailors with two SMU thugs in full garb complete with masks, batons, gas canisters and shields held between them and the family but ensuring that they are looking away from them;
2) replace the family with a blood stained mother standing protectively in front of her five children (in memory of the Fenech Adami incident);
3) under the Mintoff’s pedestal, place a back drop of flames (in memory of the Progress Press incident);
4) make sure that Mintoff’s left hand, which is placed conveniently behind him, is clenched tightly around a scroll reading “1981 – Demokrazija” (in memory of the 1981 election); and
5) make sure to leave the Maltese flag at the bottom of the monument. It is so very well placed as it would then symbolise how Mintoff ran roughshod over Malta.
Then and only then, could a monument to Dom Mintoff properly commemorate him.
Make another monument like that in Luqa and say “this is what the people got under Mintoff”
The PM to an interviewing journalist in response to questions re the reinstatement of an abusive Gozo Channel chairman: ‘Mela le, anke lilek naghtu cans.’
Kemm hu bravu Joseph – qalielu ostja! Ma jibdewx mieghu.*
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130819/local/disgraced-gozo-channel-chairman-given-second-chance.482740
* the trouble is that the last bit might be true, which says far more about the mediocrity of Maltese journalism than anything else.
Let him to it. It’s the only thing he knows. Bit of a joke really.
Sure enough,
‘……The PN is a party of the past, one that does not listen to the people and does what is suitable. This government is committed to continue listening to the people, the PL said.’
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-08-19/news/pm-has-no-credibility-jason-azzopardi-2368602114/
‘….He added that the parliamentary secretariat is also doing its utmost to ensure that €200 million in unspent EU funds would not be lost, pointing out that this risk was inherited by the previous government, of which Dr de Marco was a prominent member.’
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-08-19/news/pn-expresses-concern-on-grant-scheme-suspension-2368602112/
Touchy feely government, why on Earth they got elected to office has to be seen.
I hope this does not mean that we will end up with two monuments. As if one weren’t enough.
We will have at least three copies of the one mentioned here. Then there’s whatever rubbish the Labour Party is going to produce. That makes at least four, twice as many as you fear.
I look forward to having the honour of doing this to that sorry excuse for a monument http://www.aei-ideas.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/3.19.13-Saddam-Hussein-Statue-Iraq.jpg
This would be the most befitting monument to Mintoff – simply swap Clinton’s photo with that of Mintoff
http://media.photobucket.com/user/Jimmitz/media/poop.jpg.html?filters%5Bterm%5D=dog%20poop&filters%5Bprimary%5D=images&filters%5Bsecondary%5D=videos&sort=1&o=5
The Maltese Mugabe whose deeds will now be there to be remembered for posterity.
Good monument for a Kim Jong il Dom
Why doesn’t Joseph Muscat respect Mintoff’s wish?
“Mintoff did not want a monument but he built a living monument for himself……! (Joseph Muscat)
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/…/The-Mintoff-I-knew-201208...
It’s amazing. Everything about Mintoff, even this drawing which is straight out of North Korea, just proves what sort of person he was and what his policies meant to the country, and yet they just don’t see it.
The set up goes to show what a typical Communist that Mintoff was. He is above the rest, dressed in a suit (symbolising a better status that the rest who are dressed as farmers or workers), but what irks me the most is the importance he is given despite the violence and misery he brought about. The thought is disgusting.
Har har. The Union jack is still above the Maltese flag.
Fuck you, Malta.
Infatti. Issa tara xi arblu.
Sod the Union Jack. The Maltese flag is beneath everything else most importantly Mintoff. Which is all very fine as it reminds, how most of us in Malta were on the receiving end of his boot.
Mintoff l-ewwel u qabel kollox, anke wara mewtu.
The drunken sailor says it all.
Mur ara li kieku il-progett ta’ bieb il-belt inghata lil istess disinjatur x’porkerija kien johrog biha. Ara veru amateurs.
On what grounds, for heaven’s sake the Ghaqda Duminku Mintoff is proposing to erect a monument of Mintoff in Gozo?
The only connections Duminku MIntoff had with Gozo were all negative and disastrous, causing only hardships particularly to the working class. The organizers should know that the vast majority of us Gozitans will absolutely abhor and reject such an idea.
Mintoff was half Gozitan.
His father was from Ghasri, Gozo, where even today, the most common surname is Mintoff.
You’re absolutely wrong Mr. Vassallo. Mintoff’s father did not hail from Ghasri but yes he may have had some relatives in Ghasri the only village in Gozo where this surname exists. You may also wish to know that most of the Mintoff families in Ghasri are Nationalists.
Ajma hej, isn’t that Josef Grech in a black shirt?
[Daphne – Yes. He organised the thing.]
I like the sketch, actually. As demonstrated by some comments above, it reflects accurately Mintoff’s arrogance and abuse of power for his own benefit. Hence his position at the top, and the Maltese flag at the bottom, far below his feet.
But I think that with a few modifications to the details, it can actually become useful and one can easily propose a location for it.
In fact, with some imagination, it can be turned into a fountain. Hence, I suggest that it can be used to replace the Mainguard fountain.
The first modification is, of course, a small reservoir on the front, to collect the water. That can be easily added under the flag.
The second modification is the emission of the water. Now that can be catered for by making Mintoff urinate on all those below him. That’s how I remember his years in power.
A few of his important quotes should be inscribed on the pedestal beneath him. “Nitnejjek mil-Kostituzzjoni” would be the most important one.
Manwel Mallia can then spend the rest of his life sourcing his water in jerry cans from the eternal fountain of Dom Mintoff, his one-time friend.
Isn’t there already a Mintoff monument on a roundabout in Luqa? Who needs another one?
To which I would reply that the whole of Malta is a living monument to Mintoff.
By his fruits you shall know him.
He’s enshrined in our current prime minister and his way of doing things.
PL should place the monument by the Malta drydock`s gate at Cospicua ( fejn gie maghjjar TRADITUR ) u Fredu jaqta iz zigarella.