Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/470920
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 1 MARCH 2015 11 News unto their own, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they were pushed by somebody with an own agenda," Fenech says. His recollection of Mintoff, two days after The Times' offices were burnt down by Labour supporters was that of him in a rage. "You must think him a fool to believe that he had anything to gain from the at- tacks on The Times and on Eddie Fenech Adami's home." But another eminent historian, Henry Frendo, says it was Mint- off who took the country "out of the Middle Ages and straight into the Inquisition" by presiding over state-sponsored violence such as the Rabat shootings on PN sup- porters. "His incitement stoked the violence, exemplified by the arson attack on The Times." "In 1976 he lost control of the vio- lence," historian Prof. Joe Pirotta says. "In parliamaent Mintoff de- fended 'it-Toto' [Anthony Carabott] when he drove straight into a crowd of Nationalists in Kalkara. That's where the message was sent out that they could do whatever they wanted, and the violence escalated. Much later you see the influence of Lorry Sant who wanted to blackmail him," Pirotta says – a possible refer- ence to the infamous photographs allegedly of Mintoff and his sister- in-law in a compromising dalliance; Sant produced those photos in par- liament in 1989 to attack Mintoff's nephew Wenzu, then Labour whip, for seeking the erstwhile minister's expulsion from the party. Mintoff's sin of omission Former Labour minister Joe Debono Grech however says that while Mintoff was aware of who was perpetrating violence, he would never reach the stage of sacking any party activists. "He'd shout at you, tell you you're going wrong, but not expel you from the party," the Labour veteran – whose father was transferred from one government posting to the other 61 times be- tween 1962 and 1971 – says. "When Labour lost the elec- tion [1987], the bombs stopped… he never sent out anyone to fight. Mintoff would scold his ministers about their hangers-on. They did the party a lot of harm." Martin Zammit, Mintoff's private secretary from 1979 until 1984, refuses to consider Mintoff's re- sponsibility in the matter. "How do you explain a bomb placed on the doorstep of the police commis- sioner's house, who was considered an instrument of the Labour gov- ernment? The bombs that stopped after the Nationalists were elected? The balustrades thrown on Labour activists in Zebbug?... I swear I have never heard Mintoff tell anyone to burn down somewhere or commit some act of vengeance." Mintoff's hand-picked successor, Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici – whom Eddie Fenech Adami brands as "morally corrupt" in his own mem- oirs – is even more categorical. "The incidents were reactions to provocation… there were regular terrorist attempts such as the bomb attacks, most frequently against government supporters; the vic- timisation of government support- ers in the private sector; a social boycott of doctors who did not take part in the doctors' strike… the vio- lence came from a militant terrorist action of sabotage that came from different sectors, such as commerce and the media." But former ministers like the late Lino Spiteri, known to have never taken Mintoff's headstrong ways sitting down, said there was some- thing he could have done. "The violence was committed by a small number of people, I'd reckon between 30 to 50 people and no more, a couple of bullies who included ministers' canvass- ers who had taken matters in their hands and whom neither the police nor he could control them; I think he should have told the ministers concerned to control their men. He did not do this and this was a great shortcoming of his. "I think he has a large part of the blame," Spiteri said of Mintoff, add- ing that he must have known who the perpetrators of the violence were. "He didn't control the police enough. He was a normal man with his shortcomings… his attitude was rough, domineering, and abrupt." Sant and Wistin, and the FFF Undeniably, Lorry Sant – former works minister whose death re- leased him from corruption charg- es – is the minister whom critics clearly identify with the violence of the 1980s. "He was surrounded by people who would use force, and he was shocked when he did not become party leader," says former In-Nazzjon Taghna editor Victor Camilleri. "He was a pup raised by Mintoff but grew into a large dog that started biting its own master." Dominic Fenech's argument is echoed by that of former Nation- alist minister Lawrence Gatt, who however concedes that Mintoff re- mains guilty of a sin of omission. "He could have stopped the vio- lence. Lorry Sant was a rough one, but [Mintoff's] word had authority on the rest [of his ministers]. He had great charisma and had he giv- en the order, that the party would not protect anyone who breaks the law, they would have obeyed him." Former Nationalist MP Josie Muscat – who experienced vio- lence first-hand when he canvassed in Labour strongholds in the south – says Lorry Sant twice broke his spectacles in the House, and then beat him outside parliament after giving a speech in the House. "They [Sant and a government driver] threw this ashtray full of sand, used for cigarette butts, at me. They locked me in a lavatory. That's the kind of violence we saw… it's hard not to think that this was a premed- itated strategy." It is clear that people like Sant, and the excessive violence of can- vassers from Zejtun under the in- fluence of former minister Wistin Abela, were at the heart of this kind of state-sponsored violence. But then, as Spiteri himself has pointed out, Mintoff shares the blame with his glaring sin of omission. Even Ri- chard Matrenza, a former diplomat, points out his uncouth ways and inciting manner when convening mass meetings in Sliema where he would rail against Sliema residents themselves. "His inciting oratory did not help matters," Josie Muscat says. "He styled himself as a bully, even in his clothing. He did not go beyond the limit but once this culture of vio- lence took hold, he was unable to control it." In the end, much like the Labour thuggery set up to withstand the dominant forces of the 1960s, so did Josie Muscat respond with his Front Freedom Fighters after the 1981 election. "I saw the martyr- dom of Nationalist families in the Cottonera. I was convinced that if nobody stood up to Labour vio- lence, we would never make it in the second and third districts. But some of my friends running in the district who felt intimidated by the violence wanted to avoid confron- tation." Muscat says his FFFs were more of a bluff aimed at putting up a show of resistance. "The FFF never entered into a confrontation. The fact it existed gave courage to Na- tionalists and caused some concern to violent Labourites." Mintoff eventually fell out with Lorry Sant, whose leadership ambi- tions had to be thwarted by anoint- ing Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici as his effete successor. "Lorry still loved Mintoff and he was hurt that Min- toff had turned against him," Car- men Sant, the late minister's wife, says. "It's not true that power went to his head. He never had the chance to defend himself against these ac- cusations, neither in court nor in the Labour general conference." Sant died in 1995, never to face corruption charges due to the time- barred crimes and then having benefited from Nationalist largesse with a 1992 pardon for his part in the infamous law courts incidents of June 1987. "Lorry Sant had no interest in stopping that violence," Prof. Joe Pirotta says. "I think Mintoff had a certain element of comfort about that violence, because the political result was clear enough." mvella@mediatoday.com.mt ;0*2,;: -964! 465;,290:;6 /HS-HYY\N 6WLUZ+HPS` HTVU^HYKZ 7LWWP»Z2PVZR ;V^LY9VHK:SPLTH .LYHSK\2PVZR *P[`.H[L=HSSL[[H 7LWWP»Z2PVZR 7LWWP»Z2PVZR 7LWWP»Z2PVZR 7LWWP»Z2PVZR .DUWD$Q]MDQ X3HUVXQLE·'LijDELOWD LǭDOOVXELVV ½ IXTSUHijHQWD]]MRQL WDGGRNXPHQW $UHD& Lorry Sant and Dom Mintoff Tal-Barrani: the incident happened under Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici as PM Minister Wistin Abela with party activists Lino Spiteri: Mintoff had a large part of the blame Dominic Fenech: former Labour Party president Menacing as ever: Lorry Sant in debate with Wenzu Mintoff (right) violence