Alex Agius Saliba is defending his attendance at Ricky Caruana’s party by repeating his usual mantra that he is a man of the people. Even Archbishop Mikiel Gonzi was a man of the people, yet look at his historical record today.
Alex Agius Saliba and Ricky Caruana have extensively contributed to the rehabilitation of Joseph Muscat, and with a weak Opposition that is unable to offer an alternative vision to the country, the Labour Party has capitalised from Joseph Muscat’s rehabilitation by accusing the Opposition as “negative”. The consequences to all of this is that corruption and organised crime in politics are increasingly becoming normalised even as Joseph Muscat’s faction in Labour becomes more active.
This isn’t just an issue of impropriety. It’s an important battle for the fundamental prerequisites in politics and public life that also effects out rule-of-law and by default our democracy. The glaring optics of Alex Agius Saliba’s behaviour and others like him in the Labour Party are also meant to send the message that truth, morality and reason no longer hold any value in political life. These are the vestiges of populism that quickly turn to authoritarianism and fascism as we are witnessing in the US right now with troops being deployed in the streets of Los Angeles against civilians.
The Labour Party politicians embracing Ricky Caruana know very well that they are doing so in their own interest. With a host of high-level Labour Party politicians embracing Ricky Caruana, the message is also an explicit disapproval of the press, and the embracing of a new wave of social-media political propaganda that holds a total disregard for the truth.
It looks harmful, joyful and entertaining, but it’s actually the heart of the struggle of our politics of today. The choice between the everything-goes Alex Borgs and Alex Borg Salibas, and the politics that stand for truth, reason, the rule-of-law and democracy.
People applauding this decadent spectacle may seem heroic as they embrace the “politics of the people”. Eventually they will be shamed for celebrating a political system that will create Malta’s biggest housing crisis in history which will unravel all the democratic deficit in our state accumulated by years of corruption and organised crime in politics.
Website Editor
Historian and Publisher
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