Public protests are becoming effective

Do you remember how protests started in Valletta and other urban centres of Malta on November 20, 2019, mainly calling for resignations after alleged political links to the assassination of journalist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia surfaced following the arrest of businessman Yorgen Fenech and that eventually led to the resignation of former prime minister Joseph Muscat?

Since then, we have had further protests, the latest held by the Nationalist Party following the Amandagate scandal and Clayton Bartolo was forced to resign from the cabinet and the Labour parliamentary group.

A civil society protest held in Valletta calling for resignations following the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

The PN then held another protest outside parliament demanding Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri’s resignation.

At the same time, MCAST students, fed up with the ongoing dispute between the government and the teachers’ union, occupied a roundabout in Mosta and took to the streets demanding better pay for their teachers. 

Prior to these protests, Moviment Graffitti held other public protests, ranging from the Villa Rosa monstrosity in St George’s Bay protest to protesting the take-up of public pavements by businesses.

Such protests have sometimes provoked harsh governmental responses and, at other times, concessions. Are such protests, therefore, a symptom of democracy in action or democracy in crisis?

It appears that these kind of protests are now being increasingly used by less tightly organised sets of citizens and residents, including people who take part alongside friends and family, as members of neighbourhood groups or even as a result of their own initiative.

It appears that a new era of political flux is emerging as citizens demand more from their government and mobilise in pursuit of their demands. 

The costs of abstention mount when one feels that much is at stake in a given protest.

Mark Said – Msida