Friday, November 22, 2019

Power understands the language of power - Michael Briguglio


Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi should have been removed from office ever since the Panama Papers documentation emerged.

The current controversy involving them can be seen in terms of networks of power and the logic of numbers. These factors comprise essential elements within hegemonic formations.

The question is how to shift their direction, for example through broad non-sectarian counter-hegemonic coalitions; internal power struggles; force majeure etc.

In line with the stoic principle that one should focus on what one can do and not on external factors over which one has no power, I reiterate what I have been saying ever since this state of affairs emerged: That if one wants cleaner politics,one should act beyond one's narrow affiliations. One should see the bigger picture.

Malta has other characteristics in its political economy which also help explain the way of things - and these have immense ramnifications. Our party and candidate financing laws are a joke, with as many loopholes as boreholes across the islands. Dominant political ideology is too aligned with big business interests and  unsustainable exploitation of our common good. And politics and business are too dependent on each other, with patronage fuelling the vote.

A hegemonic formation can be deconstructed and be replaced by another one. Again, networks and numbers are key characteristics in such articulations.