Why do Labour leaders always sound so very angry when speaking at mess meetings?
I watched the final bit of the Malta Labour Party’s mess meeting (let’s stick with the vernacular), having been driven to the television to do so by the relentless sound and fury drifting across the valley from Ta’ Qali.
While they sang the national anthem at the close of business, Super One showed a close-up of the George Cross on the Maltese flag, superimposed on the footage of Joseph and Michelle trying to stand to attention and failing miserably because they don’t come from that sort of background and haven’t a clue how to do it.
Yes, I know exactly what that sounds like, and what do you know, I don’t give a damn, because it’s true.
For gallantry, eh? Joseph and Michelle. Imagine that.
Anyway, watching that last bit of the mess meeting, I was put in mind of Alfred Sant’s meeting at the St Andrew’s parade ground just before the 2008 election.
It was exactly the same.
A dire, angry party leader, with a dire, angry facial expression, making a dire and angry speech that was, strangely, supposed to be inspirational but wasn’t at all.
And in the background, dire and angry people, except in Sant’s case, they were his politicians, dressed in black, and in Muscat’s case, they were young people and Nuxellina’s boyfriend Quinton Jo Scerri, all looking like they had a bad case of constipation, while his politicians sat in the Golden VIP Circle, as though they were at a Joseph Calleja concert, presumably because most of them are too old to stand with the rest.
And the crowd, just like Alfred Sant’s crowd, was kept at bay from the formal stage by a sort of no-man’s-land and a fence. It all looked uneasy, uncomfortable, staged, and above all, bloody angry.
If I could use one word to describe the atmosphere as it came through on the television, it would be ‘grim’.
Even the supposedly cheerful crowd, glad to be in power soon after so long, looked grim.
Every time Muscat made a statement which he thought went down well, that involuntary smirk took over and he looked blatantly pleased with himself in that very off-putting way.
What was even more off-putting is how he walked down the stage at the end of his speech, high-fiving like a footballer. Except, of course, that footballers are not that shape and they don’t waddle like ducks.
I found the whole thing – or rather, the bit that I watched – really quite creepy.
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And now, for nostalgia’s sake … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WExzIfPIO7w
Judging by the photos, that must have been quite a ferocious speech.
My impression was that Joseph’s ability to incite and inspire the crowd was a disaster.
We have long noticed that he does not really believe in what he preaches and that he is only a politician of convenience.
He does not really care about business, work, the economy, education and health.
His only ambition is to be Prime MInister at 39 the latest.
Consequently, he has no political emotions to transmit and the whole set of conditions he found himself in at the mass meeting betrayed him and revealed all that.
To some extent, he was saved by the teleprompters.
His lectures about “letting business work,” the creation of jobs and education were not part of his indoctrination at the time when his nanna took him to the Mintoff mass meetings.
Those meetings were about insulting the political adversaries. They were about rabble rousing in the battles with the Nazzjonalisti, “il-barrani”, the Church, “is-Sinjuri” and the free press.
He did try the Mintoffian divide and rule at one point. He attacked “dawk li haxxnu bwiethom” and the “konsulenti.”
I thought, wasn’t he supposed to be safe for business?
Didn’t he say, just the other day, that he was going to let business work?
Back to where they started.
LABOUR WON’T CHANGE.
What he said was something on the lines of: “Niehdu l-flus lill-kuntratturi u l-konsulenti, u naghtuhom lil fqir; biex noholqu mittil cless gdida.”
He thinks he’s some kind of glorified Robin Hood. He thinks he can take my hard-earned money, for which I work an average of 10 hours a day, to give it to some profligate chav.
Yes sure, make all people equal. I think it’s a good idea. However, it’s also called Communism, and we all know that in practice it doesn’t work.
Is Muscat proposing we become a Communist state? I think someone from the PN should make a whole issue on this.
It will be something like this.
2012. Il-Moviment.
2013. Il-Moviment tal-Haddiema.
2014. Il-Klassi tal-Haddiema.
2015. L-Aristokrazija tal-Haddiema.
2016. Il-Partit tal-Haddiema.
During a conversation with a couple of French friends visiting Malta they expressed their discontent with Hollande (they voted for change because they had enough of Sarkozy).
Seems to me this is what many will feel and go through once Joseph is voted in as our premier.
Here is what they said:
France is in a crisis (unemployment is increasing and government inability to take credible action) and the French are starting to doubt as to who Francois Hollande really is and what his plans are.
He has trouble affirming himself and lacks authority (Trierweiler, the first lady keeps undermining his image), some critics label him as ‘marshmallow’.
The French were fed up with arrogant character of Sarkozy. Now they have Hollande, who is called a normal president.
I think this thirst for change is similar to what is happening in Malta where the credibility and popularity of the government is at a low ebb due to internal strife and problematic failed reforms or projects.
