Tuesday, 8th September 2009
No to the Nationalist Party oligarchy
Although Malta is supposed to be a democratic country, the reality is quite different. In fact, the country is today run by a clique of powerful people and their underlings while the rest of the Maltese population is excluded from any say in all the important decisions taken.
This undesirable situation is irritating many people to the extent that the Nationalist Government led by Dr Lawrence Gonzi has become very unstable due to serious dissensions within the Nationalist Party itself as the anger generated by the feeling of exclusion manifests itself in a growing rebellion against government by clique.
It is a fact that the country is today run by the Prime Minister, his Ministers and, to a lesser extent, his Parliamentary Secretaries. The Nationalist Parliamentary backbenchers are treated as non-entities and have next to no say in the restricted power circle that constitutes the oligarchy which decides on all important national issues. The will of the people counts for nothing and the Labour Opposition is even derided for simply carrying out its job of constructively criticizing the Government.
Furthermore, the ruling oligarchy has consolidated its power through a huge network of underlings, "lackeys" would be a more appropriate word, who have absolutely no sense of shame and who serve their masters through timely interventions in the media whenever the ruling oligarchy is under attack. These lackeys have been placed in top positions and they intervene on a regular basis to praise Nationalist Government initiatives and criticize those of the Labour Opposition.
Have you noticed how when the Nationalist Government wants to introduce some unpopular measure, certain lackeys always write in the papers and go on radio and television announcing that some drastic action is necessary because such and such a situation is no longer sustainable?
Have you noticed how when a decision that will negatively affect the standard of living of Maltese workers is about to be taken and implemented, certain supposedly "impartial" commentators start mentioning how competitiveness is being eroded, how more unemployment is being risked through certain social legislation and other measures which today have become "obsolete" in a globalized world? The lack of moral fibre of these lackeys has brought condemnation even from respectable Nationalists.
Even in the Nationalist Party there are people who will take a stand when necessary and it seems that Dr Gonzi and his clique are today in a desperate situation.
Many Nationalists are fed up with the present system of government by oligarchy and want a return to the democracy which reigned when more moderate leaders and statesmen were at the helm. Dissension within the Nationalist Party is increasing on a daily basis, exacerbated by the negative statistics being published regarding the PN Government's performance which cannot be negated by anybody.
Because, at the end of the day, the inescapable fact remains that this PN oligarchy has ruined the country. We have come to a situation which resembles that of certain Third World countries where a small, restricted number of people enjoy a comfortable life and absolute power while the majority of the population lives a wretched life, trying to eke out a living, and is also excluded from all decision-making.
Hopefully, the present PN government will not survive long because everything indicates that the days of the Lawrence Gonzi clique are numbered.
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Comments
"Gaxin" in 1971? Where? Not in Mellieha I hope! And not anywhere else I can assure you.
Minestra, ghagin and bread remain the staple of choice even today, maybe you regard today's situation after all the Socialist innovations and improvements by subsequent non-Socialist administrations, as dire as pre-1971?
Of course, you do not say that the ration distribution system was not unique to Malta and also that in spite of the 'Ration Books' bakeries and groceries were quite liberal and we bought as much as we needed.
No one will dispute that improvements in economic terms and in the standard of living improved with time. I also recall Australians and Canadians saying that pre 1960s outhouses were the norm - imagine the freezing temperatures - one would literally freeze his rear end using the facilities! Pre-1967 Canada had no universal health care, no government pensions and no family allowances. Was Canada some backward country? By today's standard maybe but going back to the 60s, comparisons should be made with circumstances in the 60s. Many still living today recollect when their wages were 50 cents an hour!
Compare apples with apples and oranges with oranges, Charles.
Bread, sugar, cooking-oil, washing soap and pasta were still rationed until 1971. Petrol was 4 Shillings a gallon, cheap by today’s standards, but in the late 60s a gallon of petrol would eat up one fifth of a day’s wages and more.
Travel was very cheap too for L5.00 you can get on a ship to Australia or a BEA flight to London. For L10.00 you could fly to Australia or Canada or the USA and people took advantage and travelled one way to those destinations in their thousands, Labour supporters were given preferential treatment. Band music to bid them farewell was provided free by the government, and Dr.Censu Tabone was always there to ascertain a safe access to the ship by the dghaisa-tal-latini
For those remaining in Malta the cost of living was cheap yet the ‘gaxin’ business was widespread and minestra, bread and pasta were the staple-diet. Wonder why?
