‘The Prime Minister IS the Establishment’: Daphne Caruana Galizia, 2016
If you’ve been in Malta for the past week and you read the news, you’ve probably heard the word “establishment” being thrown around an obscene amount of times.
But this is not the first time this verbal tactic has been used to mobilise a divide between the two major political parties.
In 2016, Daphne Caruana Galizia penned a piece on the Running Commentary titled “The Prime Minister IS the Establishment, Dr Muscat”.
“What exactly do people like Muscat think the Establishment is, if it’s not the most influential and well-connected people in a particular society, country, or organisation?”
“Up until the end of the 1960s, the Establishment was made up of senior civil servants, bankers, senior military officers, bishops and monsignors, influential merchant families – those were the constants – and the transient political leaders who came and went. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Establishment ceased to exist in any shape or form, because all of Malta’s social and administrative structures were systematically destroyed, and influence and power came only in the form of corrupt political barons.”
“The Establishment eventually began to come into being again, but devoid of its previously associated connotations of respectability. The Prime Minister is definitely a part of that, but any prime minister would be, as the chief decision-maker in the country.”
“The Establishment eventually began to come into being again, but devoid of its previously associated connotations of respectability. The Prime Minister is definitely a part of that, but any prime minister would be, as the chief decision-maker in the country.”
During a press conference held today in response to the recent political scuffle that has broken out on the island, Abela couldn’t help but mention the “establishment” in almost every single answer he had. He condemned it, criticised it, and even suggested that journalists were being influenced by it.
It’s clear through his words what he is branding as the establishment, the same way Muscat did during his time as leader. And eight years later, Daphne’s point is even more relevant: the establishment is the entity that wields the power, not the party that lost the last general election by almost 40,000 votes.
What do you make of this?
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