Perhaps Joseph Muscat is grossly naive or alternatively, we are very trusting.
The other day I was told that the use of the word “Lonzu” for Lawrence was derogatory and unacceptable. Sure, I said.
Then why have the Nationalist spin weavers ordered to their minions that all references to Joseph are abbreviated to simply “Joe”?
Well, for a very simple reason. “Joe” is common, low and ordinary. “Joseph” is not.
And once again, it is a mortal sin to even consider calling someone by another name, but not if the person happens to be the candidate for the next hate figure of the Nationalist party machine. Do not be fooled, the PN will not leave one stone unturned to transform the image of Joe or Joseph Muscat into the son of Beelzebub.
Lest you have forgotten, apart from being very good at dishing out posts only to blue-eyed boys, restoring democracy in 1987 and taking Malta into Europe, the PN is also very good at destroying their opponents. Like Mugabe, who talks of democracy, the Nationalists talk of opening up but never do.
So whereas people such as Joe Azzopardi decide to freely change their name to Peppi because it is too common, far too “hamallu”-like, the PN machine decides unilaterally that all references to Joseph Muscat on NET, Maltarightnow and In-Nazzjon and Il-Mument to Joseph are changed to simple “Joe”.
Of course, to even mention such a thing is sinful, to even dare to question the wisdom coming out of the magnificent glass edifice at Pietà is sacrilegious. To even write these few lines means that I am a terrorist, an enemy of the State or perhaps mad.
Perhaps if you really want to see how downright hypocritical politicians can get, get someone to ask Lawrence Gonzi what he thinks about the whole darn spin and apart from smiling, he will probably say something like this: “Well, if I was running the PN media, I would have done things differently.”
Which effectively means that next day, nothing will change.
Unlike other politicians, Gonzi remains the eternally loquacious chatterer with a mission not to accomplish what he wishes.
Because just in case you haven’t realised, Lawrence Gonzi is not only the Commander-in-Chief at the PN, but the de facto Pope at Stamperija.
Now, names have never been something that troubled me: so if you do decide to call me Save, Salvu, Saveur, Sejzer, Saviour, Xavier or simply “Annimal”, I will not be unduly perturbed. Indeed, I do take myself rather seriously... but not that seriously.
And what I cannot fathom is when politicians start worrying over the way they are described, more so when they themselves love to play about with the names of their opponents.
But this is 2008, not 1992 or 1987. In 1992 and 1997, the Nationalists operated in an environment where the independent media was completely under their control, a simple extension of their ego. Today, the situation is different.
In 1992 the effective whispering campaign by the PN spin machine managed to demonise Alfred Sant and portray him as an Antichrist. It was not too difficult, considering how eccentric and hard-headed the man turned out to be. But he could have been an ideal lovable candidate for the Nationalist prototype: incorruptible, academic, well-read, cultured and more enamoured of the Americans than the Europeans.
When, in 1992, the MLP leader Alfred Sant was called “Fredu”, not Alfred, by the PN media, Eddie Fenech Adami instructed his own media to call the leader by his real name and stop being foolish.
And yet again in 1992 there was no independent media, just a budding newspaper called The Independent with little or no interest in rocking the boat.
In 2008, the scenario is rather different. There are sprouts in the media which are not linked to any party, and that are probing and inquisitive.
If the PN wishes to go on with its silly decision to change the name of their political adversary, then so be it. But do not be too sensitive if someone from the other side decide to call Lawrence, Lonzu, Wenzu or simply Wenz. Just like Lawrence Mintoff is called Wenzu Mintoff.
Then, as the Breton saying goes: “Brud fall a ya, betek arm or, Brud vat a chom, A toull an nor” – “A bad reputation travels as far as the sea. A good reputation stays on the doorstep.”
Call his bluff, Joe
Which is why the proposals for the democratisation of our democracy by Joseph alias Joe Muscat, to Lawrence alias Lonzu Gonzi, should be embraced AT ONCE.
The “AT ONCE” bit is of course mine. What will really happen is that Gonzi will ignore the proposals and find some fault with them. It is, of course, sad. As expected, Gonzi has accused the MLP of sitting on the fence. Rather rich, I thought, coming from a Nationalist party which is an expert at sitting on the fence. Nearly four years with Dalli, and now with JPO, and any other problem that could possibly face the PN...
The suggestion that the political parties publish their accounts and declare their donors is of course not an important issue for Gonzi.
Over our dead bodies, Gonzi must be telling his new secretary-general, who is probably asking himself what a wonderful mess he has landed himself in.
If Gonzi succumbed to Muscat’s plea, it would unravel why the Nationalist party has been so appreciative to so many businessmen. It would explain why certain people are held in such high regard and esteem and why their businesses flourish. It would explain why the root of this country’s problem is ‘party financing’.
Gonzi will of course insist on pairing in parliament as a precondition for any agreement.
If I were “Joe” I would call his bluff and agree to his pairing request. So what?
Only to discover that Gonzi will come up with yet another excuse! Then maybe Muscat will realise that Gonzi is the man he was always renowned to be: a man who allows destiny to decide for him, and not the other way round.
Dollars for the Virgin Mary
The release of former French presidential green candidate Ingrid Betancourt in Colombia was of course an international event that attracted much media attention. But not in the same way it did in Malta.
In France, most observers were very sad to see the ‘liberal’ leftie Betancourt praise the Virgin Mary on her release... most especially when it transpired that it was not divine inspiration that led to the release of Betancourt, but DOLLARS.
Yes, dollars that were passed on to the Maoist rebels known as FARC, who would give away their own colleagues to the ‘daring’ Colombian US-trained military in return for any price.
So much so, that Kouchner, the French foreign minister, stated without being prompted that France did not pay the FARC commanders any money.
No Maltese
I am intrigued by the publication of the Malta Arts Festival booklet. A truly attractive booklet... which is published in English, but not in Maltese.
I cannot understand why the Ministry for Education and Culture continues to relegate Maltese to second if not third division. Wonder what excuse Dolores will think of this time round?
