PN - Learning to Walk
Success is not a chain of wins. Success is also the act of coming to terms with one’s identity and objectives. It is the soul-searching exercise of understanding the negative effects of the happenings engulfing one’s action, and the identification of effe
Political history in Europe, being nearer home, shows that parties that had run a streak of successful governments, had at a point in time to give way to emerging political thinking even if this were a variant interpretation of the approximate same core values. While EU states are generally striving towards a reconfiguration of the political equation, for the PN time stands still; flagging its illusory laurels enslaved in a regime whose members have been coerced by strategic external forces to misread its roots; chasing butterflies whose environs is not the party’s habitat. Main actors are confused by their forgetfulness of the lines, misinterpreting the roles and improvising a theatre of happenings fringing on the absurd.
The ever loyal audience, and also those outside, who would have longed to be convinced to grab a ticket, are up in arms, protesting, advocating the undesired revolt, demanding mandatory clear lines of directions, angry as they feel they have been misled. Actors behind the scenes and critics have joined this outrage. And all are angry for pointing fingers; all feel guilty for unearthing mythical skeletons of old. But all who had not lived the revolution do not understood what the revolution stood for.
The silent majority of the electorate, those who from a distance need to decide whether to join the dance or not, for the time being can only perceptively conclude that the aspiring leaders too could be missing the wood for the trees.
It would be presumptuous for any aspirant party leader to make it his priority winning any forthcoming election; albeit not at all ruled out. The designate party leader’s main goal ought to be to lead the party towards the path of righteousness; led by the forma mentis of those who wish to learn or keep faith in its language and by the time honoured Christian democratic beliefs that had served the country well in a recent past. Perhaps, the character of the aged and exhausted dancer, impaired by his incapacity to dance in Ionesco’s Learning to Walk reflects the absurdity of it all.
Since 2013 the party has not as yet resigned itself that it is a party in opposition. Its mission had become just hailing stones at government. Over these years little cognisance was taken of the fact that the party, during a thirty year span up to its 1987 government had transformed itself philosophically and materially in recognition of the then politico-socio-economic realities. Also then factions, known in Italy as the correnti, respectfully blossomed; but then these factions had one common goal. To bring to an end the democratic haemorrhage. The electoral victory of 1987 cannot be solely attributed to the then prevailing rampant violence, queuing for essentials and corruption. The call for Xoghol, Gustizzja, Liberta` was just the embodiment of the notions of equality, subsidiarity, solidarity and empowerment.
PN governments rightfully experienced a natural demise, given lack of a revisited direction as exposed by internal conflicts, lethargy, alleged arrogance, and the giving a cold shoulder to particular individuals and societal cells; and this notwithstanding that the party was promoting and actuating sound socio-economic budgets. Recognition needs be given to a revamped Labour Party that disguised itself as a neo liberal movement adopting the “broad church” party concept that has now led to a statist interventionist government.
Heffernan recounts that modern politics offers a theory of consensus politics that suggests consensus does not simply reflect a policy coincidence but implies a broad association on general principles which inform the policy decisions parties make. Policy is enacted within a consensual settlement reflecting implicit and unstated ‘guiding assumptions’ shared across parties, an ‘agreement’ existing in the form of a ‘framework’ and part of a prevailing political orthodoxy. If such concept is solicited amongst competing parties, let alone how more relevant it is among the various valuable party factions.
“It is not important that we think the same things, that we imagine and long for an identical destiny; but it is on the other hand extraordinary important that, given everyone’s belief in his real original contribution towards the safety of the human being and the world, we all have our given free breathing, all have that given intangible space in which to live our given experience of renewal and truth, all linked one to the other in the mutual acceptance of freedom, of respect and of dialogue.” This was Aldo Moro in 1977. Most political historians assume that this was what had led to his further evolution of “converging parallels”. Others contend that these words were also addressed to the various factions within the party.
Party finances and structures, the commercialisation of party clubs and media, the enforcement of rule of law, the oft promised contact with the man in the street, the opening of doors, windows and lofts and the hearing of more and more on “woodstock” is indeed relevant. However this is not what that silent crowd needs to hear communicated and expounded upon by the prospective candidates. This silent crowd would wish to care less about how the party cohorts shall prepare the siege against the seat of power. They need to be further convinced that they can identify themselves with the party’s credentials.
One commentator struck the right note when stating that it would be a good start, for the Grass Roots and Party Core to tell the electorate what they actually believe in really.
The six core values of the European People’s Party to which the PN is a member are: the dignity of human life in every stage of its existence, freedom and responsibility, equality and justice, truth, solidarity and subsidiarity. These values are inspired by the Christian Democratic philosophy. This speaks of empowerment of the individual in a democratic complex scenario; as against the socialistneoliberal state interventionist regime we have today. It is unfortunately very doubtful up to what extent have a good chunk of the “grass roots and party core” delved deeply into such issues for themselves to appreciate better how these core values could be actuated. If it were so, possibly no practicing catholic law maker, living an evolving secular society, would have had problem with divorce and same-sex marriage arrangements.
That silent crowd would appreciate all four aspirant leaders discussing openly and in clear language:
their projections on what a Partit Nazzjonalista stands for, even if delivered in different hues, and how they intend to consensually disseminate this party thinking;
what intangible space shall be devolved to those expressing a different political advice to what the lead group is proposing and how would the party leader, representing the collective, seek to build consensus;
what code of practice shall be introduced amongst members of the party core that governs their qualified space of airing publicly their views as long as this does not prejudice the party, particularly when in government, and/or the general interest of the country;
what ought be the political action both at party level and at socio-economic and civil society levels towards the developing of an electable coalition through time;
would the party consider revamping AZAD for the dissemination of current political thought and as a think-tank to the party focussing on researching, developing and recommending political initiatives;
given the prevailing threat to our democracy what reasonable dialogue shall the party adopt with the rightful owners of government, difficult as much as this could be.
This is not reinventing the wheel. It is the rediscovering of recent respectable paths along which our previous masters had excelled.
It is high time that the PN resigns itself to the fact that it again starts learning to walk.
The silent majority of the electorate, those who from a distance need to decide whether to join the dance or not, for the time being can only perceptively conclude that the aspiring leaders too could be missing the wood for the trees.