STEELY SOLDIERS
Whenever anyone who does not swoon at the feet of Joseph Muscat dares mention Labour's less than glorious past, the Lil'Elves and Cheer Leaderettes screech and shout and run about, yelping that we should look forward, rather than back.
Whenever Joseph Muscat, resplendent in his overcoat and dark suit, his youthful vigour set off by his blue tie, evokes the past, on the other hand, he is so imbued with statesmanlike qualities that make you wonder why he hasn't been whisked off to Washington to have a mountain carved out in his likeness.
Muscat's latest foray down the rocky road to Labour's past, no doubt inspired by the notion that it's all very well appealing to the middle ground but you also need to hold your core, had him telling us, without a hint of embarrassment that the country (well, Labour, but they never see the difference) "steel soldiers to fight in favour of civil liberties such as IVF, civil unions for same sex couples, constitutional amendments and against censorship".
What brass neck. Seriously, this lad either has a complete and utter ignorance of what his own party used to do in the past (and all he needs to do is ask Karmenu Vella, Joe Debono Grech, Marie Louse Coleiro Preca, Alex Scebberras Trigona, Toni Abela, Leo Brincat, Alfred Sant and Heaven knows how many others, they were all there in some way or another) or else he thinks we do.
Either way, let me just remind the dear boy what his latest exhortation reminds me and many others about. I'll limit myself to the issues he mentioned.
For some reason, Muscat thinks that making IVF available is some sort of war-horse for the coming campaign, to the extent that he is summoning Labour's "Soldiers of Steel" (these were a Mintoffian construct, incidentally, mobilised for darker motives than IVF) to fight for it.
As far as I am aware, IVF is already available, so is Muscat seeking to fight for something that exists already?
Pray tell. And while telling, do tell why you think that a Labourite mentioning health services will do anything other than make me and many like me remember what Mintoff's regime did to the health service when the doctors' union dared raise its head?
Just to jog your memory, the service was decimated: having healthy babies was difficult enough, let alone IVF.
Muscat then segued into civil unions for same sex couples, but stopped short, his steely-eyed determination notwithstanding, from advocating same-sex marriages, which is really where the battleground would lie, because civil union is well on the road to becoming a reality. As always, Muscat runs with hounds and hunts with the fox, because he knows very well that the ranks from whom he might hope to draw his Soldiers of Steel (God help us) are populated by the most conservative, hide-bound, zealots around, who would feel almost physical revulsion at gays marrying.
Muscat tells us that the Soldiers of Steel are also needed to fight for constitutional amendments. Here the man proves that he has no shame. In the 1981-1987 era, which is less far away in time than the fifty years ago that Muscat was commemorating, the Soldiers of Steel performed sterling work in ensuring that Mintoff and KMB's grip on power remained unshaken to the very last minute of the last hour of the last day.
Constitutional amendments? Sorry, mate, Labour still has a way to go before it is allowed to speak of these without its sorry past being seen lurking in the wings.
Moving on, as one must, Muscat tells us that these courageous Soldiers of Steel are needed in order to fight against censorship.
This is seriously, seriously rich. When Mintoff was in power, the Times of London wasn't allowed in, because it dared hold the thought that he wasn't the best thing since sliced bread. Anything that offended Dom Mintoff, even a movie about the dictator Idi Amin, was not allowed to see the light of day and reading the In-Taghna (couldn't use the word Nazzjon, you see, Mintoff didn't want you to) was tantamount to holding up a placard saying "piss on me, I'm a Nationalist".
To be fair, censorship was the least of our worries under Mintoff's regime.
You see, you could think freely, because much to his chagrin, Mintoff couldn't see inside our heads, but woe betide you if you expressed any idea that displeased him. He learnt much from his foreign buddies (Libya, North Korea and Rumania, to name a few countries whence they came) none of which was particularly good for us.
It's not Soldiers of Steel we need, it's a Leader of the Opposition who has an inkling of what he makes us remember by mentioning them.
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Francis Saliba M.D.
