This year, Barbados which gained independence some two years after Malta did, ceased recognizing Britain’s Queen Elizabeth as head of state and became a republic. As in Malta, the president of the republic will not have executive powers. Even so, the change implies a transformation in the history of the country.
On its basis, political and institutional references that come to be used and relied upon across most dimensions of the national life will shift to a homebound focus. Other references with limited relevance to the national context, such as those coming from London, will fade away.
As a result, national identity will be experienced in a different manner. The ways by which discussions are held and problems and challenges understood will change from how they were framed in pre-republican times.
That is what happened in Malta and is no doubt, likely to happen in Barbados. The procedures by which the royal establishment in London greeted Barbados’ transition to a republic – with Prince Charles actively participating in the ceremonies – was noteworthy. Meanwhile, the move towards a republic that would have the greatest significance – Australia’s – remains pending.
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TRADE UNIONS IN EUROPE
Claims have been made that following the Covid-19 pandemic, European trade unions saw a further erosion of their outreach. I suspect that as more work gets done by internet from a distance, this erosion will continue to happen even if unions have been at the forefront in supporting the rights of internet workers... such as for instance, by upholding the right of workers not to stay online from home and ready to work in digital mode outside certain hours.
The truth though is that much trade union membership has ended up concentrated in the public sector. Here too, unions’ scope for action has become steadfastly restricted. A contributing factor was the strategy deployed by some governments to contract with private firms for these to carry out work that formerly used to be done by public sector workers.
Interestingly, a European newspaper that is not well known for its left wing views, gave strong prominence quite recently to an article which explained how essential trade unions can be for modern enterprise to be run “rationally” and with tranquillity.
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POPULISM AND ABORTION
It is strange how populist techniques feature in the controversies that multiply over abortion. Actually, it was the anti-abortion front which first went down this road and it is now extreme right-wing governments in Eastern Europe and the US which promote populist discourse, as they try to dismantle laws that allow abortion.
But these days even those who are for abortion seem to be playing the same game. Perhaps they concluded they had better fight fire with fire.
As a consequence, from both sides we get arguments that frequently play on exaggeration. They are presented according to a formula that seems to be trying to force one and all into a decision between black and white.
However the whole issue comes scrambled in a wide assembly of nuances. It cannot be dealt with in dogmatic terms intended to push everybody away from a reasonable compromise.