Categories
Constitutional Development Politics Zolabytes

Now there’s no Daphne to blame – guest post

The author of this guest post is known to me. Opinions expressed in this post are the author’s and I do not necessarily subscribe to all of them.

The Labour Party has just secured its third term after garnering 55.1% of the popular vote against the Nationalist Party that only managed to secure 41.74%. After the Electoral Commission published its data on Monday, it was then time to look at the numbers and how both parties fared during the election.

In 2017, then disgraced prime minister Joseph Muscat called for an early election in the wake of the Panama Papers leak which saw his right-hand man Keith Schembri and then minister Konrad Mizzi caught red handed with offshore structures set up to allegedly receive kickbacks and a third mysterious company. That same year, we also had a then economy minister allegedly visiting a brothel while on government business and ‘17 Black’ dropped by investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Following the June snap election, many took to Facebook to “analyse” the PN’s internal situation and demand change from the Nationalist Party, even though they would never bring themselves to vote for the party, despite claims to the contrary. Whilst celebrating Labour’s victory, and at the time “absolving” Mizzi of his sins, many sought to pin the defeat on someone or something.

The easiest target was Daphne Caruana Galizia – she had been targeted by trolls and the Labour party machine for years. Journalists only discovered solidarity after her assassination otherwise the country is made up of people too busy polishing their egos, and her stories had not yet been “proven”. As the country’s institutions were dismantled, especially the police force, there was no one out there willing to investigate her stories. Thereby remaining largely just what they were – articles on a blog. While some took up those stories and started questioning, others stopped at who wrote them. Incapable of formulating an opinion of their own, then it was reduced to “hatred” towards the Labour Party and its then-leader or even worse the journalist was some PN stooge.

(Fast forward to a few years later and people realised that there was truth to those stories, however, some of the country’s institutions continue to drag their feet). It was in this context that Caruana Galizia was blamed for the PN’s loss and subsequently isolated when Adrian Delia and his baggage was taken to the party. It is obvious that after such a defeat, in a country that treats politics like a derby match, people within the party wanted heads to roll and a new start.

Specifically for this post, I went to look up reports carried by the Labour propaganda machine in the aftermath of the election and the time Delia was elected.

The seeds of the second colossal loss by PN were sown in 2013 Martin Scicluna had told us in an article on the 2017 election where he argued that the PN had ignored its post-mortem report following the previous election. Scicluna had argued that the PN should have formally disassociated itself from Caruana Galizia.

2022 was the first election without Daphne Caruana Galizia, the first one without her commentary, sharp wit and everything in between. And here we are again, with the PN losing to the PL with over 39,000. However, there is no Daphne to blame this time around, as people seek to blame by proxy, and “independent” newspapers push the Labour line whether consciously or not, by bashing those who have stood with activists in the anti-corruption fight.

In this election, the winner is the mafia who wanted to ensure that everything was closed off as soon as the “people spoke” in free but not so fair elections.

What led to this?

Labour insiders have said the election was called when its polls were showing that there would be no “maġġoranza assoluta” over PN. The election had to be held after the Pope’s visit, not the week before. What we have observed in the weeks that followed was Labour out in full force trying to reach out to those who were thinking of abstaining from voting for one reason or another. Then the party took the power of incumbency to a whole new level – TVs, laptops, one-year internet subscriptions, jobs, hampers, berthing spots were among the freebies given out in the last two weeks of the campaign. Not to mention the cheques and other “bonuses” given by the government. The PN in this context was reduced to a third party. It could have never outdone the PL in its freebies.

Then we also got the PL’s feel-good concerts which ultimately saw artists (instead of sending the party in government to hell for the Covid double standards employed between partisan events and other art events) performing on a stage that was indirectly funded by the taxpayer. This time around, we had several people in receipt of gifts during the campaign posting freely to Facebook, without the police taking any action against treating – an offence during the electoral campaign.

The PN could never compete with this. It was a free election but not necessarily a fair one. This does not only apply to PN but also applies to the smaller parties.

If one had to analyse the PL’s campaign, apart from harping about its major pledges, the PL dedicated equal time to addressing the undecided voters and those who mulled on abstaining. Each speech always referred to “grievances” and then we got Abela telling us that we could go directly to him or Lydia Abela with our “grievances” as he promised solutions.

The Nationalist Party then side-lined corruption as one of its major issues despite being rife. By doing so, it also side-lined the MPs who had been most vocal about it. Instead of opting for the so-called bread and butter issues without addressing the elephant in the room – the Ukraine war and its impact, the ruling party’s short-sighted vision of spending in the short term without any regard to the future, and sending mixed messages.

