MaltaToday: Beyond the porn debate, It’s cool and easy to defend the progressive agenda from Vassallo’s Jurassic views

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/blogs/james-debono/beyond-the-porn-debate
17.6.10 by James Debono

Various young progressives have taken veteran labour MP Adrian Vassallo to task for his stand on porn. It is so cool and easy to defend the progressive agenda from Vassallo’s Jurassic views. Even a mainstream, level-headed conservative would feel a sense of embarrassment by Vassallo’s persistence on fighting windmills.

But he is easy prey for the young Turks who fully know that the leadership is on their side on this issue.

What is lacking in the Labour Party are young people with the stamina to question more fundamental issues like the party’s views on the economy, fiscal policy and a civil rights agenda, which includes issues which are mainstream in Europe but anathema even to the present progressive leadership.

Labour may have its LBTG section but is anyone discussing gay marriages?

And with all this talk on progressive agenda, only one young Labour party member I know of had the moral courage to question the Labour Party’s immigration policy.

And as regards the environment, Labour might have a very competent spokesperson but a wider discussion is expected on the fundamental choices it has to make on waste, energy and land use issues... not to mention hunting and tuna penning. Any progressive dare raises his voice against the vested interests in this sector?

While I am averse to anything with the smell of old Labour, I still would like to see a discussion in Labour on wealth redistribution through pragmatic and non-authoritarian approaches. Anyone dare proposes a tax on vacant properties?

Is anybody in Labour discussing progressive fiscal policies like Tony Blair’s windfall tax on privatized companies or the Lib-Con commitment to subsidize tax reductions for lower-income people through a rise in capital gains tax on second homes?

And what about electoral reform? Are the young progressives happy with a system which creates the need for people like Adrian Vassallo to ensure that both parties can attract votes across the entire political spectrum? Is this not the root of our zero-sum politics?
In many ways Maltese youth politics has degenerated from the Mintoff vs Eddie years.
Perhaps the harsher political climate did contribute to this. Back then, both parties had a vibrant left-wing orbiting around them with a solid political agenda. Many of these later joined the establishment but at least they had a short spell of idealism.

Even more worrying is the drift to the hard right by many young PN activists in SDM which once stood on the left of the party.

It seems that with some few exceptions who tend to join groups like Graffitti and later drift into AD, many tend to jump directly on the official bandwagon towards a political career.