[ANALYSIS] Geriatric Park… why all this ageism in politics?

Ageism in politics seems at a glance to be a recent phenomenon.

Up until a few years ago, statesmen and political leaders of all kinds were expected to be of 'a certain age': and it was the younger politicians who struggled to compete with their more experienced and respected elders.

Sir Winston Churchill, for instance, was 68 when appointed to head the War Cabinet in 1939, and governed as Prime Minister well into his 70s. He also emerged victorious (with a little help from his friends) against two much younger adversaries: Adolf Hitler, who rose to power in his early 40s; and Benito Mussolini, who - interestingly enough - was exactly as old as Joseph Muscat (39) when he seized power with his 1922 'March on Rome'.

Elsewhere, Charles De Gaulle became President of France at the age of 69, and across the Atlantic Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhauer, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan were all well into their 60s when elected President.

And the further back in time you go, the older such statesmen, potentates and leaders seem to become. William Gladstone was 82 when elected Prime Minister in 1892. Alongside Disraeli he is remembered as among the most influential politicians of his age.

And 400 years earlier in Malta, Jean Parisot de La Valette (or whatever his name was) successfully repelled a Turkish invasion at the age of 70. And Dragut, his main adversary in that siege, was 10 years his senior.

Fast-forward to the present, and the situation seems to have been somehow reversed. All of the above would now be considered 'too old' to even run for office, let alone govern nations (or fight wars).

If Dragut were to invade today, he would probably be laughed off as a 'bewwiel' (a hugely offensive and tasteless derogatory term for 'geriatric'). As for Churchill, Eisenhauer and Gladstone, all three would most likely be pre-emptively discarded in favour of candidates who are less experienced and quite possibly several decades younger.

Geriatrics unwelcome

In today's Malta, even considerably younger politicians have already tasted a growing prejudice against the elderly in politics and elsewhere - a prejudice that has been fanned relentlessly by particular sections of the media, often for entirely transparent political purposes.

For example: at just 58, prospective PN leadership contender Francis Zammit Dimech has already been dismissed as 'too old' to make an effective leader of the Nationalist Party.

Writing in The Independent last week, former UHM secretary Gejtu Vella - himself a PN candidate for the March 9 election, at age 52 - argued that: "In five years' time he [Zammit Dimech] will be 63. Joseph Muscat will be 44. Enough said."

But is that really enough to say? Why should a 63-year-old be in any way incapable of giving a 44-year-old a good run for his money? And why was the same concern not also expressed about Lawrence Gonzi - who is after all the exact same age as Zammit Dimech?

Certainly the veteran MP from Sliema himself is undeterred by the onset of his twilight years. Responding directly to Vella's criticism, he pointed out that the perception of age as a factor may be grossly inflated.

"I think there is an exaggerated emphasis on age in Malta, and it should not be the only factor," he said when launching his candidacy for the PN leadership last week. "This is a decision that party councillors will take, but age is not without its advantages. It brings experience: I have worked at all party levels, from the PN's youth organ, its party structures, parliament and government."

Across the political divide, similar reservations have been expressed about several elderly (and not-so-elderly) politicians, perhaps in an attempt to counterbalance fears that the 39-year-old Joseph Muscat had served as a 'rejuvenating' force since taking over the helm in 2008. 

There was even an attempt to dismiss the entire Labour Party as a hive of geriatrics: 'The Labour Party has 14 sexagenarian candidates and two septuagenarians (Joe Debono Grech, 73, and George Vella, 70),' Daphne Caruana Galizia, herself pushing 50, wrote on her blog shortly before the election. 'It also has very many who are in their 50s, including some, like Marlene Mizzi, who are knocking on 60's door. Interestingly, it turns out that Marlene Mizzi (b. 1955) is THREE YEARS OLDER than Marie Louise Coleiro (b. 1958).'

Of course, the preferred party of this particular blogger is described in terms of a 'fountain of youth'.

'The Nationalist Party has just THREE sexagenarians, and the oldest of them is 63. It has no septuagenarians at all, but many people in their 30s and 40s and some in their 20s...'

But the bulk of this blatant and undisguised ageism, inherent in these and other remarks all over the online social networks, was reserved for PL deputy leader Louis Grech, born in 1947.

Despite enjoying enormous respect among his own constituents (and even among several Nationalists), the former MEP and Air Malta chairman was openly ridiculed during the campaign as an old-age pensioner... and fun was even poked (repeatedly) at his medical condition, which was duly splashed about the online networks by all the usual suspects.

Apart from betraying an underlying (and rather selective) contempt for the elderly, there is a legal consideration in expressing prejudice against people on the basis of how long they have been alive in this vale of tears.

There is an argument to the effect that pouring scorn on the elderly in this way may even be illegal, on the basis that Maltese law specifically prohibits 'incitement to hatred or violence' targeting any particular minority or group of persons.

But this would be to stretch the definition of 'incitement' somewhat; and in any case, such views have to be counterbalanced by laws protecting freedom of speech, which is a fundamental human right enshrined in the universal charter.

Still, active discrimination against the elderly - for instance, by denying them employment opportunities, or promotions, or any other rights or privileges that may be extended to other age brackets, is clearly listed as a criminal offence.

Chapter 456 of the Laws of Malta (Equality for Men and Women Act) specifically prohibits discrimination on the ground of age in employment and education or vocational training, alongside discrimination based on sex or because of family responsibilities, sexual orientation, religion or belief, racial or ethnic origin and gender identity. 

Dr Romina Bartolo, executive director of the National Commission for the Pormotion of Equality, explains that stereotypes related to age may be discriminatory (though not necessarily illegal) if they portray older people as less able of doing certain things due to their age and thus restrict their opportunities. 

"However, NCPE reiterates that a person, irrespective of his/her age, should be assessed according to his/her qualities and capabilities in the matter concerned," she said.

"To combat such stereotypes, NCPE organises awareness raising initiatives and training sessions whereby the importance of equal treatment is emphasised with various sectors of society."

NCPE can receive and investigate complaints regarding discrimination on the ground of age, and on the other grounds which its remit covers.  However, actual complaints have been thin on the ground: with only one complaint regarding discrimination on grounds of age being registered since the extension in the NCPE's remit.