Local councils, salsa and mojitos

We have just elected 68 new local councils. This transition should mean a flurry of energy for new projects but space should be left for old ones, which have been with us for so long that have now evolved into national problems.

Unwarranted noise is one of them; a veritable pest that has plagued our capital city, Paceville and several localities of our islands, and, which, the government, instead of combatting, is actively abetting, under the mantra of being ‘business-friendly’.

Now this is obviously one of the government’s tasks. But when it goes so far as to rob the citizenry of their God-given right to a good night’s sleep, then it becomes not only insensitive but also, one should think, illegal.

In central Malta, in at least eight towns, from 10pm to 4am, few are spared the music blaring from entertainment establishments. Complaints have repeatedly been swept aside and, after too many years, the issue remains unresolved. What can one do if transgressors are backed by ‘legal’ government permits allowing this brazen abuse to disturb the peace of thousands of others?

Two simple questions: Does the music need to be that loud? And why has this to go on beyond midnight?

To these more than justified questions, the government will immediately produce over-simple, therefore, insulting, answers, but the devil is in the detail.

How near is far enough for the music not to be heard by those who have not paid for it and whose only wish is not to hear it? There are scientific sound level indices available for the government and establishments to consult.

What right at all do these establishments have over the rights of many thousands to a good night’s rest, people who do not ever conceive of going to these places?

Gone are the days, some thought, when the rich and mighty imposed their whims and pleasures on the poor and powerless. Wrong, they are not gone at all. Indeed, they have been brought back, with a vengeance. By a party which once prided itself on being a party of the workers and now leads the business-friendly, happy-nights, brigade.

To resist such egregious encroachments on our basic, even human, rights we are forced to resort to strong protest; now, we cannot even resort to courts to curb this abuse because there are laws and resolutions by the government of the ‘people’ giving many establishments this incredible right.

No one, not even the government, has any right to curtail, much less deny, our resting time. The government should protect us from these new overlords and extant neanderthals. Not only, they also have the duty to seriously control those profiteering from this abuse.

Stands by united local councils in favour of fundamental popular needs and rights can control and even stop this effrontery. They can prove, as in past cases, that it is they, not the government, who are the citizens’ real bulwark.

JOSEPH AGIUS – St Paul’s Bay