“D’Alema, di’ una cosa di sinistra” − from the 1998 film Aprile by Nanni Moretti.

The Italian film director and actor Nanni Moretti, an outspoken leftist and a staunch critic of the Berlusconi regime, directed a film called Aprile (April), which was released in 1998. One of the most memorable scenes of this film is the one in which Moretti is watching a televised debate, during which Massimo D’Alema (at the time leader of the Party of the Democrats of the Left – PDS) fails to counteract Silvio Berlusconi’s statements. An incredulous Moretti shouts at the television, and urges D’Alema to say something leftist…

I felt very much the same last Sunday when Joseph Muscat was quoted as saying that the Labour Party will not take a position on the divorce issue. IVA Chairperson, Deborah Schembri and number of pro-Labour bloggers have been quick to jump on the “Muscat bandwagon” and have justified their stance with an argument of eye watering stupidity, “this is a social issue, not a political issue”. I beg to differ, since when have social issues been divorced (no pun intended) from political issues? What should the role of political parties be, if not to put their visions of the relationship between the State and the individual to the electoral test?

The issue at stake is far bigger than the divorce issue. This referendum will essentially pit two contending views of the state against each other. On one side we will have those who think that they have the right to impose their views on marriage on everybody else. Essentially, the main thrust (excluding religious and pseudo religious motives) behind the No-side’s argumentations is “In my view marriage should be indissoluble and therefore you will not be allowed to divorce your partner, even if your marriage has gone to the dogs and the State should enforce this no matter what”. The opposing view holds individual freedoms as absolutely untouchable even by the State, which should intervene in order to ensure that the enjoyment of his/her rights as an individual does not hinder the other members of society from enjoying the same rights. In the layperson’s terms “If my marriage has failed, I have every right to ask for the dissolution of a union which has already lapsed and the State has no right to interfere in this decision”. Can the Labour Party afford to sit on the fence, when the principle of individual freedom is at stake? This is, in my opinion, when all progressives, liberals etc should yell at Muscat, at the Labour Party, the exhortation to “act progressive!” with the same passion with which Moretti yelled at D’Alema to say at least something leftist.

Referenda on the issue were held in at least two other European Union Member States, Italy in 1974 and Ireland in 1986 and in 1995. In 1974 the Christian Democrats and the Church managed to force a referendum on the cancellation of a restrictive divorce law issued in 1970. All the Italian political parties took a stand on the issue. The Christian Democrats together with the post-fascist Movimento Sociale Italiano were in favour of the cancellation of this law, while all the other parties including Liberals, Republicans, Radicals, Socialists, and Communists were against. In the 1986 divorce referendum in Ireland, the Labour Party and Fine Gael and other political parties including the Greens were in favour of the removal of a constitutionally entrenched ban on the introduction of divorce while Fianna Fáil were against. In the 1995 referendum all the political parties were in favour of the removal of what was considered as an illiberal ban on divorce. In both countries participation in the divorce debate was also extended to trade unions and other NGOs. This is the way it should be and not having a major political party shirking responsibility, in a clear attempt at not compromising a 50% + 1 majority in the 2013 general election by alienating the ultra-conservative voters. This is how I interpret Muscat’s statement “I am in favour of divorce …” but the Labour Party will not take a formal position on divorce. The first phrase is met to keep the so-called “liberals” in the fold, while the fact that Labour will not take a position on the issue is meant to allay the fears of potential voters from the No camp.

To add insult to injury, not only is the Labour Party shirking responsibility, but it also seems that Muscat has backtracked on a statement he had made on 17 October 2010, in Qormi, “I will be campaigning for the introduction of responsible divorce, I will be in the frontline whether the decision is taken in Parliament or through a referendum…” It seems that in October Muscat was prepared to take a leading role in the referendum campaign and now it seems that his “progressive” ardour has substantially calmed down and he is now in favour of divorce but not so committed to being in the frontline of the debate.

The Labour Party’s defection is very dangerous, because without Labour’s well-oiled propaganda and electoral machinery, Muscat will de facto give the No camp a free ride. The Church took an active role in both Italy and Ireland; in fact in the 1995 referendum it managed to mobilise the support of two present-day saints to be; Mother Theresa and Pope John Paul II. If there is one thing that Muscat can be sure about is that even it this case the Church will be active on the No front. A yes win might not change anything as far as marriage breakdowns are concerned, but the fact that divorce has made it to the last bulwark of Catholicism will be too much of a powerful symbol for the Church to keep mum.

Prior to being elected as the 44th President of the United States, precisely during a historical speech delivered to the Democratic National Committee Meeting in autumn 2007, Barack Obama said: “This party − the party of Jefferson and Jackson; of Roosevelt and Kennedy − has always made the biggest difference in the lives of the American people when we led, not by polls, but by principle; not by calculation, but by conviction.”

Obama will tell Muscat that government entails compromising with contending interests and more often than not one ends up implementing a toned-down version of previous electoral promises… If Muscat is already being meekly moderate, then what are we to expect from him in government? It is for this reason that I yell at the top of my voice: “Labour, act progressive! Take a stand in favour of divorce!”

Mark Scerri

ATTARD