Those who are still angry at PN’s previous administrations and its track record on the environment find it difficult to trust a party who tries to please both the environment lobby and the construction industry in the same breath.

Then there are the PN’s two souls that constantly find themselves pitted against each other – the conservative and the liberal one. Labour is not liberal, Labour uses liberal issues to achieve its goals and this is done by what the polls are saying. If Labour was liberal it would have never drafted and tabled the cyberbullying bill – which will serve to introduce criminal libel by another name. As an example we can take recreational cannabis: We can win 100s of votes with cannabis, then we give them recreational cannabis. We’re losing votes due to the cannabis legislation, so we do not mention it anymore – that was the reasoning employed.

Many have taken to Facebook to tell PN what to do. No one bothered telling PL what to do, despite the stories on Abela’s ODZ villa or Abela’s connections to the criminal underground, or seeking to absolve Rosianne Cutajar through an election. What we got was Joseph Muscat, Emmanuel Cuscheri and others who are angry at the PN for removing Adrian Delia speaking about cliques and elitism ad nauseam following the party’s loss.

No-one turned to the PL to tell it what to do next. No one demanded answers over things that came to light over the past months. No one demanded that the people in power, now with a nine-seat majority, behave better. No one took to task the Labour leader for refusing to sit down with independent media. While the Labour Party was busy complaining to editors about different journalists who asked thorny questions to their beloved leader.

Instead, we have an opposition party quickly but surely hitting the destruct button as it seeks to blame someone for the loss, without understanding the context in which this loss happened, and possibly heeding unsolicited advice from various quarters, who are not so many words are asking the PN to abandon the anti-corruption fight.

Repubblika did the right thing to sit out this election. It cannot be blamed for it.

There’s no party out there to save us. If the PN wants to work towards an electoral victory it should convince the people out there why it is a better option and decide on the issues which it wants to take up and take them up. If the majority is happy with the freebies, then that is what they want. What it can do is convince them why this is wrong and decide to fight back or leave.

Now, back to what led to this long-ish guest post. In this election, we saw those who within the Labour Party opposed Muscat being voted out bar two – Chris Fearne and Clifton Grima. As with Fearne, he enjoys a lot of popularity, however, the plan was always for him to be kicked upstairs.

Then two Opposition MPs did not make it to Parliament – Jason Azzopardi and Karol Aquilina – whose faces ended up on a PL billboard, and whom PN has hidden throughout the whole campaign, even though if you had to take a good look at the previous opposition parliamentary group – bar Aquilina, Azzopardi, Therese Comodini Cachia – you’d be lucky to squeeze out 500g of grey matter. The three of them also enjoy respect from the anti-corruption activists – something which the likes of Delia and others do not.

However, in the aftermath of the election when Aquilina and Azzopardi were not elected both through the PN’s own doing and with a little help from Labour, now we get all the experts urging them to bow out of politics. And one should look at the messengers this time round. What interests do the messengers have? Anyone who has done a campaign at least once in their life can see the coordinated and concentrated efforts all around us.

These concentrated efforts are not only aimed at the two candidates seeking election through casual elections which after all is their right – in our system the seat belongs to the candidate and not the party – but is also aimed at a cohort of anti-corruption activists whose strings cannot be pulled by either of the two parties, who are self-sufficient enough not to require government jobs, who have nothing to lose because they have made it in their lives, and who were wise enough to not touch the election with a barge pole.

What we have here is the mafia back at work – the mafia works in a climate where it is perceived not to exist. Eliminating the two most vocal voices in parliament on the anti-corruption fight and pleasing the Labour narrative is isolating them, and the activists. Funnily enough, some media were quickly picking up Facebook posts that would garner website hits and perpetuate the narrative. Others are busy throwing Facebook posts and going on about “elites, negativity or the establishment” and other stupid propaganda we have been fed throughout the last ten years. On one hand, you’ve got trolls pushing the narrative, on the other hand, you have those who genuinely believe it because it also suits them for whatever reason. One thing we must surely do is we must fight to ensure that Daphne Caruana Galizia’s work and sacrifice is not buried under a so-called fresh start for the Labour Party with the complacency of the Nationalist Party that is aspiring to win the next election as though it was some football match where you get a bunch of new players, while remaining the same party that fails to convince.

Categories
Corruption Zolabytes

Il-bouncer ta’ Kastilja

GUEST POST: In this facebook post Christian Grima takes a good look at what it takes to get into the Auberge de Castille. The standards at the door are those set by bouncer par excellence Robert Abela. Who exactly is allowed in? (Post reproduced on akkuza.com with the author’s permission).

