Being negative in a positive way

 

Joseph Muscat has been continuously hammering the message that they are leading a positive campaign. Many seem to agree with him. But is it really so?

At face value, he is certainly right. If we compare it to the strategy used by the PN, he might be right. If we had to compare it to Labour's past campaigns he is certainly right.

Their main slogan, Malta Taghna Lkoll, is certainly a positive a one, most would argue. Or is it not?

I beg to differ. Malta Taghna Lkoll implies that Malta is not ours, yet. Then who's is it? Some, echoing Franco Debono, might argue that our beautiful islands have been hijacked by an evil clique. But which clique really? Is it Austin Gatt? Certainly not. The man is not seeking re-election. By Richard Cachia Caruana? If hijacked by Cachia Caruana means an injection of more than €600,000,000 in the Maltese economy, then quite frankly, let it be it. Is Malta hijacked by some big businessmen? Malta, like every other country in the world has always been led by such big fish. If Labour will be elected to power, we would be really naive to believe that the situation will change. At best, we might have a change of guard, but nothing more. Indeed, contrary to some years ago, it is becoming ever more clear that most businessmen (and not only) are actually making it a point to be seen getting closer to the PL so as to be part of the new clique should Muscat be in office.

In other words, through its slogan, the PL is actually echoing Franco Debono's hysteric cry to free Malta from the evil clique. But since the wording used by Debono was negative, they cleverly rephrased it in positive wording.

But their campaign is still positive, some might argue. The campaign they started in January might be predominantly positive, but not the one they had been doing before. Many certainly remember the numerous PL billboards scattered all over Malta showing us Franco Debono and the others with Gonzi covering his eyes, ears, in a kitchen, sporting a Brazilian t-shirt and worst of all their Father Christmas billboard.

It is clear that the PL have concentrated most of their dirty tricks before the actual election campaign to then move to a more positive one during the last part of the campaign. I used the word 'most' because we are witnessing the negative way how the debates in the higher education institutions have been organised - in great dissonance to the spirit of unity characterising the PL campaign.