Hopefully, last year taught us we need to change the way we think about politics. A political scientist at Harvard, Erica Chenoweth, has famously stated a rule, that once a peaceful protest movement encompasses 3.5 per cent of the population, governments cannot resist them.
That figure is a predictor for a protest’s success. It is the tipping point for change.
The year ended with a bang, with resignations and with Malta’s reputation once again under fire, with the US barring Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi from entry.
Meanwhile, the Nationalist Party insists that one should vote for it simply because it is not Labour, without offering serious solutions to Malta’s environmental problems or addressing the root causes of corruption.
Both parties continue to depend on a system of favours, funded by sleazy interests, encouraged by broken party financing laws.
For decades, politics has been monopolised in a game of ping-pong where one side accuses the other of who stole more from the country’s coffers. Why do people continue to support the system?
The system keeps people enslaved by buying people’s silence and consent. Fighting it can be a danger to one’s career and social status in a clientelist system.
It is about time that people realise that they are being shortchanged and manipulated to hate each other. People should not owe allegiance or fealty to any political party. Parliament should serve the people, not the other way round.
On the other hand, we have third parties.
They do not have much money, no television stations, radio or newspapers.
So why do candidates join them regardless?
It is because these are people who genuinely care about the country and have nothing to gain from a political career except public service.
Small parties are not simply parties with fewer resources but they are seeds of incredible change, given the chance. What ADPD lacks in funds it makes up for with integrity, honesty and ideas.
We are not here to make you feel bad. We understand your outrage at corruption, your grief at environmental destruction and the frustration of a system that rewards loyal insiders at the expense of honest hard-working people.
What ADPD lacks in funds it makes up for with integrity, honesty and ideas- Sandra Gauci
We represent these virtues and values because we are normal people.
We try to impress you with our vision for the country rather than flashy media or gadgets; a cleaner country in more ways than one. If we are truly no threat, then why are we denied an equal seat at the debating table?
We deserve the airtime and the coverage. Given the chance, the equal footing, the equal access to resources, the untainted financing, the country would already be facing a different and cleaner reality today.
Without the courage to change, expect a repeat of a film we have seen too many times.
It is one where we know the ending, in which the loser is always the honest citizen.
All it takes is a single vote every few years to reward those in it for all the right reasons.
If people remain consistent in their support, then, day by day, the movement will continue to grow until, one day, we hit that magical tipping point and the momentum will bring about that vision to preserve and promote the real Malta we all know and love and improve it for everyone.
Sandra Gauci, ADPD candidate