Easter eggs and maccaroni

Are bad times round the corner again? Some people seem to think they cannot come back. Others live in fear that they will. An incident last Sunday in Gzira parish church showed us that we cannot be complacent about our freedom and our right to choose, whether it's in a referendum or in an election.

Last Sunday evening, as the priest read the bishops' words to his parishioners on the EU referendum, an obviously irate Labour supporter started complaining, loudly, while the bishops' letter was being read out. This person was obviously angry the bishops were not telling us not to vote in a referendum!

It seems amazing that in 2003 someone still behaves like this in democratic Malta.

Basically, the Bishops have told us to weigh up all the information carefully and then to make an intelligent choice and of course to respect each others' choices.

They were very careful, clever words. Considering the Pope has come out so strongly in favour of EU enlargement, the bishops' words were cautious in the extreme. I can understand that. The Church got too embroiled in politics in the past and does not wish to do so again.

Yet this man who started shouting is simply a product of what Labour's media are producing every day.

They run scare campaigns. Remember their nonsense on AIDS, abortion and all the other things they say will be aggravated or reintroduced by EU membership?

They run hate campaigns. They lie about people like Peppi Azzopardi, Lou Bondì, Daphne Caruana Galizia, me prolifically of course, and many others, from Kenneth Wain to I.M. Beck, anyone who opposes them is made a figure of hate.

They want you to fear the EU when you should fear them! Remember pre-1987? The same people who were at the heart of the MLP are there now.

Remember the stagnation in 1996/1998? Are you as a businessman or woman really confident that Alfred Sant in government will boost your business or your bottom line by one single cent?

They want you to fear the governments of countries we all visit so freely and so happily. The countries we emulate are not Switzerland or Norway. The countries we are closest to, culturally, are Italy and the UK. And it's not just about football; it's so much more. English is one of our official languages. Our food is thankfully more Italian than English or a perfect balance as on Christmas day when turkey is preceded by maccaroni, or at Easter time, when we have traditions from everywhere.

Our way of life, the music we listen to, is a mix of these two cultures.

And think about it. Our two greatest foreign friends and allies, the Italians and the Brits, are both members of the EU; they both want us there and we share an important part of our culture with them.

Nothing against the Chinese, the Americans, the Australians or the Arabs or anyone else Dr Sant might visit. We can be friendly with everyone and be members of the EU. In fact I haven't heard any ambassador from these countries say they are in any way opposed.

But if we are not members of the EU, what then? If you work in tourism and earn your bread and butter there are you confident that we will thrive out of the EU or is it possible that EU members will trade more with each other and have incentives so that tourism will be encouraged between member states. I know we can get tourism from China too, but where do the bulk of our tourists come from? From Europe.

Whom do we trade with most? Europe. Where do we travel to? Europe. Whose football are we passionate about? Europe's. Whose food and wine do we love? Europe's.

As the posters start to come up I and many others get this sinking feeling. All this red, all this aggression. Listen to their news. It's just a catalogue of misery trying to make you feel bad instead of lucky for what so many of us have.

Are you a mum worried you'll lose your children if we are EU members? Listen to your children; listen to their need for a future. Our parents gave us a future when they voted for independence. We need to do the same for our kids too.

Watch and worry when you watch Super 1, not about EU membership.

Their news is there to make you hate your neighbour, your colleagues, your country. Their news (otherwise called Super 1) is there to pick on anything negative and to blow it up, to make you resent anyone in government, anyone who is successful, anyone who has something you don't have.

Tell me when you are reading this, were you ever so prosperous under a Labour administration? Tell me why you believe Maltese society will be better under Labour.

Tell me what partnership is? You cannot.

I'll tell you. Partnership means non-membership of the EU. Partnership means Labour decides what's good for you because they won't respect your choice in a referendum. Partnership means goodbye to our freedoms and to more choice and a welcome back of old Labour.

Because however much the cosmetic adjustments to the MLP, the way they are conducting themselves of late shows no respect at all. No respect for journalists. No respect for anyone who disagrees with them.

And worst of all, no respect for you, the voter. How can any single intelligent Labour voter vote for a party that will not respect his or her vote in a referendum?

The mind boggles.

Give me and my family a future in Europe any day. I look at Europe and I look at the face of Dr Sant and Manwel Cuschieri. Give me Europe any day.

Give me Easter eggs, maccaroni and turkey rather than their daily diet of indigestible ghira.

I want a future and not a bitter past for this country.

What do you want?