Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1300177
14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 18 OCTOBER 2020 ANALYSIS JAMES DEBONO THAT Malta has a deeply-rooted nexus between organised crime, prominent pol- iticians, police officers and big business has now been made amply clear by last December's horrific revelations, which led to the disgraceful exit of Joseph Mus- cat, who has now resigned from parlia- ment without shedding any light on his relationship with his former chief of staff, Keith Schembri. Then COVID-19 came and the anti-corruption drive took a back seat as everyday insecurities and fears took centre-stage. Change without revolution Under Robert Abela the country has moved forward on a number of aspects, with all the protagonists of Panamagate and its aftermath having been removed or forced to resign. This includes former police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar, former Attorney General Peter Grech, deputy police commissioner Silvio Val- letta, minister and former Labour deputy leader Chris Cardona, former minister Konrad Mizzi who was fired from his own parliamentary group and finally Muscat, who has now resigned from parliament. Police also arrested Keith Schembri and Brian Tonna, and Nexia BT's audit licence has been suspended. Yet while this list of departures looks impressive, the absence of any political reckoning in Labour on what led Malta to an institutional fracas, which ultimately created the climate for the assassination of Daphne Caruana Gal- izia, is all the more striking. So while Abela seems to be delivering in terms of removing impunity, something which cannot be underestimated in the Maltese political context where resig- nations are rare, he evades the political reckoning which his party and country deserve. Abela has to be commended for instituting reforms on key appointments, but fails in delivering political closure in three important aspects: cutting the umbilical cord between big business and politics through radical transparency re- forms and state financing for political parties; investigating the nefarious deals undertaken by Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri; and finally convening his par- ty to reflect on what went wrong in the Muscat era. Culture wars: hunting and migration While Malta is gripped by COVID-19 insecurities and a daily roll-call of deaths of its elderly citizens, sacrificed on the al- tar of economic recovery, what we have witnessed so far has been 'culture wars' unleashed from above. Abela seems keen on appeasing the hunting lobby by literally turning poach- ers into gamekeepers at Miżieb, in that way provoking a negative reaction from both environmentalists and a segment of PN voters appalled by their own party's silence on the issue. Pushing the hunting issue to the fore helps Labour not just to reinforce the countryside alliance it had craftily built during the Spring hunting referendum of 2015, but also to sow con- fusion inside the PN which suffered its worst decline in pro hunting localities like Zebbug, Siggiewi, Safi and Gozo. The same strategy is also present in the perverse logic of Abela's inane challenge to Opposition leader Bernard Grech where he demanded he agree with him that Malta is 'full up' with immigrants, in what amounts to agreement with a ver- bal commitment, and which can only be enforced through an abnegation of inter- national law – clearly, a statement that would only serve to fuel toxic, xenophobic sentiment in the country by emboldening bigots. It also offers a ridiculous choice between absolutist positions instead of focusing on everyday community polic- ing, cultural mediation and integration, and investing in deprived communities. In this context the government could well be manufacturing electoral consent by deploying popular, but misinformed common sense to silence and delegitima- tise not just the parliamentary opposition, but also activists who are actually fighting popular and pro working-class struggles but are regularly demonised for advocat- ing social justice for migrants. The abortion bogeyman To further murk the waters, Abela's disgraced predecessor Joseph Muscat came close to declare his rational and justified pro- choice stance in an interview on state televi- sion, a stance which puts him at odds with Abela and which can only have a polarising effect on civil so- ciety. In this con- text while Labour can afford to remain officially against abortion, it stands to gain from pushing the debate on this issue to the fore to keep liberals away from an opposition where ultra-conservatives are irked by the very idea of a debate on the topic. In reality even if it remains against, La- bour will always be perceived as more lib- eral than the PN on this particular issue. In this way Labour, which uses Trumpian nonsense on migration to hold on to its redneck vote, can still offer hope to lib- erals. But while the country cannot be ex- pected to stop discussing any issue, and abortion has indeed been left under the carpet for ages, Muscat's intervention in the nascent debate risks contaminating it with a presence which also makes pro- choice liberals uncomfortable. Naturally, Muscat provokes the more conservative elements to come out of the woodwork to vilify him, and here he can even find a way to reinvent his damaged political persona, just as Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando had done after the Mistra scan- dal. But is he throwing a grenade at his Malta's next general election should be a time of reckoning for the nexus between politics, organised crime and big business exposed in the Caruana Galizia assassination probe. Instead, the establishment is keen on unleashing divisive culture wars. What lies ahead if Malta had to once again face an early election? Culture wars How hunting, migration and abortion weigh on the next election "While Malta is gripped by COVID-19 insecurities and a daily roll-call of deaths of its elderly citizens, sacrificed on the altar of economic recovery, what we have witnessed so far has been 'culture wars' unleashed from above"