Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/871892
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 10 SEPTEMBER 2017 9 Analysis ADRIAN Delia, a former football club president, lawyer and businessman, never occupied any post in the party he now aspires to lead, and never ran for office. As a political upstart he fits in a pattern of self-styled 'anti-establish- ment' politicians taking on traditional establishments. He said the PN will remain "detached from reality" if it does not have leaders who have "life experience" away from partisan politics. Anti-establishment politicians come in various stripes. Donald Trump won his own party's nomination after lash- ing out against the establishment within, but others like Silvio Berlusconi and Beppe Grillo founded their own par- ties – personal political vehicles that are filling the gap on both the political left and right. And yet these politicians hail from the very establish- ment they denounce. Berlusconi was a property tycoon and football club owner. French president Emanuel Ma- cron was educated at the Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA) where three other presidents were schooled. Writ small, Delia – a property entrepreneur in his own right, former club president, and like many MPs and prime min- isters an old Aloysian – starts to fit into a 'pedigree of es- tablishment'. These politicians are certainly not immune to accusa- tions of impropriety, having to spend time defending their reputations and attacking the media which puts them under scrutiny. Unsurprisingly they accuse the media of being part of the elite. These common threads unite this breed of politician. Not all insurgents fit the model. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn won his nomination against all odds after serv- ing on the party's backbench as a "career politician" since 1983. Instead of lashing out at an abstract establishment, Corbyn is focused on inequality. Even Joseph Muscat, who is keen to advance the anti-establishment spiel, created his party in his own image after serving as MEP and being widely seen as the preferred choice of his party's establish- ment. Trump: not draining, but flooding the swamp Donald Trump beat established politicians like Florida governor Jeb Bush who hailed from a political dynasty, and senators Ted Cruz and Antonio Rubio. He vowed to "drain the swamp" in Washington while lashing against immigrants, promising to build a wall on the Mexican frontier. This approach won him grassroots voters and white working-class voters in key Democratic states that secured his election, even while losing the popular vote by nearly three million. Lack of transparency on business deals and tax returns haunt him to this day. Berlusconi: man of providence Silvio Berlusconi has been referred as a precursor of Trump. A media tycoon and AC Milan president, he crafted his Forza Italian party in 1991 to fill the gap from the collapse of the socialist and Christian-democrat par- ties in the wake of the Tangentopoli bribery scandal. He portrayed himself as a doer but was dogged by his own corruption scandals and accusations of impropriety. He polarised Italy for two decades, thriving on confron- tation but ultimately losing power as Italy came close to bankruptcy. At 80 he can still unite the Italian centre-right but he also faces similar 'anti-establishment' rivals: nem- esis Beppe Grillo, a comedian turned politician, and the centre-left's Matteo Renzi, a former mayor who dubs him- self a "rottamatore" – a demolition man. Corbyn: PM in waiting Jeremy Corbyn defeated Labour's establishment as a ca- reer politician for his Islington constituency since 1983. In an ideological reaction to two successive Labour de- feats tarnished by Tony Blair's legacy, Corbyn was faced with mutiny in his parliamentary group, but enthusias- tically backed by the left-wing Momentum movement that backs him with cultish fervour. Blamed for failing to make a convincing case for Remain in the Brexit cam- paign and facing off a leadership challenge, Labour actu- ally won more seats in 2017's snap election which the Tories won by the skin of their teeth. Macron: insurgent against populism Former minister Emanuel Macron became President of France by defeating far-rightist Marine Le Pen outside of his former socialist party, and then creating En March to win a majority in parliament. A pro-European plat- form attracted left-wing support; his promises of tough labour market reforms won him the business establish- ment. Snubbing the socialist party, he displaced it as the centre-left's mainstream, but Le Pen dubbed the former Rothschild investment banker a "candidate of finance". He won riding a wave of enthusiasm, but labour reforms and spending cuts have dropped his ratings by 10 points. Tant pis. Ruffling the antidisestablishmentarianists How far can Adrian Delia be seen as the local version of a wave of insurgent anti-establishment politicians taking the world by storm, and turning their political parties into fan clubs? party establishment which called on Delia to recon- sider his candidature in the wake of the Soho property allegations. But the result itself quashed conspiracy theories of an all-powerful establishment which ma- nipulates the party at will. It also showed how limited the influence of media re- ports, particularly but not exclusively those of Daphne Caruana Galizia, was on the party diehards. Ironically having won the first round Delia emerged as the favourite of party insiders. Had Delia been de- feated in the first round, the result would have been tainted, probably presented as one resulting from ma- nipulation by the dominant clique. On the other hand if Delia is defeated in the second round, there will be no room for such claims and the result will be sealed in legitimacy. But if Delia does win, the result will still legitimize his scathing criticism of the party establishment. For his General Council triumph exposed the limits of negative campaigning, especially when none of his ri- vals had the same seductive appeal as Delia has. Victimisation, and the return of class With some of the attack having had a personal twist, Delia seemed able to boost the impression of being a victim of some party establishment, a flexible term that can always be conveniently used to include any detractor and exclude any supporter. In an eerie Facebook post, the PN's president of the administrative council, Karol Aquilina, hinted at a possible takeover of the PN by freemasons, a trick as old as Terinu's mendacious oath against Lord Strick- land. But then the Church's media arm entered the fray, publishing a photo of two de Marco canvassers outed as freemasons by MaltaToday, snapped at the Hamrun party club with Delia, and backers Kristy and Jean-Pierre Debono. Aquilina's post seems to be a veritable case of putting the cart before the horse, by making the insinuation before the evidence emerged. What is most surprising is that while the establish- ment theme has become a fixture in national and in- ternal party debates, it is the power of big business – which forms the bedrock of any real establishment – that is rarely questioned. In itself, the idea of some fixed, historical establish- ment like the Church and old money wielding all the power simply ignores the rise of dynamic elites. These new elites have their own connections in the political world. Class may yet make a comeback, even if political discourse itself is cleansed of any class conflict: in the way of images, already a personality clash is being conjured, with Delia eating caviar (according to Kurt Farrugia) or Muscat living it large with a Dubai beach holiday (as depicted by Daphne Caruana Galizia). And what about those offshore companies? The ones in Panama and Jersey… that dark side of the global establishment? It seems none of this has disqualified anyone from playing the political rebel in the game of anti-establishment. jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt And what about those offshore companies? The ones in Panama and Jersey… that dark side of the global establishment? It seems none of this has disqualified anyone from playing the political rebel in the game of anti-establishment