A party in crisis, of whichever conviction and whatever its share of the political market, certainly needs to put its house in order before it faces a general election, whenever that happens. This is especially true in the case of a party that has been ruling for far too long with the inevitable result of an ingrown state of chaos where the arrogant few take on the many disgruntled.
However, it is not an easy situation. While you get those who will do everything to protect their personal empires within the party and government systems, there are always those who want to replace them by acting exactly like them. That is the very old way of playing politics, something many young men and women all over the world have had more than enough of. It is why the Arab nations have had their long-overdue spring and why Europe and the United States are in the mess they are in today.
A shift in political style and method is not an everyday occurrence. There will be glimpses of it from time to time, but the very real change, one that makes a total break with the past and moves on regardless of the familiar pitfalls connected with “culture”, “tradition”, “custom” and other such nerve-soothing conjectures, is more or less a generational thing. It either happens or it doesn’t.
When it does, however, there is no stopping it. Whichever way it blows, right or left, north or south, centre or off-centre, it comes in like a monster tornado plucking out the buildings and constructions of yesteryear. Whatever is done to control it, let alone stop it, is shown to be hopeless, helpless and ineffective. Whenever it happens, it just happens, sweeping everything and anything that is innocently or intentionally caught before it.
Wherever it occurs, the change is inevitable. It is in this way that the history of our world has after all been woven and finally written in indelible ink. We don’t need to go into history lesson details, but change after change, epoch after epoch have shown that when generations get their act together, life not only becomes more interesting but also likely to create a better atmosphere for growth and innovation, adventure and an enterprising spirit. No country is spared; no free nation can avoid it.
The world is undeniably moving into one such big change. 11 September 2001 did jolt it into realisation, but it is the current financial stagnation and its repercussions, resulting from the obvious greed and the horrendous corruption of one per cent of the people to the detriment of the remaining 99 per cent, that will bring about the much-needed change. It will be a change of ideas, not necessarily ideology, and a change of methods that need to be fair and transparent, without the use of colours or special hymns, hopefully minus the bloodshed and/or social anxieties of some of the previous massive changes.
Malta and the Maltese are not immune. We have been witnessing the ruling party breaking the First Law of Holes – if you are in one, stop digging. Instead, it has dug itself into a bigger hole and whichever way it tries to get out of it, the deeper it sinks. In such a situation, whatever one tries is bound to lead to more desperate, albeit impossible, attempts to climb out of it.
Whenever it takes place, you just have to accept the truth and seek the help of those you have either ignored or even ungracefully jettisoned, to see you out, but at a price of course. It is the price every party or administration one day or another, whenever, has to pay to make sure it makes the leap into a future that is not necessarily dependent on past achievements or disasters, but one of a new way of doing things, of retaining the good for the sole purpose of making it better, of coming up with challenges that require wisdom and determination, not blinkered relations and hidden funds.
Wherever it is needed, a change is the only alternative. It is not a question of the trivial everyday wisdom of “a new broom sweeps clean”, but a complete juxtaposition of priorities, deadlines and targets. Life on this earth has to keep on changing. Without change it is not only a dull place, but also and for far too long a pretty decadent one. Momentous occasions do not occur too often, but whenever they do, the world, a country, a nation, go into a generational spiral that is as awesome as it can be effective.
Whenever the time is ripe for such things, there will always be those from within and without who will try to stop it, in whichever way. They will often buy time, as we saw all too clearly in the 2008 general election here in Malta, and they will also bend the rules, move the goalposts and even try to influence the referee, but once the generational shift has taken place there is no going back. Has the world ever looked back from the French Revolution? From World War II? From the Swinging Sixties? From 9/11? It merely acknowledges the event, horrible or historic highlight, and moves swiftly and determinedly into the next epoch. It is a continuous and contagious process fed and nourished by the very innovative and insatiable nature of humankind.
Along with most of the democratic world, Malta has reached that stage. There is no turning back. If you do not join the whirlwind, there is every chance that it will sweep you off the face of the earth. Old and decaying tactics of persuasion no longer make sense in the electronic age. The 99 per cent need that refreshing change; the one per cent will try to deny it to them. The generational clash is bound to occur, but there is only one victor – he or she who, rather than digging holes that grow into bigger holes, prefers to build bridges, to create better political environments and to look ahead without the stagnant prejudices of the past.
However and whichever way you look at it, whatever your personal views, whenever it happens, wherever you are, the world does not owe you a living. You have to earn that.