General elections usher in new socio-political beginnings especially when a new leader and a new party replace the old. A quick analysis of the movement created around the ideals of the new centre-left Prime Minister shows that there is more to it than just new faces – il-Partit Laburista introduced a fresh text: a new party logo complete with a white flag that blends well with Malta’s national colours, toning down the old red, not out of shame, but as dictated by the branding of a relaxed lighter image that appeals to a new generation of globalized screenagers. Its inclusive election slogan is a winner on appellative terms. It is national; like Mintoff’s “Malta l-ewwel u qabel kollox” (Malta first and foremost) it includes national identity which was trimmed out from the old MLP nomenclature and logo, inviting national ownership – Malta Tagħna Lkoll.
The image of il Partito Nazionalista changed little from its inception a century ago
Joseph Muscat created an attractive movement with appeals to disgruntled opposition members, civic society and gender minorities, after amending the rifts within the core, thus ascertaining grassroots support. It is a simple, sometimes naïve-looking kind of approach but it requires intelligent skills and discipline at media and communications strategy. Above all Muscat, himself a young man, drew hordes of young people with idealistic, though meaningful, catch phrases that are easier to transfer to electronic networks. Diligent hard work reflecting honesty and integrity produced excellent results.
Comparisons are odious but the image of il Partito Nazionalista changed little from its inception a century ago. The logo/flag itself seems to belong to the first half of the 20th century when black was in fashion in political Italian circles; nowadays crowns are only found in museums. Election slogans were mostly vague, obvious, at times even misleading due to lack of proper use of the Maltese language. The last hit on the billboards brought a smile: in Maltese whoever wants to “jgħix fil-kwiet” (live in peace) is usually inviting people to leave one alone! And that is what happened.
While the PL was risking all in adopting a new and lively profile, the PN stuck to power, dragging its feet to go to elections, often appearing arrogant in defying public opinion if not suspiciously defending corrupt practices by committing sins of omission. The divorce referendum in 2011 offered an opportunity not only to the new Labour leader to test his ground – which he did successfully – but also to the PN, who bungled it. During the weary long election campaign, spot-on surveys produced the writing on the wall but again PN strategists were caught napping. Like certain media dinosaurs in Malta, who in spite of using new technology tend to bury their heads in the sand, the PN did not realise it was becoming irrelevant to today’s civic society.
New beginnings usher in new directions. After almost 50 years of independence the country needs to tackle national issues. In a new global, regional, European world, Malta needs to focus on defining its own identity.
Education, the media and public spaces have not yet been coordinated enough to produce what the Maltese Islands stand for. The new Labour movement sported the national flag in most of its mass gatherings; its leader often encouraged respect towards past common achievements – positive signs in the right direction, but we need to place our collective memory centre stage before our youngsters are colonised by a universal culture of marketed individualism that gives little importance to citizenship.
Unfortunately few understand what the collective memory of a country is all about – many believe it is just what we remember from the past. But we do not remember everything from the past and we tend to forget more than we care to remember. Look at our national days – with the exception of Republic Day they are all tied to our colonial past. We are at a loss at deciding what to remember: past victims, the sentiments of a war we fought together or cutting the umbilical cord to the old British Empire? There is nothing wrong in remembering these events but what are we forgetting? Valletta is full of memorials to foreigners; where have our counter-monuments ended up? While European countries in the 1980s were discovering their counter-memories, we removed two national monuments to the periphery of the capital city in 2009. Is it collective memory or collective amnesia we have to address?
In this short thought-provoking exercise at imagining our citoyenneté I could not overlook the new Prime Minister’s early foreign contacts on assuming office. He was on the phone with the British Prime Minister on Sunday and on Monday received an invitation to visit Paris from the French President. When François Hollande visited Malta last autumn, in a short article on Malta-French connections in this paper, I had augured for better relations with France, a country with which Malta has a lot to filter in its memory.
Nations are made of citizens who are proud of their identity, conscious of their beginnings, ready to create a global future. Education and the media are the best tools to challenge eager fresh minds into learning about themselves. The recently published National Curriculum Framework for All 2012 may leave much to be desired when it seems to provide for only one history lesson every fortnight for senior students in secondary schools.
When and where will Maltese teenagers have the opportunity to discuss their past to form an opinion about their identity?
Public broadcasting – which curiously is rushing its invitation to proposals for October 2013 to June 2014 this month – has hardly helped on this front.
The system wherein producers bid for programmes – mostly made up of talking heads and dilettantish drama – might have its commercial advantages but it is about time PBS finds its European cultural mission and sets out to give the right service to the society that pays for it.