A qualified Fitter at the Dockyard after 6 years apprenticeship, up to 1965 earned L 6-12-6 per week and that was considered above the average income. During the apprenticeship period he would take home L 2-10 per week. By 1971 his wages did not exceed L 7-0 per week. A bus driver used to take home L5-0 per week and a bus conductor L 3-10. A maid was paid L 2-00 per week and all women working with men used to get 50% of the males wages.
Sick leave, annual leave, five day week,pensions,free medical care, stipends, policlinics and housing estates were just a dream but Mars bars and imported double soft toilet paper were available yet the people ate ‘tin tac-cappa’ and used news paper as substitute to double soft paper.
I read the wrong books? Which are the right ones? Like the one written by an independent board commissioned to analyze the last LP defeat? What happened there? You re-elected one on whose shoulders most of the blame was placed? You don't even believe anything including that which is written by your own appointed people. Who challenged the contents of 'Politics of Persuasion'? Are you challenging facts? Being a teacher does not mean you have the right to teach me your brand of history especially when it is directly contradicted by FACTS.
Go read Beano, Dandy... You do not recall those comics? That's because I have a few years on you and experienced much more trash from the MLP than you will ever dream of.
Please note that power cuts in Gozo, nowadays. are as frequent as it was before 1971. Sp please STOP your misinformation. Reading your most BIASED COMMENTS makes me much happier that I left for good your beloved party and you and your likes made me decide that I depart from your continous deceptful group and your decietful party.
Of course 'begging' was always ' a PN Policy', to safegaurd the interests of the 'chosen few' . Unemployment was always embraced by your party ( you know very well why!) as well.
What I said in my previous comment about wages are facts I lived. And as a teacher then I know much more then you can ever comprehend. SO STOP DELIVERING POOR MISINFORMATION.
What are your comments for a factory worker in Gozo, between 1968 to 1971 who worked 6 day week and over 58 hours per week for L3.50 ? YES WAGES WERE L3.50 PER WEEK FOR FACTORY WORKERS IN GOZO!
I pity your behaviour. I really do.
"That social measure stopped door to door begging which was rampant before 1971" Yes because it became illegal to beg but not because poverty went away.
Mintoff's aim was to make everyone as rich (or as poor) and reduce the nation to one class - one basic ingredient of Communism. In the meantime two banks were sacrificed, the infrastructure went to pot, there was not a drop of water to be drank and one power station to service the whole island resulting in frequent and scheduled power cuts. Today, if some accident causes a temporary interruption pandemonium grips the island. I wonder why? It is because it is taken for granted that no matter what, power should be available uninterrupted 365 days a year. A far cry when one week of uninterrupted service was a rarity!
Tad-Dejma and il-Pijunieri were given an allowance and made to perform menial jobs in lieu of registering for unemployment benefits. Most of them became paid loiterers anyway. It took years to slowly absorb them in the Civil Service and giving them meaningful jobs according to their skills and pay to match.
Admit it, BA, whatever the Socialists did, often backfired!
Anyhow, let me remind you that Minimum wage was introduced after 1971 and your beloved party backed by you know who voted against this social measure. Do not forget that your beloved party voted against 'pension for all'. That social measure stopped door to door begging which was rampant before 1971.
Please note too, that tad-Dejma and il-Pijunieri certainly had the minimum wage! Please stop with your repeated misinformation.
Your memory is not only in a 'haze' but at a loss.
Since your memory seems to be in a haze, it is of little value to rehash the circumstances of 1971-1987 since you justify every single misguided action taken by your idol.
It is however not true that prior to 1971 average wages were L5.00 a week since I started work in 1960 and my starting salary was in excess of L1.00 per day and believe me, there were many making much more than my starting salary.
My father died in 1963 and I supported my mother and my sister and we did not eat meat just once a week. I can vouch for that. I feel sorry for those who were deprived as much as I feel sorry for all those who are going through a rough time at present, however statistics indicate that this recession has only caused an increase of 1500 additional unemployed and the social services available will see them through until they find a new job, hopefully soon.
I would not squawk about being paid peanuts before 1971 because your own government, few years later, formed the Dejma and other para-statal entities and paid them less than peanuts!
