A Midsummer Night's dream

Leli had gone to the village Labour club before returning home, ate some supper, watched a television programme and went to sleep.

Probably inspired by the conversation at the Labour club, Leli dreamt of his beloved political party led by Dom Mintoff at the peak of his political career. The British were leaving for good and the Maltese people were liberated from the colonial past that saw their country being used - and abused - in the interests of a foreign power.

Leli dreamt of the huge meetings organised by his party, giving an opportunity to all true Labourites to hear Dom Mintoff and be mesmerised by his oratory. He recalled the eerie silence that fell when Mintoff started addressing his followers, explaining why and how Malta needed to be liberated from the foreign military presence.

Like many others, he adored Mintoff and believed in all that the leader said and did. Even when the leader said or did something that did not look right, he always believed in the leader... and concluded that the problem was his misunderstanding of the great leader who could do no wrong.

The joy of Malta being declared a Republic and the last foreign military ship leaving the island were two great achievements of his party led by Dom Mintoff. How could any Maltese not be as proud of this as he was? How could anyone dream of concocting accusations against Dom Mintoff? He was Malta’s outstanding political protagonist and he had adored him.

His only problem in life was that his political fervour was not shared by his wife. Otherwise adhering to Mintoff’s beck and call was the most satisfying thing that dominated his life.

He also dreamt of Labour’s resurgence after Joseph Muscat was elected leader, but then his dream faded away.

Lela had followed her husband and went to sleep as well. Lela dreamt of the day when as a little schoolgirl she had been taken to Floriana and waved the new flag of a new independent country - her own country.

Her mind then switched on to the great speeches delivered by her party’s great leader, Eddie Fenech Adami. She used to go to the PN meetings even though Leli did not like it. But he tolerated it. And she was mesmerised by the speeches that were delivered by the PN’s great leader, Fenech Adami.

She dreamt of the struggle to save the schools that belonged to the Church.

She dreamt of the day when a young man was capriciously shot in the PN club at Gudja - an event that continued to increase the anger of the common people against the way the Mintoff government used its own ‘gangsters’ to terrify all those who did not agree with the Labour way of doing things. She dreamt of the Progress Press being destroyed by arson committed by these ‘gangsters’.

She dreamt of that day in May 1987 when Fenech Adami won the election and the labour regime had to go into Opposition, after all of 16 years.

That was one of her greatest days - except, perhaps the day when Malta became a member state of the EU. And she chuckled in her sleep when she realised how Labour in power had used our EU membership to its advantage after it had opposed this membership, hook, line and sinker.

Suddenly it was time for the couple to wake up.

They had grown old and started showing signs of being tired with life. Leli switched on the television to hear the latest news as broadcast by One. Midway he found himself switching it off as he could not really stomach the current situation.

Lela had gone to the kitchen where she switched on her radio set to follow the news broadcast on 101. Midway she found herself switching it off. Nothing new or inspiring, she thought.

The harsh reality of the current political situation had suddenly changed their mood.

The midsummer’s night dream was just a dream that had flickered away. The harsh reality of the current despondency of the two main Maltese political parties was certainly a mood changer.

What a drag, both thought while silently watching each other eat something for breakfast.

Hoarding antiques

There are people who hoard antiques. I am not one of them but they are common all over the world. Stolen artefacts from many countries are sold clandestinely to persons who like to hoard them, or even to established museums.

This trade is nothing new, except that today there is an international effort to stop the theft and export of such antiques with a number of museums - especially in the US - that found they had to return their prized acquisitions to their rightful owner and to the country from which they were stolen.

Gozitan Minister, Anton Refalo is one such hoarder. Nothing wrong - so long as his antiques were obtained legally and above board.

However, he has now met a setback.

Recently the rumour mill said that he would soom be facing criminal police charges for the theft of a cultural artefact because he allegedly was in breach of the cultural heritage law by having a protected early 19th century Victorian stone marking in the courtyard of one of his properties in Qala.

Incidentally, the VR stone marker near the poolside was discovered by chance after it appeared in a photo on the social media posted by the minister’s son in connection with a family birthday celebration!

If arraigned, Refalo would have had to resign from his Cabinet post. But Refalo refuses to do such a thing!

According to Mark Camilleri - the former Labour aficionado who was probably the first Labourite who fell foul of the Muscat administration - upon receiving notice from the Attorney-General that one of her prosecutors was working on a file to arraign Minister Anton Refalo for stealing public and cultural heritage property, the Minister for Justice Jonathan Attard asked the Attorney-General to postpone the arraignment until the government finds ‘a solution’.

Mark Camilleri claims that Anton Refalo is now pressuring Minister for Culture, Owen Bonnici to change the Cultural Heritage Act so as to prevent his arraignment.

Anton Refalo wants to add provisions in the law that would basically regularise any unidentified and unregistered cultural heritage owned by private individuals.

If this is true, changing the law to accommodate a breach carried out by a sitting minister who broke the law, would be a great travesty of justice.