Fighting in the Colosseum

The disgusting aspect of democracy is that it does not necessarily cater for what is right or what is wrong - be it for majorities or minorities. Just for loudmouths.

Adoption by gays is objected to by the majority of Maltese and yet, it seems to be okay to run roughshod over public opinion.

Thank God the Church is castrated and that there is no real civil society in Malta.  Otherwise the civil unions bill would never have seen the light of day.

It appears that the louder you get, the greater one's chance to move things and to get politicians to bend over.

In other words, the political class seems more interested in reacting to those who stamp their feet and make themselves heard.

In this regard, Simon Busuttil and Joseph Muscat are very similar.

Busuttil has a problem, of course: he reminds me of someone who has not quite realised that he is a politician and not a boy scout. They say he will grow up (and grow old) in his current role.

They compare him to Eddie Fenech Adami.

Of course only time can tell... but I don't think they are right.

Muscat, on the other hand, is the PM who is always finding solace in the middle road. I guess we are still giving Muscat the benefit of the doubt, but time is running out.  Apart from the disastrous way we look at environmental protection, I simply feel that Labour's position on hunting is so typical of not wanting to rock the boat.

If Labour thinks that politics is all about making money and giving business a lifeline, then it should seriously start questioning whether it is a social democratic party. Many Labourites are asking that question. If there is one pillar that is seriously eroded in the PL's inventory, it is their stand on environmental issues.

Poor Leo Brincat has had to take all the flak for the recent reforms that have led to more appeasement towards the hunter's lobby. I'm sure he feels very uncomfortable with them.

The message has been loud and clear: this government does not care whether hunters take their shotguns and blow anything that flies into smithereens. So according to the official version the recent massacre of eagles was just the work of one or two individuals.

Bullshit. The gunning down of these majestic birds took place because every Gozitan and Maltese hunter would not miss a bloody chance to lift up his shotgun to kill such a bird.

It is part of the Maltese hunters' belief that anything that flies should be killed or maimed, because hunters in Malta are trophy killers, not hunters of the Savannah. They are frustrated big boys who think that their illegalities are justified.

Not to shoot at an eagle would be tantamount to being ridiculed for the rest of your life by your peers. 

In the meantime the Nationalist Party does what it has always done. Keep its big fat mouth shut, just in case they lose some crucial vote from the hunting lobby.

For years, both parties have sucked up to the hunters lobby, led for years by the same posse of medieval leadership.

The reality is that the Maltese hunting lobby is a minority, and don't get me wrong: it does not need to be preserved and conserved as if it were a dwindling and vagrant tribe in the Amazon.

The hunters need to be told that shooting birds is over, just like teachers were told that corporal punishment was not on years ago.

Hunters, in their vast majority, are simply motivated by a desire to kill.

And since that seems to be okay by our standards, then we are expected to tolerate and even embrace it. If Muscat and Busuttil want to embrace that kind of behaviour, the vast majority refuse to do just that.

It is also very clear that the hunters' federation has no control over its members, just in the same way the Church has no control over the thousands of Catholics who break the ten commandments.

And what is quite amazing is that as this country opens up its arms to allowing gay unions and allowing gay couples to adopt children, our liberal streak prevents us from halting this bunch of savages and barbarians from murdering wildlife.

Politicians from the two main political parties will think that this position is extreme. But it is not.

Years back, before the Labour Party (or anyone else) ever dreamt of divorce, this newspaper was advocating divorce.

No one imagined that divorce would be legalised.

It was.

The Prime Minister has gone on record and said that a referendum on hunting is not a welcome development.

How he can argue in such a way when he used a completely different approach in the divorce referendum, leaves me speechless.

The truth is that politicians are only interested in votes, and that's it.

The rest is really rather superfluous.

Last week, I wrote that I wanted to be in the Coliseum, not as a bystander but as a protagonist.

That was interpreted as one of way of saying that I was leaving MaltaToday and entering the political arena.

Perhaps I should have said that I would like to slow down a bit, and I should also have said that I still cannot live with the fact The Times and its brand of arrogant dominance continues unchecked. Their dyke is pierced, but more needs to be done to see it crumble. Nothing and no one is unassailable. 

I clearly remember, 14 years back, being laughed at when I started MaltaToday and being told by a Sunday Times editor who today is an Allied Newspaper director that we would die a natural death.

But entering the political arena at 50 is not a priority, and more so when I see that I seem to achieve more in journalism than by being a faithful and soulless soldier with a party.

And yes I love Malta more than I love airports, small rooms, and stuffy debates in rainy and dull Brussels.

I have to admit that I still believe that I am closer to being a social democrat and Green than anything else. But that has not stopped me from voting for all the political parties in my lifetime or not voting at all.

Being in the Coliseum does not mean being in politics, but getting involved with civil society. Which is why at this point, I have decided to back Birdlife Malta at this important juncture. It is not about birds, it is about aligning Malta with normality.

Because winning the next referendum is all about proving that politicians need to remember that Malta is not all about loud, vulgar, overweight and ugly men who scream and blaspheme when change is needed. The victors in the last election were the 35,000 switchers who belonged to reason and not to blind loyalty. Voters who were sick and tired of Gonzi's government and his maliciousness - personified best by the Queen of Bile herself, a mercenary and merchant of hate.

Two years ago MaltaToday was crucial in getting divorce through, 11 years ago MaltaToday was crucial in fighting for a positive vote for Malta to enter the European Union. This time round, there is no doubt that the referendum to ban hunting in spring is a fight worth fighting for. 

Naughty moments

Robert Abela, the president's son, is still legal advisor at MEPA. Unbelievable, if you ask me. I guess Gonzi's boys are dreading the time they suggested Robert Abela and his wife to be anointed legal advisors to MEPA. At the time George Abela was of course not in the Labour Party's good books. How sad!