What the Nationalist Party is up against – an update
Last night I watched parts of the Labour Party meeting at Marsascala, on the party’s television station, and almost ended up reaching the conclusion that the situation is hopeless, and we have to admit it.
Forget the War on Drugs. It is the War on Ignorance that has failed. The evidence is all about that despite 25 years of improved education, 10 years of EU membership, the internet, more exposure to the world outside and to different ideas, more travel, what we now have is the same level of fundamental ignorance but with more money to spend on self-care and on buying stuff.
A lot of Maltese people are now like the sort you get on reality shows from New Jersey, where the children of people who grew up in squalor in Sicilian hovels are now running beauty salons, dressing up and flashing their make-up and jewellery and big cars around.
But all they have is more money and a different accent. The ignorance is still there.
I find this disturbing: that formal education alone, freely available and flocked-to by thousands, cannot eradicate ignorance or even put a dent in it.
Yesterday at Marsascala, a student called Bryony spoke passionately in favour of all that this Labour government has done for students and how it has made it possible for them to get an education, so much better than the other government.
Why? Because this government raised students’ stipends by a grand 16 euros a year. “This government has made it possible for people to go to university even if their parents can’t afford to support them, or if they want to be independent from their parents. These are the good measures students are interested in.”
That girl couldn’t have been more than 19 years old. She would have been born around 1995 and grown up to think that all this is normal, stuff that we always had, that the university, MCAST, EU programmes and access to EU institutions, training, and the rest were born fully fledged from the seat of Mintoff’s pants.
She takes all that for granted, and then is grateful for Eur16 a year and bases her political support on that. And she is symptomatic of the wider voter-base that thinks the same way.
The Labour leader knows this, and cynically manipulates the situation just Dom Mintoff did before him: keeping the ignorant happy with ‘cicri’ while he plays with the bigger toys and does as he pleases, unscrutinised by them, elsewhere.
He actually said so last night in Marsascala: “The Nationalist Party laughed at us for speaking about two cents off the price of petrol, but that is what people want.”
My rejoinder to that is that the proper role of a political leader in a democracy is not to keep people in ignorance and use that to his advantage, but to lift them out of ignorance – and part of that is to lead them away from the ‘small potatoes’ mentality and into some understanding of the fact that real civilisation and education are not about acquiring things in a state of brutalised pragmatism.
The moment of despair for me came when a member of the audience brandished a piece of paper in both hands and lifted it above his head like a football trophy, as the camera homed in on him. The prime minister smoothly said, as the camera shifted back to him, “Ghandna xi hadd b’cheque hawnhekk, u ghidilhom li ma konniex miftehmin.” It was that cheque for Eur110 for the first installment on the car VAT rebates.
And all I could think was, dear God sir, you are my sort of age so I know exactly what sort of life you would have had as a working-class child/young man under Labour. Now here you are, in your smart clothes, with enough money to buy a good new car, probably living in some nice house with all the trappings, your children with access to university (even if they don’t take it), living a contemporary life instead of a squalid and basic one, and you don’t make any connection between all that and focussed and planned government policy. But then you’re happy with your Eur110 car VAT cheque and wave it around at meetings…just like your mother did before you with her children’s allowance payment.
Nothing changes. We just have more things, and most of us have stayed exactly the same.
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What sort of education can one get by mixing with more of the same type of person?
University education has been reduced to utilitarianism. It’s not about opening the mind, forming the person and broadening horizons. It’s about learning stuff so that you can make money and feel important.
Political activism at university is driven by partisanship, not ideals. Look at all the FZL nerds feeling ‘in’ in their ‘hoddies, flashing placards to tell us that they are in, just in case we hadn’t noticed.
Sometimes I think that the stipend paid to university students is being used by a lot of them so that they can afford to remain ignorant, rather than to help them advance their knowledge.
