This article is part of a series about mass protests. To read our other articles on this subject, click these links: part one | update (1) | update (2)
Anti-corruption pressure group Occupy Justice Malta sent in a response to our queries about mass protests on Friday evening.
If you recall, we sent questions to a total of 16 civil society groups to gauge public sentiment about mass protests. All of these groups were involved in the organisation of at least one mass protest earlier this year, which is why this website directed questions to each and every one of them.
Prior publication of this article, we had received four responses. While Fondazione Falcone and SOS Malta endorsed mass protests calling for the resignation of the prime minister and a snap election to preserve Malta’s shrivelling rule of law, student organisation JEF Malta did not endorse this call.
In its response to this website’s questions, fellow anti-corruption NGO Repubblika more or less endorsed the idea of mass protests, stopping just short of declaring when such a campaign could be expected. You can read more about their responses by clicking the links at the top of the article.
As for Occupy Justice, the pressure group “strongly” believes that “the time for change is now,” stating that they “fully support the call for mass protests demanding the resignation of the prime minister and a snap election.”
“The issues of corruption, lack of accountability, and democratic backsliding raised in the article are deeply concerning and cannot be ignored. We believe that taking to the streets is a powerful and necessary way to push for immediate political change and to hold those in power accountable,” a representative for the group told this website.
Occupy Justice argues that, historically, mass protests have always served as a powerful tool for democratic expression and creating a sense of pressure that forces urgent reform through.
“The current situation demands action, and we are prepared to do whatever it takes to ensure that justice, transparency, and accountability are restored in Malta,” the spokesperson added.
In response to direct questions about when the public can expect announcements and whether anything is being organised at the moment, the spokesperson stated this was not the case, though the group did “fully endorse the necessity” of these mass protests.
Similar to what Repubblika’s secretary general Frank Piscopo told this website a few days ago, Occupy Justice did refer to October as “the best time” to launch a campaign given that it will be both the month in which Parliament reconvenes as well as the month in which the seventh anniversary of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination is set to be commemorated.
To date, though there seems to be a majority of respondents who expressed support for mass protests, none of the organisations we’ve spoken to so far pointed towards any tangible efforts to set the wheels in motion.
In spite of the fact that it’s been almost over a month since the first article from this series was published, the following organisations have not responded to multiple requests for comment: aditus foundation, KSU, Vuċi Kollettiva, KNŻ, ICTSA Malta, MBSA, MKSA, Moviment Graffitti, SDM, PEN Malta, and UĦM.
