Guest Commentary: Passiveness, Malta’s Silent Killer
How is it possible that we have a group of people sleeping outside to protest against the Planning Authority and yet by midnight, none of the main news portals in Malta had coverage visible on the homepage above the fold on a 13-inch laptop?
The people protesting are the same people that gave us access to Manoel Island after years of it being closed. The same Manoel Island that after we got access, 7,471 people signed the petition to turn into a National Park.
What they are protesting for is very simple… They want the government to implement a policy which will safeguard our ODZ land and not turn it into petrol stations / retail space.
Do we need more petrol stations when our Prime Minister, rightly so, wants us to push for more electric cars?
Do we need petrol stations when, in 2019, we want to award 16-year-old environmental activist Greta Thunberg a Nobel Peace Prize for speaking about climate change and challenging world politicians to stop taking resources away from our children, who they claim to love so much?
Where are the students that protested for climate change now? Where’s the Minister of Education who was part of the climate change protest? Where are all the people complaining about overdevelopment? Where are the people complaining about every tower crane you find in Malta? The list can go on and on.
It’s very understandable that in today’s busy life, stopping everything you’re doing to go protest and risk being labelled and harassed while nothing changes is not easy
However, we have these brave people leading the way, doing it for us, and yet the media, the students that believe in climate change, the Minister of Education who was protesting with the students for climate change, the Prime Minister who’s leading the way for electric cars, and everyone who thinks that the Planning Authority is ruining the island, are all passive on this issue.
How do you silence people?
Isolate them, label them, take away their advertising budget (clearly visible on their homepage above the fold), destroy their character and they will stop and they will comply.
If we do nothing to help ourselves, we will lose the right to complain. But what will happen first; lose the right to complain, or have nothing left to fight for?
How can you help?
Support activists fighting for a cause you believe in.
Thank them, let them know they are not alone, join them, even if it’s for an hour, even if it’s for 10 minutes, ask them questions, share their content, both privately with friends and publicly if you can and learn more about the issues being discussed. Speak to your political representatives and tell them when you don’t agree with something. A united population is the worst nightmare for people in power who want to control us. And what these activists are asking for, on our behalf, is not far-fetched.
The green open spaces around us are becoming fewer.
Climate change is real. The fact that we need fewer petrol stations is real. So why not join forces and demand that this is actioned straight away? Show that when 460,297 people join forces, they have more power than 67 members of parliament.
And remember, it’s in their interest to keep us divided, so they can tell us what’s best for us.
Let’s not be passive, let’s stop this silent killer before it’s too late.
How can you help the Assedju PA??
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