University circus

What makes the shouting down of Alfred Sant in a political discussion at the University reprehensible was not only that it happened, but where and by whom. Not all of tomorrow's leaders will be University graduates, but many of them may be expected to be just that. If there will be among them those aggressively intolerant to views they disagree with in their youth, the seed may have taken deep root by the rime they grow up.

What occurred at the University last Monday, when a segment of those present booed and threw foul language at Sant as he tried to speak, was nothing less than naked intolerance. It was also shown towards the leaders of Alternattiva Demokratika and Azzjoni Nazzjonali. But the hyper students in action addressed their harshest vituperation at the leader of the MLP. The way he tried to answer by not answering some of the questions put to him did not help. But, however Alfred Sant chose to answer those who went to the session determined to yell him down would have done the same.

The point is not that they were Nationalist youths, shouting "Gonzi, Gonzi!" until it took their breath away. By their terrible behaviour they did not help Lawrence Gonzi at all. They damaged him and what he stands for. They projected an image of Nationalist youth which Gonzi would hardly delight in seeing on any screen, let alone that framing the coming general election.

I do not fault him for not intervening - like the other leaders present he was a guest of the organisers. It was not for him to try to control the event. Nevertheless I pity him that he had to sit through a demonstration that the Nationalist Party which he leads enjoys that type of support from a hopefully not representative rabble.

Those who enjoyed the spectacle, or reports of it, will say that it served the Labour leader right - in the past, even during his political lifetime, there were components of Labour rabble who were just as crudely intolerant of the views of opponents, if not worse. That is the least convincing argument of all in any discussion between thinking people. If louts stoop to malpractices, those who do like them when they get the opportunity place themselves in the same or a similar category.

Tolerance is not the finest and tallest example of democracy in Malta. There have been many examples of intolerance through the years, running from the Church through the whole political spectrum. Yet, moving forward, one would hope that more and more people grow conscious that intolerance diminishes those who display it. At this stage of the electoral campaign, it would be naïve to expect too many people to retain an open mind. Those who turn up at mass meetings and similar occasions attend mostly to drool at the political loves of their life, to clap enthusiastically on cue, whatever the speakers uttered.

There are other political occasions where one expects a different approach. Certainly, a discussion at the University is one of them. That students turned up in substantial numbers on Monday was healthy, and justifies the organisers' expressed satisfaction. They need not have gone to be convinced or converted, but as the inhabitants of the intellectual world to listen critically to the views expressed.

The students who harangued Sant, as well in lower hoarse voice the two other leaders they did not like, could have allowed the speaker to finish and then shouted their criticism or whistled and booed at will. Turning the occasion into a wildly partisan demonstration which left little room for differing views to clash and contrast did not yield the smallest example of intellectualism.

The politically deaf are entitled to their convictions. They are not entitled to impede opponents from sticking to theirs.

What happened at the University last Monday, however, is symptomatic of a malaise deeper than that of excessive exuberance by youngsters belonging to a particular political party. It reflects, horribly so, a deep trait displayed by practising politicians. That trait has already been in evidence in the political confrontations organised on the public television and sound media as part of the electoral campaign, and in other programmes and chat shows.

The political class, not quite made up of exuberant youngsters, does not give a good example. Members of it might do worse than reflect on their responsibility at least for part of the circus that performed at the University on Monday.