Jekk il-Kap tal-Opposizzjoni biex jidhol Kastilja biex ikellmek, Prim Ministru, irid jirbah l-elezzjoni generali, allura jekk nigu f’dan, inti wkoll, suppost mhux qed topera minnu, ghax sa fejn naf jien, inti ma rbaht l-ebda elezzjoni generali, ghadek. Kien rebbahhielek il-halliel, korrot tas-sena u x’aktarx qattiel jew hati li heba l-involviment tieghu jew ta’ dawk l-eqreb tieghu fl-assassinju barbaru ta’ Daphne Caruana Galizia u li llum inti writt is-siggu nkallat tieghu.Joseph Muscat, Illum injot, moralment fallut u rrapportat li nvestigat lokalment kif ukoll barra minn xtutna.

Nexia BT pero’ donnhom rebhuha l-elezzjoni generali hux? Jew qed inhawwad? Ghax dawk dehlin u hergin minn hemm kienu, tant li biex ma tiskomodawhomx u biex ma jarawkomx dehlin u hergin l-ufficini taghhom kull kwarta qiskom boloh, tajtuhom ufficcju Kastilja.Illum kellu jinghalaq dak l-ufficcju kif kellu jinghalaq kull ufficju iehor taghhom bl-assi kollha taghhom iffrizati, pendenti nvestigazzjoni ta’ hasil ta’ flus. B’inkjesta ohra fuq Schembri u Hillman li waslet biex tinghalaq u jigi pprezentat il-Proces Verbal.

Melvin Theuma jidher li rebahha l-elezzjoni generali wkoll skondtok, ghax dak ukoll diehel u hiereg ghand ic-Chief of Staff tal-predecissur tieghek f’Kastilja biex jinnegozja l-mahfra presidenzjali li tah Joseph Muscat, allegatament minn wara dahrek, wara li ftiehmu l-verzjoni maqbula bejniethom li kellu jaghti lill-pulzija u lill-Qrati taghna biex jghattilhom ghemilhom.Illum miraklu li ghadu haj Melvin wara li allegatament ipprova joqtol ruhu b’idejh b’diversi daqqiet ta’ sikkina li ta lilu nniffsu, ghax ma setghax jghix bl-inkwiet u bil-pressjoni li kien qed jaghmillu l-predecissur tieghek, siehbu Keith li skondtok hxih, u r-rimanenti nies gewwa kastilja li wasslulu r-risposti u t-theddid li kwazi gennewh.

Yorgen Fenech ukoll jidher li rebah elezzjoni generali nahseb..jew qed nerga’ nitfixkel, issa?Ghax dak ukoll diehel u hiereg Kastilja kien, qisu sejjer go latrina, kemm qabel, kif ukoll wara li nqatlet Daphne Caruana Galizia, biex jiltaqa’ ma’ Keith u ma dak li qed tpoggi fis-siggu tieghu.Joseph Muscat, illum injot u rredikolat mad-dinja kollha,L-istess Yorgen Fenech li bhalissa ghaddej kumpilazzjoni mressaq b’akkuzi fost ohrajn ta’ omicidju volontarju ta’ Daphne Caruana Galizia.Nahseb ahjar tiltaqa’ mieghu l-ufficcju tieghu il-Pieta’ lil Bernard Grech, Robert Abela. Jew il-Kwartieri l-Mile End.

L-ufficcju tieghek Kastilja, barra li skond kliemek ghadek ma kkwalifikajtx biex topera minnu, huwa ufficcju mishut u mcappas bid-demm b’riha taqsamlek qalbek li ma tissaportihiex.Riha ta’ flus jintnu jqattru d-demm. Habatlek sew li trid tilbes maskra.

Sakemm ma tizgurax li ssir gustizzja ma’ kulhadd Prim Ministru, mishut ha jibqalek l-ufficcju tieghek Kastilja u ghad trid tishet is-siegha u l-mument li ntrigajt li tnaddaf il-hmieg li halla warajh il-korrott dinji tas-sena, li fis-siggu mcappas tieghu, inti tpoggi ta’ kuljum, iggorrlu l-mantell

.Joseph Muscat. Illum injot. Illum fallut.

Categories
Zolabytes

Corradin No

A reader joins the increasing number of J’accuse contributors. “As You Are” kicks off his contributions with a poem called Corradin No.

 

Corradin No

Maltese politicians will never know
what it’s like to do time at Corradino
and then, when it’s over, to go back home
to your mum, or your girlfriend, or your wife,
or whoever,
who will lovingly try to heal
all the wounds you suffered,
except the wounds deep inside your anus
and the wounds deep inside your heart
because, of course,
you’ll never tell anyone
about those.