Unfortunately I feel that your analysis is spot on! This is what I noticed long before the past elections and I really do not feel that the Opposition will make in-roads over the next years and so we are stuck with these goons for at least another 9 years.
I am seriously thinking of staying away from Malta for the next 15 years or so. How terrible. The young within the Labour fold scare me: they are the future of that party and of Malta.
There is no hope for this country. Muscat, through money secured from China, has managed to set up a brainwashing machine within the party media.
The intervention by this young lady yesterday proves my point. I accept that the ‘old timers Laburisti’ are what they are, but having young people, who supposedly attend good schools, MCAST, University etc, and still think that Labour changed Malta in the last 26 years, is unbearable to read about let alone hear it from the mouth of today’s younger generations.
Manuel, I will be more than happy to buy you two one-away tickets.
The Nationalists can play the same game that Joseph Muscat and Co. played. But it is immoral.
So typically Maltese. Give people the tools to improve their lives drastically and they take it and improve their lives.
Give them a free hand-out worth nothing and they are eternally grateful.
How very true. The intellectual potential in this country is very low. Maltese people just don’t read and when they travel it is to hunt for bargains.
“Ulied in-Nanna Venut”, literally, and that phrase was coined by none other than well-meaning Labour idealists.
Muscat and his horde of modern-day opportunist elite thrive on ‘ulied in-nanna Venut’s” ignorance and backwardness. Forget prejudice, read the original and you’ll see it all there.
About this cheque thing. 110 euro in an installment (for 7 years) paid for by an increase in private car’s road tax by 50 euro (over 5 years), a 300% increase in businesses/commercial vehicle licences (who incidentally are not investing) and a reduction in the scrappage scheme budget which has already closed.
Since the Mintoff leadership, the Labour Party has always pandered to the vile tastes of vulgar and illiterate followers. They lie shamelessly and get away with it.
Yes I agree that the situation is hopeless. I came to that conclusion some time ago, but I always keep on refusing it. My refusal is not a denial, but a motivation so as not to give up, till now, at least.
And as much as Simon Busuttil may have his European style of debating, it is utterly useless in a country which seeks a confrontational way of doing politics.
I have no doubt that Busuttil would make a good leader of a political party in a civilised country, but in Malta, he provides all the reassurance that the PN will stay in Opposition for many, many years.
A few days or weeks ago, Busuttil said he will not chage his style. Too bad, because it means he will be pushed out.
What’s a leader’s worth if he can’t appeal to his followers?
He didn’t say that because he dreamt it. He’s probably receiving many, many e-mails or comments to that effect and feels he needs to explain himself.
I remember Fenech Adami in the 80s. Much as he’s a charming and quiet man in private, he was loud, firm, strong and confrontational as well, and a master of the biting comment. The party was four-square behind him.
That’s not a European debating style. It’s not even a European Parliament style. It sounds more like a European civil servant style. Leaders should be able to articulate fire and brimstone. Eddie Fenech Adami could do it. Lawrence Gonzi couldn’t, then found out he had to when it was too late. Simon Busuttil should do it. Because now is the time. He must articulate the rage against the machine.
Forget the New Jersey Sicilians. These are the ulied l-ulied tan-Nanna Venut.
Il-problema ta’ dan il-pajjiz hija serja hafna. Jien nghid li dawn in-nies huma “eyes wide shut”.
Is-sitwazzjoni ta’ raqda hija tal-ghageb. Hafna m’ghandhom ebda idea li qed jezistu.
L-edukazzjoni hija tezor li meta wiehed jintebah li tezisti jibda jippartecipa sabiex iduq is-sbuhija tal-ghixien. Dawn in-nies qatt ma qamu mir-raqda tal-injoranza.
Ikolli nammetti li Napuljun kien bniedem li ammetta telfa quddiem il-battalja tal-injoranza. Hasra li dan il-pajjiz ghadu daqshekk lura f’dak li suppost hu logiku.
