An Interesting Encounter

As an avid reader of biographical/autobiographical literature, particularly when it is related to politics, I could not avoid buying Professor Guido de Marco's book The Politics of Persuasion. I have still not started reading it since I am reading many other books right now, but it is on my list of "Must-Read" books for the near future. :)



Yesterday morning, Professor de Marco was at the Agenda bookshop in Sliema. I decided to go to meet him and to get the book signed. There was an incredibly long queue! After around two hours of waiting, I finally got to the table where he was signing the books. I informed him that we had already met when I was working for the Malta-European Union Information Centre (MIC) in 2003. (In fact, I have a photo of him shaking hands with me during his visit to the MIC stand at the Trade Fair.) I told him that since that time, many of the colleagues I had there have gone to work in other countries. He said that it is so nice that people can now move in such a way. I also introduced him to my wife (Wendy) and informed him that she is from El Salvador. I added that she was the first person from that country to get married to a Maltese citizen. He smiled and then said, "El Salvador! Oh, so you saved him!" :)



It was a pleasant and interesting encounter. Having said that, as I walked away from the Agenda bookshop, I wondered why so many books about Malta's relatively recent political history are mainly being written by Nationalist Party supporters. When one scans the bookshelves in search of literature about Malta's history during the 1970s and the 1980s, it is possible to come across Dione Borg's Liberta' Mhedda, Evarist Saliba's No, Honourable Minister!, and now there is Professor de Marco's book. This suggests that only one side of a significant portion of Maltese history is being presented to the masses. It is true that Lino Spiteri's book was somewhat helpful in providing further detail about various events related to the time when the Malta Labour Party (MLP) was in power. Yet, Mr Spiteri did not disclose a great deal of information about a number of issues, such as the activities of the SMU or about Mintoff's close relations with North Korea.



At this stage, I ask myself: will Mintoff or Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici ever write a book to present their analysis of what happened during the 1970s and the 1980s? Will anyone ever venture to write a detailed biography about countless individuals such as Lorry Sant? I strongly hope so!