Centre-Left? What centre's left?

We are often accused of commiting the mortal sin of always being critical of any efforts to discuss the evolution of the Maltese political scene. It is true that oftentimes the broken record that is our understanding of the effects of the PLPN hegemony of local political development can become a cumbersome obstacle that transforms to a blinkered view when looking at new attempts at open discussion.

Jean Pierre Farrugia’s candid article in today’s Times engages the discussion of how political parties are losing their values. Farrugia brings an interesting issue with regards to the Nationalist party out into the open: whether the more conservative elements are actually nullifying the work of an earlier generation of centre-left politicians who had brought the nationalist party closer to the workers and the masses. Reading Farrugia’s article leads one to understand that Farrugia forms part of the element of the nationalist party that believes that its soul should be firmly routed in the caring centre-left … and that right now this is not happening due to the stronger “conservative” element.

Without going into the merits of the argument, Farrugia’s article is a welcome addition to an open space discussion. It’s a brilliant discussion to get going and ncludes many sub-topics: liberalism, the nature of the centre-left and the existene or otherwise of a real conservative agenda. Maybe it might be time to reopen The Malta Chronicle again – though not for now perhaps, summer laziness is just round the corner.

“Even my life-long friend Guido de Marco, who is above any suspicion of being a Marxist, defined his position on the political spectrum as being centre-left.” -JP Farrugia

Since when does being centre-left create an automatic assumption that one is a marxist?