Reaching out for a bright future

This year the Greens have demonstrated that what was thought to be impossible was possible all along. The European Parliament elections revealed what had been denied: in a country where elections are won and lost with margins of one or two percentage points, 25 per cent of Maltese adults refused to support either of the two political parties that made themselves out to be the only possible choice. It was a political earthquake.

Leaping from 0.7 per cent in 2003 to 9.3 per cent in 2004 Alternattiva Demokratika became a major player in the Maltese political scene. In proportion to population, the Maltese Greens became the fifth largest Green Party in Europe. It was a victory for Malta which displayed its real diversity at the first opportunity after EU membership. Minimal pluralism has always been a misrepresentation of the facts.

The years of endurance are over. The years of responsibility lie ahead. The 2004 result was no accident. It was the fruit matured in 15 long years spent in establishing beyond question a separate Green identity, in communicating the need for at least a third voice in Maltese politics. Our conduct in the 2003 EU referendum and in the election that followed provided incontrovertible proof that our aim is not to get to Parliament at all costs but to get there for a purpose, decently and with dignity. Our reward in 2004 is to the credit of those who supported decent politics against all the clichés and false wisdom advocating unabashed opportunism and ruthless expediency.

In the months ahead we will continue to build on these very solid foundations. Greens will continue to gain ground in local elections often being the crucial minority of one councilor who enhances the possibility of cooperation in the interests of local residents. A Green mayor eliminating the clamour for victory by our rivals and enjoying their concerted support is not a remote possibility. In Floriana an independent mayor, originally elected on the Green ticket, has made it a reality for a number of terms.

The positive significance of these developments for national politics cannot be missed. As the third element in Maltese politics our role is very different to that of either of our rivals. We do not simply add to the equation, we change it altogether. At the very least our voice brings to the national political agenda a host of issues which are necessarily neglected by political parties constrained to aim for an absolute majority in popular support. Time and again we have constrained our rivals to take up issues which they have neglected. For years Malta has benefited by our ideas at secondhand. There is no need to continue to do so.

Our task in the months ahead is to expose the cost of power politics and to present the alternative to every thinking person in Malta. The process has already begun. The politics of fear have begun to loosen their hold on the Maltese psyche. Beating the other side is no longer the principal issue. Our common future is what interests us all and not the fate of politicians or their parties.

Greens have always been in politics for a purpose. Now it is time to make it clear what that purpose is. While our presence of itself brings about a crucial change, it is not enough. It is time to ensure that as many people as possible understand what we have in mind.

Every single action Greens have ever undertaken in the past 15 years was driven by need to make optimal use of our scarce resources: to prevent harm to our assets, to employ them in ways that will not reduce their future potential. In the years of endurance our task has been to criticise constructively where others fail.

In the months and years ahead we will be spelling out what we want for Malta and how it can be achieved through the politics of participation, how it is threatened by a political system which ensures the exclusion of at least half the country all the time. Malta is a wonderful could-have-been country. It is time it becomes what we have always believed it could be.

Our project to reform the rent laws in 2005 will go ahead regardless of all distractions. We will make it possible for 30,000 Maltese citizens to oblige their government to hold a referendum on a crucial issue neglected for 60 years. It will be first time ever that the referendum mechanism in the Constitution will be used in 30 years. It will be direct democracy cutting across all party lines.

As we experience the economic cost of decades of zero-sum politics, the Maltese will be taking direct action to address a crucial issue. It is the politics of participation, a major shift from the politics of exclusion. It is long-term thinking, the Maltese acquiring ownership of their reality.

In the months ahead we will learn more of the environmental challenges we all face thanks to the neglect and lack of vision of past governments. They are far more serious than many people imagine and threaten vital pillars of our economy such as tourism apart from the impact on our health and productivity.

The Green project is to identify all these challenges and turn them into opportunities. Rather than keeping them a secret as has been done so far, the Greens propose to ensure that we come clean, recognise the challenges and boast that we have overcome them. Our uniqueness as a micro-country gives us special problems but also allows us solutions which are unthinkable anywhere else.

We can be Europe's cleanest, best kept country. We can have a wonderful lifestyle in a healthy environment while being blessed with a superb climate. We can have a public transport system which is the envy of Europe. We can let the world know that we have a concentration of cultural and environmental heritage assets found nowhere else on earth, all within 20 minutes of one another at the most. We can have a splendid cultural calendar based on the untapped kaleidoscopic people-potential of our small islands. We can stop whinging about our lack of productivity and recognise the potential of our largely workaholic population if provided with the bureaucratic efficiency it demands. We can turn the failure of our illiteracy rate into a mass success in a very short time. Tertiary education can and must be the foundation for our future development. It is possible to create just and attractive rewards for enterprise in Malta outside the building industry. It is possible to create a culture of synergy seekers.

It is all quite easily possible. The only thing preventing its realisation is that we do not believe it. Years of disappointment have stunted our optimism. Failures are meticulously documented while successes escape our notice. Enterprise in every field is regularly suppressed.

Greens have gone against the givens from the day of their birth. Our challenge was impossible. We have succeeded against all odds. We believe that our dream for Malta is possible because we have watched the impossible take shape. We know what it takes: unwavering commitment, the intellectual pessimism to recognise every hurdle and the optimism of the will to sail over it.

Malta's future is about sharing. It is about participation not domination. It is a future which changes our internecine competition into a constant search for allies to create together what we could not hope to create alone. It is a massive culture shift for a population constrained within these shores. We are no longer in competition with one another but together in competition in the global village. We are about to realise our full potential for synergy.

The Greens are ready for the future. We will give our utmost as we have always done. We will fight exclusion and create synergies wherever we can find them. A bright future beckons and we will share it with everyone who prefers participation to fear of the future. There are no bogeymen in our future. We have a plan, a vision of our country achieving its full potential. We will cooperate with anyone who can commit to making it a reality. We plan to make it inevitable.

Dr Vassallo is chairman of Alternattiva Demokratika - The Green Party.

harry.vassallo@alternattiva.org.mt