From Norman to Normal – How a Week changed the Nation

‘Mad man’, ‘crazy’, ‘Maltese Hitler’, ‘waste of time’, ‘idiot’, ‘racist’, ‘misogynist’…..I’m pretty sure the same name comes up in every Maltese person’s mind upon hearing these lovely adjectives. The names that come up after his are in fact very probable to be devoted followers.

And this is not what one would call unjustified or without basis either – the man proclaims himself as a great admirer of fascist Carmelo Borg Pisani (A name popularised by himself), and despite negating allegations of him being a Nazi sympathiser, he calls Mein Kampf “The Book” and its author, “The Hero”. As if that was not enough of a profile, he also refers to the Holocaust as the “Holy hoax”, comparing Auschwitz camps to the “Disneyland of Poland”.

Contesting in Malta’s first European Parliament elections in 2004, Norman Lowell has been railing against illegal immigration ever since. But despite the entire nation repeatedly denouncing him as a horrific farse of hatred, the self-declared ‘racialist’ has been growing in popularity in a manner more consistent than most. His party, Imperium Europa, ended up garnering 0.64% of the vote share at the time. This rose to 1.1% in 2009, more than doubling to 2.7% in 2014, and setting a record high of 3.59% in 2019, becoming Malta’s third most popular party.

“He’s just a minor nuisance”, we said

Following recent events involving 4 refugee boats calling for help from Maltese and Italian authorities (Including ones located in Maltese SAR Zone), a wave of nationalism is evidently rushing through the Maltese population. Spurred on by a prime minister with an astronomical approval rating, a ‘Rally behind the flag’ effect brought on by COVID-19, and the partisan polarity unique to most dual-party systems, a large part of the population is showing its true colours.

The ideals of the majority now seem to be ones that bring a certain statute to mind. Many are now publicly announcing their wish to ‘take back their country’, to once more live on an island of European natives, Maltese natives even, to eliminate him who is not white (send him back where he came from), to return to our cultural roots, protected by the army, in our perfect bubble that the rest of Europe will learn from. Sounds attractive? (Apparently yes)

Via the behaviour of the majority-commanding government, it seems that most now admit and shout out loud that they do in fact agree with that list of characteristics. Well, that paragraph, is almost lifted from the principles of the ‘crazy’, ‘mad’, ‘fascist’, Imperium Europa.

In the frame of a week, we have seen the death of migrants at sea, the handing over of migrants to Libyan coastguard (to be taken back to a port declared dangerous due to raging war in a desert of warlords, not a contained virus), the ‘traitorification’ of those who showed compassion towards migrants, the glorification of a prime minister and the military (as one unit), and a national health service pushing citizens to raise the nations flags.

In the snap of a finger, the ones who wanted the black man out, rose from a minority, to a devastating majority that shows no sign of weakening soon.

Harvard political scientist Erica Chenoweth stated that it only takes 3.5% of the population to ensure a nationwide political shift-

What was Lowell’s last vote share? 3.5%

Written by: Gianluca Vella