Labour’s official Sunday newspaper ran an anonymous ominous piece, ‘Labour is not Babel’. It was given top priority – ahead even of some of Labour’s heavyweights. And it sent a chilling message.
Labour will not tolerate traitors. Not even the slightest public criticism of the party is acceptable. Those who express dissent or criticism publicly hate the party. No candidate will be allowed to stand on Labour’s ticket unless they declare absolute loyalty to the party and the leader. Party first, country second.
The piece couldn’t have been given such prominence without the blessing of the leader. It couldn’t have been published without his direction. No moderate European political party could possibly publish such an article. But this is Labour, ever detached, ever oblivious of its responsibilities. This is an article from another era, from dark times. It has no place in a modern democracy. Labour is as progressive as a Dickensian workhouse.
“Labour’s life could never be easy”, the article kicked off, “because lined up against it are all the tentacles of the establishment octopus.” “We are not afraid to declare that Labour is eternally surrounded and assaulted from all sides because the PN is only the political manifestation of the privileged who are powerful and dominate every aspect and every pillar of society”, it went on.
“The attacks on Labour are always the same and all without basis – good governance, the environment, overdevelopment and corruption. They never state how they will improve the lives of citizens but only how they will put Labour Party members in prison”.
“Only the foolish and those who want to destroy their family expose their problems to their neighbours. There are a few among us who swallow the bait of the enemy and, because they like the media publicity, or because they are vain and harbour personal ambitions, or because they don’t consider the consequences, join the establishment’s attack on Labour’s government. This negative and suicidal attitude I cannot understand,” the anonymous columnist complained.
The warnings and threats quickly followed. “Never join the enemy because all they want is to obliterate the party from the face of the earth.”
“Before accepting candidates we should ensure that they are totally loyal.”
“Brethren, Labour cannot turn into Babel. We speak one tongue, the tongue of our dear party – one and united.”
That exhortation could have come from the Soviet Union’s politburo at the height of the Cold War.
Labour is lurching further towards populism and illiberalism. A Swedish research group, V-Dem Institute, created two indices (https://www.v-dem.net/media/publications/working_paper_91.pdf) based on experts’ responses to gauge political parties. The first index is the populism index which measures the extent to which a political party says it is against elites. The second index, illiberalism, evaluated how likely the party is to launch personal attacks against their opponents. Labour ticks all the boxes.
The article is not only an open attack on those who dared voice their concerns about the direction the party’s taking. It is a declaration of a state of siege. By declaring that “the establishment octopus” is intent on “obliterating the party from the face of the earth” it is demanding absolute compliance and loyalty to the party by all its members.
It is making it known that those who fail to abide by the party’s demands will be considered traitors, members who hate the ‘family’ and who are ready to endanger its very existence. Given centre stage in the party’s mouthpiece Kulħadd, this can only be a message from the leader.
Robert Abela is putting his foot down. He will no longer tolerate dissent – from anyone – not even from his deputy, Chris Fearne. He is not embarrassed to make his message public. This is nothing short of the normalisation of a new autocratic anti-democratic direction for Labour.
Labour is as progressive as a Dickensian workhouse- Kevin Cassar
No matter how badly we behave, we expect nothing less than absolute loyalty and silence. You will be on our side, no matter what. Anything less is “suicidal”, the article insists. It’s “suicidal” for those who step over the leader’s rigid line.
This is an ominous warning that those who don’t comply will destroy themselves. It is a call to extremism and an open threat to democracy.
The article fuels the party line that no evidence exists to support accusations of overdevelopment or the degradation of the environment.
It is pointing its fingers at Conrad Borg Manché, Paul Buttigieg and Chris Zammit.
Allegations about bad governance are unfounded. It’s pointing its fingers at Fearne who testified to the auditor general of how Joseph Muscat and Konrad Mizzi duped cabinet. He testified about how several agreements weren’t even brought before cabinet. Others were only brought after they had already been signed.
He exposed how Muscat had been negotiating to increase Steward’s remuneration without increasing services.
The article insists that there is no scrap of evidence for the ‘false’ allegations about Labour’s corruption. It’s an order to the party faithful – everything you are hearing about Muscat’s stinking ‘consultancy’ payments is fiction. Nothing about the hospitals’ concession, the Mozura wind farm, the LNG storage tanker, the DB SVPR extension, the Electrogas power station is true.
Those NAO reports showed nothing wrong and where “mistakes” were highlighted they were just due to “haste”. Anybody who considers himself Labour must not believe those allegations. As cracks in the party widen, Abela is trying to consolidate his control over Labour. As dissent raises its ugly head, the more severely he must impose unity – “one tongue” – and the more violently that dissent must be confronted.
Abela’s power in the party is not absolute but he is ensuring it is unquestioned. Only those who declare their absolute loyalty to him will get the chance to run. Abela is getting increasingly paranoid. He is embarking on a purge, casting out those he doesn’t trust and making an example of them. Labour’s message is straight out of Soviet Russia, Abela’s approach like Stalin’s with Trotsky.
Kevin Cassar is a professor of surgery.