Let go of the self-destruct button

Dr Andrew Azzopardi Dean Faculty for Social Wellbeing, University of Malta & Broadcaster – Għandi xi Ngħid www.andrewazzopardi.org

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…. Charles Dickens’ (1859) - A Tale of Two Cities, Book the First: Recalled to Life.

If anyone had to put money on the Nationalist Party to be on the winning side in the next general election one would surely be labelled as barmy, and understandably so.

The way things are unravelling for the Nationalist Party show that there is no hope that the PN will recover in time to meet up to the PL challenge in four years’ time during the general elections. It will have to be something out of this World to change the destiny of this organisation.

Compounded to this, surveys keep showing that notwithstanding 20 per cent of this legislature has gone by and there were a share of slip-ups by the government, the Nationalist Party is still not managing to make any inroads when it comes to popular support. While one needs to appreciate that this party still represents over 135,000 voters, this support might continue to shrink if no action is taken.

Apart from that, the sense of vulnerability of the Nationalists is particularly evident every time a newspaper publishes a survey. It feels like the PN get their knickers in a twist and are trapped into this feeling of despondency. They seem to implode with every graph that shows a drop in the blue line. They feel weak and sorry for themselves. The impression I get is that they are more focused on garnering popularity than doing what is their role and duty, that of counter-balancing the government and using the whip when necessary. This is what will get them going and not the hope of a swing of a couple of thousands. The more you will work for the latter the less popular the party gets – it’s a bit of a ‘quicksand phenomenon’ because there will not be just one thing that will get the PN back on track but a conglomeration of factors.

In other words the PN needs a narrative and a story line. Much as it is a sign of recovery (in terms of organisational reform) the Net FM (former Radio 101) attempt to start the media revamp is still tame.

If you had to ask me, the PN has its hand on the self-destruct button at the moment.

The irony is that their biggest nemesis are the members who sit on the high moral ground that are putting a spoke in the wheel of the Delia leadership, undermining him and creating this apprehension and unsteadiness.

We could harp on forever about why this is the case but I would consider the following half a dozen reasons why there seems to be no end in sight to the party’s caving in.

1. 2. 3.

It is not yet clear what the party stands for. The only glimpse of ideology is in the ‘migration’ area, much as I disagree. If you ask me, the party here is manifesting populist positions that are far from the dialectic that Lawrence Gonzi had led when the problem was at its worse. The PN is another voice together with that of the government and the right-wing apologists who talk about the threat of identity, push-backs and muscledup positions. The PN is not an alternative voice. There is no ‘demokristjani’ in how they are positioning themselves. More than that, they are happy to be considered pożittivi because they don’t criticize the government and take a seemingly common position and once again the government dictating the PN agenda!

The party has run out of ‘grey matter’. The few people I mentioned some time back in another news portal is all that is left in the party. You cannot develop a political party without intellectuals of the calibre of Louis Galea, Ugo Mifsud Bonnici and Fr Peter, just to mention a few. It seems that the internal structures of the party are so worried on the lack of loyalty that they are trying to keep as much of what is happening as possible in the boardroom. If the party wants to move forward it needs thinkers and philosophers, sociologists and social scientists. It is the reaching out that is weak within the PN. They seem to consult no one except for the same people who were part of the implosion.

I am not necessarily referring to Delia. Actually, as I have had the opportunity to write and say innumerable times, I do think Delia has the qualities. He messed it up with the tax issue and the dialectic he used prior to the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Needless to say, that the current deputy leaders, much as they are party loyalists, do not have the beef to support 4.

Loyalty is nowhere to be seen. People, as we all know, will not vote for a split party. The citizens are intelligent 5. 6. enough to know that the party is the foundation that makes up a government and that instability induces failure. People know that it takes very little for the economic situation to tip in the wrong direction and so the status quo is the best thing that one could hope for at this point in time. Much as I am convinced that Dr Busuttil believes in what he is doing, I still think he is jumping the gun. I just hope that the people that are still stuck to him are advising him that if he keeps on with his tomfoolery, there is no hope in the world that the Nationalist Party will see the end of its demise. Dr Busuttil is intelligent enough to know that he cannot have one foot in and the other out of the party. He has to decide to either be a team player or serve his mission outside, for example, through civil society. If he wants to be remembered for the noble value scales he promoted with such vigour, he has to let go. In other words, if he doesn’t feel that he fits in the party, he should do the honourable thing and buzz off, maybe create his own party.

These are the Golden Years of the Labour Party. Keep in mind that these are the golden years of Joseph Muscat and the Labour Party. The PN has to face this reality and needs to set itself up and develop a cluster of politicians, lay out its policies, link up with the roots so that when this wave of success goes by they will be ready to seize the moment.

Strangely enough, I’ve heard people in government saying that a country needs a sturdy opposition to counter-balance the debate. If a power-driven person were to be elected in the Labour Party after Joseph Muscat makes way, he/she would have all the ammo to turn this country into a one– party state. We need an opposition that stands up to its beliefs, that has a road map, that has alternative polices and a political ideology and spine that represents a vision of some sorts. It is also the responsibility of the unions, employers’ associations, academics, the Church, civil society, NGOs and so on to put pressure on the Nationalist Party to get its act in order. The constitutional role of the party in opposition is key in our political landscape - a weak opposition makes a weak country, notwithstanding good economic indicators.