The 'Butisti' monster: Why I’m attending tomorrow’s protest | Denise Grech

Growing up, no one dared mention the Butisti.

In fact, I never even heard anyone utter their name until a press conference a few months ago. Speaking in front of the Manwel Dimech statue in Valletta, trade unionist Sammy Meilaq said: “Those people there to fatten their pockets aren’t Laburisti, nor are they Nazzjonalisti, they are Butisti!”

Who are the Butisti? They are our businessmen and developers, the people who pull the strings behind the scenes. These people don’t care about us ‘common folk’, they’re too busy fattening their pockets at the expense of our environment, our health, and our social wellbeing.

When Meilaq mentioned the Butisti, memories of my parents' kitchen-table conversations came flooding back, leaving me wondering how these creatures had managed to slip from my consciousness for so long.

The Butisti were there at our dinner table when I heard my parents discuss news that the PN handed public land to speculators and developers – from land in Kalkara for the SmartCity scam to Portomaso and Tigne Point.

They were there when my father lowered his head after hearing that our highest politicians – Keith Schembri, Joseph Muscat and Konrad Mizzi – decided to privatise our hospitals. The decision led to the country losing €400 million to a shady company that has left our hospitals missing key infrastructure while hard-working nurses struggle to keep up.

You can always tell when the Butisti monster is approaching, because it uproots trees and leaves behind cranes. It places tarmac where pavements used to be. The Butisti pushes elderly residents in lively town squares back to their homes as traffic and chaos occupy our streets.

Surely, however, the biggest sign that the Butisti are closing in is when authorities start developing a strong obsession with turning a profit no matter the cost. Butisti make alliances with politicians as they conspire to ruin lives with frenzied development. The authorities will insist that doing this is common sense, because it means we will have more money and more jobs.

Dear reader, do not be fooled when the authorities insist they have waged a war against the Butisti. In fact, the Butisti have many friends in high places. Under the Nationalist Party, the Butisti got a warm welcome. Local plans were changed to accommodate the Butisti’s needs. Public land was handed over to private companies left, right and centre.

In 2013, when Labour rose to power, its leader Joseph Muscat rolled out the red carpet for the Butisti. They had a field day. The so-called “American University of Malta” was given prime sites, including natural land in Żonqor. The ITS site was transferred to Silvio Debono for a pittance. Vitals Global Healthcare, a shifty company with no experience in healthcare, was given three hospitals through a contract that was not available for public scrutiny.

Fighting back on 27 May

I’m not sure my parents ever thought that their daughter would dismiss party politics and join Moviment Graffitti - a movement dedicated to bringing people together to push back against Butisti, wherever they are.

Part of why I joined was because I realised that the only time different voters came together was when they agreed that the Butisti were ruining their lives.

And although everyone told me that the Butisti were all-imposing titans, residents started to fight back together and win.

One of these many wins happened just last week. A group of residents pushed back after the Butisti sought to build a high-rise development on a ridge in Xemxija. Even though the Butisti shamelessly started their works a few days before the court's verdict, to pressure the court, the residents pressed on. The court has now ruled in their favour.

This decision should inspire all of us to fight back against the Butisti that have run amok across our country for years.

If we fight, we could lose. If we don’t fight, they will inevitably win.

Tomorrow, Moviment Graffitti, alongside other NGOs, is organising a national protest against the Butisti, calling on authorities to reform planning laws that will ensure social justice in our environment.

Read more about the protest here.

Denise Grech is a Moviment Graffitti activist