Roads are a trustworthy indicator of the country’s mood. Ours are a daily display of anger, anxiety, helplessness, discouragement, resignation; people forced to turn on their tracks and rethink their way forward; glimmers of hope are rare but always welcome.
Many Maltese feel their road will get even bumpier in 2024, a confession they own up to in the Eurobarometer survey, an unusual display of unease for a country where the State uses “positivity” to dismiss dissent.
A bit like an empire crumbling under its own girth, Labour has managed to create insurrections everywhere, from inside its cabinet to its rockier constituencies. Robert Abela campaigned on his lacklustre image and uninspiring charisma, thinking he’d be as popular as his (disgraced) predecessor; his leadership has proven to be parochial, complacent, naïve and sometimes tragicomical.
Labour’s rank and file have long given up on governing, preferring instead to organise the pillage of our resources from land to social benefits. Many feel the opposition isn’t fit to rule either.
The continental drift to the far right is reflected in Bernard Grech’s wilful promotion of a narrative attacking foreign workers, not the Maltese surnames exploiting them.
Many Nationalists look forward to the probable coming of Roberta Metsola, whose CV in the EP includes little or no work for the interests of the Maltese. She exudes all the warmth of someone who could only manage a smile to the Israel Defence Forces during a pre-genocide schmooze; here’s the latest hollow Messiah returning from the murky corridors of European power.
Neither party is really tackling the root causes of the discontent. When they do, the discourse is superficial, often misinformed. The few reforms enacted are poorly worded, loophole-ridden, rushed, resulting from hindsight or bereft of any foresight, as if political parties have completely ditched having policies. The minimum wage reform went by without a whimper from the employers, a tell-tale sign of how the surface isn’t even scratched.
A fifth of the population cannot make the end of the month. Two-thirds of the Maltese cannot afford to buy a house in their own country. Banks charge us through the nose for the basic right of owning small properties, mostly built by slave labour.
The political class is forever in awe of the business class, its cartels and the billions in uncollected tax
Our roads are forever being done up. Our streets are massacred by the continuous development of apartment blocks. Entire neighbourhoods will be gobbled up by concrete because of laws written 17 years ago. Our open spaces are prey to speculators, supermarkets, gun-toting lobbies too. Our pavements are the domain of restaurateurs who have been allowed to abuse COVID-era privileges.
The air in some towns is silently killing residents.
The authorities have abdicated their duty to regulate. The political class is forever in awe of the business class, its cartels and the billions in uncollected tax.
Electoral promises of public spaces are backed up by news of Malta Developers Association board members seizing government lands and funds on excessively cushy, ‘election package’ terms.
The unelected – CEOs such as Oliver Magro and Johann Grech – wield even more power than their ministers. The baseline-level corruption that the Maltese have (allegedly) always tolerated has long spiralled out of control; many are now coming to terms with the consequences of ‘growth’.
Civil rights are under threat by a rising sentiment of hatred while right-wing narratives are regurgitated and normalised by power-hungry ‘socialists’ in blue polos. The level of public debate continues to dwindle, in politics as in civil society, which is excellent at defending the patches but lacks playmaking and finishing.
The pitch is clear for impostors who toy with entering politics for their own self-interest, muddying the waters with their greasy stomping.
The clamouring for ‘change’ is evident, as is the less muted feeling of discomfort at the state of the nation. In times where misinformation and posturing are rampant, beware of celebrities bearing soundbites.
The failure of Italy’s Five Star Movement, previously founded by comedian Beppe Grillo, offers a lesson about people from entertainment wading into government. Admittedly, it’s easier to advertise bread than propose solutions against the rise in food prices.
It’s easier to create refried mini-Xarabanks with traps for unprepared activists instead of taking on power head-on. It’s easier for the unprincipled to jump on the bandwagon of a major tragedy such as Jean Paul Sofia’s instead of working for truth and reforms away from the spotlight.
We’re well past the quota of clowns. A sizeable chunk of them sits in parliament, thanks to an electoral system engineered to favour the duopoly, which even under self-professed ‘progressive’ governments has resulted in a social status quo.
In the meantime, Malta has lost its charm to the flood of dirty money, which has severely corroded all layers of governance and also the national sense of restraint.
Instead of honouring its duty to the public, the political class has chosen to sell its soul and the country’s resources for cheap, without care for those who elected them. Our resources and rights are in the hands of tiny groups, cartels – who control anything from land to liberties.
There’s a message in the victories of the eternal underdogs, even more when the resistance is led by independent citizens who join forces for the common good. It’s a call for collective action over self-interest, which doesn’t require t-shirts and sloganeering.
For there is need of neither messiahs nor saviours to fight; “one only needs a sense of humility, a bit of dignity and a great deal of organisation”, in the words of Zapatista leader Subcomandante Marcos. “As for the rest, it either serves the collective or it doesn’t.”
Those victories, no matter how far and wide apart, no matter their size, must serve as the plank for a new way of activism. It is imperative for us to reclaim our democracy and its tools. This is not an effort to be borne by a few select groups but one that gives citizens the ownership of their causes.
From among the ruins, it’s time to start laying the foundations for collective action.