Feb 25th, 16:48
@ Victor Laiviera (22 Feb at 00:15)
Nothing amuses me more than when You say " Wrong" Wrong again" or that you have "proved something conclusively" when you have done nothing of the sort.
If Mintoff and Lino Spiteri both said that the sixth point was that political violence would be permissible under certain circumstances, and if I gave precise references, and the last I heard form you was that you were trying to find time to check - who do you think you are to contradict me and whom do you think you will impress? It is you who are in a hole and keep digging!
Francis Saliba M.D.
Feb 21st, 16:22
@ Victor Laiviera. (today at 10:37)
I did not say that the word “mizbla” was “invented” by the MLP. That word was misappropriated by the MLP dirty tricks propaganda department and applied pejoratively to a section of the Addolorata Cemetry that had been set aside for non-Christians and others, who by their lifestyle had shown that they had no use or respect for Christianity and for its rituals.
Today, some MLP propagandists and some enemies of local Catholic Church, are the only people still using in that sense so as to whip up anti-Catholic (and, irrelevantly, anti NP) sentiment.
It is for that reason that I questioned your “What’s in a name?” – not because I “made another “gaffe”.
Victor Laiviera
Feb 21st, 17:15
Wrong again. The part of the Cemetery where "people who died in sin" were buried was known as "Il-Miżbla" long before the MLP/Church dispute even started. The MLP simply used the current term for it.
What did you expect - that the MLP would "clean up" that name just to make you feel less bad about the despicable act your party in government committed when it colluded with the Church authorities in this vile victimisation?
Francis Saliba M.D.
Feb 21st, 18:05
@ Victor Laiviera.
I do not expect the MLP to clean up anything. I expect it to continue to bring up the ghost of a politico-religious confrontation long since dead and you do not disappoint me.
The same cannot be said for the political violence espoused by Mintoff as his sixth point and implemented with murderous efficiency until the very end of the reign of Mintoff and KMB and which is being actively promoted again today by Muscat's on-going attempt attempt to recruit new "suldati tal-azzar"
Mr Joseph Carmel Chetcuti
Feb 21st, 23:22
Excuse Franco but Christianity and Catholcism are not the one and the same thing. And who owns the cemetery? The Church? If the State, why should the State be making a decision on who is in sin? I imagine there are not a few pedophile priests buried in the Christian section of the cemetery.
Victor Laiviera
Feb 22nd, 00:15
The adage "when you are in a hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging" must have been invented for you - but you persist in ignoring it.
- I proved conclusively (http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20091017/local/muscats-apology-generic-efa.277794) that "violence" was not mentioned in the MLP's "sitt punti" - yet you keep mentioning it.
- I showed you that the term "Il-Miżbla" was not, as you allege, used just by the MLP but, in fact, it was the common term for the place;
- You say that the PN had nothing to do with it when, in fact, the Cemetery is state property and it is the civil authorities who decide where people are buried, not the Church. The most that the Church could do was to refuse to send a priest to officiate. Thus the PN Government must bear at least equal responsibility for that obscene act.
You must be a glutton for punishment.
Francis Saliba M.D.
Feb 21st, 16:16
@ Victor Laiviera. (21 Feb at 10:37)
I did not say that the word "mizbla" was “invented” by the MLP. That word was misappropriated by the MLP dirty tricks propaganda department and applied pejoratively to a section of the Addolorata Cemetry that had been set aside for non-Christians, and for others, who by their lifestyle had shown that they had no use or respect for Christianity and for its rituals.
Today, some MLP propagandists and enemies of local Catholic Church, are the only people still using it in that sense purposely to whip up anti-Catholic (and, irrelevantly, anti NP) sentiment. It is for that reason that I questioned your “What’s in a name?” – not because I “made another “gaffe”.
Francis Saliba M.D.
Feb 21st, 10:55
@ d attard.
I agree wholeheartedly with your advice to Laiviera not to engage in any more dialogue about Mintoff’s sixth point and its connection with the subsequent endemic political violence of the Mintoff-KMB era. However, my reason is totally different from yours.
