Sunday, 28th September 2008
The day when time did not stand still
I’m writing this piece on Sunday 28 September at 4.00p.m.overlooking a beautiful garden. The scene is quiet and peaceful, almost idyllic. But where I was same date, same time but 24 years ago was neither peaceful not quiet. It was full of tension. By 4.00p.m. of the 28 September 1984 I was exhausted. It was the day the Curia was ransacked.
The phone rang ….
It all started the day before: September 27. Rumours were rife that the aristocracy of the workers a.k.a. Dockyard workers were going to attack the Curia during the demonstration they were due to hold on the following day. The Curia’s lawyer informed the Police Commissioner of these rumours. It was a very tense day and the anticipation made the night even tenser.
After celebrating Mass I went to the residence of the Archbishop at Mdina. The first one to come over was Fr Joe Magro. He had been at Police Headquarters where he received, on behalf of the Archbishop, a petition from the women’s section of the Labour Party. That demonstration was quite peaceful. All went well.
Meanwhile the dockyard workers were on their way to Valletta. They were driven in large open trucks, courtesy of the dockyard. Many held iron bars as a token to their place of work and tools they used. No hint of intimidation entered their minds.
The phone rang. The priest at the other end informed us that the Curia had just been ransacked. Silence reigned. What can one say at such a moment?
I drove down to Floriana. I have a distinct recollection that I must have gone over the speed limit as I got there in record time. Why am I driving so fast? What will I do when I get there? What have they done? What damage have they caused? How will people react? Will this attack strike fear in people’s hearts? Many questions rushed through my mind; just questions. No answers.
A terrifying scene
I opened the side door opposite Argotti garden. It was the door used by the criminals to gain access to the Curia. The police, armed by the information supplied by the Curia lawyer, had amassed themselves near the front door. The other doors were conveniently forgotten and left unattended. Fortunately no one was in the building as it had been evacuated, and the Blessed Sacrament had been taken to a safer place.
On opening the door the eerie silence which filled the building shrieked a savage welcome. This was accompanied by a terrifying scene, too difficult and emotional to describe well. Shattered glass, smashed furniture and broken statues were the remaining witnesses of the vile attack.
I walked the corridor towards the chapel. The silence was broken by the glass scrunching beneath my shoes. The scene in the chapel made be shiver. Broken benches were all over the place and on top of each other. Even the altar had been attacked. Nothing was left in its place. They even tried to break the little door of the Tabernacle.
I prayed in silence asking for forgiveness for such an act of wanton violence. Ahfrilhom ghax ma jafux x’inhuma jaghmlu, was the only prayer that could come to my heart’s voice.
The corridor adjacent the Chapel revealed more horrors. The very large paintings that used to hang on the wall were now on the floor. Quite appropriately they depicted scenes from the Passion of the Lord. All of them were torn in one place only. The face of Christ in each painting was torn to pieces. Was it madness or malice that drove the perpetrators of this vile act? Whoever believed that the Passion was a one off event was mistaken!
Mgr Lupi’s office left intact
All offices were topsy-turvy. But those were offices, not a chapel or a sacred painting. An electronic typewriter that had just been bought for my office was now adorning the corridor’s floor in several pieces. All offices were ransacked … but one. Mgr Lupi’s office was left intact. The joke was that that office was so topsy-turvy anyway that whoever went in must have thought that it had already been attacked.
Little by little other Curia officials arrived. A number of Court experts came in accompanied by police officers.
The PBX had been broken to pieces. But fortunately there was a direct line in the office of the Secretary of the Archbishop which was still functioning. I sat down and started phoning journalists and news agencies in several countries. A police officer stood in front of me, taking notes. A foreign journalist told me later that his agency, in its first dispatch, had not included the fact that the Curia was in front of Police Headquarters. They could not believe that shameful detail.
The odd joke
It was a long, tiring and hard day. It was broken by the odd joke, though. I remember the late Dr Paul Mallia, the Curia’s lawyer. He was a very prim and proper person. A true gentleman but a bit stiff. While walking around and over the debris he broke his silence and solemn face by saying: “Finally someone has broken this statue. It was so ugly. Some good has come out of this tragedy.” All smiled, even those who did not share his artistic judgement on the poor statue.
The Archbishop arrived in the evening. “Il-Bambin jahfrilhom” were his first words. Later in the evening he met Prime Minister Mintoff.
A few days later an English journalist recounted to me his shock when a senior government official (whose name he mentioned) told him verbatim: We attacked the Curia and they succumbed and came to negotiate.
People with little minds misunderstand the actions of wiser people who are always ready to extend the hand of friendship.
Remembering is a healing process
The group that shamed the Labour Party and shamed Malta were thrown into the dustbin of history by Alfred Sant. He courageously did what his predecessors did not have the will or capacity to do.
The country has matured a lot since then. I believe most of us can remember what happened without any rancour. Most can look at our collective past and learn from it. Most of us are mature enough to look at our past in its face – warts and all - and heal ourselves while remembering it and by remembering; while recounting it and by recounting it.
Till next time I wish you all good bye and good luck.
PS: I’ll be using this signing off line as a tribute to the great American journalist Ed Murrow who fought McCarthyism in the 1950's,
Comments
I apologised last time in case you missed my point. My point/intention are not the details you mentioned.
My point is that the “intention” of these muggers was not to attack the house of God.
Like was explained on the radio where Father Joe was one of two participants, it was clarified that Mintof and MLP never had the intention to go against the Church or God either. They went through the events of how this transpired. To long to relay here.
Anyway - My point was therefore that when Father Joe reminded us of the attack anniversary he should have clarified to readers, that the Church in Malta had previously decided to play a Major Political and Decisive Role and joined one of the two fronts. Hence, as I understand it now, a target for the muggers.
Many still think to date that their “intention” was God and/or His House and or the Catholic Church. In fact like you rightly said, they attacked many other institutions.
Re. details you mentioned in para 2. I do not wish to argue. My quote comes from, Mid-Dlam ghad-Dawl with-financial-support-from AGIS Programme European-Commission-Directorate-General Justice, Freedom-And-Security. REV-DR-MARK F. MONTEBELLO O.P…………..(CRIM. JUST.)
UNIVERSITY-OF-MALTA-2007
The unsolved Karen Grech murder case and other criminal cases that remained unsolved were trashed out rather extensively round about 19 August 2008 in a sister blog in the timesofmalta entitled "Predictable" (AndrewBorg Cardona). You may care to look them up.
