‘Economic growth’ does not mean ‘economic strength’ | Andre Callus

Two weeks ago, Moviment Graffitti announced a protest – to be held next Saturday, 27 May – to “demand urgent environmental and planning reforms”.  Interestingly enough, however: just a couple of days earlier, the Prime Minister had revealed that he IS, in fact, planning to implement certain reforms in the planning sector. So is there any connection, between these two announcements? Is next Saturday’s protest an ‘answer’, of sorts, to Robert Abela’s Labour Day speech?

No, there is no ‘connection’, really. In fact, we had been planning this protest for months before we actually announced it. Even because it is a slightly different protest, from the ones we usually organise. Most of our past demonstrations have been about specific projects, in specific localities – such as the one against the yacht marina in Marsaskala, for instance; or the DB project in St George’s Bay – and in those cases, it tends to be a lot easier for the wider public to engage. There will be people (not least, the residents themselves) who will feel a special ‘connection’ to those localities; and who will therefore be more motivated, to actually go out and protest...

The national demonstration we are holding next Saturday, on the other hand, is slightly more difficult. We are not talking about any specific ‘place’, this time: and there is no ‘single issue’ that can serve as a focal point for all the public’s anger. This time round, we are protesting – on a national level - against the root of the entire problem itself: i.e., the legal/policy structures, that make all those projects possible in the first place.

So our approach had to be a little different, too. For one thing, we opened the event up to other organisations - in fact, there are around 50 different NGOs taking part – and naturally, there was a lot of planning, and co-ordination, that needed to take place. We have also been holding meetings with all the various residents’ groups, that we have been working with over the past few years...

Even the fact that we announced the protest so early – on May 3: three weeks beforehand - is a little unusual. Normally, we would announce it closer to the date itself. But there was a lot more preparation involved, this time... and for us, the preparation is arguably just as important, as the protest itself.

So no: it was a coincidence that the Prime Minister said what he said, in that speech. But I’d be happy to comment about it all the same, if you like...

I’d like that, if you don’t mind. In fact, let me rephrase the question: if Moviment Graffiti was not responding to Robert Abela... could it be the other way around? Do you think that Abela made that (admittedly vague) promise of ‘planning reforms’, in reaction to all the pressure you yourselves have been exerting?

I think he is reacting, not just to us... but to the widespread sensation of anger, and exasperation, which can now be felt all over the country. If there’s one thing that people living in Malta and Gozo are increasingly feeling angry and upset about, it’s the environment. And I don’t just mean ‘the environment’ in a purely abstract sense; I mean it in the most tangible, and practical way possible. Literally, the ‘places where people live’; and what people ‘feel, live and breathe’, every day of their lives....

And this sensation is not something that Robert Abela, or the government in general, can lightly afford to ignore. It’s there; and it’s also being felt by – among others - the Labour Party’s own constituents. It is, in fact, one of their most pressing concerns, at the moment.

So the government HAS to react to it, in one way or another. Even because – apart from all the widespread frustration felt by the people – there has also been an increase in organised civil society action, in recent years. Many of the various residents’ associations, community groups, and NGOs, have now come together and organised themselves, so as to translate all this ‘anger’ – all this ‘grumbling’, as it were - into action.

And that made a big difference. Because as long as the people’s reaction was limited to just ‘grumbling’... government could always simply ignore it, and carry on. But when the people unite, and become more organised:  they become a ‘force to be reckoned with’.

This is why, on one level, it is a positive thing that the Prime Minister acknowledged the issue in his Labour Day speech. It shows us that he IS feeling the public pressure...

Meanwhile, there are other indications that government is feeling this pressure. A few days ago, Environment Minister Clayton Bartolo announced that ‘deckchairs at the Blue Lagoon will be reduced by 65%, by this summer’. If I’m not mistaken, that is precisely what Graffitti had demanded, when taking civil action at Comino last year...

More or less. What we demanded, with specific regard to deckchairs, was that they don’t take up more than one third of the available space. So yes: what Clayton Bartolo is now proposing, is line with our demands...

Doesn’t it also mean, however, that you actually ‘got what you wanted’, in that scenario? And if so: how would you respond if – for argument’s sake – the government were to turn to you, and say: “Look: we’re doing all the things you asked us to do, aren’t we? So why are you even protesting, at all?”

Well, let me start with this. We might have ‘got what we wanted’, with regard to deckchairs at the Blue Lagoon. But it doesn’t mean the battle for Comino has been won. Far from it...

First of all, our demands went far beyond just the issue of deckchairs, alone.  And the rest of them haven’t been addressed, yet: for instance, that the number of enormous kiosks – all playing loud music – is also reduced. Not to mention the most important one of all: that they put a stop to the practice of tourist boats, catamarans, and pleasure cruisers simply swamping the island, with literally hundreds of tourists at once...

What we were (and still are) demanding was, in fact, a change to our entire tourism strategy regarding Comino, in general: a movement away from the ‘mass tourism’ approach - which would also include that larger vessels are not allowed to even enter the Blue Lagoon, at all - and towards a more sustainable approach, that respects Comino’s status as a nature reserve.

That was the most important of our demands; and it still hasn’t been met.

But there’s another thing I would say, in answer to that question. From my own experience - working at community level with the residents of various localities, etc. – the sort of complaints we hear from people in the street, on a daily basis, are not: “We’re happy with all the good work the government is doing on the environmental front, so we don’t see any reason to protest.”