My comments are not “rantings” at all- do know what "rantings" are? My quotations are precise and they do not “distort” history. I prove the historical truth of my argument by quoting textually, chapter and verse, from the doctorate thesis of a foreign historian, Adrianus Koster and his extensive bibliography, Mintoff himself, and the MLP journalist and Cabinet Minister Lino Spiteri who was assigned by Mintoff, through Attard Kingswell, to defend Mintoff’s six points by means of six articles in “L-Orizzont”. You may care to check them out before alleging falsely that they are misquotations.
You see, it is not I who needs “to take a grip of the truth”. It is Mr Laiviera (and your good self) who has still to find time to read up the bibliography I identified to him, quoting titles and page numbers, to make life easier for him.
Mr Joseph Carmel Chetcuti
Feb 22nd, 06:28
Would Franco MD agree that these were the Six Points that he refers to?
"The right of any Citizen to a Civil Marriage.
The rights of parents to decide whether their children should have religious instruction or not
The right of every Citizen for a decent burial in a cemetery
The right of the police to enter churches to stop interference being made to public meetings from church property
Public morality will be based on norms practiced in Western Europe
The right for free general elections without the imposition of mortal sin by the Church. Every Citizen including members of the Clergy, is equal in the eyes of the law"
Where is violence condoned? The right of the police to stop political interference is defence of the right of freedom of expression. Speak about revisionists!
d. attard
Feb 22nd, 10:15
Thank you for your kind reply. Any commnts or observations on past events need a context otherwise they will assume current context and will become 'untruths'. Reading through the six points one would easily note that they are based on principles that we today taken as read. Distortion is when once focuses on a nut or bolt out of context to ignore the body-mass of the event. warm regards
Francis Saliba M.D.
Feb 27th, 13:52
@ Mr Joseph Carmel Camilleri. (22 Feb at 06:28)
No I do not agree that that is the correct version of the six points finally agreed on and appearing in the minutes of the meetings between Cardinal Prospero Grech and Dom Mintoff and signed by both parties. I have given precise references where to check so many times that I see no need to keep on repeating it.
d. attard
Feb 21st, 07:58
Dear Mr Laviera, may i suggest that out of kindness to people who have lived in their perception of a truth that has no basis of fact, you politiely ignore their rantings and distortion of history. I do understand that they may have suffered some experiences or have some other interest but there is enough out there for them to get a grip of the truth. If they refuse to do that than perhaps it is best that they keep on chewing the gum into their eternity.
Francis Saliba M.D.
Feb 20th, 19:49
@ Victor Laiviera (20 Feb at 00:13)
That was no "rubbish dump". There was an unconsecrated part of the Addolorata Cemetry where the unbaptised were buried as also those who in their lifetime had repudiated the Catholic clergy who customarily attended during the burials of Catholics.
Victor Laiviera
Feb 20th, 20:42
What's in a name? It was not where they had a RIGHT to be buried because, as you should know, the Adolorata Cemetery belongs to the State NOT to the Church. So, for those people to be buried there, the PN Government had to be an accomplice in this vile and despicable act - and act that should make every PN supporter hang his or her head in shame to this very day.
However, it seems they are still of the same idea because, for the forthcoming Local Council elections, the PN is fielding a candidate (who is also a nephew of PM Gonzi) who has stated publicly that he thinks it was right for those people to be buried in “Il-Miżbla”.
The leopard does not change its spots.
Francis Saliba M.D.
Feb 20th, 22:06
@ Victor Laiviera.
You ask "What's in a name" and I answer that a lot lies in that name when you substitute the lie "rubbish dump" for the unconsecrated part of the Addolorata Cemetry - not that such an important detail would matter to the MLP propaganda machine.
Victor Laiviera
Feb 21st, 10:37
@ Francis Salib
The term "Il-Miżbla" was not invented by the MLP - it was in current use for the place where people who "died in sin" were buried long before the MLP/Church dispute arose. All "nomi mimmati" (miżbla, mitħna, minfaħ, etc.) are very old.
