Vote Harry, Get Freddy… I Dare Daphne

So the arguments are getting a bit thin Daphne? We just leave a little note at the end of the article as a sort of addendum. Unjustified, unargued and hanging in the air. A bit like PN electoral policy. You see I am not here to defend AD and their campaign. I am here to point out how sorry the PN campaign (and empty policy behind it) is. I am obliged to pick on PN more than any other party because coalition or no coalition it is being touted as the least dangerous option to run the government in the next five years.

I am already thinking beyond the carcades and the meeting tar-rebha. I am thinking of the desert of ideas that will dry us up faster than the Gobi come April and the first 50 days of government are over. Daphne, you cannot argue more than one simple phrase (Vote X get Y) because that is all there is in PN’s favour – a u-turn loving, newly EU pandering, inconsistent and bumbling set of fanatics who still believe there is something socialist (I dare not mention social democrat) about their party. Any other argument – any more words than Vote Harry, Get Freddy would have meant more pie on the PN face. It would have meant Daphne having to come up with forced superlatives about a party in government that barely managed to get the obvious right. So Daphne prefers to veer away … at least until Sunday when I dare her to keep away from twisted mathematics and further justification of the gerrymandered electoral system and instead to come up with a full article of PN positives.

I dare you to write that without going into generic descriptions and without mentioning Alfred Sant once. Just think positive. Tell me why, judging by the past 5 years, PN are more than simply the least dangerous alternative to government. Smart City? You mean the city like the myriad of Technopoles outside most French towns? Portomaso and Tigne? Tax on travel that made sure we were in when we wanted more of the out? The firm hand on hunting? The projects that were always on time? The failure to register the fact that roads and an efficient transport system are interlinked? The constant lack of values in the future projections? I have said it before and will say it again. PN have been the party that have taken this country through the OBVIOUS steps of the early 21st century. Nothing impressive.

Again, I don’t care how useless you think AD are. I don’t care how ridiculously insane voting for MLP is. What I want to hear is why you think PN is good. Sell it to me like you’ve never sold before… literally. Remember – the dare means no comparisons to the useless void around them…. prove to me that PN is a beacon in the darkness of ideas. A shining guidance brimming with enthusiastic and capable politicians.

The new rebel generation (the one that is in its early thirties and not the rabble generation at University) have new expectations. In the eighties they wanted democracy and liberty, in the noughties we want the best for our country. They have been to Europe (thanks to EU programmes THEY chose to vote for -using PN and AD as a vehicle) and know what life could be like. They want to be able to vote a party into government that has similar aspirations. Sadly there are none. And the absence of arguments coming from the PN apologistas themselves is the best proof that if anybody has been right all along it is this disjointed movement for change that seems to be gathering momentum.

Unfortunately my contractual obligations with the Times do not allow me to write about politics in my Sunday column. Tant pis… would have made a nice balance to some arguments trumpeting the faux notes of PN success. For now, in the absence of a real opposition of ideas in the form of a concrete party we are prepared to wear the mantle of a virtual opposition – criticising and pointing out the faults of the pretenders to the throne.

Welcome to the show. Till Sunday.
P.S. I saw an electoral affiche for a politician in the Grenoble cantonal elections. I think that if PN can steal from Sarkoy, AD should steal this slogan: “Le gout des autres” (literally: other people’s taste).

Electoral Moleskine 5 – Philanthropy

Anglu Xuereb’s AN run in the elections is a bit like a man running through a street where hundreds of horses have passed. He cannot make two steps without stepping in shit. This time round we had the unsavoury Balzan poster promising to close an Open Center that helps immigrants. Once the ruckus was kicked up (by a priest – please note all those who never lose a chance to shoot at a man wearing a frock) AN had to defend themselves. “We are not racist. We will only close the open centre if EU money is not forthcoming. Government is not a philanthropic organisation.”

AN still have to master the subtleties of what the EU is all about. So you do not want public money channelled to our Treasury spent on assisting immigrants but you want public money channeled via the EU and then acquired for Malta to be spent on assisting immigrants. Since joining the EU this is a new tactic of party politics. In each and every case, whether it is hunting (PN), renegotiating membership conditions and derogations (MLP) orspending public money (AN) the parties revel in the different labels they can put on the actions they intend to do.

