A homosexual, a woman, a Gozitan, a farmer, a patient, a hunter, a student and an election candidate walked into a room. Is it the start of the latest viral joke? No, it’s just work as usual at Labour’s Congress about the future that unites us. Progressive Labour seems to be fuelled by cliches and stereotypes to no end. This Congress that regurgitates tautological guidelines by the dozen is proving to be a huge confirmation of this facet of Joseph Muscat’s “politics”.
The art lies in the conversion of “bandwagon” politics into a demonstration of apparent democracy. Always intent on seeming to be the man whose heart beats at a popular rate, Joseph’s style is dramatically simple and as accommodating as possible. How else could you describe the evolution of a political position that can be summed up as simply as “you tell me what you want and I promise to consider it”? (Non c’è problema… tu mi dici quello che devo fare e io lo faccio).
Here’s Anthony David Gatt (One News Journalist) expressing his pride (on facebook) about the goings on at the Congress:
Cyrus Engerer gabni fiha… Persuna gay u Musulmana flimkien jitkellmu dwar l asperazzjonijiet taghhom fuq l istess sufan. Nassigurakom…ma saritx bi hsieb jew biex nezageraw. Minna nfiha din hi r realta ta dak li qed jirnexxielu johloq l PL din l gimgha. Spazju shih ghal kullhadd ghal skambju serju u li jghodd.
What better than a ONE News reporter to gauge the feeling and feedback that exists within the walls of Labour’s tent gatherings? In Labour’s weird way of thinking, the gatherings are not made up of individuals, of persons, but of labels. You are “a gay”, “a muslim” – a token representative of the latest minority that is going to be fed the spiel of how Labour “cares” about them because it is a progressive movement. Gatt’s sentence is very telling because he assures us “it is not done with forethought or to exaggerate” but this is the REALITY that Labour managed to CREATE this week – a gay person and a muslim speaking together on a sofa discussing their aspirations.
I’ve spoken about my misgivings regarding the modus operandi of this Congress in a previous post (The Wrong shade of Green) and this stressing of stereotypes only goes to reinforce my suspicion that this is one hell of a Potyemkin Village that the Labour planners have got going. We’ve all seen how much the PLPN are capable of using the “dialogue with the people” spin to their advantage. Remember the “tinda tad-Djalogu” of Fenech Adami fame? That was around the same time as Eddie Fiducja.
Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with putting out feelers and listening to what people have to say and what they wish. All the good will in the world though requires more than a bit of mascara marketing and a splash of token stereotypes (from all walks of life as perceived by the seriously obsessed with pigeonholing labourites). Joseph Muscat’s party remains non-committal on most issues and is now hiding behind the tautological guidelines that are neither here nor there.
Meanwhile we are still denied concrete positions on anything factual – just hedging and camera posing. Ramona Depares expressed what is flawed with this reasoning very clearly in one of her blog posts (PL stating the obvious) while MaltaToday’s Wednesday editorial (Manifestly asburd) hit the nail on the head when it came to pointing out why Labour’s foot shuffling about producing a proper manifesto is completely non-sensical.
The charade and parade of the various “sectors of society” goes on. The Congress of Stereotypes tends to look more and more like a series of meetings scheduled by Professor Xavier. And Labour insists on deliberately missing the point – so long as the sofa is there and the “gay and muslim” can chat openly about aspirations then surely a future that unites us lies ahead.
I’d hate to look into a crystal ball right now.
P.S. Have you taken a peek at www.josephmuscat.com yet? Much has been made of the “not so cool” photos decorating the banner on the site but how many people have noticed that if you zoom out on the front page (“CTRL & -” on chrome) you get to see many more faces… and hidden away you will also see the sweet token lady with the hijab. Labour eh… couldn’t miss out on any stereotype…