In 1987 PN promised to punish these criminal acts. When you analyze the situation one will notice that certain police officials were promoted instead of being fired out of the depot!!!
Funnily enough he never mentions Karen Grech, l-Interdett, all the threats towards the civil workers when labour governed, all the bombs, the accidents in Hal-Luqa, Zebbug and Imqabba, vandalism on private houses which even appeared in the '98 election, etc.
There is an explanation for everything Father, you simply choose to try and throw mud at labour because of your political affiliations. You should teach others of making things history for future opportunitites and not turning history into political propoganda.
SHAME ON YOU
I never knew the Fenech Adami family personally but Mrs Mary Fenech Adami always struck me as being a decent, unpretentious, totally harmless housewife and mother and it takes a totally perverse kind of mob to consider physically attacking her just because she was the opposition leader’s wife.
But what bothers me most NOW is the fact that the thugs who did this (and who will always be a danger to the WHOLE of Maltese society and not just to PN supporters) are not mentioned by name – neither in the media nor tête-à-tête. I and many others do not know who they are. But surely several people must know who the attackers were and I strongly believe that the latter have a civic duty to name them.
Naming such dangerous people is just as important as having a publicly accessible register of child abusers and sex offenders as far as I am concerned. But unfortunately - unlike most other western democracies - we have not even reached the latter stage yet.
We're not living in a perfect country, far from it (even because of the international economic situation), but I choose the present over the 70ies and 80ties anytime.
I did not mention pain in any of my posts so cannot understand why you should be going on about it. It’s almost as if you’ve just read a book about the subject and are determined to tell us all about it. All I said was that, nowadays, most (not all) Nationalists are not hostile to Labourites and that “. . . there’s no point in poisoning oneself by being bitter. We should be able to dissect and analyse our history calmly without rancour.” We ought to be able to read an honest account of a particular event without calling it despicable and accusing the writer of hypocrisy, opening Pandora’s boxes and diabolical operations.
Regarding the left-right politics, I believe that actions speak louder than labels. That is why I suggested that, in order to understand present-day Malta, you should base yourself on facts and acts rather than abstract musings.
PS. It was suggested to me to put (Balzan) after my name to distinguish myself from another person who also posts as Antoine Vella
Re ‘Going back to your accusation that Fr Borg had associations with the right’
As you so rightly point out “You can only understand the present by knowing the past; and remember that we're talking about people here”. By knowing I presume you mean experiencing, living through events in time etc. Human behaviour in the form of action is overt and therefore subject to interpretation. I can through having experienced this said past and having had the chance of observing overt behaviour form that opinion .
Should I now, after your take on Maltese political history describe the democratically elected party in government (NP) as what exactly, centre left, and an affiliated member of the European Socialists? The NP is affiliated to ‘the political family of the centre-right’. If you do not believe me, I would suggest you visit the European people’s party website and read their mission statement.
Re Reconciliation etc.
Am I to presume that you speak in the name of all Nationalists; you rather uncouthly assume that all pain is the same or that it only belongs to the collective. The heated posts on the matter below disprove your statement. To minimise unwittingly the pain of of aggrieved Nationalist and just as unfairly that of Labour supporters and their families is testament to your great misunderstanding of the human condition. It seems you only have the divine right to the measuring rule of pain!
Re world of books vs that of living people
I suppose it’s not within your realm of experience to approach a topic three ways or five ways. The semantics you use are also quite interesting; it seems that dealing with emotive issues is not something you savour. Not only do you objectify these, you attempt to disparage and discard pain on both sides of the divide. Applying a clinical whitewah to silence the aggrieved will not make the pain go away. Try dealing with the reality of people, their suffering and personal pain or is your interpretation of the pain of others derived from book sources only?
Some people expect that the victims of (political)violence should not speak about it , especially if one is a Catholic priest. How can a victim ever forget such state supported violence?
Certain episodes from our life remain vividly clear in our memory especially violent ones.
They say that time heals , but sometimes time seems to stand still !
Justice can not be DONE
why because that would mean taking to court lots of people which today form part of this administration and the opposition and lots of those thugs were given a pardon (official and unofficial pardons) so the only thing we can do LEARN FORM THESE PAST EVENTS OR EVIL EVENTS
Quote 'most, Nationalists do not feel any hostility towards Labour' supporters'
Countless times I have been passed off as a Nationalist in groups that have expressed subtle and less subtle emotions of hate, abhorrence, detestation and revulsion towards laborites. Others who know my leanings would convey similar emotions coated in a sugary so-called sense of humour.
Such experiences are usually waived aside as being a reflection of a long-standing state of affairs.
Spending years in a practical state of isolation, or in a post that ill-fits one's skill-base, or serving a less competent blue-eyed, is considered by laborites as a natural consequence of their status, as a few other laborites seek to fill posts made available by power managers to portray attaparsi fairness..
On the other hand, some nationalists seem to have the right to pick and choose their role.
I share this experience in the knowledge that unless we know that we have a problem, we can not seek a solution.
It is also obvious that those who benefit from such a possible state of affairs will see no problem in such culture or will try to ridicule it.
Now, I never mentioned Vengeance before, but now that you are admitting it yourself, how about it? After all, so many thousands of people suffered terror at the hands of old Labour at the time. What's good for the goose ... and all that.
@ Fr Joe Borg - Happy, Father, with the Pandora's box you opened? Enjoy it, then!
@Martin Portelli & Antoine Vella....I guess it's Fukayama who died.....the Right-Left debate can still be seen in issues such as civil rights, military action, finance capialism and its recent hiccup and exposed vulnerability, subsidies, free health care etc. One can also look at the USA at the moment with the debate about health care etc etc. Indeed, Fukayama is dead...
" . . ."aristocracy of the working class" is actually a derogatory term . . ."
Right. So, KMB was insulting the thugs when he called them "aristocracy of the workers". Maybe he wasn't as well-read as you are and didn't know that, according to theorists, he wasn't supposed to use that phrase.
Going back to your accusation that Fr Borg had associations with the right, you'd know how wrong you were if you stopped thinking and talking in jargon and quoting stuff like 'Frankfurt school' (what about the Maltese Church schools?), Cultural Critique, Lockeian democracy, Marcuse, etc.