So a PN government cannot take a strong stand against spring hunting? No problem – the EU will. MLP knows that the derogations are a non-negotiable part of the package? No problem – its electoral commitment is limited to discussing and negotiating with the EU. It is fully aware that the outcome is practically a foregone conclusion (something on the line of  -you’ve got to be kidding me) but its electoral mission will be fulfilled the day Sant steps on the plane to Brussels. And AN? Ah AN want us to believe that they do not want public money spent on assisting immigrants. They shy away from declaring that they do not want the immigrants punto. If they really had a spine down their back they would… instead political exigencies require that they appear moderate. So what do they tell us? That it’s not the immigrants that is the problem, it’s how we fund the help we give them. OK. So what do they suggest? That we do not pay them out of public money (Box labeled Tezor ta’ Malta) but out of public money (box labeled Tezor ta’ Malta (Fondi UE)). Not that I’d vote for AN anyway.

Old style political parties could not be expected to introduce daring policies for the good of the people. PN had 20 years of power before they warmed up to the idea of an environmental policy in Elections 2008, MLP’s most daring act would probably be to draft a comprehensible policy of making EU membership work…. yet another example of why old politics needs to be given the boot. Did I mention that one of AD’s six points for a coalition is implementing all obligations under the EU environmental acquis without delay or without waiting for an EU threat to punish? That is the kind of stuff that makes you not want to waste your vote.

Electoral Moleskine #4 – Great Minds

Interesting:

Daphne Caruna Galizia commenting on Electoral Moleskine #2:

I think it’s hugely unfair to attack somebody who has had the guts to behave like a man instead of like a sulking teenager forever rebelling against his parents. What Rene wrote in his resignation letter is correct: that if he doesn’t play a part in helping to return Gonzi as prime minister, then he is playing a part in helping to elect Sant, and he doesn’t want to have anything to do with that, or to have such an eventuality on his conscience. He appears to have thought about it, and reached a conclusion rooted in personal morality rather than petty partisan politics.
February 14^th 14.28pm

Minn tal-Familja on The Author:

Fi stqarrija Rene’ Rossignaud, li l-bieraħ irriżenja membru ta’ l-AD u kunsillier f’isimha fis-Swieqi, iddikjara li mhux minnu assolutament li xi ħadd mill-PN għamel pressjoni fuqu biex jirriżenja. Rossignaud kien qed iwieġeb għal stqarrija li ħarget l-AD u li fiha allegat li hu irriżenja għax ċeda għall-pressjoni li saritlu mill-PN. L-eks kunsillier u eks-membru ta’ l-AD wieġeb li din mhi xejn ħlief gidba sfaċċata, u li hu ħa dan il-pass waħdu wara li rrifletta sew u fit-tul. Rossignaud qal li, għalhekk, qed jirriserva d-dritt li jieħu l-passi legali kollha biex jiddefendi ruħu.

February 14^th 17.27pm

News item appeared on Maltarightnow at 16.55 CET

Electoral Moleskine #2 – Voltagabbana

René Rossignaud the latest Voltagabbana

So the Nationalists have finally found someone to switch to their side – or so they think. The sacrificial rabbit is former AD Swieqi Councillor René Rossignaud. The resignation letter (reproduced below thanks to the ecstatic Minn tal-Familja Contribution) does not seem to be simply RR’s doing. How do I know? I do not know what RR’s writing would look like but I firmly believe that this letter was crafted simply to be used by PN to hammer the message home to the “unconvinced nationalists” to keep their preference votes away from AD.

Whoever drafted the letter is not the smartest kid on the block and looking for an ounce of real motivation for quitting AD in this letter is like looking for a fart in a jacuzzi. Why is RR quitting AD? Because come election time, AD – as a political party contesting the election – is trying to win votes from its opponents. No shit Sherlock. There I was thinking that a political party would sit back and hope that an invisible number of voters would come and make their point. Apparently, Harry and his nasty band of watermelons are trying to hijack the PN vote. Or so the others think.

The leap of faith beyond the obvious fact that appeals for change can only work on intelligent thinkers of the electorate  is evident. AD are not an independent party trying to attract the electors most prone to vote for them. No they are STEALING votes from another party. And if this party is PN it is tantamount to Mortal Sin. Like Gollum drooling over his Prescioussss (there I join the LOTR club too, the drafter of RR’s letter  believed that basing RR’s resignation on the mortal sin of stealing votes from PN is enough to convince the unconvinced to go back to the fold.

Unfortunately it is just this very automatic arrogance that pushes people away. We don’t owe you Europe, we don’t owe you our cushy jobs in Luxembourg, we don’t owe you a flight home to vote on Election day, we don’t owe you anything. It’s politics guys, you’ve got to deserve the vote. Shouting “Mine Mine Mine” and “Stupid Stupid Stupid” gets you nowehere… especially because we’re a bunch of arrogant wankellectuals who strongly believe that a vote is ours to give and no amount of yelling and shaming from thre Cathedral at Dar Centrali will change that.  I’m sorry for René Rossignaud. He seemed like a nice quiet guy who believed he could change the world until he wasprobably sidlined by one of those luminaries of the Church (Gonzi’s Opus) and made to see the light again.

