More than just an opinion

This opinion was penned before yesterday’s protest. City Gate has traditionally always been a setting for protests. With the new parliament building set there, the location takes a more significant role.  

This protest brings together all green groups and there is an uncanny resemblance to 1985, and yet again the Labour party is not participating. In 1985 the protest was against Lorry Sant and his infamous Building Development Areas policy.  Today it is about a proposed ODZ development.  The climate is rather different.  In 1985 Sant’s thugs beat the protestors. Today there is little chance this will happen.

Green councillor Michael Briguglio is leading the protest.  I cannot see why Briguglio should not return to Alternattiva Demokratika after the sterling result he obtained in 2013.  He has the energy and drive.  He has clearly proved that his pretext that he was calling it a day at AD to have more personal time on his hands was more a case of incompatibility with Carmel Cacopardo.

The truth is that Briguglio has more charisma and presence than Cacopardo.  

Michael Briguglio should move back to the Greens at once.

As in 1985, there is a pack of organisations that do stand for something and have put down their name to the protest, and then there are quite a number of one-man shows or simply relics from the past. The Partit Komunista Malti is just one of the latter and really it is a nonentity that has no place in such a protest.

The same cannot be said for the rest.

But the opposition to the proposed Zonqor development is not an imaginary one, it is real.

Briguglio has been at the forefront of many protests.  The objection to the Hilton was one of them back in the mid-nineties.

The objectors’ aim about the Hilton was not achieved but similar projects being proposed around the Island have been shelved and the political class was more or less conditioned about what was acceptable or not.

This protest, like the one in 1985, and 2006, has a very clear message. In 1985 the call was for a planning act and a stop to the Building Development Areas. In 1985 there was no planning act, the suggestion to have a planning act was taken up by the Nationalist administration and transposed into law in 1992.

Today Briguglio’s front is clearly calling for a change in policy, a fundamental change in planning policy. If something is not in the scheme then abort and do not consider.

It is a radical demand, but it reflects a perception that this small, overpopulated Island state is starting to realise that we need to take drastic action.  The same has happened in other small states such as The Netherlands.

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The big question, is how will Prime Minister Joseph Muscat react to this protest.  Muscat is not one known for taking rash decisions. But it is evident that he is under some serious pressure to take stock and do something about the PL’s glaring environmental deficit.

Muscat must really address that environmental deficit by some concrete actions and some positive steps that will not be mere tokenism.

Muscat’s first mistake has been to underestimate the rejuvenation of the environmental lobby after the hunting referendum.

The very fact that there is no one around him to remind him of the historic background of the environmental lobby is worrying.

It is said that Muscat is a fast learner and that he will adapt to the changing climate of civil society.

He had better do so.

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If the Gaffarena saga tells us anything about politics, it is that memories are short and politicians lack the resolve to take quick decisions. Muscat should have asked for Michael Falzon to suspend himself.  Instead he has procrastinated.

In the meantime the PN have had no qualms exhuming the spectre of Gaffarena even though much of Gaffarena’s empire flourished under the Nationalist administrations. 

Many people forget that the elder Gaffarena was a keen George Hyzler (PN) backer while the young Gaffarena (Marco) was a keen Joseph Sammut (PL) backer.  Perhaps one can recall when Gaffarena’s illegal cement plant was regularised and then sold to Bastjan Dalli.

PL parliamentarian Joseph Sammut, as we all know, has sued us for libel for reminding everyone that he was a former business associate of Marco Gaffarena.

As I said last week, the Gaffarenas of this world have no allegiance to or preference for political colours.  Their one religion is money and how to make more of it.

The big question is why do people of Gaffarena’s ilk insist on mixing with politicians. The answer is far too obvious, but nonetheless it would surely get me into more trouble to lay it out in all its starkness.

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The Pope has issued an encyclical on climate change.  It is one of those brave ‘political’ statements which have been made before, and has led many multinationals to question what the Pope is doing meddling in their affairs – the multinationals being the oil companies.

It is high time that religious teaching is no longer linked solely to the usual theological approach.

Pope Francis has decided to take the Church into the brave world of ethics and governance. Protecting the environment is an ethical issue.

And perhaps practising Catholics might start considering translating some of the Pope’s views into some realistic acts.

It is rather nice to hear that we should act to save the globe and stop climate change but how many are willing to do something on a personal level.

Reducing one’s carbon footprint has a lot to do with some real sacrifices which I very much doubt many individuals are willing to do.

Reducing flying time, less use of personal transport, forgetting about a 4X4, doing away with a pool, a lawn, a flower bed in summer, recycling all that can be recycled, banning certain chemicals in the home, or less copious use of them (eg: detergents, soaps, cleaning liquids) and very importantly, changing one’s style of life.  

Having said that, I can state hand on heart that the vast majority of people love to live their life and are very reluctant to make sacrifices which they see as unnecessary.  

From history and experience people change their habits when the political class impose rules and laws. Only then do most people engage in worthy environmental change. And of course the political class is not too keen to intrude in such matters, they have votes on their radar screen.

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Not many people are realising that the new parliament lends itself to more potential confrontation.  When Renzo Piano or one of his students planned the parliament they obviously were under the impression that we are a House of Commons.

In the Commons, the distance between the government and opposition is not more than the length of a lance.  

In the previous parliament chamber at the palace, the distance was considerably longer.  

In the new parliament, the proximity of the seats is so close, that opposing members can literally listen to comments and whispers.  The intolerance levels are so high, and the members so Mediterranean in nature, that it only takes half a comment for the situation to flare up.

To make matters worse, the fact that parliamentarians now know that they are televised, effectively turns them into prima donnas.

Which is why the parliament has not helped or contributed to having a more healthy discussion.

It will take a culture change for members of parliament to settle down and learn to embrace a Nordic and composed parliamentary code.

For this to happen the parliamentary whips must show some good intentions and approach the matter with some maturity.

And yet again, on the subject, it has to be said that in the design of the new parliament, the great Renzo Piano or one of his students forgot about parliamentary reporters.    

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Two little incidents could have easily been avoided this week. Ian Borg’s reference to an orgasm is one example of bad taste. The other is the remark by Jason Azzopardi to Ryan Callus during a press conference suggesting that he should ‘bludgeon’ (aghqlala) Janice Bartolo – Bartolo being a One journalist and of course more importantly it seems to some, the partner to Minister Owen Bonnici. How sad!