Forget Marcuse and Locke. To understand Malta, look up names like Fenech Adami, Alfred Sant, Gonzi, Mintoff, Archbishop Mercieca and others who have had a real bearing on our lives. You'd realise that, for example, the Labour government of Alfred Sant was closer to the economic right than the PN. You'd realise that the social consciience of the Nationalist governments and the discriminatory class distinctions of the 1970-80s. completely overturn your bookish definitions. In Mintoff's time, capitalism (unbridled for a chosen few) reigned supreme and even nationalised industries and services were theoretically meant to run on capitalist lines.
So, put own your philosophy textbooks for a while and go explore the newspaper archives of the University or the National Library. You can only understand the present by knowing the past; and remember that we're talking about people here, not theories.
But what IS my style is that justice should be done, to all. Justice is different than vengeance.
Yes, in the 70s and 80s, there was GOOD and there was EVIL, not just BAD.
Yes, I was a bit unfair because I did realise you were referring mainly to the other contributors but, on the other hand, you did address yourself "@ all" and that includes Fr Borg (and me).
Reconciliation is only relevant when there is hostility and, as I said in one of my posts, most, Nationalists do not feel any hostility towards Labour' supporters (Labour officials - especially if survivors from another era - are another matter, Labour sympathisers who keep mentioning the Church's perceived faults only do it to hide their embarrassment and discomfort when confronted with their party's past and not because there is real hostility (except in rare cases)
My accusation about your being out of touch was not based only on your left-right division (I was going to say paradigm but hate using words like that) but also on other issues which were...erm...'lost in translation'. One of them is name-dropping: you cannot put together 2-3 sentences without quoting some obscure author ('obscure' being a subjective term) and that, for me, is a sign of someone whose world is made of books, not living people.
You say that it is foolish and malicious to claim that the present situation in Malta is "much much worse" than it was under Mintoff and KMB.
I never compared situations but analysed the impact of pain caused by different methods of 'torture'. Such comparison as you make is a futile one because it much depends on which side of the fence one lives.
I say that it is foolish and malicious to ignore institutionalised discrimination, if this exists, that can be a silent culture, a breaker of metaphorical back-bones, brains and heart, a silent killer.
In ignoring the need for true reconciliation, one may be sowing a wind.
It only takes a cursory look at the world's whirlwinds to notice a main cause; complete disregard for the pain of others.
'Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God'.
Everyone will know in one's own conscience if each uttered word is a word of peace or a word that sows the wind.
"JUM ISWED IEHOR GHAL MALTA"
You like many (including my relatives) are still bitter and would like justice and VENGEANCE.
And that's why i would like all of the younger generations to learn from these events.
And yes you have every right to criticize but pls never use hate to criticize the past.(and this is addressed to all)
Let me speak to you in Maltese, my mother-tongue: TIPPRUVAX TGHATTI IX-XEMX BL-GHARBIEL, ghax ma jirnexxilekx. Hija gidba fahxija, tghid li dawk li kissru l-Kurja kienu vittmi infushom fis-Sittinijiet.
The Curia was ransacked for one single reason - there had grown the mentality in Malta, from 1971 onwards, when Mintoff took power in Malta, that Labour was right, that Labour could do whatever it wanted and it could get away with murder ... and literally!!!!!! The Nationalists could not even breathe in public, let alone cause violence at that time.
So, Mr Borg, when I listen to you trying, however subtly, to excuse the horrible actions of those evil days, you know what I think? I say to myself: this guy was with them in spirit.
I end here.
Re Fr. Joe's narrative, measuring rule and comparison.
You presumed that my two posts address the same person. I would suggest however that you read the other posts by other contributors who vie with each other to proclaim that their side suffered the most. .You obviously did not read through. Perhaps reconciliation is not a term you are familiar or at ease with? Do you deem it too abstract to be real?
Re me in a time warp
My guess is that you're stuck in a idiosyncratic conversation with the Francis Fukayama of the 90’s Yes, yes the triumph of Lockeian liberal democracy the world over (Malta included)and centuries of boredom to look forward to in a happy consumer society. Go tell it to Wall Street and Iraq! I think History has been fighting back since the 90's ( try Austria for the right and Germany for the left). You also assumed no difference and no political competition. Well you might find that harder to flog.
This "apparent state of affairs" that "breaks metaphorical backbones" is an imaginary one that lives in your mind.
It is foolish and malicious to claim that the present situation in Malta is "much much worse" than it was under Mintoff and KMB.
Even if this does not, by any means, justify what took place, one should keep in mind that many of those who participated in this horrible act had suffered under Catholic violence in the 1960s. This, however, in no way justifies their actions.
One should also keep in mind that those were tense days. Labourites had been witnessing for years opposing forces doing all they could to obstruct the Govt. ("Malta file", boycotts, Karen Grech, attempts to bribe Labour MPs etc etc). This was indeed a reaction. Probablly the conflict of the 60s + the socio-economic cleavages (people who had always formed part of the looked-down, deprived, productive classes now had economical & political power) where at the heart of such incidents. Yet, this is in no way a justification.
Many thanks for your frank (as always) reply.
This specific blog contribution deals with a historic event as experienced by the blogger. Even allowing for emotional slants, the event mentioned goes down as a black day and is representative of a specific mindset and strategy that I for one has condemned and will condemn with all my might.
Ultimately, it stands up for what is good, and highlights what is evil.
My point is that in my opinion, the political beneficiaries of this horrible behavior may have not committed themselves to a fair nation.
It is ironic how a colleague of mine, who benefited greatly these last twenty years from his political allegiance, recently opined that it is no longer sufficient to be blue, one needs to be an endorsed blue. Now just imagine where that leaves all non-blues (most of them reds, some green and others).
This apparent state of affairs is no single reprehensible act that can be carefully recorded.
It is much much worse.
It is a silent culture, a breaker of metaphorical back-bones, brains and heart, a silent killer ...
And one may ask, where are the voices that thirst for justice?
May I interrupt your monologue and invite you to read Fr Borg's piece before commenting? The blog item contain no comparisons and no measuring rules but is a straightforward account of a day in the life of 1980s Malta. There were scores of such ransackings throughout the 16 years of MLP regime.
You probably do not realise how old-fashioned and out of touch with reality your comments are. You still reason in terms of left and right, for example,when these have long been superseded in Malta (and even before that in Europe) and are now meaningless.