What we are experiencing is pure materialism and consumerism.
Education was not used by many to open their mind and to improve their intellect, but simply as a tool to obtain a better-paid job and perceived status.
It could be argued that the greatest failure of the PN in government was in education. There is no doubt that they did make education accessible to everyone, but they never realised that by popularising education they had diminished its value considerably.
To most of the Maltese, the Enlightenment was about getting electricity into their homes.
Which must be why they think that the right to free education is equivalent to free electricity.
Can someone please explain why the refund looks like it’s the same to everyone, in the region of 110 to 117 euros?
My impression is that the refund is of VAT on the registration tax, which I assume varies according the price of the car.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Who would have thought that the NP’s improved educational system was not sufficient to transform our children into well rounded adults?
The Nationalist government seem to have relied on the fact that they raised their children with sound ethics, common sense and morals and assumed everyone else did too.
Can such a mindset be overcome through education? Or will the home influence always prevail?
Either way it is now too late as Labour are not likely to modify the educational system (to favour the Opposition) and the majority of the Maltese people are evidently (with a 36,000 majority) money-grabbing, small-minded and pig-ignorant.
I don’t see the people voting this government out until the country crashes into the proverbial brick wall.
Kemm kien bravu Napoleon.
Ahjar tiggieled gwerra ghax tista tirbaha milli tipprova tfiem injorant.
As if 25 years of improved access to education is enough to eradicate thousands of years of history.
Like it or not what we see today is the result of evolution, of a population that has evolved to weather out the effects of constant rule by foreign power rather than develop the grit necessary for self-rule.
As a result we have evolved to be subservient – which requires a mix of stupidity, complacency and lack of motivation to improve beyond a comfortable minimum.
That we became independent in 1964 was accidental, not a result of revolutionary force but partly due to the lack of profitability of our rock and partly in response to the process of systematic decolonisation that began after World War II.
Those of us who behave otherwise, and are willing to invest time and effort in bettering ourselves beyond that minimum, must be the result of a more recent influx of genes, in the 300 years or so. I hope that with further experience of self-rule, within another few centuries, this subservience may be weeded out of our gene pool to give way to a proactive and hopefully more progressive people.
You refer to the internet as a source/medium of improvement for some people. Alas with the advent of social media such as FB and comments boards, internet has become the opposite: a means of spreading ignorance and brainwashing.
The internet is abused by politicians to brainwash their followers and people use the internet to get “sound bites” and “ideas” so that they can repeat them with their peers to show off how “knowledgeable” they are even though they have not grasped the first thing about the issue.
That’s why, wherever you go, you hear people repeating and repeating the same arguments they have picked up from FB comments and newspapers comments boards.
An acquaintance asked me if I am benefiting from what this government has done. I quantified my benefits as following:
Child nursery: €12/week ~ €624/yr
Gas Cylinder: €1.20 x 2 (my use) ~ €2.40
Petrol Decrease: 0
VAT rebate: 0
Electricity Rebate: €0.01/day ~ €185/yr
Extra benefits for me this year: €811
Extra benefits for average government backbencher this year: €20,000
Malta Taghna Lkoll imma certu nies huma iktar Taghna minn ohrajn.
[Daphne – Why are benefits always quantified in financial terms in Malta? I wouldn’t go back to living in Malta in the 1980s even with millions in the bank.]
Well the monetary benefits I have stated (and are ridiculous low) whilst the non-monetary benefits would be in the negative with this government – but that is more difficult to explain to certain people so I kept my argument to a level which one could easily grasp.
You still don’t get it.
Electricity Rebate should read: €0.50/day ~ €185/yr
Cannot agree here, Hope. It is not evolution that we need, it is a home environment that encourages character-forming attributes that are based on common sense and decency.
But then it is a chicken and egg situation. The only hope is that at least half of the 36,000 who were misled by a scheming Opposition and can now see the true picture.
One can only hope.
