At the end of the parliamentary sitting on Wednesday, Alex Muscat (PL) speaking on the Adjournment, made an impressive, well-delivered, calm and clear speech for less aggression and more sobriety in national politics.
Of course, being calm and reasoned (and also at the end of the sitting) that speech did not get a mention in the media (at least the ones I’ve seen). That’s the nature of things political.
Mr Muscat argued for less aggression in politics and claimed that the June election showed that a non-aggressive stance in politics was shared by the vast percentage of voters who chose peace and tolerance over aggression and strident speeches.
That is one way of interpreting the June election result. Others may disagree. Considering the amount of people who depend on the government for jobs, housing, social benefits and contracts, they would have been acutely aware that a change of government could imperil all that and the alternative government ie the Opposition did nothing to assuage their fears. It’s Mr Muscat’s theory v this alternative one.
Mr Muscat is obviously well meaning but political reality many times comes out in a different hue. Take the Maltese version of the female mud-wrestling competition, aka the Miriam Dalli v Roberta Metsola duel on Xarabank. Obviously, the two were improperly paired – Dr Dalli is not yet the PL leader and Dr Metsola gave up contesting for the PN leadership. But like mud wrestling, the public is fascinated by this contest between two beautiful women.
From what I’ve seen, Ms Dalli came across as non-aggressive, calm and reasonable at all times whereas Ms Metsola came across as angry, aggressive and sometimes slipping up on facts. More to the point, she misinterpreted the atmosphere if not in the studio where she had some supporters, but in the country which is definitely not in a tense mood at all. The result was that Metsola emerged as the strident, aggressive one and the people out there did not share her aggression.
On the other hand, an argument may be made in support of anger and aggression in political battles. Take the recent (albeit inconclusive so far) election in Italy. The two political groupings which together obtained an absolute majority of votes – the 5 Star and the group now led by the Northern League – all built their appeal on anger. Anger at immigration on a vast and uncontrolled scale. Anger at widespread poverty, lack of opportunities for young people and families. Anger at a self-seeking political class divorced from the reality of most people.
This angry tsunami swept away the remains of the great parties of the 1960s and the 1980s – the Democrazia Cristiana, the Partito Socialista and even the Partito Communista. It also swept away the first timid shoots of an economic recovery on the Monti template, approved and blessed by the EU masters.
The coming weeks or months will tell us whether this populist uprising can be turned into an economic reality as Trump is trying to do in the US and as Brexit intends to do for the UK. Seen from inside Europe’s core, as we are, these populist outbreaks are doomed to fail, but that may not always be the case.
Politics is not the art of seeking to win the next election but rather how to contribute one’s best to the enduring well-being of the community. To elevate aggression to an art form, to a mask one habitually wears is self-defeating and people realise and normally discard it. But there may be cases where situations have so deteriorated that only an aggressive policy may be appropriate.
The people of Malta, at this present juncture, do have their own problem areas and many of these are not being addressed by politicians. There is anger and it is rising but it is not being acknowledged. We mourn the passing of Charles Miceli who alone and against all odds continued to insist on the real situation of the poor. Now that he is no more, the poor have lost the voice that defended them. Their anger is a real one, not a manufactured one.
Politicians do not need mud-bath wrestling but need to focus on what is really hurting people and to offer realistic solutions.
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