Profundities about power

You do not have to be profound about the realities of power in Malta to understand that the PN being the party currently in government has, as is its wont, already gone into overdrive to try and retain the control over the state apparatus which it has enjoyed for so many years. In this exercise, the trappings of ideology or political belief will hardly matter. Rather, the priority will be to reverse recalcitrant moods and to sway core supporters who have become disillusioned with the PN.

As in 2003, a huge swell of favours and personal U-turns will become the order of the day: indeed, has already become so. Voters will be induced to return to the PN fold for personal reasons, if they cannot do it on the basis of conviction that the Gonzi administration is doing things right.

Will the strategy succeed this time round? We shall see. The PN lacks an overriding theme around which it can marshal support among those who stay unconvinced that it is managing the country well. Joining the EU did that in 2003, but the issue of what place Malta should have in Europe has been decided, rightly or wrongly, and is no longer on the agenda. So, as can be foreseen at this stage, the stakes will be set by three benchmarks. First comes the Gonzi administration's performance in delivering on promises made on the national front (here, up to now, the record is abysmal).

Secondly, there is the point about how strongly the PN will deliver on clientelism demands made by assorted supporters (here the PN's record is close to excellent, measured, of course, in party not national terms). In third place come the profile and policies assumed by the Labour opposition: and, here, Labour is working hard to provide plans that set a new beginning for economic and social strategy.

So, in coming months expect Mepa, plus other "independent" authorities, to act fast under political prodding to favour well-backed applications for permits or whatever. Expect PN media spinners, who play the high and mighty most of the time, to ignore issues that the government is weak on, while downplaying the arguments advanced in the opposition's campaigns. Expect the public broadcasting system and the "independent" media to lather ministerial and prime ministerial statements about things accomplished. Expect vicious campaigns, no holds barred, against Labour spokesmen, including this columnist.

Meanwhile, the well meaning Joes who discuss so seriously (or tediously according to your tastes) the latest "ideas" floated by Lawrence Gonzi will be busy looking the other way when the clientelism and negative campaigning of the PN machine become too raw. They will reserve their glares and frowns for anything Labour does that PN spinmeisters deem liable to attack. So it has always been; so it will be.

Standards are bound to get lower. When this happens on the PN side, again, expect the well meaning Joes to look the other way. You need minimal understanding of the profundities which define power grabs in Malta to see why this should be so.

Consider for instance the nadir achieved by Dr Gonzi and his team responsible for political communication. They published a cartoon two-and-a-half weeks ago in their Sunday newspaper that by any standards should be considered disgusting and unacceptable. For beyond the recent furore created by the anti-Mohammed cartoons which appeared in the Danish press, it is clear that caricatures should stay within parameters set by civilised behaviour. The PN's Sunday paper pictured me as a blind man, wearing the customary dark glasses worn by blind people: all this to show that in projecting current economic performance as I do see it around me, I am painting everything black, like I were blind.

Now the point here is not the political criticism. To be frank, I am quite used to the savage political and personal attacks mounted against me over the years. In the "independent" media and in the PN press, I have been projected as Hitler, a devil and a rat. I have been spotlighted in various unsavoury modes; and as suffering from halitosis, among other equally charming and delicate portrayals. But the use of blindness as an image from which to spray ridicule or shame on me or anybody else is - or should be - outside the pale.

Dr Gonzi spent some years chairing the National Commission for People with Disability. Yet, the party he now leads approves this kind of ploy in its Sunday paper. Up to now, the Prime Minister has failed to apologise on behalf of the PN, to blind people and all those with special needs. Media analysts have preferred to look the other way.

So it will go. Some people who decry the over-politicisation of everyday affairs will forget all about their reservations when the Gonzi administration is at fault. Another instance occurred during the March local councils campaign when Dr Gonzi started using government schools as a venue for his political "dialogue" meetings in towns where local elections were due to be held.

The problem with the Prime Minister's no-holds-barred strategy is this: as of now, the people want change.

To the editor of The Times, his staff, all readers and their families: a Happy Easter.