Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1504697
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 JULY 2023 8 INTERVIEW Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt Labour's fate cannot be tied There is a lot of criticism aimed at government right now – much of it coming from left-leaning opinion writers – along the lines that the Labour movement has somehow 'lost touch with its Socialist prin- ciples'. In your latest article, for instance, you argued that "the State draws its legitima- cy from the bond of trust be- tween itself and the citizens. [...] If this bond of trust is bro- ken, then chaos will take its place." Is this what you think is happening in Malta, right now? That the 'bond of trust', between State and people, is being 'broken'? Let's start from the idea of 'public trust'. Every citizen – whether consciously thinking about it, or unconsciously tak- ing it for granted – considers the State as a kind of 'guaran- tee'. It is a guarantee of jus- tice; a guarantee of protection – especially for those who are weak – and it is also a guaran- tee of peace. That is what we ultimately want from the State, as citi- zens; otherwise, we don't even need to have a State, at all. I mean, what use is a 'State', anyway... if it cannot protect us; if it cannot deliver justice; and if isn't going even give us peace? But I think that what's hap- pening now, goes beyond 'now'. What we're seeing today is the result of several issues which have been left unre- solved, ever since the forma- tion of the Maltese state. And there are many, many of these unresolved issues: that were 'swept under the carpet' dur- ing Malta's formative stages, as a nation... and which have basically remained under that carpet, for far too long. So what's happening now, is... not just 'happening now', so to speak. The underlying problems have always been there; but what we're seeing is an accumulation of things, all coming to the fore at once. This is an argument you have made before: both in your 'State of the Nation' address in September 2021; and al- so in our last interview, that same month. But can you be more specific, with regard to these 'unresolved issues'? What are they? And how do they impinge on people's concerns, today? Well, one of the points I raised in that speech was the lack of any real discussion about 'national identity'. Since Malta became an independent country, 60 years ago, we have never really sat down, and had a serious national debate about what it really means to be a citizen of this country: what it means to be 'Maltese'. For example: how are we going to instil, in the Maltese public, a sense that 'this is my country'? For me, that is one of the biggest problems we are facing, right now. We are de- stroying this country, because we don't really feel that it 'be- longs to us'. Let's face it: nobody in his right mind destroys his own home. So the fact that we are destroying ours, already indi- cates that we don't really view Malta as 'our own home', at all. And that, I think, is where the discussion should really begin. Because if there WAS a sense of 'ownership', of this country... if people really DID feel that Malta was 'their home'... things would perhaps be different. Besides: if we do succeed in changing that perception; and instilling that sense of 'belong- ing'... then people might be ready to make sacrifices, for the sake of their country. They might be willing to 'do their bit for the environment' – by, for instance, exchanging their massive SUV, for a smaller car; or maybe, no car at all. People might be less inclined to just demolish their houses, and build multi-storey apartment blocks instead... But let's face it: most people are NOT ready, to make that sort of commitment to their country. More people might complain about, say, environ- mental issues today... but how many of those people would change their own lifestyle, to improve the environment? If, for argument's sake, you were to give 10 plots of land, to 10 different people... how many of them do you think will say, 'Great! I'll turn this land into a public park, or a nature re- serve, so that everyone can en- joy it for free'? [Pause] I'm not sure if you're expect- ing an answer; but my guess is 'probably not a single one'... That's what I mean. Basi- cally, there is this formative step that we, as a nation, have never really taken. Instead of 'thinking publicly'... we're still thinking very 'privately', right now. It's just 'me'; 'my fami- ly'... and that's it. If I may enlarge upon that argument, a little: by (initial- ly) refusing to hold a public inquiry in the Jean-Paul So- fia case, the Prime Minister seemed to be cementing the popular perception that – faced with a choice between 'private interests', and 'public concerns' – the government will always defend 'private interests'. We see this in oth- er aspects of the construction drive, too... how the govern- ment sided with 'developers, over communities' in cases such as the Marsaskala yacht marina, and many more. Are you suggesting, then, that the State is 'forgetting' its obligations, towards the true 'owners' of this country? Let me put it this way: anoth- er of those unresolved issues is about the distinction between 'State' and 'government'; and – even more significantly, in this context – between 'gov- ernment', and 'party'. In Malta, the lines between those different entities were never really all that clear to begin with – in terms of pop- ular perception, at least – but today... after successive stages in which the same party has been in government, for a very long time: 25 years, in the case of the Nationalists; and, by the next election, 14 years for La- bour... the waters have been completely 'muddied', so to speak. It is, in fact, often very diffi- cult to establish exactly 'who's who', between 'party' and 'gov- ernment'. Or whether it is the Author, journalist, and self-avowed 'leftist' ALEKS FARRUGIA argues that the Labour Party can still be an agent of positive change, for Malta; but only if it reconsiders its current political roadmap