One of the things that the Nationalist Party hasn’t grasped yet, is that it needs a youthful revolution to upend the Labour Party. A generation of young and motivated youth with a political vision is a strong ingredient for political change and the Nationalist Party seems to lack youtful momentum not only owing to its outdated policies such as on abortion, the environment and its relationship with property-magnates, but also owing to its own conservative dysfunction.
If young people in PN are empowered, they would be more motivated to fight for change, but it is disheartening when even simple and small changes are impossible inside the party’s structures simply owing to conservative dysfunction.
I tried to find some nefarious reason as to why Francesca Attard resign from the Nationalist Party’s group of the Għargħur Local Council. She says she resigned because her proposals on a set of issues, especially those on the historic site of the old battery, weren’t being listened to. Having listed some of her proposals, she actually makes some good points. She says, for example, that the old historical battery of the locality shouldn’t be rented out for the exclusive use of an NGO, but the public should still have access to it. Apparently, her proposal was ignored.
If we give Francesca Attard the benefit of the doubt, that she is not being bought out by Labour, her frustration is very understandable. Here is a young person trying to make a positive contribution but dysfunction and incompetence prevents anything new or slightly different from getting done. On the other hand, she may have also have over-reacted against the Party and may be looking for an opening to carve out her own name into politics.
Whatever the reason may be, the Nationalist Party should pay serious attention to such a loss because it may be a warning sign that young people aren’t getting ahead of the internal party’s conservative culture and mentality.
Having said that, I need to be careful and include some disclaimers, as critics will always make assumptions and put words in your mouth based on inferences. I am not saying that young people are always right or that their contributions to politics are inherently better than those of their veteran peers. On the contrary, I find young politicians like Alex Borg completely insufferable for pretending to offer any value in politics, given that they have nothing of substance to show from their past. On the other hand, young people are essential for pushing forward policies and expanding a party’s boundaries, enabling it to move into new territory: something the PN desperately needs in order to position itself to win the next general election
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