|
Perhaps the greatest menace of our political system is the single-party government. It so happens that the Prime Minister is the Easter Island icon of a political party, of a political party that can rule the roost until the next elections. All his ministers are also the leading lights of the same political apparatus.
It has been this way for as long as anyone can remember and the concept of a non-partisan Prime Minister or at least one who speaks for the country rather than for his party, has no roots in our minds. Never before has it been so clearly exposed to be a menace to our well-being.
The PN’s new leader has intra-party needs which drive him to behave like a raving partisan at party events. Watching him on television is often shocking to his adversaries and to neutrals. His bias is indecently exposed.
Just to complicate matters he is in the habit of making policy announcements at party events: his Sunday visits to party clubs. Only true blue fanatics can fail to notice the indecency of having the Head of the Government hijacked by a political party in this way. They too would notice if it happened to be the other way around.
The credibility of Malta’s Prime Minister as Malta’s Prime Minister is constantly undermined by Lawrence Gonzi’s antics at PN events. Television is a disaster in bringing the scene before thousands who would never be seen dead in any political party club.
Within hours of any such event the Prime Minister may be asked to deal with any one of a dozen hot issues which require the welding together of consensus among the social partners. Does the Prime Minister have the stature to bring this about? His loss is a disaster to the country which desperately needs to enjoy a truce as it faces a future of economic regeneration.
With local elections looming we witness once more, various clan-gathering exercises. Labour fills a square with red flags and the PN feels obliged to do likewise with blue. Reciprocal slanders fly like confetti in the breeze. Enough doubt is sown to turn everybody into a cynic. It is a diabolical mechanism which our rivals cannot avoid.
It does not help us to face the future. Never before has the political tug-of-war seemed so extravagant. In the 1980s human rights violations focused hearts and minds. The economy took second place; it was taking a hammering anyway. In the 1990s the feel-good-factor made politics seem like a fun game we could afford.
Today there is a growing sensation that this sort of nonsense is an intolerable extravagance. Can we really be expected to care, let alone to justify the harrowing cost, of building Lawrence Gonzi’s image within his party? Does it really matter to the majority how skillfully Labour leaders bend over backwards to justify Alfred Sant’s latest boo boo? What we can be expected to care and worry about is that they are still engaged in a fight to the death and appear unable to agree about anything. There is a growing sensation that politics is a liability.
I meet hundreds of people who no longer listen to the news or read newspapers. Half of us watch foreign TV and not only because the broadcasts are of better quality. An amazing 54,000 of us did not bother to vote in the EP elections. Added to the Greens’ 23,000 strong support it makes, 77,000 people or 25% of the country that did not support either of the parties that claim to have a God-given right to rule over us all and alone.
Ironically they are the ones who can get us out of the stagnation which has taken hold of our destiny. Can they be stirred to make a break with the past? Are they the pawns which our rivals assume that they are? Will they go back to the fold prodded on by some fabricated panic at the last minute? Will they abstain and let the rabid partisans they despise so much decide alone? Will they recognize that the greatest political trick is to bore people so much that they eliminate themselves from the count?
For over a year now the country has been fed the illusion that there are only two political parties and that the choices are just three: vote red, vote blue or abstain. With the cataclysmic results of the EP elections, the campaign simply became stronger just as it detached further from political reality. The stronger the Green presence the more loudly it is denied.
Iraqi electors braved bombings to exercise the right to vote for the first time in 50 years. Maltese voters are either denied the right through partisan “cleverness” and last minute tricks or mesmerized by boredom and the implosion of credibility into giving up their rights.
In a few weeks one third of the country will be voting in local council elections. Because these annual local elections are regularly abused by the other political parties as some sort of a popularity poll extrapolated nationwide, many people may decide to opt out. It is their choice, not necessarily the best one.
In 6 localities voters will have another choice. In Nadur, Pembroke, St Julians, St.Paul’s Bay and Mellieha, Green candidates make it possible not only to escape the dilemma but also to make a real change for the better. On a council level it provides a new element bringing the Greens’ life quality commitment to local politics and a lubricant to reduce the friction between the warring sides. It is also an opportunity to make one’s voice heard, to send a clear message to end the endless squabble. Not voting could be interpreted as passivity or neglect.
Short of entering politics directly, it is about as much as any private person can do to express concern about the untenable political situation, about the need for consensus and politics about substantial, bread-and-butter issues.
We do not have to brave the Baghdad bombings to do so but it may take a little effort to secure the right to vote. We may have to go down to the Police Station to collect our voting documents or even take the trip to Valletta. It could be worth it if it jolts our rivals into action. They will be reading the signs in the results. Give them something to read.
|
