No more to be revealed
There was a time when the public were sort of curious to see what Labour could do if elected.
They kind of had an itch to scratch and it wouldn’t go away. Possibly against their better judgement but more likely as an act of self-indulgence, they set aside their children’s and their country’s future and went for broke.
Having taken the plunge, they felt comfortable paddling away with their legs below the surface of the water. The sun was still shining on their head and the water felt warm and inviting. Next time round, as Joseph Muscat battled the Panama fall out and called them early to the polls, they again joined in the swim because you live for today, right?
But that today is now catching up on us and it looks like there will be little left for tomorrow. Maybe you don’t care about that. Probably, though, it is starting to put you up against a changing attitude from your children, now students or young parents.
Occasionally you try to see what they are seeing but you’re still not quite there yet. What could be better than less traffic, shopping and bragging? The sense of division between generations, though, is growing and things just aren’t as much fun as they were before. It’s a bit like the 80’s generation coming into the millennium.
The fact is that as we look around us, we can see with evidence, what Labour are and what they do. Joseph Muscat has told us that this is L’Aqwa Zmien (the Best Times). So, that which chunks of the population were curious about is now totally revealed. This now is the result, the product, the way and what Labour do.
We have unprecedented number of court cases against senior Ministers, inquiries on allegations against the Prime Minister, damning reports from the Council of Europe and disdain from
several quarters of the European Parliament and its Members, not to mention internationally.
More pertinently though, we have a country that has had enough of the price being paid for an alternative government. After years of the Nationalist Party, the alternative of Labour in blue was too nice a little packet to refuse.
Today, the price is felt to be too high. The movement has indeed begun. From Sunday and I believe, many Sundays or Mondays to come, there will be protests. There will be a voice and an angry one. There will be a rising of the collective NO.
No to the Central Link, no to the falling residences and the endless holes in the ground. No to the Gozo Tunnel and the elaborate 5star, 6 star or zero star buildings for the wealthy who do not live here. No to the corruption and the injustices. No to stooge authorities, boards and organisations and dubious positions of trust or persons employed with poor records. No to a puppet Commissioner of Police.
The Maltese are slow to anger when it comes to opposing authority. But when it comes, it comes with strength and determination. When we have had enough, that’s it. Basta. No fancy Sunday paternal speeches are going to convince us that this stink is Dolce and Gabbana.
Luckily these challenging events have created a number of NGOs and activists and now we are also seeing local communities organising themselves into protest groups, like the Pembroke and the Attard residents.
Over these past years there have also been voluntary persons like architects and lawyers who have contributed a lot of their time and expertise to guide and investigate the many building applications that were invading protected land and valleys, coastal monstrosities and various other abusive projects.
But now we are back to the origin of civilisation that is under threat. Our farmers, our trees and our heritage. That is something that belongs to everyone. Not just to a Nationalist or a Labourite or a Green Party. The fishermen had several issues in 2013 when the Nationalists lost the election and Labour won. Today it’s the farming community. They themselves are saying that they are hurt by the way they are treated and what is being done to them and around them. We are not in China here, where farmers are simply kicked out of their land, given some compensation and a new city built on the now vacant plots. Many might attribute the rise of the middle class in China to the cash that many peasants suddenly found themselves owning. You can see it though, that their heart is broken. A generation and more will lose its way.
We are Maltese. We like to do things. To build, to work, to send our children to good schools, to travel and to enjoy our family. Trouble is now there is nothing left to enjoy around us and we are all made poor by the lack of simple pleasures.
We cannot go to the beach without facing a party-lido, we cannot enjoy a nice view of the roof-tops or the sea and instead mostly face a brick wall, we cannot take pleasure from the sight and shade of a tree or the birds nesting in it. Certainly, we have more chance to enjoy that abroad but why should that be?
A sense of excessive indulgence has penetrated the psyche, whether it is in the 2 week long Festa celebration, the drive to spend and consume, the amount of flagrant corruption and abuse that we allow and the language of hate and division, crime and the way moral topics are lightly treated and changed overnight.
With the Central Link Attard project we are not only being asked to indulge the government in creating the Best Times. We are being robbed and crucified. This is not our altar. It is the altar of Baal, of the people who sacrifice virgins to pagan Gods.
At this time when so many parishes celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, we are reminded how God used the prophet Elijah during an important time in Israel’s history to oppose a wicked king and bring revival to the land. Elijah’s ministry marked the beginning of the end of Baal worship in Israel.
And there you have it. Labour is revealed and you do not need to wait for anything more.
Surely the all confident, all stitched up, cocky, greedy, lying, winning Labour party see that they have crossed the line and killed the goose that lays the golden egg? Without the centre, no amount of blindly loyal Muscat supporters will be able to keep them winning.
Time is now to completely scrap the Gozo Tunnel and to return for a very long time with new people to the drawing board on the devastation that is the Central Link Project. And whilst you are at it, ask Victor Axiaq to resign and sort out the disease at the Planning Authority and ERA. Change direction now and ensure that all the Ministers are part of the change or face the consequences.
Malta and the Maltese will not stand for this massacre in order to appease some SUVs and sports cars driving up to the fields of Rabat and Dingli, to their villas on the cliffs, surrounded by trees and birds.
Or has it been forgotten that some Maltese people do actually still live in Malta and Gozo and this is our home and country?