Maltese politicians will never know
any of that at all.
They will never know Corradino,
no matter what they do.

But you can know.
And you will
if you push your luck too far.
Just grow some weed
and wait your turn.
It will come eventually
unless you’re a Maltese politician.

As You Are

Categories
Zolabytes

Acts of engagement: an appeal

Anton Caruana Galizia sent this open appeal for publication. These are times when different people from different walks of life have been shaken into action. At this moment the reflection is on what to do and how to do it. Anton’s appeal includes that of small acts of engagement. It is definitely a first step to which all of us can subscribe.

I venture to state that it is in the little things that we find answers to the big questions that democracy asks of us. The simple act of becoming aware of truths we find unsettling. Taking the time to gather information on which we can voice a point of view. Summoning the confidence to enter into a conversation, however quietly. Discovering that others share in our perspective or cause us to shift it, (for we are none of us all-knowing). Taking that first step towards a place where we gather together. Casting a vote.

From our fictions of political life we expect soaring rhetoric from a polished podium, or a prophet to emerge ragged from the wilderness. We expect others to provide the answer that we might follow. I don’t consider that a reasonable expectation, however often we indulge in it. If it is answers we want then we must participate in finding them. We must share in their creation. I suggest that this is achieved through small acts of engagement: sharing, listening, reflecting, participating.

I urge you not to succumb to cynicism. I hold the view that the people of the Maltese islands are capable of rational discussion and reflection. That as citizens of the Republic of Malta, we can recognize an attack on the liberties we claim as fundamental to the operation of our democracy. That our claim to those liberties and our aspiration to uphold them can serve as a source of unity.

From what I observe, unity won’t simply appear by summons or appeals. It is not, to my mind, a spirit that responds to incantations and wild emotional gestures. It must be demonstrated and articulated. And for this to occur, I would suggest that there must be a broader understanding of what it is we aspire to, an understanding that it is incumbent on each of us to cultivate for ourselves and to share with others. There is hope here, for this is happening already, and has been happening for some time. I want to encourage all others involved in this enterprise to broaden their conversation. To engage more people in it.

I venture to state further, that the rational response to an attack on liberty of expression, is to make more intensive use of that liberty. And to hope and strive for justice.

 

Anton Caruana Galizia

Categories
Zolabytes

Joe Bloggs: Thoughts on Daphne

Joe Bloggs (a pseudonymn) shares his thoughts on Daphne Caruana Galizia.  Joe Bloggs regularly commented on the Running Commentary as well as on other online papers. Here he tries to look at what it might have been like to be on the receiving end of insults and threats.

Perhaps the worst part was the degradation, the dehumanising.

Those who saw her as being on their side would say that she could give as good as she got, she was strong. She portrayed herself as such. But she got blamed for electoral losses or close shaves, in fact the Running Commentary was born out of that.

Others called her a witch, a bile blogger, a ‘bicca blogger’, a gossiper, a slut. Partisan newspapers called for her ‘cleansing’ in editorials, a magistrate’s partner and government consultant actively posted and tweeted about wishing to consign the ‘Galizia mindset’ to history, the Government supported the setting up of an anti-Daphne blog (glennbedingfield.com) that actively degraded her with photos of her butt, the internet is literally replete with insults, edited photos and hate pages. Lord only knows what she received in her mailbox, email (which was always there on her website), mobile and comments section.

This went on for 20 odd years. 20 years of insults, threats and fickle friends.

Guess what, she was human. I recall being added out of the blue by her on LinkedIn earlier this year and found that rather odd. Months later I realised that whilst her blog posts were slowly dropping in frequency she had started sharing articles on LinkedIn, slowly building up to a mini blog. A new channel. When I pointed out that I noted that she was starting to post on LinkedIn and told her she’s right that that is an important audience, her characteristically concise reaction, “and no abuse” struck me as so weary. She often wrote about the misogyny and the insults but many took it (if I am honest with myself, to a degree I think I did too) as perhaps reinforcing her strong persona. This was a private conversation, it resonated.

Her last post, almost an outburst, about crooks everywhere and crooks denying that they are crooks was the first about that topic, the Panama Seven, in what felt like a long while. Deep in the comments section, perhaps best found on her Disqus profile (https://disqus.com/by/daphnecaruanagalizia/?) is the explanation. Besides taunting references to stories that she was yet to finish writing (Labour using Cambridge Analytica’s Psy-Op Services being one that springs readily to mind), Daphne was attuned to what her readers wanted to read and which topics would elicit a reaction, start a discussion, be shared. She called it the ‘news cycle’.