On the contrary: what a lot of people tell us, these days, is “We’re very unhappy about the situation: but we also feel that it’s a ‘lost cause’...”

This is, in fact, the biggest problem we face, when it comes to trying to mobilise people in this country. It’s not that they don’t share our concerns... it’s that many of them are so disillusioned, that they have simply ‘given up’ altogether. There is a perception out there, that it is now ‘too late’ to do anything about the situation. That ‘too much damage has been done’; and that the system itself is too ingrained, to even be able to reform at all...

But the examples you just mentioned – Clayton Bartolo, on Comino; and Robert Abela, on ‘reforming the planning system’ – are in themselves proof that this perception is... wrong, basically. Even the simple fact that government is now making efforts to address at least part of the problem, clearly shows us that the opposite is true: i.e., that public pressure actually WORKS.

And they’re not even the best examples, either. Let’s face it: a number of the ‘battles’ that we, as Moviment Graffitti – together with other organisations, and civil society in general – have fought, in recent years...  have also been ‘won’.

OK: maybe they weren’t won, in any ‘final’ sense of the word. No victory can be 100% ‘absolute’, after all. But there have nonetheless been significant victories, recently. Take the Wied il-Ghajn yacht marina project, for example. It was public pressure that put a stop to that monstrosity, at the end of the day; and not because of any ‘decision by the law-courts’, this time.

No: the projected was halted, because – faced with such organised, concerted public pressure – it became politically unfeasible for the government to actually go ahead with it. And the same could be said for a number of other projects, too. Like the extension of the American University of Malta campus, between Bormla and L-Isla. Once again, it didn’t happen...  the government abandoned that project, after encountering enormous resistance from the residents.

Not to mention all those occasions when the law-courts overturned Planning Authority permits, in cases instituted by residents, Local Councils, NGOs, etc.  Like the case in Mistra, or example: where [on May 10] the Court of Appeal revoked a PA permit for a massive residential development, after objections were raised by local residents. Or the DB project, for that matter... where, OK, the battle itself might still be ongoing: but in June 2019, the courts revoked the PA permit; and the project itself was halted in its tracks...

The bottom line is that: when people unite, and take action – whether through the law-courts, or just by exerting political pressure – they are very often successful. We might not have won every single battle we ever fought; but the victories we have achieved, are certainly there. And it’s the same with Comino...

Let’s turn to the substance of Next Saturday’s demonstration. Earlier, you said that – unlike previous occasions – this one is “a national protest against the root of the entire problem itself”. Can you elaborate? What are the main ‘legal/policy structures’ that you are actually trying to change, here?

Let me put it this way: all these battles we’ve being talking about – though they may differ, in the details - all ‘came from somewhere’. And I’m not just talking about mega-projects, here. There are also all the smaller-scale projects: all the apartment blocks that are sprouting up everywhere; all the construction that is going on, all the time... all of it ‘comes from somewhere’, at the end of the day.

And that ‘somewhere’ can be narrowed down to three specific structures, within our country’s planning regime. Starting with the planning policies themselves: with their loophole-ridden regulations concerning height-limitations for hotels; building in ODZ... and many, many more.

Then, there’s the travesty that passes for ‘regulatory authorities’ in this county: the Planning Authority, the ERA, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, etc.  It is, quite frankly, a farce. For some time now, the law-courts have been repeatedly finding that - in one permit approval, after another – these authorities have simply been ‘breaking the law’. And if it wasn’t for the fact that residents had the stamina to keep challenging those permits, in court...  Malta would have been littered with countless such ‘projects’ – all approved by the PA; and all completely illegal...

Those are the first two aspects that we would like to see changed. And they are obviously interlinked: because let’s face it... it’s useless having ‘good planning policies’ – and the ones we have right now are very far from being ‘good’ – if the regulatory authorities are going to just ignore them (or, even worse, actually break them) every single time...

The third aspect, however, is a little broader than that. What we are asking for, is basically a change to Malta’s entire economic model. At the moment, our country’s economic model is focused only on ‘economic growth’. But ‘economic growth’, on its own, does not mean ‘economic strength’: on the contrary, you could end up with a ‘fast-growing economy’, that is actually very fragile. Because if your economic model depends on constant growth – in all circumstances, at all times – the moment the economy stops growing... it will collapse.

We, on the other hand, want an economic model that does not depend only on ‘economic growth, at all costs’. So that – even if the Maltese economy might not grow at the same rate... it will nonetheless be stronger: in the sense of being more capable of meeting the people’s needs, without the need for this exaggerated, unrealistic ‘never-ending growth’ approach.

Because at the end of the day, economic growth – without any limits – has a devastating impact on the environment. For example: in order to keep its economy growing, Malta had to bring in tens of thousands of workers from overseas, in the space of just a few years. And through no fault of their own (because it’s the economic model that’s to blame)... these people all need a place to live. They all need a means of transport. In a nutshell, they all need a certain amount of infrastructure, to sustain them.

And this translates directly into more construction, more traffic... and ultimately, more environmental damage. So to return to that earlier question, about ‘why are we even protesting, at all?’... I would say the answer is in our slogan for next Saturday’s demonstration: ‘Xebbajtuna!’

We are, in a word, ‘fed up’ with this situation... and we want to see a change.