Redimensioning Dom

In his response to Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici's onslaught on the MLP's new EU policy, Alfred Sant has written a series of five articles in the GWU daily, l-Orizzont.

In this series, that has been appearing in this newspaper since last Monday, Dr Sant has purported to explain that the same reasons that led to his position on the EU prior to this year's referendum and general elections must lead to his party's new EU policy now that Malta will join the EU on May 1 next year.

Dr Sant's selective details of the historical background of the MLP's relationship with Europe (and with what in Cold War terms used to be "the West") are also an attempt at one of many a politician's favourite pastimes - rewriting history. What strikes me, however, as the most revealing aspect of the whole series is Dr Sant's blunt redimensioning of his predecessor, Dom Mintoff.

I doubt if this attack on an actual leader of a political party against one of his predecessors has any precedent in Maltese political history. In the context of Maltese politics, this onslaught on the memory of Dom Mintoff by the present MLP leader is akin to Nikita Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalin's atrocities, even though Dr Sant managed to do all this without mentioning Dom Mintoff's name once:

¤ Dr Sant insisted that his opposition to Malta's EU membership has always been the result of his conviction that membership is bad for Malta in economic terms - a simple matter of sums (somom) and not because he was swayed by the 'Schumann' or the 'Cain and Abel' arguments.

This is a clear reference to Mr Mintoff's description of the Cold War division of Europe into Abel's Europe and Cain's Europe. He even made a passing comment on those who had made big sermons (priedki kbar) on what was right and what was wrong for "Europe". This must be Mr Mintoff again. Anyone who remembers his (in)famous 1978 speech to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe cannot have any doubts whatsoever.

¤ To explain the nature of international relations, Dr Sant gave a most revealing example - Malta's performance in the Security and Co-operation Conference in Helsinki in 1975, when little Malta's veto delayed the conference conclusion for a number of days until a reference to security in the Mediterranean was included in the final document.

This has always been considered by the Labour Party as one of Mr Mintoff's big achievements in the realm of foreign policy, a feather in his cap. Although pointing out that Malta's argument was correct, Dr Sant explained that after the event no one - from either the North or South - was appreciative of Malta's stand. Instead, Malta had to suffer the bad consequences for several years during which "we lost investment, trade and work". The parallel is obvious: the MLP today does not want Malta to end up in the same sort of predicament that Mr Mintoff's lack of tact had led us in the past. So much for Dom Mintoff's 'great' achievement in Helsinki!

¤ Dr Sant's scorn on Mr Mintoff's part in the fall of his government in 1998 surfaces more than once in his articles. He recalls that after what happened, "whoever" was responsible for the fall of the short-lived Labour administration then pretended to tell them (i.e. Dr Sant) how "Europe" was to be resisted. He insists that the right relationship with the EU would have been established after 1996 if "whoever" sabotaged the government from the inside had remained loyal towards the Labour government. And, I might add, everyone knows that those who are not loyal are called "traitors"!

¤ Dr Sant accused Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici of abandoning the CNI to join a chimeric 'front' that was altogether unnecessary (zejjed ghal kollox) in the difficult circumstances being faced by the MLP. It seems that after resorting to Spanish literature (Don Quixote's windmills) to criticise KMB, Dr Sant has now turned to Greek mythology - though "chimeric" in modern usage means "wildly and grotesquely fanciful".

This is how Dr Sant described what followed: "In the most important moments, the IVA movement kept on picking up the pace while the CNI evaporated. In the meantime the chimeric Front that Dr Mifsud Bonnici had joined wasted its time in meetings around the country that served to confuse some Labourites and gave a treat to the Nationalist media and its allies." (Fl-aqwa mumenti, il-moviment ta' l-IVA baqa' jirranka, waqt li s-CNI zvinta. Sadanittant, Il-Front kimeriku fejn dahal Dr Mifsud Bonnici nhela f'meetings mal-pajjiz li servew biex hawdu xi Laburisti u taw xalata lill-media Nazzjonalista u l-alleati taghha.)

If Dom Mintoff's Front Maltin Inqumu is chimeric, who might the chimera be? A sure bet that anyone's guess is as good as mine!

Post scriptum: The small matter of the Emperor's clothes will probably take some time to be resolved. If history is anything to go by, it is worth noting that in the case of the two previous incarnations of the Emperor, the conclusion that they, in fact, had no clothes at all was only confirmed a number of years after their reign was over.