The die is cast, alea iacta est, said Julius Caesar as he led his army across the river towards Rome. In the referendum last week, the dice were loaded against the conservation of nature and spring hunting is now back on track.
The post-mortem on the losing side began immediately after the result was announced, dissecting the spokespersons lethargic voters, the polls, the negativity of the word No and lack of respect for hunters. Gozo received its share of the flak.
In the end, a determining factor was Joseph Muscat’s support for the hunters. At one point he even accused Simon Busuttil of being a closet No to try and draw political lines between them. The Labour Party jacked up the Yes vote, while the Opposition buried its head in the sand and stayed out of the fray.
There is a huge difference between a campaign led by NGOs, as opposed to political parties. The parties are experts in campaigning and marketing. They know how to target the grass roots and to get out the vote at the crucial moment, with years of experience at their fingertips. Labour activists were reported to be chasing people on the day to go and vote Yes. The party’s wheels were turning.
Labour activists were reported to be chasing people on the day to go and vote Yes
Had this been a tennis match, one side played with the latest graphite racket and the other held an old racket with a wooden frame. It was a race with one side riding a lightweight racing bicycle and the other riding one of those heavy old bikes with a basket in the front.
In spite of this, there has never been any environmental cause firmly supported by 124,214 people here in Malta, which is the total number who voted No to spring hunting.
This figure does not include the supporters of the No camp who did not vote. It also excludes many foreign residents who were sorely disappointed that they could only vote in the local council elections, but not in the referendum.
The truth is that the hunting lobby is believed to influence their members on which party to vote for. The pro-environment lobby tries to be politically balanced. Criticism of a government action often includes a stab at the hapless Opposition for good measure, and vice versa. Most politicians therefore pay more attention to hunters, who carry direct political weight.
With or without political party influence, the lobby against spring hunting persuaded nearly half the voters to support an environmental issue. That is a big achievement.
It would be a mistake to think that people who voted for conservation will now go away quietly. In good time, after wounds have been licked and tears shed, the memory of this narrow defeat may turn up the heat.
Younger generations care more about environmental issues than older people. Voting for conservation and the protection of nature lies on the right side of history. Human needs come first, but shooting birds in spring is a hobby and not a necessity.
People grumble about environmental issues but then expect others to take action. In my experience with environmental NGOs, all too often I have heard volunteers being told, “you should have done that”, or “you should do this”.
This changed last week, and I hope that this trend will continue. In this referendum, 124,214 people decided to stand up and take action themselves, even travelling home from overseas to do so.
They were almost enough to bring about change, but not quite. The polls were not necessarily wrong. It is likely that the majority are against spring hunting, as the results showed. Perhaps people should also have been asked: Will you actually make your way to a polling booth and vote?
The referendum campaigns were more passionately played out than those for the local council elections. The Nationalist slogan ‘Nagħmlu differenza’ (‘We make a difference’) was a damp squib. Labour’s ‘Malta ottimista’ (‘Optimistic Malta’) was catchier.
True to form, the Prime Minister attempted to mock the Opposition leader with ‘Mr Transparency’. It is hardly news that this government does not care much for transparency, but attempting to twist it into an insult pushed us into new territory.
The Labour campaign smacked of general elections, not local elections. Health and energy projects were strategically inaugurated over the last few weeks, even though these have absolutely nothing to do with local councils. Scandals in Gozo and elsewhere were hoarded in the government’s war chest, to be whisked out for the occasion.
The timing of the Italian Prime Minister’s visit was like trying to impress the playground by showing off friends in high places. Just imagine Angela Merkel or David Cameron asking Matteo Renzi for a public hug as the highlight of the last day of a national campaign.
The Opposition was not invited to the inauguration of the interconnector, just in case some of the sparkle should fall on Simon Busuttil by mistake. Lawrence Gonzi was a safer bet.
Will Gonzi also be invited to inaugurate the new Parliament next month? After all, that was a firm promise made by Muscat before the last general election.
petracdingli@gmail.com