When are we going to pause and take stock of what we, as a people, are going through? When are we going to listen to the complaints that many citizens are airing because their life is being dictated by our local ‘oligarchs’? We seem to be giving up on our politicians.

The fact that around 60,000 abstained or invalidated their vote in the last general election is proof of the apathy and dissatisfaction with politics.

Unless we citizens take over and protest against the rampant destruction of our country we are doomed forever and our future generation shall have nothing to brag about. We need to shout louder and louder that “enough is enough”. It is futile to wait and expect our politicians to take action and intervene.

Last week’s action by Graffitti in Comino, dismantling deckchairs and umbrellas set up in the Blue Lagoon in protest against business operators who placed them all over the public bay should be the beginning of louder and more aggressive actions. Were it not for public protests and actions by such movements, we shall continue to be trampled upon.

One cannot but agree with correspondent Colm Regan’s opinion piece (June 14) where he stated: “Considering the government’s strategy of maximising the plunder of the islands and their resources and considering the absence of any official control of any kind, opposition to the rape of Malta must (come) from increasing citizen power and direct action.”

We cannot remain onlookers.  Sacrificing long-term benefits to satisfy short-term gains by a few should be objected to at all costs.  We have gone too far and we are reaching a point of no return. We need to listen and respect the ideas of all members of our community. Local councils should do away with partisan politics and take heed of the common good.

Lately, the new law permitting music to be played outside until 1am in Valletta resulted in complaints from various sectors.  Residents and owners of boutique hotels complained because they feared that such an extension would make Valletta look more like a party district and would lose its specific characteristic.

It is only when all concerned are involved in policymaking that the outcome would be beneficial to all. No interested party, however small or vulnerable, should be excluded. The common good is sacrosanct and the dignity of every human person should be safeguarded in any decision taken.

Unless we citizens take over and protest against the rampant destruction of our country we are doomed forever.- Ray Azzopardi

Pope Francis, in his book Let Us Dream, when referring to unbridled economic growth states: “I criticise the self-evidently fictitious idea that wealth must be allowed to roam unhindered in order to deliver prosperity for all. Left to their devices, markets have generated vast inequality and huge ecological damage.  Once capital becomes an idol that presides over a socio-economic system, it enslaves us, sets us at odds with each other, excludes the poor and endangers the planet we all share.”

We need to instil in all of us, especially in our politicians, a moral conscience. Money and gain shouldn’t be our only goal. The tampering, for example, of odometers in the car racket which has seen a good number of purchasers buying cars older than declared by the sellers, demonstrates how the crave for unbridled profit has infiltrated all sectors of society.

Allowing markets on their own to bring about justice and prevent inequalities is fictitious. This is more so when one realises that there are hidden corrupt practices undermining our economy. 

Who is going to take action?  Who is responsible? What is the role of the government when such abuses are the order of the day? Does living in a free democratic country imply that everyone is free to do what one likes without any control whatsoever? Are we being guided by the philosophy of neoliberalism which holds that “economic systems are self-correcting and any destructive tendencies they exhibit, self-limiting”?

Governments need to intervene and play their part when inequalities and sufferings arise among members of the community due to the unrestricted market economy. The social doctrine of the Church emphatically states: “The fundamental task of the state in economic matters is that of

determining an appropriate juridical framework for regulating economic affairs. In order to safeguard the prerequisites of a free economy, which presumes a certain equality between the parties, such that one party would not be so powerful as practically to reduce the other to subservience.”

We expect our politicians to always be on the side of the poor, the vulnerable and the ones badly affected by unbridled economic measures. But if our politicians are unable to take a stand due to their partisan interests then it is us who need to take action. 

The media, NGOs, local councils, the Church and civil society at large should be more vociferous and stand up for us, citizens, whose only aim is to live a decent life and preserve the good of our country for our benefit and for our future generations.

Ray Azzopardi is a former headmaster.