You made another gaffe.
Francis Saliba M.D.
Feb 20th, 17:24
@ Victor Laiviera (20 Feb at 12:24)
You should be choking on your words when writing about “respect for the truth”.
KMB was the prime minister responsible for the police, and to those who knew how public order was maintained in those terrible days, no Commissioner of Police would give advice to the prime minister that was not congenial to the MLP. It is only of academic interest who actually flouted the judgment of the Court – whether it was KMB with the connivance of the Commissioner of Police or the other way round.
The “Senior Police Officers” who advised KMB concerning that predictable MLP mob violence were not “kept in the force and promoted by subsequent PN governments”. HE was prosecuted and sentenced to prison as an accessory to the killing of Nardu Debono.
THAT is your respect for the truth!
Victor Laiviera
Feb 20th, 00:21
@ Francis Saliba & Antoine Vella
Here is where I proved conclusively that the original "six points" never mentioned violence:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20091017/local/muscats-apology-generic-efa.277794
Francis Saliba M.D.
Feb 20th, 11:32
@ Victor Laiviera (20 Feb at 00:21)
The source you quoted DOES NOT PROVE anything you allege! It proves that your mind-set is impervious to the documented truth itemised by me.
Forget about your alleged "original" six points. What matters is their final form in the minutes at the conclusion of the meetings between Cardinal Prosper Grech and Dominic Mintoff. The sixth point in those minutes is precisely the admissibility of political violence in certain instances. What those instances were was amply demonstrated as soon as Mintoff became Prime Minister and continued during the KMB years.
"Political violence in certain instances" was put into unrestrained practice during the Mintoff-KMB era - it included the murder of a Nationalist supporter inside his NP club, the ransacking of the Curia, the residence of the leader of the NP and scores of NP clubs and arson of the printing press of The Times with its workers trapped inside.
That violence was not accidental or spontabeous. The ground had been prepared for It in Mintoff's "sixth point" as envisaged by him in 1966. Lino Spiteri was recruited by Mintoff to defend that sixth point among the others. Those are not my words. They are Lino Spiteri's. And he should know!
Victor Laiviera
Feb 20th, 17:00
The whole argument is set out here:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20091017/local/muscats-apology-generic-efa.277794
Anybody interested can check it out and come to his/her own conclusions. I have neither the time nor the inclination to repeat an amply concluded argument.
Victor Laiviera
Feb 20th, 00:05
In a way, I pity the PN bloggers/apologists. Not only do they have to go back 30 or 40 years in order to find something to latch on to - they have to distort the facts as well.
Is the present THAT horrible, for them?
Francis Saliba M.D.
Feb 20th, 16:50
@ Victor Laiviera.
Stop pitying "the NP bloggers/apologists" and try instead a long overdue self-assessment.
The present is NOT that horrible for them or anybody else. They MUST "go back 30-40 years in order to find something to latch on to" concerning the political violence carried out by the MLP "soldiers of steel". Those bullying cowards were unable to demonstrate there "steely" qualities unless a corrupted police force protected heir hide.
Ms.D. Galea
Feb 20th, 21:22
@ Mr Laiviera;
In a way I pity the PL bogger/ apologists.
Not only do they have to go back 50 years or even far back in time to find something to latch on to- they also have to distort the fact as well.
Is the present THAT horrible , for them?
R. Gauci
Feb 19th, 23:32
U xi tghidlna fuq il-health services qabel l-1971 sur Cardona?? Jekk trid nibghatlek ftit ritratti ta` x'kien hawn fis-snin 60 f'dak is-settur li hafna jahsbuhom gejjin minn zmien Charles Dickens pero trid tkun ragel bizzejjed li tippublikahom.
Jekk interessat ibghatli email, naghti l-permess lil the Times jghaddulek l-email addrss tieghi.
Francis Saliba M.D.
