Votes for women – as if Mintoff had anything to do with it
This was a note in my newspaper column last Sunday:
It’s been a long time since I have heard as many stupidities as I have done this past week. ‘Mintoff gave women the vote’ and ‘shut up because if it weren’t for Mintoff you wouldn’t have a vote’ must top the list.
First, the right to vote is inalienable and is not in anybody’s gift. Those who run the country may remove or enable one’s permission to vote, but the right to vote is something else.
Second, Mintoff had nothing to do with the introduction of the women’s vote in 1947. Paul Boffa, then Labour leader, brought a motion before the National Assembly, for the purpose, which was approved. This was in 1945.
It came through in the Constitution in 1947.
Bringing women into the electorate was the natural order of things in Europe at the time, and Malta was one of the last. So nobody deserves any special praise for doing the obvious and the inevitable.
Aside from the fact that Mintoff had nothing to do with it, what are his unthinking supporters suggesting: that we Maltese women would still be without the vote in 2012 had it not been for him?
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Now that the fog is disappearing we can start to see a clearer picture of this terrible person.
Some people who were interviewed during the TV (ONE) vox pops said that if it was not for Mintoff Malta wouldn’t have generated this wealth!
I beg to differ; Mintoff NEVER invested seriously in infrastructure, he didn’t build the Industrial Estates the PN did, he never invested in a decent power station he got a scrapped one from Italy which was part of the Marshal Aid Italy got after the war, he never built a school (he sent the worker’s students to the Tal-handaq Nissen huts , Verdala barracks , and other converted buildings he SOLD the Teacher’s training college at Ta’ Giorni to Gaddafi, the big hotels were built before he was prime minister.”Before Mintoff came to power Malta was destitute” they tell us , then who built MCAST (polytechnic in Msida) , Regional road,Marsa power station and the University , to mention a few.
Do you know why we still install roof top tanks? It’s because in Mintoff’s time we did not have a continuous supply of water , before he created the shortage of salty borehole water, one would rarely see a rooftop tank.
Does anyone remember how all of a sudden we became experts in electricity when we started installing Voltage stabilisers so that we could watch some Black and White TV, while the rest of Europe had colour.
Do you know why your friends bring chocolates after a holiday abroad? It’s because that was the only legal way one could bring into Malta ‘foreign’ chocolate.
Do you know why Maltese ministers sat(do they still do it) on the front seat of their chafer driven cars? Mintoff used to sit near the driver and so all his ministers did like him.
The last one “Mintoff taghna l-pensjoni” if someone introduced pensions it was surely not Mintoff , he INTRODUCED the two thirds pension to which we contributed a hefty whole month’s pay per annum and the same amount was contributed by our employers . Mintoff did not leave an eternal source of money to sustain this good system, it relies hardly on how much there are people contributing/working on this tiny rock. Mintof never generated REAL PRODUCTIVE WORK so there you go with the myth that Mintoff is still giving you the pension and children’s allowance from the kitty he left to us.
Mintoff invested nothing in infrastructure.
Why, he did not even mend the triton fountain that got deliverately vandalized by Labour thugs riding motorcycles way back in the seventies during the official government celebrations to inaugurate the opening of Triq Dicembru Tlettax.
Gahan, thank you for reminding us of a few other dark moments (sic) TV stabilizers… classic, I had almost forgotten about that
Second, Mintoff had nothing to do with the introduction of the women’s vote in 1947. Paul Boffa, then Labour leader, brought a motion before the National Assembly, for the purpose, which was approved. This was in 1945. And the PN opposed! as you nornaly do Dap, you delained to mantion that on you blog.. why?
[Daphne – Mantion. Il-vera ghandkom problema b’dawk il-vowel sounds. In practically every other post I mention the fact that my entire extended maternal and paternal families were Stricklandjani right up until the end, and then you come here to ask me why I didn’t ‘mantion’ the fact that the Nationalist Party in 1945 opposed the introduction of votes for women. So unbelievable. Ma tahsbux b’mohhkom imma b’ xi hag’ohra.]
Yes Daphne in the same way that we would be without a pension, state schools and free healthcare
Was he not Deputy PM at the time? By the way, there was a time when some theologians believed that women had no soul. They would have been more accurate had they claimed that some women (and men) have no heart. We have seen plenty of evidence of that in the last few days.
Yes, there’s an old fool in Australia who’s got a little green tart where his heart should be.
What is it with all these Mintoffjana locking horns with the church and then gagging to be at the heart of it?
Mintoff was Deputy PM. Precisely. That means he didn’t introduce votes for women.
These people have been conned, since they were born, into believing that a virgin gave birth.
They will believe ANYTHING.
i love this comment::-) i always ask myself, what would be the reaction of an unbrainwashed adult if you start to tell him the things they told us when we were innocent, naive kids……
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120828/local/Joe-Grima-refuses-to-apologise-for-attack-on-priest.434611
Jaħseb li ħaqqu medalja…
Daphne, I just wanted to get another fact cleared out. Who did introduce free university to all? Was it MIntoff or Guido DeMarco? I’ve been hearing two different versions.
[Daphne – It is parliament which legislates, on the basis of bills or amendments proposed by the government (or private members). ‘Mintoff’ did not do anything. His government did; they are collectively responsible. Guido de Marco? How? These are legislative matters. Parliament is the legislative body. The government acts or doesn’t act based on that vote. University fees were waived in the 1960s, by Borg Olivier’s government. Mintoff had absolutely nothing to do with it.]
University became free of charge for EVERYBODY in 1970 by Gorg Borg Olivier’s government, well before Mintoff was elected in 1971.
Before that, fees were waived for those coming from families without means.
in 1970, Guido DeMarco has still to fight his first general election.
