Over on the social media battlegrounds, Nationalist Party whip David Agius has girded his loins and marched out to vanquish all that is terrible. For Agius, one of the evils threatening our world seems to be the bezzun or baguette offered by Air Malta to its economy passengers.
The baguette has replaced the in-flight meals – or those spam-like dollops of meat drowning in gloop, which used to be served before. The substitution is obviously a common sense measure and part of Air Malta’s cost-cutting exercise. Judging by the way Air Cyprus has bitten the dust you would think everybody would appreciate the fact that legacy airlines such as Air Malta are facing a very difficult future and that a bit of cost-cutting is in order. Not so Agius, who continues posting photos of bread rolls and slices of cheese on his timeline and bemoaning the state of penury to which the airline has been reduced.
While he continues to whip himself up into a frenzy of indignation about the size of his bread rolls, Agius has little to say about what is arguably a more significant matter – the referendum about hunting in spring.
Oh yes – there’s the predictable whining about Joseph Muscat politicising things (as if there are issues that are not politicised here) – but that’s it.
No bold statement as to what Agius thinks about the referendum – whether he is going to align himself with those who want to stop the massacre of birds or those who want to continue doing so. In this, Agius is representative of his party – or of what remains of it. For some time now the PN has become the ‘No Position Party’ – waffling and hesitating and resisting taking a clear stand on any matter of controversy.
If voters are apathetic and pass up the opportunity to put a stop to unsustainable practices and scant respect of the law - there will be no stopping further abuses
The divorce referendum, same-sex unions, irregular immigration, unfettered development – you name it – there is not one instance where the PN has not hemmed and hawed and fudged and refused to be pinned down.
Even the famous battle cry against golden passports and those who wanted to sell the Maltese soul has been diluted to “Well, all right, as long as you pay us more and some of us get to rake in some commission and professional fees”. That’s been the general gist of the PN – showing as much backbone as an amoeba with notably less vim.
The referendum about spring hunting is an opportunity to change that. Despite all the fear-mongering and doom-laden warnings about referenda being used as a threat to minority rights and to stop traditional pastimes, it is nothing of the sort. We will be voting on whether to stop hunting for the two weeks of spring when birds migrate to breed.
There are a thousand reasons for that – chief among them being the fact that spring hunting, as exercised in Malta, is unsustainable, and that the combined efforts of the former and the present administrations have ensured that the law enforcement unit has been dismantled and is now practically non-existent.
If it involves the removal of any impositions – it is only the imposition of lawlessness by some hunters on the law-abiding majority of citizens who appreciate the countryside and uphold the principle of sustainability. Simple, no?
The most practical effect of the referendum result will be about the immediate future of spring hunting, but in reality it is a gauge of how people feel about the environment and about unfettered power. Make no mistake – if voters are apathetic and pass up the opportunity to put a stop to unsustainable practices and scant respect of the law – there will be no stopping further abuses. This much should be clear both to the electorate and to the fence-sitters at Pietà.
There is much more at stake than is immediately apparent. The Coalition Against Spring Hunting has worked unstintingly to collect the signatures necessary for the holding of a referendum – an expression of the democratic will of the electorate. Passing up the opportunity to vote against bullets and in favour of birds would be a tremendous pity with far-reaching implications.
cl.bon@nextgen.net.mt