Loneliness of a long-distance runner

The ordeal of Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici over the EU constitutional treaty is full of irony. A respected former leader of the Malta Labour Party he is desperate to persuade Labour delegates to tell the parliamentary group to abstain on the vote on the treaty. He laments that his party is refusing him the platform he seeks to be able to do so at full cock. As an ex-leader, he is a party delegate for life. He wants the right to address all the regional meetings the MLP will be holding for fellow delegates on the issue.

The party told him he can address the delegates assembled in his region but not the rest. One man, one voice, no more than that. The ex-leader disagrees. He stated flatly he would gate-crash every single regional assembly so that all delegates can hear him out.

In his zeal to keep erstwhile high-profile Labour reservations to EU membership alive, and to safeguard Malta's commitment to neutrality, this long-distance runner does not mind to seem to be going one lap too many. Fierce passion he brings to any cause he espouses is his hallmark.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici is a genuine, principled fundamentalist. He was never interested in personal power, or gain. He finds it hard to adapt to what he sees as political expediency in the quest for an MLP victory by August 2008. He wants the Nationalists out, as much as ever. But, he insists, the MLP would not only be confusing the faithful if it now accepted positions it fundamentally opposed in the relentless campaign against EU membership. It would be betraying Malta. His is a lonely voice. He lets it be known to anyone who cares to listen that he is being shut out. The few who openly support him complain of "dirty tricks". This phase of the hobbled runner's latest race is not entertaining. Far less welcome is the way his zeal has been countered.

His successor was against to as much as seeing him in the audience of a Xarabank programme Alfred Sant was to appear on.

The current leader, it was put out, was bound by a self-imposed party ban on public discussion of the treaty at this stage: if the old leader brought it up, was the reason proferred, Dr Sant would not be able to engage him on it. The simple, democratic way forward - to let Dr Mifsud Bonnici have his piece and moving on - seemed too complicated to consider.

It is highly unlikely that, by being heard, even on a mass-audience TV programme, Dr Mifsud Bonnici would carry the day. And, even if he persuaded a minority to his stance, the MLP still wins hands down the comparison with the PN on structured discussion of the treaty, rather than swallowing it whole.

Though he is right according to his logic, and the MLP's exuberant anti-EU rhetoric is coming home to roost with a vengeance, I hold no truck with Dr Mifsud Bonnici's stance.

If I were a delegate, I'd vote for the treaty. I find it sad, though, that the former leader's loneliness over the issue should include placing his views in quarantine, openly or implicitly.

Freedom of thought, mirrored in open discussion, is made of sterner stuff. Persuasion achieved despite passionate counter arguments has more merit than the old tactic of managing discussion.