More from the land of dreams

 

While reading the Times today, I was intrigued by the latest letter from Alternattiva's Jurgen Balzan which, I think, offers another fine example of the left's muddled world view. According to Balzan, the fact that there are Muslim-majority states that do not fully apply Sha'riah is proof that Muslims do not have any intention of spreading Sha'riah to countries which do not currently have it as their legal system. A non sequitur if there ever was one.

Worse than Balzan's poor information and his shoddy logic, in my opinion, is his insistence on romanticising the 'other'. According to him, Hezbollah and Hamas are heroic 'freedom fighters'. He is not particularly interested in the facts of the case or in the effects that their actions and those of their state sponsors have had on prospects for peace in the region. Who cares about peace and prosperity when we can have a nice romantic story instead?

Incidentally, and on a different note, Alternattiva seem to have concluded that their best chances for the next elections lie in Gozo. I would imagine that they are basing this on Gozo's history as a relatively volatile district and on its tradition of supporting third parties. The problem is that Alternattiva is simply alien to Gozitan society. The small parties that were successful in Gozo in the past were mostly conservative, Catholic and Gozo-oriented. And the last time Gozo elected an MP from outside the two major parties was in 1962. In order for Alternattiva to stand a chance there it would probably have to transform itself into a very different party. It has done this before, of course. During the first ten years of its existence, it was primarily an 'alternative' to the two major parties plus an environmentalist and socially liberal movement. With the change of leadership in 1998, the party moved sharply to the left. The 'libertarian' agenda and the issue of hunting were put on the back-burner. In their place came a group of former Graffitti activists with all their baggage of anti-americanism and extreme-left ideology. I don't think that Alternattiva will ever get a quota in any district in Malta or Gozo with that package, even if they have the cuddliest and most harmless Arnold Cassolas in the world to present it. And if Alternattiva does change again, I'm not sure that the most natural option would be for it to become a new Gozo Party.