Continued
Free speech does not mean inciting people to commit violence. That is not free speech. The NP held meetings every week and I challenge you to provide me with ONE piece of evidence when its leaders ever encouraged its supporters to be aggressive. I do not need to provide you with uttered words (an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth), I can provide you with plenty of documented evidence of your thugs looting and burning NP clubs, leaders' residences, The Times, the Courts, the Curia and the list goes on. So don't talk about being sent to hell because you were a Mintoffjan. After all that is in God's judgment, not in Archbishop Gonzi's.
Yes the NP held meetings and at times the supporters had to dodge bullets (Rabat), tear Gas (tal-Barrani) police truncheons, frame-ups, and downright murder.
Now that is all behind us, so it behooves you to keep it there and not bring the subject up in defence of your puerile moans about how tough things are today.
Go have a branded chocolate bar because you can find it and you can afford it and wash it down with a good Champagne.
Re Yr Para.2.
Free Speech? Like ‘The Seditious Propaganda Act? Like getting buried in the MIZBLA and sent to hell for reading the MLP material? Or for allowing the party in opposition mounting a mass meeting every week for five long years? Basic necessities on the tables? With weekly wages averaging 5 Lira per week max reaching 7 Lira and women working for 2 Lira per week? Prior to 1971 only the rich eat meat more than once a week on Sundays. For the others it was a daily plate of minestra and hobz bit ton taz-zejt u tadam. Basic necessities? Like living in places like ‘il Mandragg’, ‘il Kamarata’, ‘Ukella Agius’and other ghettos, or living in newly built housing estates and practically given away for free by Mintoff’s dictatorial regime. It’s true that they had to satisfy themselves with the Chinese chocolate instead of the imported chocolate, which many of them never tasted anyway because they couldn’t afford to buy it, but is there any gain without pain?
Re Yr Para 3.
My name is Charles J Buttigieg and lives on the mainland, address your response to the other fellow.
Re Yr Para.1.
Mintoff went a-begging to totalitarian governments no more no less than the free world governments, not excluding Gonzipn, today, go a-begging to China, Libya and other dictatorships today. That’s business and there’s nothing wrong with that. Sharing an ideology, forming an alliance with the enemy of your country and applauding a dictator after a massacre of innocent souls is a bit different.
Your quote: "The MLP may have had its dark moments but it can boast that in its entire history none of its Leaders and supporters ever gave allegiance to the Nazis, the Fascists and the Franco's Phalangists". But then they went a-begging in N Korea, China, USSR and Libya! And that was well before glasnost and perestroika. The Iron Curtain was still impenetrable.
Your quote: "When the going gets tough the tough gets going. Mintoff was hard-hitting". Yes you are right again, but Mintoff was hard hitting fellow Maltese citizens who valued free speech and wanted basic necessities on their table when they desired.
Your quote: "Martinelli ..... Are you telling me that GonziPN ever enjoyed the backing of the majority of the electorate?" What I meant and you obviously missed is the fact that in all those elections since 1981 the NP obtained more votes than the MLP, otherwise the MLP would have governed and the NP would have been in Opposition for the same length of time as the MLP have been!
I hope that I don't need to spoon feed you.
Just a word of advice:"Beware of the man who does not return your blow:
he neither forgives you nor allows you to forgive yourself." Capish habib?
Hope I do not have to spoon feed you!
The MLP may have had its dark moments but it can boast that in its entire history none of its Leaders and supporters ever gave allegiance to the Nazis, the Fascists and the Franco’s Phalangists. My MLP, our MLP, never shunted the slogan ‘Dhalna Madrid’ after the Spanish ex dictator Generalissimo Franco slaughtered thousands of people who were on the side of the vast majority.
You should be the last one to attempt to define 'democracy' - at least by your party's standards.
Your quote: "Are you suggesting that the PL should copy the PN and start with 'parliament and all sorts boycotts' , all legal and illegal 'means to to topple a constitutionally elected administration', civil disobedience etc etc etc????"
NO Joseph, I never suggested that at all however, when did the Nationalists govern when they obtained less votes than Labour and hung on to power against the wish of the people?
Joseph, your party has not won an election based on a majority of votes since 1981 except in 1996 and then....lasted only 22 months! That's a lot of years in Opposition. The problem is that if ever elected the LP would have to learn the ropes again since only a few old fogies remain from the 'good old days'!
You suggested: "dur dawra nobis madwarek jekk tista". I can assure you that I can since what you measure in millimeters, we measure in miles here. M'hawnx djuq.
@ DESMOND ZAMMIT MARMARA
You are absolutely right, therefore the last paragraph of Part 1 should be disregarded. The rest stands.