We have had a botched public trasport reform. The topmost priority appears to be the controversial and costly new Parliament/roofless opera house building project.
[Daphne – Well, that just shows how petty people can be, doesn’t it, David. You don’t vote in a whacko party because of a parliament building and a bus. That’s just sheer lack of responsibility. Babyish.]
Personally I can’t shake the feeling that all these internal conflicts in the PN have all be orchestrated by the PL in some way. But that is just my opinion.
Good thinking, David. The French now have a red marshmallow president with a dominant girlfriend.
You appear to be expecting a red, incompetent, marshmallow-shaped dwarf, dominated by a chav wife, as our new PM?
Guess again.
Angry? Grim? Ferocious? Possibly insane?
These Malta Labour Party (PL) mass meetings are the direct descendants of the Nuremburg rallies
Joseph needs more il Duce imitation lessons to impress the crowds.
For the life of me, I cannot interpret Joseph Muscat’s (3rd picture) hand gestures and finger-pointing (somewhat confused and crossed), but certainly there is an angry face.
Perhaps an election-mode display of strength, power, and vision requires a stern and angry face, against anyone who may hold any doubts.
Joseph’s hands and fingers seem to provide for us clarity and surity of his conviction and confidence of direction, or is it just impromptu pointing to the teleprompters to find his next thought?
Now, imagine this for five years in Government, when Paradise has been achieved, as we will be reminded on our television sets day after day, after day, after day, well, for what will seem like a mind-numbing eternity in……..
So unnatural and surreal: taking Government by simple imagination (along with everything else) for granted.
I suppose, simply stated, Joseph’s image (without words) defensively provides, “No way!”
In a moment of early rising, I’m going back to bed. No sleep lost. Tomorrow (or today) is another day.
Joseph’s casual (without tie, open collar) dress, in his filial imitation of Mintoff, contradicts his “angry” expression. (This only works for Labour supporters).
The young faces behind (except for the occasional obligatory and obliging hand-clapping) show pure boredom (among this important voting demographic), considerably less enthusiasm than the speaker.
Oh yes. Open collar, dark suit and French cuffs. For fuck’s sake.
[Daphne – Correction: BLACK suit. Only chavs wear those for anything other than funerals or stuff that takes place after dark and within four walls, accompanied by drinks. As for the quality of the fabric, don’t get me started. It won’t have been a cheap suit, because those two are on a roll. But it definitely was the kind of exPANsive suit sold to Middle Eastern businessmen. The fabric caught the light, for heaven’s sake. Absolutely appalling. ]
Oh yes, ‘Man in Black’, controlling and inciting the weird, alien hordes.
The only time a man is allowed to be seen in a black suit, French cuffs and an open collar is just before shedding the rest and slipping into bed with some crumpet after a dinner party.
[Daphne – Perhaps that’s just the look he was going for, H. P., having seen it in a Chanel advert featuring Keira Knightley.]
Saw that, but fat don’t fit.
You shouldn’t complain. You need a market for your doughnuts.
That’s ‘donuts’, my friend. Delicious. Stylistic. Country-made.
Canadians…
Anyway, compare and contrast, if you can:
http://www.maggiesnotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Daniel_Craig_25.jpg
How the hell did you et that pic of me?
Let me get this straight, the PL choose to conclude a week long congress with a meeting addressed by the leader, and no member of his shadow cabinet, in sight.
The leader, outfitted like a Russian magnate following his latest football team, chooses to deliver a ‘belligerent’ speech instead of explaining in detail how he intends to condense the proposals made during the congress, let alone list those he thinks should be taken up.
Something is very wrong.
Perhaps because they only got it right once at the polls during the past 31 years. They must be hating the electorate for that surely.
The Labour Party is to blame for this because it has failed to change its political mission course and is still fooling around with its proletariat and gullible roots.
The sergeant major came barging into the room and called his sergeants and said “We are going to have a mess meeting, now!”
Stupidagni. There are even priests who behave like that on the pulptu.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4436098271437&set=a.2636072551919.2142859.1558639399&type=3&theater
here they are!
Gurnalist delettant li ried jsir prim ministru u jahseb li ghax gab dottorat u ghax ghandu poplu kbir bir-riha ta’ gharaq ta’ Mintoff ha jirbah l-elezzjoni b’merhla bdiewa avukati tar-rahal.
Kemm il-Malti hu njurant biex jafda t-tmexxija f’partit daqstant cheap.
Daz-zikk ta’ Labour ha jeqred kull ma l-gvernijiet Nazzjonalisti bnew. Ha jerga jehodna lura qabel bdiet l-evoluzzjoni fin-1987. L-Labour huwa partit ta’ nies iliterrati, nies bla sens, nies imgienen jew nies minn background mfotti.
