Mario Vella
A circus indeed
It may well be, as Lino Spiteri argues, that "this circus has almost four more years to run" (October 12). This does not contradict what I wrote in my first piece for this column. "Governments are made possible by alliances: Social and political alliances, by alliances of convenience and, sometimes, of conviction, by strategic and tactical alliances, by long-term and short-term alliances. Many of the alliances that this government is built on are beginning to come apart."
On the same occasion, I pointed out that this process of social corrosion of the foundations of the Gonzi government is exacerbated by an adverse international environment. "The international financial crisis, its repercussion on the real economies of our principal markets for both our industrial exports and tourism, the impact of all of this on our own real economy, our broke government's impotence in the face of this crisis, indeed its compounding of the effects of the crisis on our economy, thanks to an insane policy dictated by its pre-electoral profligacy and decades of wastefulness" supported, I argued, "the conviction of many that this government may not be standing on solid ground" (January 19).
Only fools will be consoled by the fragile signs of international economic recovery. Moreover, the structure of our economy and its subordinate, peripheral location in the world economy, are such that when the sun finally decides to rise in all its glory over the global economic centres, it might still be midnight over here.
Also, we cannot exclude that the global economic landscape after the crisis - and there is little doubt that it will be very different than it is today - will be such that Malta's position within it will be more precarious than we have ever known it to be. The very measures that other governments are taking and will take (including subtle and not so subtle forms of national - and provincial - protectionism) may mean that their recovery will make life more difficult for us.
Of course the circus may have more years to run. But it will be an increasingly sorrier sight. A cacophony of ageing lions and cunning mice, skin-and-bone elephants and sad dromedaries, rheumatic acrobats and melancholic pantomime artistes, dancing alligators and predator lice will chase a beleaguered Cabinet and a bitter Parliamentary group for goods they cannot possibly deliver. At the sight of this, those women and men of good will who voted for this government because they sincerely believed that it was the best possible option for their country are bound to have doubts. Serious doubts.
Meanwhile the leader of the PL, exactly 30 years after Monday, October 15, 1979, has condemned the events of that day in no uncertain terms. What happened then, he said, ought never to have taken place. His actual words were: "dawn kienu atti li qatt ma jmisshom sehhew". Dr Muscat made it a point to recognise the historical precedent set by Archbishop Emeritus Guzeppi Mercieca's apology, in the name of the Church in Malta, to Labourites for what they went though in the 1960s.
The negativeness of the Nationalist Party's reaction to the PL leader's statement does not augur well. When, a few weeks ago, I wrote on the national day issue, I said that "the life experiences of those - whatever side they were or are on - that lived the momentous events of the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s - events that have shaped us as a nation - cannot be ignored." I argued that "quick-fix closure that tramples over their feelings" will not do. On the other hand, I also argued that: "We also expect them to lead their supporters in a re-visitation of our post-war history. A reconsideration that interprets even the most conflictual moments not as a manifestation of the eternal struggle between good and evil - whereby each party perceives itself as goodness incarnate - but as what is to be expected in a critical phase of the development of a society necessarily composed of different interests and emerging from a long colonial experience."
I concluded that article by noting that, on the national day issue, "the younger of the two leaders has shown himself to be the bolder and the more enlightened".
His statement on the events of October 1979 has not only confirmed that he is the bolder and more enlightened of the leaders of the two major parties in our country today, it has also shown that he is the only one of the two who is looking beyond yesterday and, with feet firmly set on the ground of the present, boldly towards tomorrow. With no future to look forward to, the circus management will be sorely tempted to focus on the past.
Dr Vella blogs at watersbroken.wordpress.com.
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e.fenech
Oct 27th 2009, 10:18
@antoine vella. yr last reply ...brillant. must say i didn't consider it from that angle....once more brillant!
Christopher Ripard
Oct 26th 2009, 21:56
It's truly amazing - the PN are a bunch of no-hopers but who built/re-built Malta? Uni, MCAST, MDH, Freeport, Airport, Power Station, Osmosis plants, roads. (Oh er, and LP left Malta a smoking ruin of a third world country, no Uni, no MCAST, no toothpaste, no broadcasting - despite the calibre of "progressive" politicians like Lorry Sant, Wistin Abela, Joe Grima). Oh well, they may yet get the chance to actually do something good for Malta - there's always a first time.
