The article I submitted last week to The Journal with regards to the incessant and coordinated political attacks against one’s own country abroad and in foreign institutions created quite a stir, with hundreds of messages being sent on the subject in question. Both for and against.
A quick analysis of the feedback on the article will inevitably lead one to group the comments into two categories:
- Nationalist Party sympathisers attacking both the message and the messenger with all sorts of adjectives and expletives and ‘arguments’ which fallaciously try to project the myth that corruption in Malta is only and exclusively the domain of the wicked labour government and its literally stupid supporters.
- Labour Party sympathisers attacking the Nationalist Party trolls for their short memory and for repetitively washing our nation’s dirty laundry in public.
Some comments really deserve a prize for absurdity. Most of the comments did not even touch the basic concept of the article – they just read the title and started thumping away on their laptops. One of them even accused me and all like me as the actual killer of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Some comments made me smile and sigh in despair at the same time. Because if such is the level of discussion in this island nation, then all is not well in the state of Denmark (with apologies to Shakespeare). But then one realises that the hundreds of comments referred to above are a mere drop when compared to the island’s population and certainly do not reflect the thoughts of the mature electorate.
Let me be frank. I am not an apologist for anyone or any party. Of course Labour in government made a number of huge fuckups. Those who know me personally know that I would never even dream to condone irregularities, irrespective of who made them in the first place. Those who know my political past and my work in the then office of the deputy leader of the party when we were still in opposition between 2008 and 2013 know that we stood up to be counted many a time on such matters, with the inevitable political fallout that such stands bring about.
But an honest appraisal of any government means precisely that: analysing the good and benevolent initiatives of the government and how these initiatives positively affect the fabric of society and comparing it to the negative aspects of governance during the same period. And, as our electorate has constantly shown us (and still keeps showing us in one survey after another), the vast majority of our population, myself included, are more than certain that this Labour administration enacted tremendous amounts of positive initiatives within our society which touches each and every household. These positive initiatives are by far more numerous than the Labour fuckups during the same period in question.
Even though I cannot understand the notion of fellow Maltese undermining their own country abroad, I am not surprized that this is the route which has been taken by the Maltese Right. It has historically always been that way. We do not need to go back to the thirties of the last century when the Right in Malta was being assisted and supported by Mussolini’s fascist government and party in Italy to prove our point. Which brings me to comment on some of the feedback received in the last article.
Some trolls and commentators commented on the fact that the Nationalist Party is not a right-leaning political party any more. It is more centrist than right wing, with some trolls even deigning to believe that it is left-leaning. The first problem with the Nationalist Party of today is that they officially have no real policy defining their line of thought, save for the hazy and romantic concept that a segment of their exponents always refer to, ie that the person is the centre of their politics and that they project democratic and Christian values.
The first problem with the Nationalist Party of today is that they officially have no real policy defining their line of thought.
When I refer to the Right in Malta, I do not merely refer to the Nationalist Party. I do not merely refer to the Leader of the Opposition, who I know personally and have no personal qualms with. Not everyone understands the fabric of our country and the age-old reference to ‘the establishment’. That is precisely who I refer to as the Right in Malta.
The Nationalist Party is merely one, albeit important, tentacle of the establishment. There are other segments of this establishment; some seen and some hidden; some wearing clerical robes and some wearing professional attire; some are massive employers and some are professional unionists of specific professions; some are outright fascists, some are Christian Democrats and some are unabashedly conservative opportunists. All of these have historically always believed and assiduously worked hard to ensure that there should never be a Labour government in Malta. And they have always resorted to utilise their network overseas to destabilise a Labour government, irrespective of how much this will affect the country as a whole.
So, unfortunately, we will be seeing more of this undermining of our country abroad in the coming months. And those who have unremittingly worked hard to ensure that Brussels will name a hall there with the name of one Maltese murdered blogger are inevitably the same persons who have never raised a finger throughout these last forty five years to get Brussels to name a hall there for one beautiful little Maltese lady called Karen Grech.
