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I read Ms C Bonello’s article in your newspaper of 29 January 2006, as I always do, but I do not quite agree with her when she touched upon Dion Borg’s programme ‘Storja ta’ Poplu’ which is currently broadcast on Net TV. I am not following that programme, in fact I never saw one single episode, because I can imagine what it is all about coming from Mr Borg, and above all I do not need to be reminded, because I lived those episodes, as many other thousands did, and I will never forget.
By repeating what happened in the 80s under the premiership of D. Mintoff and Dr C. Mifsud Bonnici (KMB) in my opinion is very healthy, not only for those who lived it to not forget, so it won’t happen again, but to show the younger generation which does not believe that it happened, to see on the screen what happened, and this includes Ms Bonello who although admitted that what it being shown was true, has no idea what it was that she is seeing now.
I want to say that what happened then is not necessarily going to happen with a future Labour government. I honestly think that today’s Labour Party is much more mature and democratic than it was in the 80s, when in fact there was neither a fraction of maturity nor democracy until they came to their senses. God forbid that if today the Labour party will again come to those tragic days, when street thuggery, criminal behaviour, and arson on public and private property were the order of the day. I am saying this not because I believe that it will happen again, but because I sense a small section in the party are still in the past.
Those years succeeded to stain and erase all the good things that the Labour Party had done before, and also to register a black spot on the party. Every political party has a black spot, even the Nationalists, but not as much as Labour. So in my opinion, history should be read once in a while.
My only regret is, and here I completely agree with Ms Bonello, that those who were responsible were never prosecuted, but given a promotion and later pensioned off; why, I do not know. One must ask the then Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice, and by doing this the Nationalist Party accepted that phrase of KMB, when he called these thugs and criminals the “aristocracy of the workers”.
Joseph Muscat
Mosta
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