The truth is constructed somewhere in between polorised viewpoints. To assume that one narrative is the more relevant and bin another to historical oblivion is hardly an exercise in reconciliation. Players on both sides may try to forget heritage and history but they can't escape responsibility, in the words of Ed Murrow .
The point here is not to take out a measuring rule and decide which side suffered the most. To imply that the pain of one group is greater and more relevant than that of another is less than honest. Pain is deeply personal. What we have always lacked as a nation is the idea of intra-cultural dialogue, we are deeply mired in a culture of fragmentation and for that all bear responsibility
Ed Murrow is relevant because History happens in time on both sides of a divide. You may be finding it hard to transcend your own socio-historicity and I empathise, it takes fortitude. Nonetheless speaking about the past may be healing provided the intentions are sincere otherwise it becomes an exercise in division.
“They imagined bygones would be bygones, that the past would not hold the present and future hostage. Mercifully, we don't possess a fiat by which we can declare "let bygones be bygones" and they dutifully become bygones and go and lie down quietly. They have an uncanny capacity to return and haunt us. An unexamined and unacknowledged past finds all kinds of skeletons emerging from all sorts of cupboards to bedevil the present. Just ask General Pinochet. As Santayana declared hauntingly: "Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it."
1. you would care to address me directly and not put me in one bag along with others, thank you very much!!!
2. you would care to be clear about what you want me to be happy about so that I, in turn, will be able to answer you as I deem fit!
I repeat to you, Mr Buttigieg, that just because you are a happy lackey of one politicial party, that does not mean that everyone you meet is also a lackey of the same political party, or the other.
Please, learn that there are people out there, such as myself, who have never had it good from any political party but who have had it very badly from a particular one. That does not make us rivals.
But you need to open your eyes and see the reality around you, rather than continue being blinkered with what you always perceived to be the better way.
The episode Fr. Joe refers to is a fact. The politico- religious conflict of the Sixties and the other subsequent events under Mintoff need to be revisited and exorcised.
Any form of wrongdoing can never be justified.
This can only be done if a fair, dispassionate exposition is carried out. Also, blanket apologies are meaningless and unjust as they make no distinction between what actions were wrong or otherwise. Blanket apologies, be they by the Church for the events in the Sixties or by the MLP for what happened between 1971/86 are woefully inadequate.
We all have our differences but we must have the courage and the decency to seek the truth of past events and apologise specifically for specific failings. This is not a question of scoring points.
Desmond Tutu in his Longford lecture points out the shortcomings of neglecting this painful but healthy exercise if we want to banish the demons of the past. Otherwise, the wounds fester and reconciliation remains a myth.
While I agree in theory about what you say, let me remind you that I, for one, am a normal citizen, a law-abiding citizen. I have never had anything to do with the law, I have never broken the law and I have never made life hell to my neighbour, quite unlike many people. I have never supported those who are violent and I have myself, always been a victime of these people.
Unlike thousands of people, my family, relatives and I, have never enjoyed privileges from any potlician or other persons.
So, I, for one, have every reason to criticise the years of turmoil, as well as both Parties, for that matter, because I have never taken part in any activity which meant hardship to others!
So, please, do not come and address ME because, man, I have nothing to be embarrassed about with MY PAST.
As regards the others .... welll ......!
We need to protect our children at any case from any past present and future !
I’m glad you’re all happy now, have a nice weekend.
Signing off.
Charles.
MIN MHUX HATI JITFA L-EWWEL GEBLA!!!!!
The two parties the PN and MLP have made grave mistakes even the church with its infamous interdett. Its of no use going back to the past it would be of use if we go back to the past analysis our past mistakes and hopefully learn form them.
So stop blaming Mintoff and M. Gonzi and EFA and the thugs and the smu cid and the countless ministers form both sides of parliament and learn form the past.
OR DO WE STILL HATE EACH OTHER THAT WE STILL WANT REVENGE!!!!!
It is ironical that you so rigorously defend the MLP for their past atrocities on the same paper whose building was attacked and burnt by the MLP because it couldn't fathom the concept of freedom of speech...Sweet, isn't it?
Btw, have you ever heard of David Irving? You would make great buddies...since you're both revisionists...
Your reaction to this? .... "Splutter! Splutter!" But who cares?
You have repeatedly thrown our collective experience to the dustbin of history...your twisted, distorted revision of this same history should also be relegated to this dustbin...
And no, my dear Charles J Buttigieg, MLP apologist extraordinaire, I am no Pharisee. Are you?
Adieu.
Sue Fr Joe Borg if you think he distorted facts...
Enough said and get over yourself already.
Yes we should 'commemorate' this anniversary and remember that certain people who were ministers in those days have made a comeback in the MLP.
Commemorating Raymond Caruana , Sette Giugno ,Black Monday , the Attack on the Curia or the Interdett help us understand our past mistakes.
Questioning one's intelligence is a hallowed Maltese custom
Had this been the good old days, when euphemism was but an obsure dictionary entry, you would have brushed me off with the more popular "Int hmar t'Alla" or, "Int Gahan" or, the worst possible insult, "Int awci!" ("Awci," meaning, "From Ghawdex/Gozitan.")
To meet your request, I suggest to you, Father, to first, consider using prayer as part of the healing process -- we, in the old days, were taught just that in Cathecism classes; and second, heed your own advice -- see your post scriptum -- because when you opted for mockery instead of a rebuttal, you ended up proving, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the purpose of this particular essay was to portray Dom Mintoff as a thug.
Reaching for your opponent's jugular just to cut your own throat in the process, doesn't make much sense.
Peace, Father.
As regards your question: the answer, as I see things, is a qualified NO.
What I mean to say is, however, that the 1987- today situation has absolutely nothing to do with the Mintoff/KMB regime.
To equate the favouritism of today with that of that black age is to be unfair with the leaders involved.
To involve oneself in side-discussions and try to off-track from the main argument in this blog is tantamount to denying that anything wrong took place in the 70s and 80s. I continue to ask myself where were certain people whose names continually appear in these comments to defend the MLP of that time - some faces of which ear are still around in that Party.
I have come to respect your opinion as you truly try to look at both sides of the coin.
I can come round to understand your views on the Labour Government of the 70-80s for I too have lived those times and concur with the downsides that you highlight .
Yet I do not understand how you fail to recognise the upside of those times. I lived those years as a quasi nationalist, an in-between and finally a mild laborite followed by a period of complete detachment. In my view Labour made many positive achievements throughout this period (excluding the last 5 horrible years that is).
