Horizons has just published an extremely interesting book on Herbert Ganado, edited by Sergio Grech. For all those interested in the development of local politics, it is a must read. Some of the papers are written by individuals who knew him personally, others are studies on Herbert Ganado’s political ideals.
As Herbert Ganado was one of the first lay persons who was politically fully committed to the Roman Catholic faith, his public contribution definitely merits analysis. His commitment to Catholicism was so strong that Dom Mintoff nicknamed him il-Beato. He was also called mezzo prete.
This book presents the two opposing facets so characteristic of Herbert Ganado’s political image. In politics, Ganado represented a sort of split personality. Both images are correct and historically true, even though they may appear contradictory. Martin Vella has written an extremely interesting article about Ganado’s political contribution. He has convincingly shown that Ganado was the first local politician to have thought about the need for Malta to join the European Union. But on the other hand, he objected to the granting of independence, as he feared that Mintoff would abuse it by turning Malta into a Communist state.
Ganado opposed Malta’s integration with Britain because of his beliefs and rightly argued that Malta would have been considered by Westminster, as some sort of a back-water village in rural Britain. Yet, he was all in awe of British Military parades, English aristocratic regalia and the Victorian Age.
He was one of those Maltese who suffered under British Imperialism, to the extent of being selected to be interned in Uganda. The story of the internees is discussed at length by Max Farrugia. However, after the war he joined hands with those who piloted his internment in favour of Nato.
This book discusses the big clash that Ganado had with Giorgio Borg Olivier. Ganado disagreed with the PN leadership on many issues and policies. He considered Borg Olivier’s social proposals no match for Mintoff’s avant-garde reforms. He criticised Borg Olivier for keeping the party in isolation without seeking to establish international relations, in particular with the Christian Democrats in Italy. More importantly, Ganado rightly considered Borg Olivier not strong enough to stand up to Mintoff.
Ganado had no aspirations to become leader of the PN but would have preferred a stronger leader at the helm of the party. Borg Olivier’s reply was to pilot Ganado’s expulsion from the Nationalist Party. Ganado remained true to his ideals and remained an extremely honest person. Anton Tabone discusses the attempts made to reconcile Ganado and Borg Olivier and it clearly transpires from this book that Ganado was more than ready for reconciliation. Borg Olivier opposed it.
Reconciliation only occurred with the demise of Ganado. Borg Olivier made it a point to attend Ganado’s funeral. Perhaps without realizing, Borg Olivier was setting new standards for the Nationalist Party, which were totally absent until Enrico Mizzi and his predecessors were in office. For political expediency, he started to prefer the vicious and the corrupt rather than genuine and honest Catholic politicians.
Emily Barbaro Sant recounts her childhood memories of Herbert Ganado, who also hailed from her same hometown. She married Arthur Barbaro Sant, who joined Herbert Ganado’s political party after Ganado was expelled from the PN. Extremely interesting are the glimpses that Emily Barbaro Sant gives of rural Gozo in the fifties and sixties besides a number of political flashbacks. She remembers them, even though she admits that politics is not her forte. She is one of those politicians’ wives whose honesty and Christian spirit made her hate politics.
Other glimpses of personal experiences and stories about Herbert Ganado can be found in the articles of Henry Frendo and Olivier Friggieri, both ‘Florianizi’, who knew Ganado well. Life in Floriana and Valletta, in particular the music halls of the 1920s and 30s, is the subject of an interesting article by Noel D’Anastas. Giorgio Peresso and Paul Saliba talk about Ganado’s contribution to journalism, his writing style and influences while Carmel Cassar analyses Ganado’s views of women.
The issue of social class was discussed in greater detail by Charles Xuereb. Xuereb considers Ganado as a sort of Catholic elitist. Others disagree with him. I am with the second. There is no doubt that Ganado belonged to a well-to-do family but politics in those days, could only emanate from these families. There is a demographic explanation for all this. In my paper, I specifically wrote about the role that demography has in the success or failure of the Western party systems. There is a connection between Western democracy and sexual behaviour. Party systems can only be successful in those societies or families who start to embrace demographic transition. In simple words, the party system is only successful among those families who start practising birth control. The failure of Herbert Ganado’s ancestors to set up a political party in Malta in the early nineteenth century was in part due to the fact that they had large families.
What is not said by Xuereb but is clearly spelled by Ganado in his monumental book Rajt Malta Tinbidel, is that Herbert Ganado’s grand-father, was an orphan and came from a poor background. Despite this social mishap, Luigi Ganado elevated his family to higher social ranks. Basically, there were opportunities for orphans to move up the social ladder. In those days, this came through the Church structures, education and good marriages. Herbert Ganado’s greatest pleasure in life was to be in company of persons from different walks in life. While the politicians, who in the fifties and sixties stated that they were the champions of the working classes, ended up parading in luxury cars, Ganado continued using the public transport system as he thought that this gave him an opportunity to mix with people or as ‘Nerik’ Mizzi used to say, get first hand knowledge about what the people were saying about politics.
Most importantly, this book sheds new light on the Church’s ‘wrong’ judgement and betrayals in support of corrupt politicians. Tonio Borg, Anton Tabone, Charles G. Vella and Giovanni Bonello discuss interesting political innuendoes related to the turbulent sixties. It is clear from these articles that the NP Leadership of Giorgio Borg Olivier resisted ecclesiastical interference in party matters. Then, both Giovanni Bonello and Maria Ganado explain why the Catholic Church turned out to be an unreliable ally. In the thick of the battle of the sixties, the Church shifted her political allegiance from Ganado to the party of Toni Pellegrini as the latter was thought to be the real match for Mintoff. The nemesis of history had its political revenge. Pellegrini defected from the Church to join Mintoff. This meant that the multiple party system in Malta came to an end. Due to her misjudgement, the Catholic Church started to really appear overtly pro-Nationalist. It would be interesting to know who gave this bad political advice to Archbishop Michael Gonzi. Charles G. Vella’s manner of narrating the internal politics of the Curia at the time shows that he holds the key to this pertinent question.
The Catholic spirit of forgiveness wins in Herbert Ganado. More than once Ganado showed that he put his Catholic beliefs into practice. He forgave all those who made him suffer due to the unjust exile endured during the war. This meant that he had forgiven the Strickland family and the British rulers for having interned him together with others during the war. He forgave the Church for her betrayal and continued to be loyal to Archbishop Gonzi despite the latter’s wrong political decisions. The same can be said for Ganado’s political commitment to the Nationalist Party; it remained unwavering. Ganado was too incorruptible to please the internal and unscrupulous political goings of the time.