I spent last week in Edinburgh, Newcastle and Durham. As it happens, all three have very popular universities, with many buildings integrated within the urban fabric. Yes, if proof were needed, universities are compatible with historic buildings and town centres. A rural location is not a prerequisite for success, contrary to ideas being peddled in some quarters.
The rally in Valletta the Saturday before last, protesting against the construction of a university on rural land at Żonqor, was the largest environmental protest ever held in Malta so far. The concerns driving the participants reached well beyond Żonqor. A call for good governance was at its heart.
It would have been strange had the event been cancelled due to the government indicating that the timing was not ideal. After all, it was a civil society protest against a government action.
This was, however, the response of another rally which was called off by the Moviment Marsaskala Magħquda. This was intended to support government plans to destroy the last remaining open fields at Żonqor, a very different motive for a show of hands.
The Prime Minister hinted that the Marsascala group should wait until other sites have been examined. Perhaps there was an underlying concern that numbers at this ‘counter-rally’ might be lower than the Save Żonqor group, thereby weakening the government’s hand.
If the Moviment Marsaskala Magħquda was truly lobbying for the Żonqor site, how were they content to wait until other sites are identified? If anything, this should have made them more determined to hold their rally, not to postpone it.
Perhaps they felt reassured that Żonqor is actually the chosen site anyway, in spite of the ongoing site selection exercise, so there is no need for a rally. Or perhaps they were just swayed by the government’s preference to call it off, and they obliged. So much for the spirit of citizens’ protest.
In Durham last week, an exhibition on the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta displayed a 1216 copy of the charter held in the Durham Cathedral archives. This charter established the notion that all authority, including that of the king, can be limited by law. It was the result of political engagement and rebellion by a group of medieval barons, who pressured the king to grant a few concessions to his subjects.
The Prime Minister said he wants to compromise, which seems to mean still developing fields at Żonqor while adding a bit of land elsewhere
The exhibition explored the theme of political revolt and the long history of the contested identity of the citizen, right until the present day. Over time, the notion of citizenship has been extended from elite groups to ordinary people, securing political participation, rights and liberties. The exhibition asked who has the right to speak and act against authority, and whether there are limits on what citizens can say or do.
A lecture by Prof. John Watts, organised for this anniversary, examined political revolts in medieval England after the Magna Carta. Ordinary working people, known as the commons, occasionally revolted against perceived injustice, or what was considered to be illegitimate action or rule. Medieval revolts were brutally suppressed, but still their effect did cause the regime to change tack over time.
Political results from the medieval commons were, however, weak, as unrest mainly fermented into action on broad concerns over injustice or bad rule, and generally issues reflecting the interests of the commons as a whole, not specific interests.
This thought reminded me of the string of environmental protests held in Malta over the years. The more successful initiatives have tended to be narrowly focused on specific issues, such as construction at Ramla l-Ħamra, Ħondoq ir-Rummien or Ta’ Ċenċ. Concerns over spring hunting recently mobilised half the voters, in spite of political party support for the hunting lobby.
Broader concerns, important as they may be, are likely to fall on deaf ears. A street protest against the rationalisation of the development zones got nowhere, and another rationalisation exercise is now in the offing. A protest in 2013 flagging general environmental concerns seems to have had no effect at all.
Another example is the latest Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development, known as Sped. This central document now resembles a kind of Magna Carta for the continued rule of the construction industry in Malta, with a few small concessions granted to the environment. The government has ignored concerns expressed by the public and is ploughing ahead regardless.
Following the protest rally, the Prime Minister said he wants to compromise, which seems to mean still developing fields at Żonqor while adding a bit of land elsewhere. He suggested that this should be acceptable to everyone except ‘absolutists’.
An interesting choice of word. Absolutism is associated with political rule based on complete and unlimited power centralised in one figure or authority. A famous absolutist ruler was King Louis XIV of France, who said “L’état, c’est moi” (I am the State).
Civil society street rallies and marches are the opposite of absolutist politics. They are a public expression of citizens’ demands and expectations for political participation.
It is ironic that the requests of the Żonqor protesters, specifically to publish the contract signed with Jordanian investors and to protect the countryside at Żonqor, were shrugged off just as the public relations machine of the government organised a series of ‘Gvern li jisma’’ (a government that listens) meetings.
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