Back to our horrible roots

Throughout these last 50 years or so, the Maltese experienced so many changes, whether economic, social, political or cultural. In contrast with a British colony with an economy based purely on military recruitment, Malta is today an independent country whose economy is based on tourism, manufacture, agriculture, shipping and other tertiary services such as banking. While just over 40 years ago we Maltese were executing orders given by the British, today we shoulder the responsibility of electing our policy- makers, be that at local council level, national level or even at European level. In contrast to the past, we are no longer exposed solely to the "British world" but form part of the EU and are in contact with the rest of the world, thus exposing ourselves to different cultures, mentalities, religions and beliefs.

The bi-party scenario rendered the Maltese a nation divided in two tribes. Irrationalism became the order of the day where both parties sought refuge in discrediting the other side on each and every matter. The level of intolerance had peaked to unbearable levels, to the extent of resulting in political violence including tragic deaths.

While political violence became something of the past, intolerance reigned. Both major parties benefit from such a scenario where the people are left with no other choice. An effort to change this scenario for the good by Alternattiva Demokratika seemed to have bore fruit at local council level, where the electorate was judging candidates in terms of their capabilities rather than party affiliation. The same can be said with regard to the 2004 European Parliament elections. We were moving in the right direction: rationalism was winning over extremism for the benefit of all.

Unfortunately, our major parties thought otherwise. The political monopoly they were enjoying was being endangered. As a counteracting measure, both parties exploited their media mechanism to the full and instilled fear among those considering voting differently to the past. This scaremongering exercise adopted by both major parties included the Labour Party labelling AD as affiliates of the Nationalist Party when the latter gave its full support to Malta's accession to the EU. On the other hand, it was the PN that was labelling AD as PL affiliates whenever the latter voiced its concerns.

In the 2003 general election, AD instructed its core voters, who represent about two per cent of the electorate, to give their first preference vote to the PN. Since AD always had the interest of the people at heart the party's own interests were put aside. This was done due to the risk of Malta being denied EU accession if the PL were elected to power.

Contrary to AD, both the PL and the PN put the parties first. During the past election campaign, both parties made it a point to "win" over the other party. The only relevance in this election was to "win" the race, irrespective of who is elected as long as the candidates elected are part of "our team".

As a result, Malta will now be represented in two political groups instead of three. Our MEPs can influence about 450 MEPs instead of 500 MEPs from the 740 in the European Parliament. Malta lost the services of Arnold Cassola, a person with all the credentials for the job (a former European Green party general secretary and a former member of the Italian Parliament, to mention just two offices he occupied).

The PL is lost in the euphoria, celebrating what in its opinion is the humiliation the PN suffered at the polls while the PN is happy that AD got such a blow. Shame on us, seeking joy out of the dissatisfaction of others.

We at AD are worried with the present political situation, which went back to its horrible roots, that is of intolerance, antagonism and, sadly enough, even to political violence! The Maltese are back to their irrational thinking thanks to the struggle for dominance at all costs by the PL and the PN even to the extreme of making illegal immigration a political issue with the result of sowing sentiments of xenophobia among our people. These shocking sentiments can be felt in the results the far right achieved in this election.

Having worked closely with Prof. Cassola for a number of years, I am deeply disappointed that this very relevant person was let down by us Maltese electorate when he gave so much for such a good cause. He even sacrificed his career to the extent of providing his service for the party on a full-time basis for free for these last 16 months or so.

The relevance of a candidate is not gauged anymore according to his or her credentials but on the basis of party affiliation. I am convinced that Prof. Cassola was never after his personal interests but after the good of all. If a seat in European Parliament or the salary were what he was after, there was nothing stopping him from contesting on behalf of one of the major parties where success would have been practically guaranteed.