Feb 19th, 22:09
@ Victor Laiviera. (91 Feb at 13:57)
I am fascinated by the fourth point in YOUR “sitt punti”. How do you fit in that “point” with KMB’s behaviour when as the Prime Minister responsible for the police he flouted the judgment of the Court to allow the Nationalist Party to hold its public meeting in Zejtun and who flagrantly aligned the police alongside the MLP mobsters who were violently disrupting the approach of NP supporters to the meeting site and to assist that mob by SMU tear gas and police helicopters directing operations from overhead?
Victor Laiviera
Feb 20th, 00:15
They are not MY "sitt punti". They are the "sitt punti" submitted by the MLP to the Church authorities for discussion and which came back mutilated and distorted to show something that was never there in the first place.
Francis Saliba M.D.
Feb 20th, 11:46
@ Victor Laiviera (20 Feb at 00:15)
Forget about the ownership of the "six points" they were Mintoff's not yours - you only (mis)quote them.
Concentrate on the point raised by me. That point was how KMB flouted the concept quoted by you namely the use of the police to prevent the disruption of political meetings and as put into practice by him at Tal-Barrani when he supplied police reinforcement to boost (not to prevent) the MLP mobsters' violence.
Victor Laiviera
Feb 20th, 12:24
You really should have more respect for the truth. It is a pure lie to say that "KMB ... flouted the judgment of the Court to allow the Nationalist Party to hold its public meeting in Zejtun".
What actually happened was that, acting on the advice of Senior Police Officers*, KMB tried to stop the totally unnecessary meeting to avoid trouble. When the PN went to court and obtained a judgement, KMB IMMEDIATELY removed the ban. The PN got what it was really after - a few bloody faces to splash on the front pages of its papers.
* These were the same police officers who were kept in the force and promoted by subsequent PN Governments.
Francis Saliba M.D.
Feb 19th, 21:24
@ Victor Laiviera (19 Feb at 18:35)
There WAS a Mintoff’s sixth point and it stated:
“6. tkun ammessa l-vjolenza, f’certi kazi”
All the six points are identified in the footnote on page 91 of MLP ex-Minister Lino Spiteri’s memoirs “Jien u Ghaddej fil-Politika.”
The identical six points are given also in Adrianus Koster’s doctorate thesis “Prelates and Politicians in Malta” page 186 quoting Mintoff’s “Malta – Church, State, Labour – Freedom Press, 1966 page 44.
I won’t ask YOU to do YOUR homework because I asked you to do that a long time ago and you must have checked. But someone with your mind-set would not hesitate to indulge in some prevarication so as to come to the aid of his party.
Victor Laiviera
Feb 20th, 00:03
I have already proven to you - conclusively and in these very pages - that your claim is simply not true - completely false. The point about "violence" was simply the spin out on one of the points (the one aimed to prevent the disruption of political activities by ringing of church bells) by the Church authorities.
And you cannot distort the truth by misquoting Koster and/or Lino Spiteri.
When I have time, I will find the reference.
Francis Saliba M.D.
Feb 20th, 11:55
@ Victor Laiviera (20 Feb at 00:03)
You have not proved anything "conclusively" at all.
You are quoting preliminary draft MLP proposals for later discussion with Cardinal Prospero Grech. I am quoting the conclusive final agreed minutes signed by both the involved parties and as submitted by Mintoff to Lino Spiteri to be defended by him in the socialist press.
A Ellul
Feb 19th, 17:09
@ Victor Lavieria
you speak of "history a la carte" and "ignoring facts".
I suggest you go back to your history books for you omitted (perhaps conveniently) one of the sitt punti - namely that violence was to be admissable in certain instances. Or is to hard to digest knowing what happened years later - all under Mintoff's watch.
Victor Laiviera
Feb 19th, 18:35
@ Mr A Ellul
No, that was never one of the points - that was the dishonest spin given to one of the original points (the one about prevention of disruption of meetings) by the Church authorities.
Do your homework.
