ABSTRACT
If there is a political moral to be found in this world ... it is that we carry on the business of this century with an intolerable double vision. Right and left, the hothouse and the street. The Right can only live and work hemetically, in the hothouse of the past, while outside the Left prosecute their affairs in the streets by manipulated mob violence. And cannot live but in the dreamscape of the future. (Thomas Pynchon, V: 468)
As the title of this chapter suggests, Maltese in the early nineties were extremely sceptical of politics and politicians. Nevertheless, politics was-and is-of major importance in everyday life. People were committed in their allegiances to one party or the other, and to particular persons involved in politics and public life. Despite the prevailing scepticism, Maltese elections enjoy some of the highest percentage voting turn-outs in the world.22 This chapter goes some way towards explaining the apparent contradiction between a sceptical view that ‘al l politicians are bastards’ and one which acknowledges that despite this politicians and the political process are both necessary and important.