It would be nice if The Times, Independent or any other newspaper not controlled by Labour would point out these things.
It would be even better if those in the know wrote to the papers to say so.
il-vot lin-nisa gie moghti ghal skop wiehed li l-partit laburista ra li kien jaqbillu dakinhar li jivvutaw in-nisa ghax igib aktar voti minn min anqas intiz fil-politika dak inhar. ara llum il-pl qed jara li dawk li jdumu sitt xhur u gurnata ma jivvutawx. l-istess qed joggezzjona li l-maltin jivvutaw barra fl-ambaxxati.
‘Paul Boffa, then Labour leader, brought a motion before the National Assembly, for the purpose, which was approved. This was in 1945.’
Fact.
Actually Switzerland (some cantons) was the last to give the vote to women.
Daphne il-kitba tieghek twegga izjed mid-daqqiet u ta bilhaqq.Jghidulek ghax int tal-pepe ghalxiex?ghax taf titkellem bl-ingliz?mela jien tal pepe ukoll ghax ghandi l-mara tieghi Geordie u bl-ingliz inkellima,pero jien min qieh il-mandragg [Valletta].Pero ha nigi ghal punt,kemm ghajruk sahhara,u nkaxruk mal bumper tal karozza ,u nbulu fuq il qabar tieghek etc.tahseb li jaslu biex jaghmluluk hekk?jien ma nghidx.Ghalija int ala oxxok izjed minnhom ghax zgur mhux forsi meta ktieb l-ewwel artiklu fuq il blog wara il mewt ta ‘the so called is -salvatur’ kont taf x’inhu gej ghalik,allura nikkonkludi u nghid b’wicci min quddiem li int bejn saqqajk ghandek par bajd daqshiex.Niskuza ruhi mal qarrejja ta dan il blog minhabba l-lingwagg li uzajt pero biex tifmuni sew u car daqs il kristal
‘Upper class’ they say!
Well said Aunt Hetty. Yes it was Gorg Borg Olivier’s government, that made University free of charge for EVERYBODY in 1970.
Moreover it was also at that time that an allowance of Lm90 (Lm30 for every term) was introduced to us Gozitan university students.
This allowance was then stopped some time in 1976 by a Mintoff Goverment.
And we students of that time were told that if we want cash we have to work for it. And in fact they offered us the opportunity to go and paint classrooms’ furniture and whitewash school classrooms and corridors during our summer holidays.
One of the more stupid comments I read online somewhere this week (I can’t remember where) was something along the lines of “Imn’alla Mintoff kecca l-Inglizi. Kieku ma kienx ghamel hekk, Tigne’ ghadu mimli bihom, u ma kienx ikun seta’ jinbena The Point, u jikkreja daqsekk impiegi.”
I despair.
Nahseb vera Mintoff is haunting you , or u might be depressed or just want to put dirt on Laburisti so that pn might get some votes and you will remain with the in power …
Jekk int daqshekk mara mur fuq national tv quddiem Malta kollha stiden lil ulied Mintoff u ghaid kollox hemm ha naraw jekk int ghandek dak il kuragg kollu quddiem in nies mhux wara screen at 5.05 am… you are sick
Mela hemm ghalfejn tmur fuq it-TV Daphne,mhux kwazi kulhadd jaf min hi,xebat taqlalhom il hara lill certi individwi fuq il gazzetti u fuq il blog taghha,ma nahsibx li qed tistahba wara screen, Malta zghira hafna u kullhadd jaf il kulhadd.Din ghalik se nghida Daphne jekk jitilghu il PL fil gvern lesti ruhek ghal xi vendikazzjoni ghax hekk se jaghmlu sfortunatament.Xi haga gravi li l-ebda gurnalist f’Malta ma iddefenda il freedom of speech
Ghamel pjacir lil dan il pajjiz u lil partit tieghek stess, u ieqaf ikteb dawk l-artikli kont mintoff u il-laburisti.
Minn naha tieghi nghid li kemm il laburisti kif ukoll in-nazzjonalisti ghamlu il gid lil dan il-pajjiz u ghalhekk ha nibqghu niftakruhom; Int lanqas niesek ma jistmawk biex tara x’pjacir taghmel lil kulhadd li kieku taqbad karriera lil hemm mill-politika!
Ghamel pjacir lil dan il pajjiz u lil partit tieghek stess, u ieqaf ikteb dawk l-artikli kont mintoff u il-laburisti.
Minn naha tieghi nghid li kemm il laburisti kif ukoll in-nazzjonalisti ghamlu il gid lil dan il-pajjiz u ghalhekk ha nibqghu niftakruhom; Int lanqas niesek ma jistmawk biex tara x’pjacir taghmel lil kulhadd li kieku taqbad karriera lil hemm mill-politika
MUR INHEXA DAPHNE INT F’HIEX IZ-ZOB F’SORMOK TIFHEM, MIN GHALIK SE TGHALLIMNA L-ISTORJA INT X’TAHSEB L-INT. INT STUPIDA U MIN GHALIK BIL-KITBA TIEGHEK TAGHTI PJACIR LILL XI HADD. BL-GHERF TIEGHEK KOLLU FEJN ILHAQT INT. BICCA PALJAZZA TIKTEB FUQ IL-BLOGS, PROBABLI JINQDEW BIK. GHAX META TKUN MEJTA BIL-GUH TAGHMEL KOLLOX SA TITLEF UNUREK.. INT MA JIXRAQLEKX GHAJR LI KULLHADD IKELLMEK HAZIN. GHAX MINN HU ZIBEL HEKK JIXRAQLU. MUR INHEXA MAX-XJATEN FL-INFERN GHAX HEKK JIXRAQLEK U HU L-ULIDEK MIEGHEK JA LIBA QARSA.