P. Schembri
Oct 26th 2009, 21:52
@PN apologists. Joseph Muscat and the PL has learnt to look to the future. The past is past. Yes, there were mistakes from both sides, and hope that both learned from those past mistakes. But life moves on, and we must move also. The PL is moving on, but it seems that the PN is afraid to leave the past behind. Who knows why? Maybe because if the PN leaves the past, bye bye the electoral platform of painting the PL black?
Antoine Vella
Oct 26th 2009, 19:32
Mario Vella ". . . . . it will be an increasingly sorrier sight. A cacophony of ageing lions and cunning mice, skin-and-bone elephants and sad dromedaries, rheumatic acrobats and melancholic pantomime artistes, dancing alligators and predator lice" Quite frankly I think you're exaggerating but of course you do know the Labour Party much better than I do so I'll take your word for it and accept your rather picturesque description. Can't resist one little correction though: it's a poodle not a mouse.
Antoine Vella
Oct 26th 2009, 18:40
P. Schembri "He who learns from the past can face the future." What has Joseph Muscat learnt?
J Martinelli
Oct 26th 2009, 15:39
"A cacophony of aging lions and cunning mice, skin-and-bone elephants and sad dromedaries, rheumatic acrobats and melancholic pantomime artistes, dancing alligators and predator lice will chase a beleaguered Cabinet and a bitter Parliamentary group for goods they cannot possibly deliver", Dr.Vella writes. I ask Dr.Vella whether the situation would be any different had a Labour government been running the show?! Can Labour deliver more? Actually, the situation with the LP is precariously worse since all those elected would be pretenders to the various Cabinet posts, including the recycled 'old timers' from the draconian era. Past experience exposes the paucity of Labour's vision. Labour's other problem is that it categorically refuses to acknowledge that after this deep world recession things will not be the same, by necessity rather than by design. This recession has thrown the economic world, conservatively, ten years back and Malta, under a Labour or PN administration has to adjust to the new realities. Labour's policies are at best contradictory and at worst, edging on fantasy. One cannot reduce taxes, spend more, do capital projects, subsidize energy, create jobs, raise wages and COLA and decrease the deficit in the same breath! It just doesn't make sense!
lgalea
Oct 26th 2009, 15:12
e. fenech All we got from the eu are all negatives. Illegal immigrats invasion, taxes, customs duties and levies all going to the eu and also part of VAT while we pay the officers to collect them, Euro 153,400 DAILY as our contribution to eu membership, massive unemployment for Maltese citizens while foreigners are having a field day working in Malta, explosion in the cost of living, etc... As for you and other pn apologists always going back to the past it means that you have no valid arguments to rebut other arguments.
e.fenech
Oct 26th 2009, 15:09
dear p.schembri, had malta done what muscat had wanted, not join the eurozone, there wouldn't much future to look for! you are happy to merrily follow muscat even after having shown such poor judgemnet! what can i say good luck to you
P. Schembri
Oct 26th 2009, 12:48
@s.fenech. He who learns from the past can face the future. It's you pn apologists that can't face the future. You keep looking back in the past, when we should be looking at the future. That will be you party's downfall. It is always looking back.
e. fenech
Oct 26th 2009, 10:50
another elougy for the non-aplogy of joseph muscat, and this time by a consultant to joseph muscat to boot! since per mario vella 'the younger of the two leaders has shown himself to be bolder and more enlightened' perhaps vella may find time to enlighten us of how enlightened joseph muscat has been in :
1) working aginst malta joining the eu
2) against malta joining the eurozone. anyone , besides alfred sant ,thinks the malta would have weathered the recent financial and econmic turmoils better had it stayed out of the eurozone. muscat is very silent of this...wonder why
3) advising iceland to stay out of eu .
if for mario vella that is enlightenment, what would it be like being in the dark ?