Daphne, I would put selfishness and greed above ignorance. The majority of the so-called floating voters can be bought with promises of permits, rebates, promotions, appointments, stipends, spring-hunting and other ‘bribes’.
They don’t have a sense of community and don’t care about the common good. Alfred Sant cottoned on to this brute fact in 1996 and Joseph Muscat’s politics are based on it.
Very good analysis of the situation in Malta. But I also agree with Newman’s comment – a lot of “switchers” put their own personal petty goals before the common good.
These switchers are now starting to realize the mistake they made. Unfortunately for the people happily waving their 110 Euro cheque, they are totally happy with the Labour government.
I feel desperate when I realize that Alfred Sant is ahead in the MEP polls.
And I’d like to add another point. Mintoff managed to turn a failed lease renewal of the shipyard into a liberation of a nation (which is still celebrated today with much pomp).
I always assumed this was simple to do given that all state media was under government control.
Today Muscat managed to turn a vindictive criminal into a martyr and human rights champion. This despite the fact that today we have free press and education free for all.
This, and so much more going on, makes me feel that the Maltese are a hopeless case. It is really upsetting.
The true tragedy of the situation is that it’s a lose-lose situation; If PN don’t become more like PL, they stand no chance of winning, and if they do become more like PL, then we’ve really got no choice left.
Many people outside Malta are always impressed by the high turnout for elections. They always tell me how good that is, how important it is that the people are so engaged in politics and what a great example we are to the rest of the world where turnouts are extremely low.
They go on to say that those who don’t vote are a threat to democracy, because they don’t take a stand and this can lead to the wrong people being elected.
I always shrug it off and say that it is different in Malta. But never go further and secretly wish that one day we would have a similar situation in Malta, where voting wasn’t such a big deal.
It’s strange how when the turnout is low, like in most countries, “the wrong sort of people’ don’t seem to get voted in. It is true that the rise of the far right in Europe is a danger, and perhaps these people who admire us and our voting habits do have a point. But then why is it that in Malta, with such a high turnout, we have this problem?
I have always believed that the reason for our high turnout is not because of some noble appreciation towards democracy at all. I think it’s because many people are incredibly bored.
Bored of life and their job because they never got the encouragement from parents to take school seriously because they themselves were never given those values. Bored of their life because they aren’t famous or super rich. Bored of living in a country where there is little to do. And boredom is a killer.
The same thing that causes Malta’s high voting turnout, fanaticism and deep loyalty to a party is the same thing that creates religious fundamentalists, gangs and rogue countries. Bored men looking to be given something – anything – to do. All those young men and women with no real job or sense of purpose suddenly get roped in by scheming politicians and are made to feel welcome, protected and important.
With those people flocking to the Labour Party, purely because it is the Labour Party that validates these people’s value systems, the rest of us rush over to the PN while secretly being annoyed with AD for trying to take a middle stand, because we must protect the country from the likes of Muscat and these ignorant people who think they are doing the right thing.
The simple fact is that we all agree that everyone has a right to their opinion. We all wish for a day when we can look at those up for election and chose the party that we feel best reflects our beliefs. But we still can’t.
The reason for this is that we do not agree on the basic fundamental principles of democracy. If we did, there would be no discussion about Mintoff or Cyrus Engerer. The truth is half the country wants democracy and the other half wants an autocrat that is just going to bulldoze his way through things (because the system is in the way in their eyes) and just hand over things.
For example: electricity bills are high, but they are high for a reason – oil. The PN would have loved to keep those bills low. Hell, they would love to be able to say “No more electricity bills”. But they can’t, because they know that nothing is free and the money comes from somewhere.
But to the PL, their inability to reduce bills is all because they want to keep all the money for themselves and oppress the people.
The same way that the PN doesn’t factor in the lack of values and principles in the PL when analysing it, so does the PL not factor in the fact that you can’t just throw money everywhere and that the government was acting fairly.