When prompted just 11 days ago as to why she was still writing about Delia and had stopped writing about the poor state of Maltese institutions and the crooks in power, she said to one commenter: “Nobody is interested right now. Certainly not my readers.” And “I have a good understanding of what people want to read and when they want to read it, and right now – wholly understandably – they want to read about the new man.” to another.

11 days later she broke the news cycle.

You lent us  your mouth,  so  that we  could  speak  our mind.
You lent  us  your  ear, so  that  we could find solace by  sharing  when  others would not  listen.
You lent us  your  nose  for  a  good  story,  so  that  we  could  read  about  that  which no  one  else would  dare write.
You tried  to  set us  right  when  we  were  wrong.

We got  lazy.
We got distracted.
We compromised and allowed ourselves to  be bribed.

Those who ought  to  know  better  took  advantage.  First  they belittled  you,  then  they demonised you, then  they  isolated  you, then, when  few  were  those left  looking, they  erased your mouth,  ears  and nose.

Now the Running Commentary has stopped. Forever frozen in a deafeningly silent  scream. This memory  will  not  be erased,  we  will  not  allow  it.

We  must each use our  own  mouth, ears and nose to  speak up, listen, educate and hold  those  that  took  advantage  to  account.  We must  wake people up  from their  slumber.  We must  prevent  a  repeat.

Rest in  peace dear  friend, we will  continue  the  narrative.

–  Joe Bloggs

Categories
Zolabytes

Panamagate: Labour’s Fell Swoop

fell swoop _ akkuza

Occam’s Laser is a long-time J’Accuse reader who works in the financial services sector. In this article Occam argues that Labour is willfully muddying the waters over Panamagate, exploiting the concerns of conscientious liberals to further its own agenda.

The Labour Party is desperate. For three months it has tried to brazen out Panamagate, but despite its survival of various protests, no confidence motions and other crises, the issue simply won’t go away. Now it is hoping that by tarring the whole Maltese professional class with the same brush, it will cause enough of a distraction for people to start talking about something, anything, but Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri’s egregious misdemeanors.

This is clear from the recent PL attacks on Tonio Fenech and the private sector companies he works for, the attacks on the law firm EMD and its consultant Richard Cachia Caruana, and its general bewildering aggression towards any PN leaning individual somehow involved in financial services. What PL is trying to do is obvious; they want to conflate public concern about the disparate issues of global tax avoidance and its own internal governance disasters in order to dissipate public outrage. This is yet another of the PL’s dirty tricks, and the public shouldn’t allow the PL to wave this red herring in its face with impunity.

To start off with, Malta’s strategic decision to become a financial services centre is one which enjoyed (and below the surface, still enjoys) broad cross-party consensus. So PL is being maliciously disingenuous when it feigns getting its knickers in a twist over this week’s various pseudo-revelations. Secondly, while there is no denying the inherent link between a world order that allows international corporate secrecy, and the exploitation of that secrecy by persons such as Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri, the two problems require radically different solutions.

Regarding the problem of international tax avoidance, this is one which requires, at the international level, a global co-operation and a deep philosophical rethinking of the way the world works; and at the local level, a careful repositioning of Malta as a jurisdiction which adds value beyond its low tax base (this is already the case to some extent, but a truly well intentioned government could do much more to improve things). This is going to be a big, slow job.

The Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri situation, on the other hand, is a pressing governance catastrophe that requires urgent and immediate action. Every day they hold on to their position, they cause irreparable harm to our reputation, and indeed deprive us of the valuable time that we need to reposition and further diversify our economy.

Perhaps the most galling thing about this PL manouvre is the way it exploits the feelings and concerns of the country’s most conscientious individuals, those who genuinely worry about things like global inequality and corporate ethics, turning these noble concerns into tools to further its own ends. Worryingly, we’ve already seen PL try to exploit the concerns of the conscientious before, as with that other red herring about Joseph Muscat supporting gay marriage a few weeks ago. This is shockingly unscrupulous behaviour; the Maltese public deserves better, and PL shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it.

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Zolabytes is a rubrique on J’accuse – the name is a nod to the original J’accuser (Emile Zola) and a building block of the digital age (byte). Zolabytes is intended to be a collection of guest contributions in the spirit of discussion that has been promoted by J’accuse on the online Maltese political scene for 10 years.
Opinions expressed in zolabyte contributions are those of the author in question. Opinions appearing on zolabytes do not necessarily reflect the editorial line of J’accuse the blog.
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