Quo Vadis AD?

 

In the aftermath of the quasi-irrelevant EP Elections, Gonzi is facing a mini-crisis at his Party HQ in Pieta and you could almost picture Muscat peeping out of his office window with a silly smirk plastered all over his face. Alongside Gonzi, the biggest victims of these elections are the Greens. AD needs to embark on a thorough soul-searching exercise and James Debono could not have put it better when he says “it seems that the debate on its future can be its very salvation.” Since its inception, AD heavily relies on intellectual and vibrant internal debate and this might have been lacking in recent years. The debate on its own future should start at Executive Committee level but I believe that the debate should also involve the general public. AD should expand the debate online and a series of public meetings should be held before October’s General Meeting.

If the Greens are to go on with their crusade and let down a few editors and opinionists, some difficult decisions must be taken. Finally, decisions such as who should be the new party leader, what political direction should be taken and what kind of party it should be will be taken by the members of the party during the General Meeting. Only then can the party attract new activists and new leaders as at the moment nobody knows in which direction the party is heading.

AD cannot perpetually rely on winning over pale-blue voters, disgruntled Nationalist voters and protest voters. This group of voters is heterogeneous and is bound to change according to who is in Government and its track record. This target group as a whole is wobbly. AD needs a strong base; it needs to strengthen itself at grassroots levels. The natural AD core is or at least should be essentially progressive, liberal, tertiary educated, young and middle class. AD’s core vote seems to hover between 2000-6000 votes as illustrated by electoral results over the past 17 years. The party should build on this core and strengthen its stronghold on certain issues and themes. AD needs to strike the right balance between the electorate’s needs, aspirations and concerns and green/left politics. 

A refounded Green Party has to open up its doors and become a workshop of ideas and build its platform upon issues such as civil and social rights for all especially voiceless minorities, progressive taxation, improving the educational system, creation of green jobs, higher minimum wages, exploitation of workers (including migrants), better working conditions particularly regarding part-time and precarious jobs, research, development and innovation, housing, public transport, reforming MEPA, energy and environmental responsability.

AD’s biggest enemy has always been invisibility. AD needs to make itself present not only on the net, TV, radio and the printed media but in people’s everyday life. The party needs to realise that it has to be close to the people. The party has to be close to the people and civil society not only in formulating policy but it has to be present on ground level by taking active roles in local and community level issues. AD has to become a reality politically and culturally. It just needs to be present. This will consequently also help the party find suitable and quality candidates for most LC elections. The electorate votes for people they know, people they know about, people they trust and people with a track record.

AD should establish local networks by utilising existing resources such as party members and activists and establishing new ones. The party should embark on a 10/15 year plan. Firstly, AD should build a strong basis on a local level by having a strong presence at community and Local Council levels. Subsequently, the party can push up its aims and goals another notch. Nonetheless, during this time AD should be unwavering in its attempts to change the electoral, party funding and broadcasting laws and regulations. Only then can AD break the deadlock.

This country desperately needs change and the change will not come around by simply alternating power between the two big parties. It will neither happen just by electing a third party in parliament, but it will help. AD can be the catalyst for change which will one day come along. All parties will be useful once they realise that they do not rule the country but they are the people’s employees and their only loyalty lies with the people and their job description is that of making this country and this world a better place. In the meantime the struggle goes on…