Mess meeting mimli hamalli kellhom ilbierah li hafna minnhom ma jafux jiktbu isimhom. Kulhadd jista jarhom fuq il-Facebook u l-mod kif jilbsu it-tfajliet qishom qhab – basta nhanxru “Joseph! Joseph!”
Tghid mhux sejrin il-quddiem jekk jitla l-Labour! Kemm ghandkom mohhkom imfaqqa intom li tahsbu mod iehor.
A national anthem for national socialists.
Life under Labour will be a fairy tale …………………………. grim.
But my God, he’s pulling all the stops to give the impression of change.
Gone are the angry red flags.
Gone are the angry, ugly bastards that used to sit behind the speaker.
They’ve been replaced by angry white flags (and I used to like white so much).
And the angry, ugly bastards are in the front row with smirks on their faces.
Listen to this clip (start-time adjusted). Doesn’t that tone and ‘spirit’ remind you of Eddie Fenech Adami’s ‘fiery’ speeches: http://youtu.be/zzd0M7uKuNQ?t=1m53s
Tinkwetaw xejn. Fejn konna ghadna u jekk mhux lura bhal granc hemm se nibqghu.
Try and work out the difference between what Fenech Adami was fighting for and what Muscat is facing now. No comparison.
Fenech Adami meant Xoghol, Gustizzja, Liberta.
Joseph Muscat means Qaghad, Ingustizzji, Oppressjoni.
Kevvy, you are so useless on this blog. It would be much better if you find a sailboat, go out for a sail and piss into the wind. Posssibly you will be enlightened.
When PL supporters want to flatter Muscat, they compare him to Fenech Adami; Kev is not the only one to do it.
The comparison is preposterous but it gives us an insight into Labour’s wishful thinking.
In spite of the war they waged against him, Mintoffjani feared and still secretly admire Fenech Adami. He is a role model and represents a standard in political leadership, even for Labour.
They wish they had a leader like him; they don’t, so they pretend.
I’ve never heard a PN supporter compare Fenech Adami or Gonzi to Mintoff. That would not be a compliment.
As always, Antoine Vella, you got it wrong. You should try introducing irony and satire at the Taliban club – see how it goes.
I can imagine how exciting your kindergarten classes must be. Are they paying attention now that you’ve banned laptops? Or were you forced to revoke your fatwa?
A speech designed to foment hatred for PN supporters, literally copying Mintoff’s style. Sounds desperate to me.
“Masmijting” Defni hi.
He reminds me of Joey from Friends – ‘trying’ to act, failing miserably.
Concur
It was the first thing that struck me.
His message was of hope (ethereal as it may be, but still hope) but his tone was that of a fire and brimstone preacher haranguing his congregation of sinners.
It wasn’t even a calm start with a slow crescendo but a constant unrelenting diatribe. Strange attitude coming from a man who is almost a shoo-in to Castille in a couple of months.
He doesn’t even know whether to go left or right.
Check his trousers, neither does his tailor.
Please explain. Were his flies undone or what?
Tailor talk, Baxter. You’re either draped left or right.
Flies? He should only have one. Probably ondone. Always forgets to zip up. Check the damp spot in most photos.
Rest of the flies are buzzing around in his miniscule brain.
No it can’t be, Baxxter. Jason checks the tie and the fly for him, remember?
And still people are going to vote for him, not because they like him, but because they did not get their MEPA permit or some other favour.
By doing so they will let Labour in. They will still not get their favour! They will then realize that PL policies will hurt their children they claim to love so much.
Remember 1996? Remember how many swung their vote to Alfred Sant and Labour because they were fooled that he was going to remove VAT and the cash registers. He removed VAT but the people who voted for him had to keep their cash registers and the audit trail they so much wanted to remove.
Hi Daphne,
I am writing as someone who has lived in Malta for a year, having moved here from Ireland.
I love the country and the people, but must confess to being ignorant as to the merits of the opposing political parties which seem to provoke such passions in the Maltese people.
On behalf of the majority of ex-pats on the island, I have one question: What is the difference between them and how important is it to everyday life which one is in power?
As a fellow expat, been here for 20 years, one word will suffice, brains, David. Welcome aboard.
Daphne, let’s make one thing very clear. This is not 1987 and Joseph Muscat is not and can never be Eddie Fenech Adami. Because quite frankly that’s the impression he is trying to give.
Practising his Mussolini impersonation again, I see.
If Ms Mintoff Bland was present Joseph sure reminded her of her late father. Missing was just the big horseshoe buckle.
And don’t forget the pedal and the teleprompter. Were all those people behind Joseph peeping at his speech while doing his fake act and reading his rowdddmeppp to nowhere?