But the purpose of this post is to ask you a question, if you may so allow:
The Nationalist Party has now been in power for a couple of decades or thereabouts. Would you say that throughout this time, a nationalist sympathizer has, on average, the same opportunity to advance in life as as one with Labour sympathies?
I feel this to be an important question relative to the topic under discussion.
Q.The topic here is that for almost 17 years, the MLP wreaked havoc in this country through violence.
A.That apparently was Fr.Joe Borg’s convenient agenda to entertain people with a selective memory unlike yours.
Q.You, and people like you, continues to bury yourselves in the ground without ceasing, through your feeble trying to defend yourselves from those dark days.
A. You just quote one single line from my exhaustive contributions to the press where I defended any kind of violence. The 1971-1987 era is considered dark by some and glorious by others no more or any less than 1987-1996.
In closing, please do not put words in my mouth, my credo is constant- total condemnation to all violent acts committed by Labour and PN supporters alike and there’s no tolerance for the church’s, not just Gonzi, for its past moral violence and discriminations against Strickland’s, Boffa’s and Labour supporters. The Nationalists just condemn the Labour supporters and you laud them Mr. Farrugia.
.
@ Franco Farrugia Part one.
Q.Do you remember when the PN could not even celebrate Independence Day in peace? Why was that? Was it because they were violent?
A. Yes I do remember and no the Nationalists were not violent, just martyrs. I also remember the MLP meeting in Gozo when the Bishop, the Monsiniors, the Priests, Tal Muzew and other PN supporters greeted us with flowers and fireworks and the church bells tolled. I also remember our reserved area at the Addolorata Cemetery all painted in red, and the special privileges to get married in the sacristy.... we have so many beautiful memories of the past. But that was only part of our precious church’s history which had nothing to do with a PN alliance.
Q.How can you equate the Crusades waged by the Christians with the Mintoff/KMB regime?
A.I cannot because our precious church is holy and Mintoff\ KMB killed thousands of Nationalists.
Q.Do you consider Mercieca a Michael Gonzi? Because if you do, sorry, but you are past redemption!
A. Comparisons are odious. Past redemption? I will only allow God to be the judge of that, are you God?
The good thing is that there is at least one person who states facts as they are and couldn't care about what people call him!
The topic here is that for almost 17 years, the MLP wreaked havoc in this country through violence and intimidation, which escalated with the burning of TT, the ransacking of the Curia - even the person of Archbishop Mercieca was attacked (remember Lourdes Parish, Paola, when Mgs Mercieca was forced to eat humble pie and phone the Police Commissioner who was nowhere to be found, wonder of wonders? And he had to leave through side-doors?)
Do you consider Mercieca a Michael Gonzi? Because if you do, sorry, but you are past redemption! And yet, he was vilified to stand up for Church schools, etc ...
How can you equate the Crusades waged by the Christians with the Mintoff/KMB regime?
Do you remember when the PN could not even celebrate Independence Day in peace? Why was that? Was it because they were violent?
You, and people like you, continue to bury yourselves in the ground without ceasing, through your feeble trying to defend yourselves from those dark days. And that is why people would usually be afraid of you!
900 years ago the Catholic Crusaders lifted the banner of the cross above non Christians and tortured and butchered thousands in the name of Christ. But there’s no problem in that because that happened many years ago.
But the worst sinners are today’s Labour supporters because they haven’t learned from their past mistakes.
Biex tiskongra trid tkun pur u tal PN Puri. Oh yes, almost forgot the Church and the PN’s support to Benito Mussolini and Generalissimo Franco Fid.Dif. but there again that was a long time ago and too unimportant to be mentioned.
All these blog-webs are full of righteous souls; I am a sinner who supports a political party which has a history of violence maybe I should vote PN next time to save my soul. Hypocrites!
Cabbages and kings. From the Archbishop’s Curia to the USA.
I always thought of Ed .Murrow as a person with communist tendencies. Didn’t he use to sponsor invitations to students to attend indoctrination schools in Moscow? But there again his legend is too controversial that I don’t know which interpretation to believe. The man is rolling over in his grave at how often people say he is rolling over in his grave. And he was cremated!!
The comments on this page are ample proof of that.
On her death bed a smile came to 'Salvina's' lips as the Viatiku bell became more distinct.
Her smile quickly cascaded into intense hurt as the viatiku carried on.
She asked her son why the viatku did not enter her compact terran.
They prayed together and alone. Soon after she died.
Her son, now in his old age, recalls this episode EACH AND EVERY DAY.
Yet now in his old age, he looks forward to a next day.
Why oh why keep at it? I seem to recall our present bishop saying that there will be no back staring and that we need to move forward.
So why my feeling that asking anyone of a specific mindset to exercise a modicum of intelligence in applying discretion is like asking a rat to act like a dove?.
@Father Joe Borg Part two of two.
British and Italian police, magistrates, forensic scientists, toxicologists and a host of other consultants have since picked through the original findings and witness testimony, and have scrutinised both the scaffolding and Calvi’s clothes. Three autopsies analysed the dirt under his fingernails for traces of dust from 11lb of bricks stuffed into his pockets. His neck has been scanned for bone lesions and his body examined for bruises. Detective Superintendent Trevor Smith, of the City of London police, who has been supporting the Italian investigation, said: “We have been applying 21st-century forensic and investigative techniques to a 21-year-old crime.”
The conclusion of Luca Tescaroli and Maria Monteleone, the Italian prosecutors, is that the banker’s death was no suicide. Files obtained by The Sunday Times show that they believe the mafia bosses ordered the killing of Calvi, the sacked chairman of the failing Banco Ambrosiano, because he withheld millions of dollars in profits from them. His death brought down a financial house of cards as Ambrosiano collapsed in one of Vatican’s biggest post-war scandals.
And then there was the mysterious death of Pope John Paul 1(Luciani)............
" Most of us can remember what happened without any rancour. Most can look at our collective past and learn from it. Most of us are mature enough to look at our past in its face – warts and all - and heal ourselves while remembering it and by remembering; while recounting it and by recounting it." I’m with you all the way Reverend Father even at the risk of opening a can of worms. Now let us all learn something out of this.