“There is no money left” was a common comment in the UK after Cameron became PM because Tony Blair had spent it all.
The PL doesn’t understand the whole point of not going to undemocratic governments and asking for money from them because it doesn’t maintain democratic principles itself, so sees no threat in doing such close business with like-minded people, as it were.
The Maltese are not agreed on the matter of democracy at all. That is what I think is the main issue here. The ignorant, who are encouraged to be ignorant by the Labour Party, don’t want a democracy. They want a Labour autocracy. That is the problem. You can see it in every debate. Why fire Cyrus? They just don’t get it. What was so wrong with Mintoff? They just don’t see it.
In-nies jaghmlu il-flus; il-flus ma jaghmlux nies.
I don’t think that “getting an education” is really part of the equation, especially when said education consists of little more than regurgitating lecturers’ notes.
Even more telling is people’s reactions to BA or B.Sc … “Allura x’taghmel biha issa din?” Or comments like “Avukat mal-gvern jaqla’ inqas minn electrician”.
An education is just a means to a better job and I use the word “job” deliberately.
Education as in knowing things purely for the sake of knowing things (and the “abstract” skill set deriving directly or indirectly from possession of such knowledge) is an alien concept to our culture.
The mindset stems from the language and literature of a people. I don’t want to denigrate Maltese language and culture, with which I intimately identify, but this is about calling a spade a spade.
Our level of existence tends to be “base” and unsophisticated and this tinges our opinions and endeavours across the board.
[Daphne – I so agree with you. And it spans the entire social spectrum: a utilitarian culture from top to bottom.]
Do you realise that if we stopped discussing politics, there would be absolutely nothing to talk about?
Jozef understands this. I know because he spoke about silence and the void.
Do you realise that of the reasons we discuss politics is that there is nothing else to talk about?
When was the last time you met up with friends and someone asked ‘so what are you reading at the moment’?
Spot on.
It’s all about ‘kemm ghandek flus il-bank”. I recall one wealthy man saying who needs books, they don’t make you money.
Manwel Mallia has finally understood the importance of the question “kemm ghandek flus il-bank” – as opposed to the question “kemm ghandek flus taht is-saqqu.”
The PN is up against one of the most ruthless brain-washing machines.
Following Labour’s defeat in the 1987 general elections, Labour lost its grip on public broadcasting.
Labour’s first priority was to have its own broadcasting services in order to continue brain-washing its supporters. This explains why today we are faced with a new generation of Labour supporters that are eager to relive Labour’s golden years.
The government is making hay out of the yearly €16 increase in stipends. The billboards seem to be everywhere.
Those cheering the government on can’t see the wood for the trees.
A few days ago a study published by U-Multirank confirmed that the University of Malta does relatively well in teaching but abysmally in all research related fields.
This means that the University of Malta is nothing more than a glorified school. It doesn’t foster innovation, inspire entrepreneurship or attract business and researchers to Malta.
So what this effectively means is that students are being paid €16 more to attend a substandard university. L-aqwa fl-Ewropa my foot.
A really progressive and liberal government would be boasting about REDUCING stipends with the eventual aim of eliminating them altogether except for the most needy.
All the money saved (most of the university budget in Malta is spent on stipends) would then be used on books, journals, equipment, research, foreign exchanges and other fruitful endeavours which give Malta and its students long-term gains rather than short-term and short-lived euphoria.
http://www.u-multirank.eu/#!/explore?trackType=explore&sightMode=undefined§ion=exploreUniversityDetail&detailUniversity=252
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140514/local/university-high-marks-for-teaching-but-could-do-better-at-research.518999
The billboards probably cost more than the stipend increase.
I find Michelle`s dress the most appropriate for the occasion. Puffed sleeves and camouflage when addressing soldiers of steel. The steel helmet would not have spoilt her do neither. Go on Joan don the armour and lead the army of steel soldiers.