Victor Laiviera
Feb 19th, 19:09
@ A Ellul
These are the original "Sitt Punti" - anything else is a distortion.
http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/33908_10150099288078625_70741903624_7287244_5409510_n.jpg
Antoine Vella
Feb 19th, 21:41
In the 1960s, Mintoff's policies were summarised in six points of which the sixth was that violence was acceptable in certain cases.
Many years later, this last point was "censored" and replaced, but the truth was clearly set out, once and for all by none other than Lino Spiteri who spoke about it in his book of political memoirs “Jien u Ghaddej fil-Politika” (page 91).
Lino Spiteri can hardly be suspected of PN sympathies and accused of "dishonest spin".
Victor Laiviera
Feb 19th, 23:29
@ Antoine Vella
There is only one way to put this - you are making it up.
As for Lino Spiteri, you are either misreading what he wrote or (more probably) deliberately misquoting him. What he said was that he was asked to answer the six pints AS INTERPRETED BY THE CHURCH, not as they actually were.
d. attard
Feb 19th, 15:48
Am I right to believe that blogger has it in for Dr. Joseph Muscat? I mean even Dr. Muscat's coat and tie are not spared. With all the heavy sarcasm addressed Dr. Muscat's way, I believe that Dr. Joseph Muscat must surely be a man of steel. Good Prime Ministerial material I say.
Henry Mifsud
Feb 19th, 15:25
I haven't read your posts for quite sometime. By reading through this one it seems that I did not miss much.
I know how much you hate it when someone suggests to you to write about something else but I am going to do it just the same:
How about a piece about "Is-Suldati tac-comb ta' Gonzi" ??
That would surely make interesting reading.
Nough said hehe.
Antoine Vella
Feb 19th, 00:04
Soldiers of steel are also known as robots which is somehow apt.
d. attard
Feb 19th, 15:50
My compliments, Mr Vella, for the way your English has improved in leaps and bounds this last year or so. Well done old chap.
Victor Laiviera
Feb 18th, 23:37
The schoolyard taunts of the overbearing bully are the only weapons left in your armoury, That and the litany of exaggerations, half truths and outright lies (lots of them) you have been feeding the Maltese public for decades.
Now, they are seeing through you and you don't like it one little bit.
Tough luck.
Mr Joseph Carmel Chetcuti
Feb 18th, 22:59
If as you say "civil union is well on the road to becoming a reality", why has this not taken place and when is it going to take place under the PN? I hope you are not confusing cohabitation legislation with civil union legislation. After all, I understand you are a lawyer and as well all know Malta's lawyers are the best ... now let me pick myself up from the floor as that's where I have ended up with laughter! They certainly know how to dress the part.
D Farrugia
Feb 18th, 22:05
Bitter bitter man. You cannot fathom the fact that Muscat is better at your game.
Live with it, brass neck.
Mr Joe Micallef
Feb 18th, 19:45
Soldiers of Steel my foot. They were nothing but cowards protected by a corrupt discriminatory police force and elevated to graduates by criminal politicians who rubbed shoulders with others who still infest some benches of parliament!
Andy Farrugia
Feb 18th, 20:27
"..elevated to graduates"? U mela mhux hekk; meta kissru u farrku l-Kurja dik kienet "l-aristokrazja tal-haddiema". Ask KMB.
pat muscat
Feb 18th, 18:41
' Come in here, dear boy, have a cigar. You're gonna go far, fly high,you're never gonna die,They're gone love you....And did we tell you the name of the game, boy ?,We call it Riding the Gravy Train' Pink Floyd.
Ms.D. Galea
Feb 18th, 18:37
Joseph Muscat , in my humble opinion, is playing a very dangerous game by revising recent history in an effort to garner the votes of the first-time voters and those born well after the cold war was over.
What happened locally in the early sixties mirrored what was happening elsewhere in western Europe, at the time when Communism and Socialism had turned the whole of Eastern Europe into a gigantic repressive Gulag, where there were no individual rights for anyone , religion of any sort was brutally repressed and the State reigned supreme even over the individual famiy unit.
