In The Mouse That Roared, Count Rupert of Mountjoy, the prime minister of the European Duchy of Grand Fenwick (half the size of Gozo) declares war on the United States.

The Duchy’s entire economy is dependent on making Pinot Grand Fenwick wine.

California starts producing Pinot Grand Enwick, destroying the Duchy’s economy.

The Duchy hopes to lose the war quickly so that the United States will rebuild the Duchy’s economy through a mini-Marshall Plan, as it did for Germany after World War II.

But, though armed only with bows and arrows, the Duchy of Grand Fenwick defeats the United States and becomes a new superpower bringing together 20 of the world’s smallest nations.

Leaders of small nations know that they cannot emulate the Duchy of Grand Fenwick when taking on bigger countries to stand up for themselves.

Self-respecting leaders of small states do not suffer from an inferiority complex.

They are confidently assertive, respect others and demand to be treated with dignity. They know that if they behave like grovelling worms they will be treated as such.

Mia Mottley, the prime minister of Barbados, is no Rupert of Mountjoy, no mouse that roars and definitely not a grovelling worm. Time named her one of the most influential people of the world in 2022.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the director-general of the World Trade Organisation, says: “There are some who stand tall and stand out no matter where they are from – whether a large, densely populated country or a small island nation.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados is one such person.

Bold, fearless, and possessing a great intellect and wit, the prime minister is a brilliant politician who knows how to shake things up. Since she was a young woman growing up in the Caribbean, Mia Mottley has always cared deeply about critical issues impacting the world.

From poverty to debt to climate change, she is a vocal advocate on the world stage for responsible stewardship of our planet, so that nations large and small and people rich and poor can survive and thrive together.”

Mottley calls herself “a proud daughter of Africa”. Paying tribute to Kofi Annan, the Ghanaian secretary-general of the United Nations (1997 to 2006), she praised him for understanding “the enduring impacts of colonisation on environment, society, economy and psyche”.

She admired his commitment for peace, development to bring about an end to poverty and his desire for genuine independence and true self-governance. She shares with him the common “grotesque and tragic history… of the crime against humanity that was the trans-Atlantic slave trade”.

And here in Malta?

In her Kofi Annan Inaugural Memorial Lecture in New York in September 2022, Mia Mottley recalled his words when he visited Barbados in 2002: “Small countries appreciate that collective interest, and collective action is also in the national interest.

"What happens in your nations is of great concern to the rest of the world. Your countries are places where, in concentrated form, many of the main problems of development and environment are unfolding.

"Your experiences, your experiments, your transformation – can guide the way to a brighter future for all peoples.”

Kofi Annan had exhorted Barbados to continue punching far above its weight in the global community.

Mia Mottley and Barbados “accepted this kind remark with the responsibility which comes with it, understanding only too well the battles hard fought, then and that we must continue to fight those battles”.

Our holders of political office are destroying the political legacy that created a sovereign Malta, neutral and free from military bases- Evarist Bartolo

Prime Minister Mottley believes that world leaders must have mature conversations and speak to their people instead of relying on headlines and sound-bites, to avoid a disconnect between the government and the governed: “We can make a difference in this world and let us do so recognising that a world that reflects an imperialistic order, hypocrisy and lack of transparency will not achieve that mission, but one that gives us freedom, transparency and a level playing field will allow for a difference.”

She believes in a new internationalism, a truly inclusive United Nations and international system: “The United Nations, particularly the Security Council, must be reflective of more current geopolitical realities and the ‘birth’ of new nations.

"There cannot continue to be a situation where the Security Council, in an organisation of 195 member-states, has five permanent members which have a right of veto and can use it to frustrate the will of the majority. It cannot be an institution that purports to serve a modern world, and which is prepared to deliver on a future for the next generations when it carries and is constrained by the cloak of history.”

The people who occupy top political positions in our country have a lot to learn from Mia Mottley. They are followers, not leaders. Lacking foresight and ambition, they are hollowing out our democracy, sovereignty and neutrality that are intertwined. Consistently they accept meekly to be dictated to by the leaders of other countries.

We must work with other countries where our interests converge but who will act in our particular interest and principles when we abdicate that responsibility?

Through a cowardly refusal to recognise the state of Palestine and through becoming increasingly entangled in a militarised European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, our holders of political office are destroying the political legacy that created for the first time a sovereign Malta, neutral and free from military bases.

In September, we will celebrate 60 years of independence.

Countries led by mediocre insular politicians with a servile mentality are not independent forward-looking countries. Instead of leading us forward, tracing our own path, in a global interdependent world, they are dragging us back inexorably and, because it is easier, to the past as a colony serving as the base for a foreign power – taking sides with the West against the rest, instead of co-existing peacefully with everyone.

This ugly reality, albeit packaged in nice words, is turning us into a travesty of a democratic, sovereign neutral state.

Evarist Bartolo is a former Labour foreign and education minister.