Imagine a little boy who wanted his father to buy a brand new expensive computer game and his father simply refused. The little boy got angry, stamped his feet, cried and cried and screamed and in order to satisfy him with something the father takes the boy to a confectionary and there the boy takes his pick from an assortment of sweets, picking and choosing those sweets which tickle his fancy. You are perhaps rightfully asking yourself, what’s with the story telling? Simple, this simple scenario reminds me a lot of Azzjoni Nazzjonali.

Its message is simple; an appeal to all those who are disgruntled just like the little boy who did not get his computer game. Just like the little boy in order to satisfy this disgruntlement, they are picking and choosing. Picking and choosing their policies, ideas and proposals. Is it popular with some to blame all our ills on immigrants? Then that’s what AN did! Is it popular with some to speak out in harsh words against single mothers receiving social benefits? Than that’s what AN did! Is it popular with some to speak out against homosexuals or in favour of gay marriages? Than AN did both, first it did the former then the latter!

And what about the AN candidates? Are they truly representational of Maltese society or are they simply a collection of disgruntled individuals; each with a particular issue at the heart of his or her driving force for running for the general election? One can’t generalise so it wouldn’t be fair to place everyone in the same pan, but surely the readers can analyse and see for themselves who belongs in which category.

Flirting with third party politics is dangerous for Malta. It is flirting with the idea of a blackmailer in our parliament; an MP so strong that one MP determines who the government for the next five years will be. This is very true for both AN and AD. In the case of AN however the experiment may be somewhat even more dangerous as we are here not only flirting with the idea of blackmail politics but indeed we are flirting with a political movement which is simply like that little child’s bag of sweets, a pick and mix affair shifting upon every wind that blows.

Angelo Micallef

Marsaxlokk