Making a real difference!

For a week or so Malta was united. People of different political creeds were united in one outcry, let us breathe some fresh political air. Eddie Fenech Adami's era was over. He may have had every right to resort to reactionary politics, reacting to the political mannerisms of the "dark" Eighties. Lawrence Gonzi was the anointed one, the next in line and no contender would be in his way.

A welcome gesture by the Leader of the Opposition was to invite Dr Gonzi to MLP headquarters. What a sigh of relief to the divisive politics we had been used to for decades! Optimism was, however, short-lived. As soon as the Europarliamentary elections were in sight, divisiveness emerged again. The tone and jargon sharpened to the extremity of crossfiring ridicule and mockery. Is this the Malta we all want?

Dr Gonzi's way in dealing with his adversaries, whether Labourites or harmless Greens, exposes the undertones of politics of power play and arrogance which has accrued in decades of ruling our lives and lifestyles. It is high time the electorate stands up to be counted. Many have been taken for granted for voting for the same political party whenever election duty calls.

How monotonous can they be to stick to one party all their lives? Is it possible they believe that righteousness is a monopoly of one political party? Are they so naïve to keep being fooled all their lives? Everyone has the right and is in duty bound to vote intelligently.

Rewarding the same party over and over again makes you an accomplice even in its misdeeds. It is no longer an excuse to choose the lesser evil. It is high time to change the prevailing political climate. Heavyweight political parties should realise that in our changing political process they should pave way to diversity, a concept highly sanctioned by the EU. They should see to it that any new political formation has its space and possibility not only to make its voice heard but also to militate for equal share in airtime.

Not everyone has a level playing field. They see to it that minority parties commit political suicide whenever they decide to contest in the prevailing stifling political system. They and only they should be playing in the contest. Smaller political formations are mocked and ridiculed perhaps in a very unchristian and undemocratic way.

And yet they are proud to adhere to a Christian Democratic or Socialist political theory. In practice they are neither one nor the other. I appeal to your intelligent readers to give them both a well deserved political lesson that we are not there to be taken for granted. We have a very good choice now: either abstain, vote AD or for one of the independents and simply stop there!