Four people, including a former friend of Calvi’s and a notorious mafia boss, stood trial in a Roman courtroom for the murder of a man known as “God’s banker”, so-called because of his links with the Vatican. Two British women appeared as witnesses. Among the chilling evidence heard was that Calvi was probably still alive when he was hanged from scaffolding under Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1982, and may have taken up to an hour to die. The official verdict by a British coroner was suicide but an inquiry the following year ended with an open verdict.
Gosh Ed. Murrow! Never would have believed it, you're a closet marxist after all! I see the great spirit of Catholic universality spurs you to even greater heights! You do,I hope, agree with another of Murrow's maxims , that ' we can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result".
Asking anyone of the mindset of certain people to read your piece with a modicum of intelligence is like asking an organ-grinder’s monkey to read Bach. When one is blinded by denial and revisionism, one continues to labour under illusions and paranoia.
But then, Fr Joe, some people mistake intelligence with the number of degrees one splashes all over the place, as if whatever one says holds greater value because of these qualifications! To quote Murrow again “Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar" (wise man!). Intelligence consists in recognizing mistakes, owning up to them and apologizing for them..and moving on. I don’t blame certain people for failing to do so since the MLP is finding difficulty with this process.
So, no, sundry commentators, we cannot stop talking about the past until it has been put to rest, not by ignoring it or denying it ever existed, but by owning up to it and apologizing for it. Then we can move on.This nation needs closure and until this happens, Fr Joe, you’re welcome to comment upon our collective memory.
Enough Said ;)
You have opened old wounds, because your intelligence should have told you that there will be people who will try to somehow downsize the extent of the hardship endured by thousands upon thousands of people while other thousands and thousands either looked on with non-chalance or else, even enjoyed benefits!
PS But before suggesting anything just re-read my piece in a calm frame of mind and using a modicum of intelligence. Or am I asking too much?
I was mistaken. I apologise. I thought that " most of us can remember what happened without any rancour. Most can look at our collective past and learn from it. Most of us are mature enough to look at our past in its face – warts and all - and heal ourselves while remembering it and by remembering; while recounting it and by recounting it."
It seems that many have not achieved this level of maturity,
I will atone for my mistake by reading certain comments over and over again. That should be punishment enough i guess.
It is good for those events to be discussed openly. Some of the immature and petty comments on this page demonstrate how important it is to have eye-witness accounts that give a true picture of what happened for it is apparent that most MLP sympathisers have not yet come to terms with the past of their party. This is not surprising and happens in other societies as well – in Italy they are still just starting to ‘discover’ and discuss the crimes and abuses carried out by some partisans in the 1943-1945 civil war.
But he is not the first priest to indulge in character assassination -- a practice put to use, since time immemorial, by some members of the clergy for a number of selfish reasons. It is the type of priestly activity that gives the Church a bad name.
Almost seven centuries ago, Boccaccio's Abraham described the clergy of Rome as having neither sanctity nor devotion. Luxury, avarice, gluttony, and diabolical operations occupied their time. Like them, They professed virtue and practiced wickedness.
Fr. Borg is portraying Dom Mintoff as a thug; guilty by association. That is the central message of this despicable topic.
Carrying a grudge for 24 years and now fanning the embers of hatred, is not forgiveness. Invoking one of Christ's last prayers to Almighty God, is a blasphemy.
Mahatma Gandhi once observed that, "The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."
God is strong; let Him forgive. Fr. Borg is human, and therefore, weak; so it is quite normal for him to not forgive. Makes sense, no?
.
@ John Schembri. Quote. Do you know who did those atrocities? And who was Nardu Balzan? Unquote. Is that the best you can do? I asked 15 questions and you reacted to only two and with a question. I will allow you to be the judge of that but please enlighten us.
PS. Yes I know who Nardu Balzan was(or is) but you no doubt realised that was my mistake... I obviously meant Nardu Debono. I apologise to ‘l-Imqareb’(and\or his family) and admit that I too make mistakes.
Under a carob tree at Tal-Virtu! Do you or don't you realise that the students there, at that time, were also sons of tax-payers, Maltese citzens themselves, yet, were deprived of the same learning experience as those still at Tal-Qroqq? And all because Mintoff deemed that there was no need for a Faculty of Theology at Tal-Qroqq?
May I suggest that you humbly don't continue to show yourself for what you are?
I simply wonder where you were during those years!
Why don't you tell us????
@ Charles Buttigieg - I am sure you will continue to read whatevere is written the way you wish, hence, no need to answer your comments.
2. Mr Schembri, I have read many articles, books and dissertations on the subject, and I don’t need any of your suggestions on what to read and not to read. What I can tell you is that up till now the subject is so delicate, that no historical work is enough objective and free of political prejudice. However, whatever the reason for the interdiction, as Prof. Giudo De Marco affirms in his “The Politics of Persuation,” the interdiction was “an overreaction on the side of the Church,” and thus wrong!
3. Apropos Mr Schembri, do you really think that something that occurred 24 years ago is indeed “recent past?”
NO, Br Joe is not doing the right thing..... far from it. And if you cannot see the wrong-doing, you should remove your blinkers. You seem to be encouraging an ongoing wound-opening strategy just like the poor Joe Saliba did in the last general election.
Scaremongering is the tactic used by losers - losers who go to any extreme to hang on to power. Br Joe is proving his bias by remaining silent to the multitude of disapproving comments appearing in this, his blog.
What would you say to a commemoration of INTERDICTION DAY? Or to a remembrance day of the Sliema police station bombing? Or to a thanksgiving mass for the way the police saved Malta from civil war by discovering the huge arsenal at the Nationalist HQ and at their bunker in Qormi?
Come on Mr Schembri, get real and, above all, shed your negativity and find an olive twig, with some leaves on, to offer to your neighbour. Br Joe should emulate you, but only when you get off your battle horse.
Shouldn't this paper 'commemorate ' Black Monday' ?
BTW : Archbishop Gonzi's interdiction of Labour supporters was due to his fear that Mintoff was a communist . Communism in the sixties was a real threat.
Read Dr Ganado's "Rajt Malta tinbidel" for a clearer picture of the political situation in those days.
@ Charles J Buttigieg : do you know who did those atrocities? And who was Nardu Balzan?
I also agree with you and realise that the one thing that keeps certain voters from supporting Labour is a fear from the Labour’s past; moreover other people still believe that the MLP is anti clerical. These people are all victims of the PN propaganda and some members of the church which explains why they keep reminding us of our horrendous past.
@ Father J Borg.