The Little World Of Don Camillo atmosphere in Malta at the time was prevalent all over Europe, west of the Berlin wall and it was hardly surprising that when Dom Mintoff came into power in 1971, his best buddies became the tyrants running the show in the Communist East.
One would have expected more unbiased observations from the prominent members of the intelligentsia taking part in recent ONE tv productions re-hashing for all that they are worth, the politico-religious conflict of the sixties. Not that one expects better from Joseph Muscat's Socialist ,Mintoffian media currently run by rabid unashamedly Marxists and others whose interests co incide with the aspirations of those who wish for the speedy downfall of the religion brought on these shores within the lifetime of some of the Apostles themselves.
A case of the well-known quote that was used by Evarist Bartolo himself, the day Joseph Muscat got elected as Party leader;.
The more they change, the ,more they remain the same.
Victor Laiviera
Feb 19th, 13:57
A fine example of "history à la carte". It completely ignores the fact that, in the 60s, the MLP was not pushing some red hot, revolutionary agenda It was simply seeking social reforms that had already been in place, in most European countries, for years, if not decades. Its position was much more “cxentrist” than that of most parties of the left in Western Europe
Its demands were encapsulated in the famous "Sitt Punti" which, in brief, called for;
- The right to opt for civil marriage;
- The right to opt out of religious instruction;
- The right to be buried in a proper cemetery (and not a rubbish-dump)
- The police to have power to prevent religious organisations from disrupting political meetings (for example through loud and continuous ringing of church bells);
- Public morality to be interpreted according to the accepted norms in Western Europe, and
- (a) The right to free elections without "mortal sin" sanctions and (b) everyone (including the clergy) to be equal before the law.
The “fear of communism” was simply the excuse that the Unholy Alliance made up of the Colonial Power, the PN and the Church used to try and block social progress in order to preserve their power and privileges.
Ms.D. Galea
Feb 19th, 19:50
@Mr Laiviera,
I
think you really should spare a moment or two to FIRST the posts you eventually honour with your typically predictable "a la carte" revisionist reply
One has got to understand the particular moment in time in LOCAL and INTERNATIONAL history before rushing to judge what went on in Malta FIFTY years ago.
Why, only a scant TWENTY FIVE years ago, the Socialist Mintoffian regime scoffed at the mere hint of .a liberalized media with multiple radio stations, colour television sets, the use of compuler technology whilst university degrees were viewed by the revered semi-divine Salvatur Ta Malta as "karta biex tqartas l incova".
Needlessto say , for intellectuals like Mr laiviera, the massacre of thousands of unarmed Christians in Communist Hungary in 1958, the repression of all belivers including Jews and Muslims in the Workers'Paradise aka the USSR, the invasion of Czechoslovakia and the sacrifice of Jan Palach are mere trivial urban legends whilst figures like Solgenitzhen, Carol Woytilia and Cardinal Mitzenty were frauds and con men.
Victor Laiviera
Feb 20th, 00:13
@Ms Doren Galea
When you can show a coherent link between " the massacre of thousands of unarmed Christians in Communist Hungary in 1958" and Members of the MLP being buried in a rubbish dump, I may take you seriously, Otherwise .....
j brincat
Feb 18th, 18:03
"As far as I am aware, IVF is already available, so is Muscat seeking to fight for something that exists already' "
As far as I know it is still in 'perpetual' committee stage before parliament.
Who knows maybe just before the election GonziPN may find enough courage to push forward the bill and put it to the vote!
(jb)
Carmel Camilleri
Feb 18th, 16:08
As always very good.
Ivan Grech Mintoff
Feb 18th, 13:42
The older you become, the more your comments emulate those of a hysterical fishwife (with apologies to hysterical fishwives for the comparison, of course!)...
Call this blogging(sic!)?! Seriously now.
Gianni tal- Bajda (tat-tiko tiko bar(Zejtun)) insists that you have too much fiscal reason to be worried about a change of Government but I'm not so sure...
Whatever the reason, please do not cease in your "blogging" !(sic!)...
