Political parties in turmoil cannot be good news to parliamentary democracies like ours.
That the Nationalist Party is in an almost unprecedented mess is there for all to see. It is also becoming increasingly obvious that all the leader’s workhorses and all the leader’s men are finding it very difficult to put the shattered party together again.
However, it would be a very grave mistake to think that Labour is in a bed of roses, nurtured by three consecutive huge electoral victories. Red flags are being raised and they are not the type carried during the mass public meetings and demonstrations.
It would, likewise, be wrong to assume that the ‘genuine’ Labourites flagging the need for the party to do some serious soul-searching and change course are voices in the wilderness. True, the vociferous ones and those who are not afraid to stand up to be counted may be few, very few, compared to the many thousands professing ‘blind loyalty’ to Labour – most of them because it suits them. However, the section of disgruntled – for want of a better word – party ‘supporters’ is getting bigger.
The situation prevailing here contrasts sharply with the recent happenings in London, where the Conservative Party has just elected its third leader in as many years, in reaction to serious mistakes made. The message was clear: those who make mistakes should pay.
On this tiny island of ours, “staunch Labourite” Desmond Zammit Marmarà, as he described himself, has for some time now been calling for his beloved party to acknowledge its mistakes and change course. Labour today, he publicly declares, no longer remotely resembles the political party which I once knew pre-2013.
Labour, in his view, has become a political party that puts the interests of big business first and electoral victories and power matter more than anything else.
“Arrogance, lack of transparency and accountability and putting oneself on a pedestal are simply not on in a parliamentary democracy,” he presses on.
A veteran within the party, he surely knows what the situation within is really like: “Many silent Labour intellectuals, who disagree with so many things that are going on, will still not venture to go against the Labour Party because they are convinced social democrats.
“They fervently believe in the Labour ideals and will not do anything they might see as harming the political party they hold so dear. They will speak privately about their disillusion but they will not do so publicly.”
“The savage thirst for economic growth has destroyed the environment, congested public spaces with cars and is making the island ever more suffocating to live in”
Former minister Evarist Bartolo is, so far, the only high-profile Labour exponent to give credence to what Zammit Marmarà has been saying.
Declaring he too believed the party needs to rekindle its original values, Bartolo thinks it would be “arrogant” for the Labour administration to dismiss the activist’s concerns.
Despite its resounding election victory, the PL must do its own soul searching, especially to understand why tens of thousands stayed away from the polling booths in the March election.
Bartolo’s parting shot cannot be ignored by his own party leaders:
“The savage thirst for economic growth has destroyed the environment, congested public spaces with cars and is making the island ever more suffocating to live in.”
Caesar foolishly ignored the soothsayer’s warning to beware the ides of March. As Zammit Marmarà cautions, only a fool will continue to live in a state of denial and to defend the indefensible.