Joseph Howard, Unione Politica Maltese,
Paul Boffa, Malta Labour Party / Malta Workers' Party,
Gorg Borg Olivier, Nationalist Party,
Alfred Sant, Malta Labour Party.
I think that an objective and impartial analysis of Maltese political history would confirm my choice of moderate political leaders. Today, of course, there is Joseph Muscat.
However I admire Desmond for, to a certain extent, is being honest when he stated; "Many Nationalists are fed up with the present system of government by oligarchy and want a return to the democracy which reigned when more moderate leaders and statesmen were at the helm." He knows that moderate leaders and statemen were Nationalsit leaders because he started his sentence with the words "Many Nationalists". LP supporters cannot claim moderate leaders from their Party's side.
Are you suggesting that the PL should copy the PN and start with 'parliament and all sorts boycotts' , all legal and illegal 'means to to topple a constitutionally elected administration',
civil disobedience etc etc etc????
Reading between your lines this the message I am receiving!
It is public knowledge that throughout history your beloved party and your likes have used ( and still are) Democracy with different definitions that are too far away from the true, honest and impartial definition! Your beloved party and your likes define Democracy as per your greed for power dictates!
Your definition of 'pairing' changes according to the side of the fence you are!! So thus all your comments!
Hallina habib u dur dawra nobis madwarek jekk tista.
I was referring to certain technocrats who pretend to be politically impartial but, in reality, do their utmost to give a helping hand to the political party in power simply to further their own petty personal interests. These are the "lackeys" whose actions are despised by everyone except themselves and those they serve.
Rest assured that when the Labour Party wins the next General Election, several of these "lackeys" will immediately rush to "celebrate" near the PL Headquarters, trying to pretend that they were Labourites after all! That is why I wrote that they lack "moral fibre".
I have absolute respect for convinced Nationalists who defend their political party and work hard for its success. However, I have the greatest contempt for the actions of those who praise the Government simply because they can personally benefit from doing so and to the detriment of the national interest.
"The will of the people counts for nothing and the Labour Opposition is even derided for simply carrying out its job of constructively criticizing the Government" The will of the people elected the government, so the government governs and a credible Opposition constructively criticizes the government. How true! But Des stops there. Is it also not the Opposition's duty to be honest and offer alternative policies which it thinks are more beneficial than the ones proposed by the government? When did the Opposition last do such a thing? When it denied 'pairing'? When it stayed away from participating in Pension Reform consultations? This government initiated public consultation prior to reforms of any kind and prior to the finalization of each Budget. Does this constitute an avoidance of 'the will of the people'?
DZM refers to those, like me who without the slightest shred of interest defend the lesser evil as 'lackeys'. Does this not label him as a lackey for the LP? It takes one to know one, Des.
Continued
I am not even a member of the NP, much less a voter since I do not meet residency requirements, but I am also old enough to know (and experienced) what a Labour government is capable of doing. I know how much it valued the 'people's will' when it governed, and how much its leaders valued the backbenchers' opinions and how effective the Cabinet Ministers were. I choose to defend the Party which gave Malta its independence and which transformed its economy like no Socialist government ever did and, I might add, not by employing thousands on the eve of elections, but by nurturing direct foreign investments and the creation of value added industries.
One thing I thank Desmond for: his concern about the 'desperate situation the NP finds itself in these days' And furthermore: 'PN oligarchy has ruined the country. We have come to a situation which resembles that of certain Third World countries where a small, restricted number of people enjoy a comfortable life and absolute power while the majority of the population lives a wretched life, trying to eke out a living, and is also excluded from all decision-making'.
Continued
Such ruin! Such Third World conditions! Reminds me of the days when stores had empty shelves, one had to pay a 'fee' to an MLP club to skip the queue waiting to obtain a colour TV, bulk buying, no water, no freedom of speech, streets ruled by thugs - Third World indeed! Those WERE the days, Des!
And finally. "Hopefully, the present PN government will not survive long because everything indicates that the days of the Lawrence Gonzi clique are numbered". Another borrowed (plagiarized) frequent quote from the past - mainly after each election the MLP lost. The problem with this quote is that it applied only to the Sant (MLP) administration which although elected for a full mandate, lasted only twenty-two months due to its inept policies and hardheaded leader
Go on Desmond - call me a lackey or whatever but then do not deprive me from calling you a two bit comedian.