Like plenty of PN (higher) protagonists keep telling you (they're ALL WRONG of course!), you are doing plenty of harm for GonziPN and thereby directly helping the very Nemesis of your existance....
Mr Joseph Carmel Chetcuti
Feb 18th, 23:01
You are being most kind Ivan. There are other words I would use to describe him but I leave these to the imagination of the readers.
Antoine Vella
Feb 18th, 12:57
America doesn't have a mountain big enough to do justice to Joseph's head. Maybe the Himalayas?
Victor Laiviera
Feb 19th, 16:37
At the other end, the Marianas Trench may be just deep enough to accomodate the depths to which certain bloggers and their familiars are prepared to sink to vent their bile and spite.
A. Tabone
Feb 18th, 12:34
He mentions liberalism, but he does not grapple with euthanasia, abortion, immigrants' rights and the like. He speaks of IVF, which already exists, or other 'current' issues with majorities in favour that also already exists.
Why defend the true minority issues, when Joseph can catch a passing bandwagon and act all Prime Ministerial?
Muscat always takes the easy way out. Be it promising heaven on Earth, which will materialise merely by having him in Castille, or by using his infamous magic wand.
N. Aquilina
Feb 20th, 14:56
Mr. Tabone,
IVF is available in Malta but only privately and you have to fork out around 6,000 euros, also freezing of embryos is not allowed ,therefore the person undergoing this procedure has to do it all over again from the start if the first time it fails again paying the total fee. For all those people who wish to have kids and can afford to do it privately well and good but what about the others who cannot afford to pay 6,000 euros? Jibqaw isaffru?
J J Dalli
Feb 18th, 12:22
Very clear you did not like this commemoration. Nobody's perfect. Truth hurts!
Luciano Pace Parascandalo
Feb 18th, 11:37
it seems it was wrong to commemorate the events of Tal-Barrani and the murder of Raymond Caruana but it is fine to 'celebrate' the anniversary of the election of 1962 and the 'dnub il-mejjet'
J J Dalli
Feb 18th, 12:48
What do you mean, one can and the other can't? As always PN have a divine right!
Mr Peter Vella
Feb 18th, 09:59
Thank you for telling it as it is. Unfortunately those born after 1990 have no idea what the Labour Party was really like in government and Joseph Muscat is targetting precisely that sector of the electorate with his pseudo-liberalism. The PL propagandists expect us to forget Labour's past and look to the future. The only way people like me would even consider doing this is if the PL condemned without conditions its past sins against democracy and solemnly promised not to go down that path again. This would of course only be credible if it disassociated itself with all those who in any way were connected with that regime. We cannot forget that Labour committed a virtual coup in 1981 and then spent the following 6 years trying to silence all opposition and hold on to power by all means available. The truth is that the people who were an integral part of all that have returned to prominence in the PL, AST, Joe Debono Grech, Joe Grima, Marie Louise Coleiro, Alfred Sant and Karmenu Vella to mention them by name. Joseph Muscat, you may try and fool us but we will not remain silent.
pat muscat
Feb 18th, 16:12
Obviously, the grass is greener on your side!
R. Gauci
Feb 19th, 23:42
Sur Vella z-zaghzagh tal-lum qed jaraw Gvern li qed imexxi pajjiz bla maggoranza parlamentari, klikek li litteralment hatfu pajjiz u lira huma biss qed jarawha u vjolenza li ghalkemm ma tidhirx pero twegga aktar, dik psikologika u media manipulata aghar min certi pajjizi totalitarji.
Imbaghad jekk tridhom iharsu lejn il-passat infakkrek li d-dinja ma bdietx fl-1982, kien hawn is-sebghijiet u s-sittinijiet ukoll, specjalment fis-sittinijiet hnizrijiet rajna u kif u fis-sebghinijiet rajna l-akbar wahda, il-massakru ta` Karin Grech bl-unika htija kien li missierha kien jidhol l-isptar jghin biex ikun hemm healthy babies Sur Cardona!