Meanwhile, that other voltagabbana of note, Carmel Cacopardo, has set an ultimatum on Gonzi. Either the outgoing PM publishes a MEPA report that has been suppressed within the next 48 hours or CC will publish it himself. Speaking of MEPA, George Pullicino blogs that “Dr. Gonzi qal li f’legislatura ohra hu se jiehu din l-MEPA taht ir-responsabilita diretta tiegħu bħala President tal-Kummissjoni Nazzjonali għall-Iżvilupp Sostenibbli. Irrid nghid li kont jien stess li ssuggerejtlu jaghmel dan wara 10 snin responsabbli minn din l-Awtorita’, fatt li Lawrence Gonzi rrefera ghalih. ” (GP suggests that it was him who told the PM to take MEPA reform in his hands after GP had spent 10 years responsible for it). Sweet – the underlying theme can be said to oxymoronic.

So CC, AD’s prize turncoat is busy uncovering the sad reality of MEPA at the same moment that Gonzi impliedly admits that much is amiss and needs reforming in his able hands. Ad’s turncoat is all about a policy that has a deficit in the Prime Minister’s own words. A deficit we hear about in every election campaign but only now merits attention since the party that blows the alarm warning loudest has become a real threat to the establishment.

And the establishment? Well they sent their minions out to find someone who could be behind a public letter apologising to the PN for having tried to steal their votes away from them. Their votes. I repeat. And then we are supposed to worry about RR’s letter? Give us a break will you?

***

RR’s Letter (Fausto translated it to English):

“Għażiż Harry,
Permezz ta’ din l-ittra jien qiegħed nirriżenja b’effett immedjat mill-Alternattiva Demokratika, kemm bħala membru kif ukoll bħala kunsillier għas-Swieqi.

Din id-deċiżjoni qed neħodha wara ħafna ħsieb, għaliex m’għadnix naqbel mal-mod kif l-AD qed titmexxa bħala partit. Jien dħalt fl-AD għaliex verament emmint li stajt naħdem favur ċerti prinċipji. L-ewwel pass li ħadt favur dan kien fuq livell lokali. Kif taf, dan irnexxieli nagħmlu u ta’ dan jien kburi. Infakkrek li jien ġibt wieħed mill-ogħla riżultati mill-kandidati kollha fl-aħħar elezzjoni lokali fis-Swieqi.

Imma issa li riesqa l-elezzjoni ġenerali, inħoss li l-AD biddlet l-istrateġija tagħha. Saret partit li jinteressah biss li jirbaħ xi forma ta’ poter akkost ta’ kollox, inklużi li tipperikola l-istess prinċipji li temmen fihom l-AD. Jien ma nistax nibqa’ naħdem fl-AD meta din illum saret biss strument biex jissawwat il-Prim Ministru Lawrence Gonzi u l-Partit Nazzjonalista, mingħajr ma tifhem il-konsegwenzi li din l-istrateġija tista’ ġġib fuq il-pajjiż.

Jien qed nirriżenja mill-AD għaliex m’għadux partit li jaħdem biex jikkonvinċi bil-prinċipji tiegħu, imma jaħdem biss għall-voti ta’ partit ieħor, partikolarment tal-Partit Nazzjonalista. M’għandi xejn kontra li l-AD iżżid fil-voti, kieku ma’ kontx noħroġ mal-AD u niġi elett kif għamilt. Imma m’inix lest li nikkopera mal-AD għall-kaċċa sfrenata tal-voti tal-PN, mingħajr ma’ nagħti każ tal-konsegwenzi.

M’inix lest li naħdem f’partit u nkun b’hekk responsabbli li ntella’ partit ieħor fil-gvern, li jerġa’ jifridna mill-Ewropa li tant l-AD stess emmnet fiha.

Tislijiet,

Rene Rossignaud
Kunsillier Alternattiva Swieqi”

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Electoral Moleskine #1 – Ticket Rush

Voters Abroad : The Ticket Rush

This morning we got the official confirmation that Air Malta will be running one return trip to Luxembourg. Flight leaves Luxembourg on Thursday 6th and returns from Luxembourg on Monday 10th. Persons living abroad (and not just Luxembourg) are invied to call 00356 2364 5350 to book their flights.

Congratulations to AirMalta for this extra effort. Obviously not all the Luxembourg crowd will be able to fit into one plane but it is a good start. I for one have already paid for my seats and can happily confirm that I will be there to vote. It appears that the Overseas Booking Desk at Air Malta was flooded this with calls this morning – ah the eagerness to vote.