After your impressive melodramatic expose of the criminal acts committed by Labour thugs when they ransacked the Archbishop’s Curia, you may wish to consider a continuation of your honourable mission by giving us some enlightenment on the following. It’s stating the obvious that Human life is at least as precious as the bricks and mortar of the Curia, stating that may put me at risk with people accusing me of condoning any form of violence. I am against all violence moral and physical but I am equally anti any hypocritical attempt to be selective in their condemnations. I saw with my own eyes Labour violent supporters burning down the PN Club at Paola but I also saw PN Supporters breaking the MLP Club at Mellieha. I personally was held up at gunpoint by PN supporters while the police offered me no protection and EFA justified his marmalja under the excuse of euphoria.
I think that all priests who get directly involved in politics, simply cause problems to the church itself. Whether Mr Schembri agrees with me or not, it’s not my problem. However, official church teaching found in documents such as Gaudium et Spes, exhort clergy not to get involved directly in politics.
@ Antoine Vella
I’m not justifying anything Mr Vella. The issue boils just to one thing: Why is Fr Joe Borg mentioning a sensitive fact that has occurred 24 years ago? What is he gaining from it all? Fr Joe Borg has got too much political biases to write objectively on political history.
@ Franco Farrugia
I’m not dismissing anything Mr Farrugia. I condemn all violence. What I’m saying is that sometimes the Church tries to give us the impression to be perfect, good and just. Yet this is not always the case. Just one example. How is it that within the Faculty of Theology of the University of Malta, there is just one layman teaching and no woman teaching within this Faculty placed within a state University? Such exclusive clericalism doesn't even exist in Church Universities in Rome.
.
1. Who killed Raymond Caruana?
2. Who killed Karen Grech?
3. Who killed Wilfred Cardona?
4. Who tried to assassinate Richard Cachia Caruana?
5. Who planted the bomb on Dr. Laurence Pullicino doorsteps?
6. Who planted the bomb at the Sliema Police Station?
7. Who were the police officers who killed Nardu Balzan?
8. Why was the officer in charge of SMU who was also responsible for the fracas and shooting at PN supporters at Rabat, promoted to a higher rank in 1987 by the newly elected PN Government?
9. Who dropped the balustrades at Zebbug?
10. What was the arson, found by the police, doing at the PN head quarters in Pieta?
11. Who ransacked the residence of Joe Debono Grech?
12. What went on during the clandestine meeting under a bridge at 2 am between Zeppi l-hafi and EFA?
13. Why was Mintoff never taken to court for the alleged atrocities during his term in office?
14. How many cases of discriminations committed by the PN were proved at our court?
15 How many cases of discriminations committed by the Labour Regime were proved at our court?
Why are some people so allergic to the truth? Why do they try to justify crime by pointing a figure at the faults of others? Such attitudes are normally taken by children rather than mature adults.
The episode related by Fr Borg is still relevant.
The attack on the curia was premeditated. Although warned, the civil authorities responsible to prevent it did nothing to stop it. Thus they became silent accomplices to the crime of the violent mob. Politicians and journalists went further and praised the criminals or tried to downplay their actions.
Some of those who ransacked the curia may have died by now, but as the results of the recent elections to office within the MLP have shown, some who were in power at that time are still with us and accepted back in office.
However, a word to Fr Joe.
You did very wrong to bring about this subject - the same way that the subject of Mintoff and his Libya prize for human rights was. In both instances, we who suffered so much during these Mintoff/KMB days, were forced to open our wounds again and to remember the suffering we went through then. When people from the MLP simply refuse to accept the fact that so much harm was done in those days, those wounds continue to fester. And you did exactly that. It would have been much better to let sleeping dogs lie, because, Father, in Catholic Malta, we are a very divided nation! A nation that is so divided through pique and partisan politics, that we are akin to any country in the world requesting seperation! Spain? Italy? the UK itself? Mention any split country and we are not any better than them!
MLP supporters should REALISE that the one thing that keeps certain ppl from voting for them is the fear of what the MLP meant in the past.
This Borg old chap could not resist his temptation to tease the intelligence of the readers of this blog. Not Christ-like, is it? Love does not urge one, let alone a sworn priest, to stuff a pickle in anyone else's nose. But Br Joe did just that.
I was on the very forefront protesting the atrocities of that era, Br Borg. But that was that and you won't catch me stirring up sentiments as I opine that that is ever so shameful and harmful. So, once you decided to trample upon your neighbour, you now have to either apologise or to balance your warped comments by explaining why your old office was ransacked.
BTW, ''no one should be called 'father' except the One Who is in Heaven''. Do you remember who said that?
So, you equate what happened in the 60s with the atrocities that took place in the days of Mintoff and KMB! What a learned man we have in our midst!
Where were you in these turbulent days? Comfortable in the knowledge that the evil that was taking place in the streets in those days would not hit you?
Or were you comfortable in the knowledge that you stood to gain, maybe, by all that was taking place?
So, you choose to dismiss the dark days when we had no democracy and no order in the country? No proper Government? No proper police force!
What comfort did the honest, common people have? We used to be terrified at the things taking place among us.
At least, the atrocities of the 70s and 80s did not take place in the Middle Ages that Malta was still in, in the 60s.
I do not remember the 60s. I remember the 70s and 80s. Archbishop Mercieca was certainly no Archbishop Gonzi. He never expected to retain the Prince-Bishop title of Gonzi. ...
There is no connection between the " interdett" (which the Church has admitted and apologised for) and the ransacking of the Curia. The latter was carried out for political reasons and because, by the mid-1980s, governing by violence had become the norm.
You see Dr Dalli, what happens is this: you read a true account of an act of mob violence (one of a long series of such acts) and, instead of condemning the aggression, your immediate reaction is to mention some fault of its victim. In this way, you indirectly attenuate and provide a justification for the violence by tacitly implying some kind of provocation.
This was standard practice during the Mintoff years. Every act of moral and physical aggression was ascribed to some imaginary provocation and, in this way, thousands of peaceful, law-abiding MLP supporters could live at peace with their conscience, in the face of the widespread and continuous violence that they could see all around them.
About the mortal sin against labour supporters : the church (or rather Archbishop Gonzi) made a mistake and he asked for a pardon. As you rightly pointed out the church is still suffering the consequences of that mistake.
I think the Church should get involved in politics , it has a right like any other institution to do so. It should not impose its opinion like it did in the sixtees .
