Labour's manifestation of discontent

I have a strange feeling that the conservative forces of this country are not quite elated with the fact that, like any other democratic country, the Labour Party is inviting to a public manifestation, as is its right, those who want to vent their frustration against the present state of affairs. Sometimes I wonder what they really expect when the people's concerns, ideas and opinions are continually being ignored.

Do these "forces" expect the workers to stay mum while they see their earnings being squeezed further due to sky high inflation? Do they expect the voters to applaud their total mismanagement of the utility bills issue, where not only their, but also the opinion of all civil society was run roughshod over?

Do these people expect the thousands who work in tourism to just sit pretty while they see our product such as Buġibba in total shambles? Do these editors and coloumnists really believe the government is handling the recession well when at a time of huge cash flow problems this same government abruptly removes all sort of subsidies leading to increases for everyone across the board at a time when everyone and his brother least affords and when the future seems so uncertain for so many workers?

What do these conservative politicians expect when they took so many people for a ride? They promised a revamped Ta' Qali and then stalled the project, they promised a POYC and then after the election stopped short of continuing the scheme which now seems to have been handled too fast for obvious electoral expediency.

Go workers were promised jobs and now they're under the axe, women were promised a year without the need to pay tax only to find a "ceiling" after the election. We were promised a "smart women" programme which seems to have stopped; shipbuilding workers were promised work and instead they were kicked out after a supposedly providential contract turned fatal.

Subsidies before the election were a blessing now they've become a curse; ODZ had to remain untouched and yet we have seen continuous development here under one excuse or another; we had to witness togetherness and we are seeing a Prime Minister ignoring not only the citizens of this country but also those closest to him; we were promised a new way of doing politics and we are lumped with the power station contract which is a monument to lack of transparency and which destroyed any green credentials GonziPN might still have had. We were promised the removal of the "infamous'" 33 "new" taxes Alfred Sant had supposedly introduced and instead they were increased; people were promised houses and apartments in San Lawrenz, only to be told that the project was too much of a luxury now; we were promised sound finances and instead we are back to square one with a soaring deficit and a huge €350 million ħofra, we were promised a strong pair of hands on the rudder and we are lumped with a boat full of cracks with water seeping in and with all the sailors rowing in a different direction while the "captain" looks on, helplessly and hopelessly doing and saying close to nothing!

The PN have had it too good for too long now, treating people and most especially their staunchest supporters like mere and worthless chattel, giving them false hopes of a better tomorrow while banking on someone else's blunders to win an election. Clearly and fortunately that is no longer the situation now and whether the conservatives like it or not the tide is turning.

This is precisely why many will this Sunday use Labour's democratic tool of organising a public manifestation to show their displeasure at the direction GonziPN has given this country.