21 September 2011

Dom Mintoff in, Eddie Fenech Adami out?

George Borg Olivier and Dom Mintoff when life was civilised
Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando posted this comment on facebook this morning:

"George Borg Olivier and Dom Mintoff were two of the giants in (sic) the local political scene in the post war years. They both left a profound impact on our nation."

Next to it he pasted the above picture, portraying the two politicians as if they were each other's confidante.

Let's take a closer look. First, today is Independence Day, the birth of our nation. On this, of all days, JPO decides to place the father of this nation on the same footing as the man who spent his entire political life trying with all his might and violence to eradicate it from our collective memory. It verges on the horrific.

Second, what JPO does not tell his facebook friends is that the picture dates back to the 1960s when Gorg Borg Olivier was prime minister. It perfectly symbolises one thing and one thing only - a gentleman, a prime minister and a statesman who treats the Opposition leader with the respect that his office deserves.

Did Dom Mintoff rise to the same altitude of correctness when the roles were reversed in the 1970s? Not quite. I wish Jeffrey was with me when as a teenager I attended 1974's Independence celebrations in Stada Rjali. What I saw was a shower of stones not flowers thrown by Labourites and the police at Gorg Borg Olivier and Guido de Marco. It was these two men who were the giants, not the cowardly midget skulking in Castille while his thugs were doing all this.

Finally, what does calling Mintoff and Borg Olivier "two of the giants in (sic) the local political scene in the post war years" amount to? By leaving out the other real giant - the man who took Independent Malta from tal-Barrani to Brussels - JPO erases the PN's and this nation history between 1977 - 2004 with the stroke of a pen. 

Good going.

16 comments:

Manuel said...

Independence Day: personal recollections of a rather unremarkable nature...

thaxwix.blogspot.com

JV said...

Lou,

JPO has taken to reading bedtime stories lately.

Manuel said...

Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando is apparently trying to project himself as a true-blue Nationalist of the old school and try to appear attractive to Labourites who, seduced by his pro-divorce initiative, may have forgotten Mistragate with all its TV antics.

Is-sewwa Jirbah Zgur said...

JPO is offending all those who during the Mintoffian era had their families,health, careers, and private property destroyed whilst their very basic human rights were downtrodden...... their only crime being Nationalist or belonging to the klassi mishuta tal-professjonisti., doctors, dentists, architects,lawyers, teachers,nurses, blue collar workers etc.
Imissek tisthi sur JPO .Kaz fejn min jaghmilha maz-zopp jibda izappap hu!

Fl'istess ilma qieghed pinnur paranojku iehor fejn hawn jidher ikompli mal kummenti kontra il gvern tal gurnata;
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1561377989&sk=wall

Sa dan it-tant, il-politikant Engerer mil fondazzjoni IDEJAT mhux cert meta Malta kisbet l-indipendenza http://www.facebook.com/#!/engerer.cyrus
u tghidx kemm il-darba kellu jigi prompted biex jikkoregi il-posting tieghu sa kemm gab id-data korretta.

Anonymous said...

Dom Mintoff was the real man for the future after independence is salvatur they called him full employment in 6 months he promised in 1971 and his forsite in foreign policy was superb.The only thing is by 1987 we ended up with massive unemployment and look at his foreign policy just disappeared with all the corrupt and violent dictators (for those who forget the PL golden years)except for Kim Jong Il mabe it is about time Joseph and AST gave this good friend of the golden days a visit

Bunny Rabbit said...

True blue nationalists are not impressed by JPO's private and public antics nor by the Mistragate scandal.The divorce issue was not top priority on the national agenda but top priority on his own personal agenda at getting his own back at the church for the rebuff he got when the Pope blessed us with a visit last year. Labourites will not be voting for him either since joining the PL is not aviable option, not with his wife already a shadow spokesperson of the same party.

Anonymous said...

The birth of the state, maybe. But not the birth of the nation...the Maltese nation / community had long existed before 1964

Anonymous said...

Bunny Rabbit: have you discounted totally the possibility that JPO could contest as an independent candidate? Obviously he would not be elected, but would love to aggravate GonziPN and enjoy own personal affirmation by attracting a few dozen Mintoffian Labour votes.

Anonymous said...

Lou, inutli tikteb fil-qosor x'gara fl-1974 jekk imkien ma tara dokumentazzjoni taghha. Jien ghext dawk iz-zminijiet u meta nirrakkonta lit-tfal tieghi minix cert jemnuninx. Nahseb li int, bhala blogger u bniedem tal-media, ghandek parti responsabilta li tfakkar x'gara, b'filmati (li cert li jezistu x'imkien) accessibbli ghal min irid jara. Imkien - ghallinqas sa fejn naf jien - ma tista TARA dokumenti filmati ta' dawk is-snin u dan la hu gust ma min bata s-snin 70 u 80 u laanqas ma dawk li ma kinux twieldu, ghax se jibqghu ma jafux. Qed naghmel dal-appell lilek b'mod specjali ghax int bnidem tal-media. Fittex fil-Youtube u ma tara XEJN. Qisu qatt ma graw dawk l-afarijiet!

Bunny Rabbit said...

@ Manwel; JPO mar jithabbeb mal losers, u kif jghid il-Malti, ma min rajtek xebbahtek.Jekk irid idahhak lin-nies bih billi johrog bhala indipendenti, jaghmel hu.Ahjar, ikollna ftit tad-diversion ghal qabel l elezzjoni issa la , miskin , tal-Farfett u Spiru Sant m'ghadomx maghna.

Anonymous said...

History will be very unkind to Mintoff. Many MLP supporters today are already calling him controversial PM. In time, their children will call the man who did the most harm to the MLP. And without doubt their grandchildren will blame him for their serial losses.

Mintoff just hated everyone, even his own supporters. A man with a fickle mind.

The Independence Day is the birth of our nation. Mintoff tried to eradicate this very important day because Borg Olivier beat him to it. A jealous man.A small mind. A confused man.

Anna said...

Filmati hemm bil-bosta....bizzejjed wiehed jara d-dokumentarju Storja ta' Poplu. Imma donnu kulhadd jibza. Irridu nibqghu nfakkru x'kien gara f'dawk iz-zminijiet koroh! U nixtieq li l-kotba tal-Istorja fl-iskejjel ma jiqfux biss mal-31 ta' Marzu 1979!

Anonymous said...

MIN HU BLA HTIJA JITFA L-WWEL GEBLA

Anonymous said...

Could not stop laughing after reading the below. One really has to be a poor idiot to write such drivel about Big Dom.

History will be very unkind to Mintoff. Many MLP supporters today are already calling him controversial PM. In time, their children will call the man who did the most harm to the MLP. And without doubt their grandchildren will blame him for their serial losses.

Mintoff just hated everyone, even his own supporters. A man with a fickle mind.

The Independence Day is the birth of our nation. Mintoff tried to eradicate this very important day because Borg Olivier beat him to it. A jealous man.A small mind. A confused man

Anonymous said...

A jealous man, because the fight for our independence elevated Borg Olivier and not "BIG DOM".

A small man, because he told us that will not allow Maltese people access to computers as they will create unemployment. Instead, more worldwide jobs have been created.

A confused man, because one day he was for the integration of Malta with Britain so that we could be like Wales,Scotland and N.Ireland. and the next day he wanted the British to leave our country. Replacing British compensation with Libyan compensation.

I sincerely hope the MLP supporters will live a long and healthy life to see their grandchildren ridiculing their "BIG DOM"

Anonymous said...

Jeffrey Pullicino tilef il-boxxla...u l-kredtu ma' kulhadd!!