During last month’s MEP elections, I was surprised to hear Joseph Muscat single out David Casa as the one MEP he didn’t want to send to Brussels. Unless of course it was a tactical move and Muscat really wanted him elected (highly unlikely). In which case he should have known that turning his guns on Casa would backfire spectacularly.
A declaration like that is guaranteed to be one of two things: useless or dangerous. Useless because it would have no discernible effect on those not voting for Casa; and dangerous because reluctant PN supporters would then turn out to support Casa – the proverbial ‘enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend’ mindset coming into play.
Still more ironic of course would have been the slap in the face for Adrian Delia (and by extension his own anointed MEP, Frank Psaila). Psaila, you see, was neck and neck with Casa, and may have made it past the post had it not been for Muscat’s eleventh-hour intervention.
I’ve made this sort of point before – ironically a propos the Egrant allegations, which should have taught Muscat a thing or two about ‘demonising the enemy’ and the simple truth that, faced with an attack from outside, people tend to close ranks.
At the time, I was certain that Egrant would boost Muscat’s ratings, with many changing their minds and voting Labour once the PN campaign turned brutal, vicious and nasty. And I was right. Vitriolic campaigns just don’t win elections. Or if they do, they win them for the other side.
History repeated itself once again during the PN leadership race when Delia was singled out for attack and Chris Said’s chances disappeared into thin air. It happened too when Malta Today published less than solid allegations about Casa’s cocaine habit and the time when details of Delia’s marital separation were ‘hung out’ for all to see.
Yes, I’ve written about all this ad nauseam. And if I’m boring you by repeating it, I’m doing so because the political landscape is equally repetitive and boring. The fact that I’m dredging up three-year-old articles that are still relevant today is highly significant. It’s a worrying sign of the times, that sadly aren’t a-changin’.
Which brings me to the PN and one of its customary four-year (six? eight?) dog-day afternoons. I’m writing this the afternoon Pierre Portelli has just resigned as chairman of Media.Link, PN’s media wing.
There can be no strength or progress when a divided party fails to get a grip, especially when its MPs conduct themselves like unruly adolescents
Portelli is not a man to pull his punches. He talks about “constant coordinated attacks on the party by certain MPs who think they have a divine right to rule”.
These accusations were not born yesterday and are certainly not new to the PN. The belief that an elitist clique has a stranglehold on the party is at least 10 years old, which is more or less as long as the party has been haemorrhaging votes.
But those were different times where what happened in the party, stayed in the party, and anyone who challenged the party leader was hung out to dry. When a certain rebel MP did challenge the status quo, his revelations were dismissed as the speculative ramblings of a disgruntled and unhinged backbencher who needed to be taught a lesson and punished. His antics were considered a perfidious act of betrayal. He was demonised and ostracised.
The Information Age has changed the face of politics and not necessarily for the better. Today there is ample evidence of political betrayal and infighting all over the social media, with PN MPs blatantly leaking details of Parliamentary Group rifts and spilling their guts all over Facebook. And it’s not just the MPs.
Everyone has a voice and online condemnation of the party or its leader in the form of Facebook posts, tweets et al has become the acceptable norm. Social media is an extension of who we are and whatever is on our mind, a forum where people can vent love, hate, grief and pain on their terms. What’s the problem with that? Shouldn’t people be allowed to express themselves in the name of freedom of expression? Yes of course. And no.
I am averse to declarations of love and war on social media and find both equally off-putting, pointless and dangerous. The fact that you may love your husband or dislike the leader of the Opposition is not breaking news as far as I am concerned.
Politics in the technology age is still uncharted territory and people would do well to pause and consider their role, status and relationship with the party before violently stabbing their keyboards (and the party) in the process.
You may be angry, you may feel that the party leader is unfit for purpose, you may think Delia should go. Fine. So send him a letter or an e-mail. Write a column in the newspaper if you must. But leave social media out of the equation. It sparks controversy and fuels hatred in a way that a newspaper article does not, particularly in a country like Malta.
Delia is a colleague. We exchange smiles and stop for a chat a couple of times a year. I reckon I know him well enough to be able to state with some certainty that he is not going anywhere – not after what has happened and what he has left behind. Besides – and here I don’t want to come across as ‘star-struck’ and superstitious – Delia is a classic Leo, the type who believes he was ‘born to lead’. Admittedly, he may not be the answer to the PN’s problems, but neither is he their biggest problem. The problems run much deeper and I dare say it is the anti-Delia faction that is at the root of them. To quote former editor-in-chief, Steve Mallia: “The thorn-in-the-side presence of the Busuttil contingent, who steadfastly opposed Delia’s election and will never accept him as leader (they have every right), is a factor the party ignores at its ever-increasing peril.” Enough said.
A comment I read online also struck a chord.
“Delia has never been given a chance, and I do not believe it is because of his baggage, which I admit is not insignificant. It is because the party elite do not want him. Just as the elite closed an eye to Casa’s recently exposed baggage, they would have willingly closed an eye to one of their own with the same baggage as Delia.”
In his Times of Malta column last Sunday, Mark Anthony Falzon summed up the situation succinctly. In effect Delia is fighting a battle against two parties and has not been given a fair chance. If the PN rallied behind him and presented a united front, things would be different.
There can be no strength or progress when a divided party fails to get a grip, especially when its MPs conduct themselves like unruly adolescents. Still, the fact that they refuse to play nicely together (with the same ball) and would rather destroy their party than have Delia at the helm is hugely significant. It’s glaring proof of deeply entrenched resentment, and a stranglehold on internal party affairs that promises to choke that very party to death.