Social regression, strikes, abortion and the Independence mass meeting
One of the most important news items of these last two weeks was Konrad Mizzi’s threat to the basic right to strike. To be fair, the Minister was reacting to the possibility of industrial action from one of the unions representing a specific category of A
Dr Simon Mercieca is senior lecturer, Department of History The Minister hinted at possibly closing down Air Malta and setting up a new company. Should this happen, the implications would be that the current employees could lose their jobs. Had such a statement been made a few years ago, a strong social and political brouhaha would have ensued. But there is more to the Minister’s statement than a union issue.
I have been following the press on this issue and I was struck by the fact that the comments were practically all in favour of the Minister and came from individuals who, usually, are critical of the Labour Government. Adrian Delia was the odd one out. He had the guts to take the bull by the horns and correctly addressed this issue. During the Independence celebrations, he made a strong plea in favour of the workers’ right to strike. He did not mince words: plan B of Minister Mizzi goes against the basic principles of our industrial laws.
Like it or not, Government is testing its position on strike issues. Unions are becoming impotent to defend such a basic tool that once made these organizations historically significant and guaranteed social justice and political peace in Europe. To be fair with the General Workers Union, it has admitted to have been taken by surprise by the Minister’s decision. Eventually, Minister Mizzi sought to justify his comments by stating that Air Malta risks becoming insolvent and may have to close down.
Today, many forget that the idea of going out on strike was part of a political process in Europe in the search for political liberty. The right to strike originated in Britain as a reaction to the French Revolution in 1789. Soon enough, British politicians realised that the only way to avoid a bloodbath - as befell Europe with the revolutions – was to give more rights to their workforce. This new quest for liberty would soon spread to the British colonies.
The first strike in Malta was organised by Gabriel, one of Mikiel Anton Vassalli’s sons, who was employed with the Protestant Missionary Press in Valletta. He led his fellow workers on a protest march through Valletta against his employers. Repression was immediate. Gabriel was dismissed and had to emigrate to North Africa in search of work and found support from the family of his mother, the Fremaux. This demonstration, for better working conditions, coincided with the formation of Malta’s first political parties, which dates back to the 1830s. The experiment failed but it was the time when democracy started to be discussed in local politics and viewed as a concept of freedom.
Slowly the word strike began permeating society. It reached out even to members of the clergy, even before it was to become part of the political discourse of dockyard workers. It is recorded that the canons of Birgu went on strike at the turn of the 20th century, while other members of the clergy embraced the concept of going out on strike to fight for what, in their eyes, appeared as oppression from a higher establishment.
It is no coincidence that our Socialist government is viewing this strike threat as an act of subversion even though it is still part of our established legal framework. Strikes are no longer seen as a means for a political or economic struggle to be undertaken within the parameters of the law. Our ruling class is now subservient to an economic and financial elite that is losing all sense of proportion. In the last few decades, financial and economic power has changed all aspects of our social exchanges. Today, political parties are simply satellites of a much greater financial power. Judging from Adrian Delia’s discourse at the Independence Mass meeting, he seems to be willing to break away from this type of regime.
Many may equate that Minister Mizzi’s suggestion of closing down our national airline and setting up a new one would not push the airlines’ workforce into hard times. This may be true. But it is also true that our workforce, over the years, has been stealthily reduced to a state of utter chagrin, leaving it in its present condition. This, together with the added fear, is related to the fact that good and stable jobs in Europe are decreasing by the minute, and consequentially preventing employees from being able to rely on that last resort which was to strike. The only means now left to them is to express their anger during an electoral process.
The fact is that we are losing the collective sense of what is right or wrong. This is now even reflected in our work ethic. The spirit of ideals that brought about workers’ movements has been replaced by a spirit of uncontrolled materialism. In parallel, politicians are deluding us, and possibly themselves. By approving laws such as those on sexual issues, they are giving us, a false sense of liberty. In this context, Adrian Delia’s speech about values during this year’s Independence meeting came as a breath of fresh air.
During the Industrial Age, materialism and idealism were seen as two opposing realities. It was Karl Marx who presented them as opposing thoughts in his tome Das Kapital. This became a basic code in the West’s process for democracy. Materialism was the antithesis of idealism. In the non-binary gender world, we are promoting materialism and idealism as the two faces of the same coin.
What we are witnessing in Malta is that the very basic factors that made democracy great are slowly disappearing with the approval of those same citizens who believe they are upholding the values of democracy! Democracy is gradually being turned into an abstract concept. Delia had the guts to present democracy as a concrete factor by relating it to values and identity.
Delia showed that he is not ready to play the game of multicorporations. He is not ready to reduce concepts of political idealism to one of political materialism imbued with sexual overtones. He rightly believes that we are not asexual human beings.
However, there is also another Marxist principle that is often ignored. This is, that in life everything has a price. Workers sell their skills to the capitalist investor who in return agrees to ‘purchase’ them, in order to get richer. But even this model is disappearing. Today the employer can tell the workers that they can be dispensed with. This means that democracy is now sending society and politics back to the times of the ancien regime. Increasingly, the Maltese citizen’s perception is one that anything and everything can be bought, including human dignity, even at the cost of being detrimental to the majority of humankind. Once society has accepted the concept that everything can be bought, it is tacitly sanctioning that everything and anything can be sold. Delia’s stand against abortion, surrogacy and the abuse of the female body is a strong message that he does not share these views.
Legislation on prostitution and the renewed drive to introduce abortion in Malta, are in my opinion, a case in point. Like foetuses, employees are now, once again, mere tools that can be discarded at will. This is why I believe that issues, like abortion and non-binary concepts of sexuality, are lending a hand at lessening the worth of our manpower. This is why campaigns, such as those in favour of abortion and gender neutral theories, are backed by corporate agencies and multinational companies. Industrialisation - in all its formats - is now under attack, perpetrating the false premise that workers are enjoying the epitome of social liberty.
The result is that the political debate in Europe is not one about rights but on how society can change the constituent elements that form the very roots of humankind; thus generating an illusory form of liberty. While humankind can still enjoy its basic freedom, including that related to its sexual preferences, it is failing to realize that these choices are taking place within a framework of social and economic regression. If Adrian Delia addresses these issues aptly, he would have hit the winning formula.