Friday, 9th May 2008
Talking Point
No nonsense
The Malta Labour Party has to be one with its members, its supporters, those who vote for it, those who would like to vote for it. To all these I address myself, without hubris, without nonsense.
I am offering reciprocal trust - to lead with your consent, which I want to achieve in a live process of consultation with you. I want a strong and consolidated party; not a uniform party that thinks with one mind but a party with room for all variety and diversity of opinions as long as these are consistent with the fundamental principles and values of social democracy.
In contemporary society people increasingly want and need to claim their individuality, to participate in the building of their own future, to design their own way. The MLP and the eventual Labour government will acknowledge this, because equal opportunities for all individuals is a basic tenet of social democracy, alongside its commitment to provide for those members in the community who need the encouragement and support of the whole of society.
I undertake to ensure that everyone who is well meaning and true to the party and its raison d'etre and objectives feels welcome to belong in it, to rally all those who found their political home in it yesterday and who find a home in it today and who want to keep finding it in the future.
Inclusiveness is not a buzzword but a frame of mind that refuses to discriminate between people who hold the party at heart, be they old, young or in between, vigorous or quiet, group travellers or solitary. We cannot be a party of categories, much less selective categories, and still be inclusive.
Beyond the community of the party faithful I aim, with your help, to widen the constituency of Labour by pursuing methods and developing policies capable of engaging people in the country who have until now failed to put their trust in us. This is not done by hoping and wishing. It is done by starting immediately to connect with all of civil society - NGOs, trade unions, constituted bodies, leaders of enterprise, voluntary organisations, opinion leaders - in a two-way interaction to persuade and to learn and, ultimately, to build confidence.
I am nothing if not a team worker and a team builder, driven by the need to achieve and succeed, not for myself but for those who put their trust in me. Where I have known success I claim credit not for having achieved it but for having managed to mobilise people and resources to achieve it.
Now I want to mobilise all available talent and resources to lead Labour to victory in the next election by presenting the country with a solid, viable, and confident choice, an alternative government that holds appeal to all generations, combining the stability of experience with the excitement of innovation in a constantly changing world. I want us together to free Labour from the opposition syndrome and make it the natural party of government in the nation.
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