It does not mean that Fr Joe's contribution is not relevant.
I believe the violent acts cannot be excused, and even though an apology was given by the new MLP leader, anyone who was on the receiving end of these acts surely won't find it easy to forget.
It is a mistake to continue to associate the MLP with such acts however. If people still do so, others will be understood in not wanting to enter any ecclesiastical establishemnt if they went through the 60's and the notorious Interdett. People would be also excused in ditching Roman Catholicism completely due to its not so saintly history, and the inclination of certain priests and nuns towards abuse of children (acts which occasionally make headlines).
But it stands to reason that separate incidents cannot draw a picture of the whole..(e.g I'm sure not all priests are paedophiles).
When such a blog surfaces, I cannot help but agree with Charles J Buttigieg...somehow everyone is soooo vigilant on Labour's past.
I believe that every time you remember about this horrible episode in your life, shivers run through all your body. It's the same with all those who remember about the famous "interdett" launched by Archbishop Gonzi, which might have been canonically licit,but which resulted in a pastoral disaster. You should write a blog about it Fr Joe!
You could mention all those people who couldn't receive the blessed sacraments because they were going to vote labor. You could mention all those whose death relatives were thrown in the "mizbla." (Imagine you mother or father, or anyone you love, being thrown in the ‘mizbla’). You could mention all those who couldn’t receive absolution for their sins. You could mention all those small and innocent altar boys who could no longer serve mass because their parents were “against” the Church. You could then focus on the horrible effects that this sanction made on all Maltese society, up to our modern times.
Remember that it takes two to tango Fr Joe! Remember also that as far as contemporary church doctrine teaches, priests should stay out of politics!
Dr Anthony Dalli, M.A (Milan), D.Phil. (Oxon.)
BTW , the t(h)ugs you mentioned were unleashed on Sunday morning of last election.We just had a taste of the past for a few hours.
@ Fr Joe : thanks for the reminder and for your sense of humour. Yes this premeditated attack happened just across the street of the Police HQ .
I once heard that one of the attackers died the next day. I have my doubts concerning the veracity of this story.
I read you post and re-read it. Then I went to do something else and afterward came back and read your words again. I looked at the lines and between the lines and above them and below them, more than once, but I could not find it. Sincerity.
As happened with the bus drivers strike, everyone can disagree, but we must be mature enough to agree that we can disagree! And only with education and trust can we bring the dialogue to the bargaining table.
One of the horrible days in Maltese history. And I am not even a practicing Christian anymore...
@ Father J Borg. Well done father for a very moving reminder of one side of the bad old days. May we all learn from our past mistakes? Perhaps a suggestion will be quite in order here, how about some horrendous stories from the past of the Roman Catholic Church after all horror did not start in 1971 and surely did not end in 1987. And how come we read much more about the atrocities that happened during Mintoff’s regime than what we are witnessing today in our precious church. Father the ransacking of the Curia in 1984 was a crime committed by the Labour tugs that are no longer with us thanks to Alfred Sant, the sinful paedophile acts committed by priests and bishops of the Catholic Church are far more condemnable than a total destruction of the Vatican by the Taliban’s. And you know Father some of them are still Ministers of the church.
I have no doubt of your total resentment for these sinful acts; it just seems to me that you are more vigilant in reminding us of Labour’s past.
No problem at all. I wouldn't have minded, even if the question was meant for me.
Now, you ask me "imagine a place where there is no terror or love. A place in which nearly everything is the same ,the green grass, the vicars sermon on Sunday, the different versions of daily news on all stations. Imagine feeling no pain or suffering. Would you like to live there?"
Your question is no different from asking me whether I would like to live in a world where everyone is a non-sentient robot, since only non-sentient robots would possibly comprise all the things you mention. Probably I would not like that at all, even though I can't be sure, since I can only guess what it would "feel" like to be a robot.
However, I cannot make the connection between your question and the issue of violence.
my dear Kenneth believe me it wasn't meant for you. It's not my style and will never be.
But ,Kenneth allow me for a second...imagine a place where there is no terror or love. A place in which nearly everything is the same ,the green grass, the vicars sermon on Sunday, the different versions of daily news on all stations.
Imagine feeling no pain or suffering.
Would you like to live there ?
These words are by Edward R. Murrow.
The ‘we’ in the Murrow quote reminds me of people who are now regarded to be eminences grises of the MLP, who write memoirs and what have you about their time in MLP Cabinets or Party structures. These memoirs are sanitized versions of what actually happened. Had I not lived these times, I would have thought that the sum of all things during those terrible times was the various tussles certain Ministers had with the then Prime Ministers about ministerial redtape. It takes courage to speak up your mind for truth and justice when you’re on the ‘winning’ side but it takes equal ‘courage’ to stomach the atrocities that were the order of the day in the ‘80’s and do nothing about it.
And ah yes, 'Sorry' seems to be the hardest word.
‘Good Night and Good Luck’ (2005) is a powerful film about Murrow’s showdown with McCarthy.
Regarding this particular blog you should be overjoyed that it will never make it to the "most commented" list. All Maltese society welcomes the absence of the usual flood of comments that the violence never really happened, that it has been exaggerated, that it had been provoked or that it had been carried out by agents provacateour disguised as an aristocratic mob from the dockyard area.
Things must be really changing for the better! I hope that I have not spoken out too soon.
On another note, isn't it strange how very few people have commented about Fr Borg's latest entry? It seems that some of the 'regular' contributors are lost for words this time.
I'm not sure whether your question was addressed to me, so I will answer it just in case.
Do I believe that mob violence has gone out of style? Yes, I do, for two reasons.
1. Mob violence is not actually encouraged (or given a blind eye) by the state.
2. People who engage in mob violence are nowadays arrested and arraigned in court.
The above two reasons act as a deterrent.
To those who sought to excuse or downplay the atrocity, you were accomplices.
To those who may not have agreed with this crime, but did not have the courage to publicly condemn it so as not to appear disloyal, shame on you.
To those who still live in denial, you are beyond redemption.
To those who somehow contributed to the creation of a mentality that inspired such a crime, a medal for your defence of human rights.
Correction. After the MLP lost the 1987 election the "aristocrats of the workers movement" were unobtrusively swept under the carpet or they returned to hide under the sllmy stones from under which they had emerged without ever being unreservedly and categorically condemned by Alfred Sant or any other MLP leader.