To be or not to be a socialist

It is fashionable for Maltese political parties to declare that ideology is dead and that we now do politics in a different way.  In other words that means they stand for nothing.

Of all the Labour ministers, I like Clyde Caruana, especially when he declares that he is a Mintoffian. But apart from his modest approach to life in general, which is noted, Caruana must admit that there is nothing remotely Mintoffian in his economics. Caruana, though popular with Labour diehards, is also very respected in business circles.

Of all the speeches that resonate from the election campaign, it was Lydia Abela’s that was the winner when it comes to the communication of core values. She emphasised three salient points: She is a Bormliża (home to dockyard workers); a soċjalista; and the daughter of a working-class family. She encompassed the core values of the Labour Party.

But let us admit that the PL is today represented by a well-educated class of professionals, who do not even know what a hammer and a nail look like. They send their children to private schools and know more about Chablis and designer clothes than most folk.

The notion that today the PL is the representative of the working class is utter hogwash. It is in fact a popular party with a liberal outlook and a willingness to introduce change. But it has a problem with solidarity issues and has a great deficit on environmental themes.

And when it comes to winning elections, it steers clear of controversy and is willing to dump principles.

Now let me make a parenthesis. This in no way means that the Nationalist Party is in possession of a political project with a clear purpose. Today, the PN is a popular party with a conservative streak. Long gone are the Christian democrat core values. Like the Labour Party, it works on the premise that if a party appears to solve the people’s concerns and gives them a dream it can win.

Way back in 2009, Fr Peter Serracino Inglott, a PN ideologue, warned that the European People’s Party’s election gains did not represent a victory for Christian democracy, but rather a reduction of its core values in favour of conservative forces.

The political parties have one core concern to win power at all costs. And that brings us back to the PL, winner of four consecutive elections.

To continue arguing that it is a socialist or social democrat party but then act at a complete tangent to what a socialist party stands for is linked to its winning streak as a popular party.

I am talking here about Alex Agius Saliba, Thomas Bajada and Daniel Attard, who on Wednesday in the European Parliament voted on the migration return rules along the lines of the European centre-right and far-right. They ditched the socialist bloc.

The three Maltese Labour MEPs stuck out like a sore thumb, with no regret that they moved away from their ‘socialist’ brothers and sisters and backed a tough, ICE-like Trumpian approach to migrants.

Now, the three MEPs come from a country where the economy is wholly dependent on third country nationals, where thousands of Maltese are either employed with government or in highly paid jobs with the private sector.  And where unemployment is virtually zero.

But they also come from a country which is deeply xenophobic and Islamophobic.

So, to suck up to their constituency they are willing to shed all ideological baggage and principles. Together with the claptrap discourse about mosques being built in every corner of Malta, embracing an ICE-like approach to migrants is clearly right wing and conservative.

Unlike other countries bordering the Mediterranean, Malta is experiencing a super economy and a boom. But as the numbers rise and rise and we surpass all fiscal targets our moral compass takes a beating.

The Labour Party needs to do some soul searching and ask itself what it was born from and for what reason.  To be honest I was not too surprised with Agius Saliba, who always seems to sound like the saviour of hunters, firework enthusiasts and other untouchables. But I am shocked that Daniel Attard and Thomas Bajada went along with this resolution. I expected something better from them.

I never expected Peter  Agius or David Casa to vote differently. The PN MEPs have been at least consistent in following the EPP in everything except when it comes to the issue of abortion.

Today, when I see the Maltese representation in the European Parliament, I see individuals who have little in the way of principle and are simply interested in retaining their voter base and continue with their unforgettable well paid ‘sojourn’ in Brussels and beyond.