Small island, big delusions

To really measure the state of the nation, a bird’s eye view of the situation is essential.

Malta’s domestic political climate is as rotten as it ever was. That is an established fact that at least a third of the island is all too aware of.

Our international standing is negligible, and with good reason. Our level of “cooperation” with European regulations is comparable to how a tick “cooperates” with your blood vessels.

The only truth that is reliably consistent among our leading political representatives is that their positions on any given issue are built on quicksand.

We are going to cite two examples to make our point here. While they are unrelated at face value, careful analysis reveals unnerving implications.

For the past couple of weeks, the Nationalist Party has been railing against the Labour Party about the little mayoral coup they pulled in Għargħur.

In a nutshell, former PN councillor Francesca Attard decided to oust her former party’s mayor Helen Gauci. After declaring herself an independent candidate, Attard then proceeded to endorse PL councillor Mariah Meli for the mayor’s seat, effectively sealing Gauci’s removal from mayor with a no confidence vote.

Attard’s stated reasons for doing so seem dubious at best. In our view, credible evidence of serious wrongdoing committed by the former mayor is yet to emerge, if at all.

After all, if Attard is so sure of the claims she made about the former mayor, this would have been an open-and-shut case. None of the claims she made so far amount to offences which warrant such a swift no-confidence vote.

But, let’s digress and zoom out to the bird’s eye view for a second.

As far as I’m concerned, I don’t believe anything that the Labour Party says at face value. This is the only adequate response to a party whose political edifice is held together by corruption.

Anything their councillors in Għargħur had to say about bad governance is a moot point when their party’s favourite team-building activity is drowning the rule of law in a shallow bath tub, so let’s not kid ourselves here.

The Nationalist Party took this about as well as one would expect it to, given the surreal nature of it all.

On Thursday evening, opposition leader Bernard Grech spoke at a party rally in the tiny locality, a decent show of solidarity with Għargħur’s former mayor, who was visibly moved by the support.

The real question that remains unanswered, however, is why all this political capital was spent on a relatively small locality.

Why did a locality that is home to a couple thousand people suddenly become a battleground for two major political parties?

I can understand how the Nationalist Party had no other choice but to stand by its councillor. Anything else would have made for terrible optics.

But why on earth would the Labour Party go through such a messy exercise for the sake of installing a propped up mayor in such a quiet town?

The only reasonable explanation is that the Labour Party wishes to tilt the odds in its favour when the next general elections come about. Installing mayors in towns where your party traditionally fails to attract a wide voter base is one way of going about it.

Does anyone remember the last time they read so many headlines about Għargħur? I read the news every day and still cannot think of one recent event that happened in Għargħur that was worth writing anything about.

That is not to say that this little coup was not newsworthy. It is more to say that, even if this is an attempt at rigging the odds for a bigger electoral conflict, there still is no strong rationale for such a drawn out standoff to occur in the first place.

Was it just a flashpoint that occurred as a result of personal animosity or ambition? Was it truly a blatant act of electoral theft, as the Nationalist Party says it is?

The point of this column isn’t to delve into the nitty-gritty details of what happened in Għargħur, though I do believe that Għargħur’s residents deserved far better than this charade. The reality is that this is merely a symptom of a wider problem.

The real story here is the severe dysfunction that underpins it all.

Our political system is so fundamentally broken that the democratic process falters even in the smallest of fora. It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about a small local council or a major international gathering: the lack of diplomacy and genuine intent is always glaring.

Arriving at a consensus that ultimately serves the best interest of the collective is all but impossible in such a context. It’s just knives flying in every direction, a bad circus act gone murderous.

This is what makes our politics so disgusting: the amount of delusional individuals who use it merely as a platform for their own needs rather than the needs of their constituents. The biggest losers in this mess are, as always, voters who just want things to work properly.

This horrible attitude is just as visible in the way our leading representatives act when they are cast in the spotlight of the international stage.

All bark, no bite

For the past year and a half, the Labour Party has made a whole concerted show of displaying solidarity with Palestine. Prime minister Robert Abela in particular has made a PR meal out of every tiny concession the government gave to Palestinian refugees.

And yet, when the Conscience showed up on our shores desperately seeking assistance with their ill-fated attempt at breaking Israel’s aid blockade, the Maltese government effectively sent the mission back to square one after refusing to grant them entry and a flag.

Now, Malta is trumpeting its backing of the Netherlands’ proposal to review a cooperation and trade agreement that the EU signed with Israel as proof of its commitment to the Palestinian cause.

What that actually means is that the EU Commission, which is not exactly famed for the breakneck speed with which it trawls through its own bureaucratic processes, will now assess whether Israel breached its human right obligations – as if the entire world doesn’t know that this is a genocide that was committed on their watch.

Malta didn’t help Palestine. It merely claimed to have the door open whenever it was convenient for the government to say so, only to then hurriedly close it shut whenever that necessity became apparent.

Meanwhile, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola continues to be haunted by her unforgivable failure to recognise Israel’s genocide for what it is.

Though responsibility for the EU’s failure to stand up to Israel obviously cannot be pinned entirely on Metsola’s shoulders, she is one of a handful of powerful figureheads within the EU who chose to spend far too much time displaying solidarity with the aggressor instead of standing with the victim.

As much as her legion of loyal supporters will hate me for saying this, the fact is that there is absolutely no difference between the amoral flexibility displayed by either Metsola or Abela in this regard.

Both of them adapted their political messaging to suit their personal needs as career politicians first and foremost. Neither displayed any coherent commitment to any kind of concrete action at any point in time.

Metsola tried to walk a tightrope that never even existed in the first place; Abela tried to cast himself as an ambassador of peace in a world that is busy tearing itself to pieces, only to then walk back on commitments to recognise the Palestinian state when it would have mattered most.

On this issue, both leaders are unwilling to put basic tenets like human solidarity above political expediency.

Generally speaking, this is symptomatic of how the country’s major parties are locked in this conflict at the taxpayer’s expense.

There is nothing our politicians won’t turn into a salvo against “the other”. Whether we are discussing a sleepy local council or a major genocide is irrelevant. All that matters to them is whether the public stance they adopt benefits their agenda.

If this is the best they have to offer, then it is no wonder we are a laughing stock in the eyes of the world.