Long-time Labour Party activist, Mario Gauci has published an unusual post on his social media profile warning that conservative attitudes that his young generation of activists fought against within and outside the party are returning to the party. The post is unusual because Mario Gauci rarely ever goes public with any statement.
Mario Gauci was undoubtedly referring to the expulsion of Neville Gafa from his role at the Office of the Prime Minister after Gafa published a blog against transgender parents. Neville Gafa is currently throwing an online tantrum about his expulsion and attacking feminists activists including Lara Dimitrijevic, who is the sister of the Labour Party’s President, Alex Sciberras. He also implicitly blamed Alex Sciberras for his expulsion, but has apparently, withdrawn his accusations.
Separately, but also related, the Women’s Lobby has protested against sexist comments made by the public broadcaster’s latest prime-time, TV show-host, Ricky Caruana.
None of this is surprising. The Labour Party is degenerating at all levels with its increasingly populist and cynical behaviour. Many Labour Party activists of my generation were involved in the fight for the introduction of divorce, the abolishment of censorship on the arts and the introduction of gay marriage amongst other reforms. My generation lived during the final moments when the Church was still grossly influential in politics and legislation, so it is not surprising to see these Labour Party activists being concerned about Labour’s newfound tolerance to old-age attitudes that Labour itself had fought.
What is implicit in Mario Gauci’s concerns, and which I will explain here, is that the Labour Party is currently and mostly divided between two major camps. Firstly there is “the party camp” which is aligned with the Prime Minister and is loyal to him on most policies. Then there is Joseph Muscat’s faction which is mainly represented by Alex Agius Saliba and this is currently faction which is mostly in opposition to the Prime Minister right now within Labour. Those fronting Joseph Muscat’s faction within Labour like Alex Agius Saliba are unprincipled and amoral and will take any position that is convenient to them at that particular moment. For example, Alex Agius Saliba is against abortion because the pro-Joseph Muscat crowd in Labour is the more conservative Labour crowd of the older generations.
Basically, Labour’s fault-marks are generational and also ideological and these fault-lines will conflict when the Party is disrupted either with an election loss or with a guilty sentence for Joseph Muscat. Joseph Muscat’s influence over Labour will remain pervasive as long as he enjoys impunity for his crimes: it is thanks to him that his pipsqueaks like Alex Agius Saliba and Neville Gafa can hijack the party’s narrative.
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