There really is something impressive about prime minister Robert Abela’s ability to piss off an entire country midway through summer season.
We’ll get to the sheer depravity that’s going to be unleashed by the government’s proposed legal amendments in a second. I want to retrace some steps first.
Though I am almost afraid to ask, I wonder: what is the underlying logic here?
What is the rationale behind dismantling planning and environment regulations in the last few days of a scorching July?
I ask because every possible answer to these questions is nothing short of embarrassing. It is a peek beneath the hood of a ghastly machine that destroys people and their homes so it can produce a slight increase in the country’s GDP.
The obvious answer is that they were clearly hoping that nobody would notice.
Think about that for a second – a government that proudly boasts of its achievements any chance it gets, sneakily moving legislative goalposts with the same stealth of a teenager replacing a spent bottle of vodka with water.
Let us not forget that we’re not talking about rephrasing a minor clause in some obscure piece of legislation here. We’re talking about effectively handing over full control of the planning process to a corrupt authority and its politically appointed hatchet men.
For the sake of extending the simile, the government isn’t replacing one bottle – it’s draining the entire damn distillery.
Analysing this at a deeper level makes it even more damning.
Can you imagine the level of contempt that underpins it all? Let me try and flesh it out for you.
Besides hoping nobody would notice, the government also makes these kinds of moves before Parliament rises for summer recess simply to avoid having to directly deal with the resulting fallout. Given that the prime minister is the undisputed king of making premature declarations, this often ends with a spectacular U-turn that almost breaks the laws of physics with its suddenness.
Exactly like a medieval lord, Abela passes his decree with the approval of his enablers in Cabinet, damning common folk to misery while the wealthy raise their glasses to toast each other.
In simpler terms: they knew this announcement would raise hell. They wouldn’t have tried to sneak it in if they didn’t. But they also didn’t want to deal with you lot, certainly not if it meant disturbing their trips to the nearest yacht club.
So, the next best thing was to let the underlings deal with any blowback while describing everyone who criticises your transparent attempt to shaft the nation as critics “acting in bad faith.” Fast-track both bills through Parliament and let’s enjoy summer, baby.
In spite of the fact that almost nothing in the world can move the Maltese population to action at this time of the year, the sheer audacity of this whole endeavour led to almost immediate widespread anger.
Indeed, this isn’t the first time the prime minister completely overestimated the country’s tolerance for his government’s relentless march towards autocracy.
Last year, the Labour Party paid a heavy price for Abela’s disgusting assault on the judiciary, shedding thousands of votes in the MEP/local council elections.
Two years ago, he pissed off the country at the peak of Isabelle Bonnici’s campaign for a public inquiry about Jean-Paul Sofia’s death.
Abela even managed to piss us all off during the haziest days of the COVID pandemic. I still remember those awful end of summer press conferences in which more restrictions had to be rolled out because the government was too loose with its approach during peak tourism season.
In fact, Abela’s callousness yet again threatens to yield in the face of public outrage. Ten civil society organisations moved quickly over the weekend to call a press conference later on today, a telltale sign of greater things to come.
A poster promoting the press conference organised by ten civil society organisations. Photo: Moviment Graffitti’s Facebook page
If you have any sense of self-preservation, you know for a fact that there is no other place to be but Parliament tonight.
The repercussions of these proposed legislative amendments go beyond enabling rogue developers and burying the country in concrete.
Dealing with the government’s love affair with Malta’s greediest mobsters can’t just consist of meekly adapting to a changing society that pays for its “progress” by selling itself off to the highest bidder.
This is an existential fight. It is leaping to the defence of your right to have a livable future. It is the wholesale rejection of a government that has no qualms with exterminating environmental safeguards with the legislative equivalent of a bullet between the eyes.
Let’s show these parasites what a real summer of discontent looks like.