“Your life will end when you stop talking about things that matter” Rev Martin Luther King Jr

The recent outcry by environmental movements on the island was only a fraction of the frustration being experienced by the people living in Malta. We live in a society where the businessmen are the new gods. Where few rich people became more powerful than ever, funding political parties (both sides) and dictate economic policies for their own interests, reinforcing the advantage they already have. Wealth fuels more wealth, more power. This is not democracy and it now reached dangerous proportions.

Democracy demands that ALL citizens are represented in parliament. We are currently at the mercy of the greedy minority that juggles the political system for their own advantage. When private money fuels political parties it evolves into political influences fathering corruption and rigged legal processes.

The citizens and residents of Malta expect to have limits how far one can go but when the limits are exceeded and there is nobody or structure to stop such excess then we have an explosion of a malfunctioned society. We instilled a culture of “laissez faire” modus operandi where anything goes. A legitimised selfishness. Businesses do not care about the well being of the residents. No authority dares stopping them. They do what they want as long as they fill in their pockets. There is no law enforcement. Businesses are abusing of such system to the detriment of the citizens, residents and this tiny beautiful island we live in.

We have the nouveaux riche of the island flashing their expensive cars who also breath the same polluted air as the rest of us. But we also have 16% of the population living on the poverty line, an average 300 annual deaths due to poor air quality and an average of 5 new chronic asthma patients per day. 

But hey guess what? We have a strong economy! Hurray!!

Now it got claustrophobic living on this island. Too much dust in the air we breath and please do not blame the Sahara desert. Too much noise pollution. Too many cars (widening the roads will not solve this problem). Too much daily stress. Too much is too much. We are all to blame for this.

The mainstream citizens will remain mainstream in their cushy bubble and will never bother change anything. Minorities were always the instigators for big radical changes in any society. The new environmental uprising here in Malta is the new hope for future generations.  We need more of this. We have to work towards the greater good of the collective that must include everyone; humans, animals, our land and our ocean.

It is our right. We deserve it.