The world is not in a good state. Political and military conflicts are the order of the day. Democratic processes are under considerable strain all around the globe. In a few weeks’ time, around 220 million US citizens will have the opportunity to choose their next president. I do not recall an election in the US where the stakes have been so high. Yet whereas up to some months ago many treated the Trump candidacy as a joke, Donald Trump appears to have a reasonably good chance of making it to the Oval Office come January 20 of next year.
Many regard the US as the beacon of freedom and democracy. Yet, both the primary campaigns and the presidential campaign seemed to verge, at times, on the ludicrous. Next to them, our electoral campaign in Malta is a very civilised affair.
Trump’s popularity seems to stem from the fact that he is the anti-establishment candidate. For this reason, he trashed the other candidates for the Republican Party nomination. The fact that despite all his gaffes he is still in the running leaves me flabbergasted.
The tendency to support anti-establishment parties is growing in many other countries too. The Austrians appear heading towards reversing the result of the May elections (which were annulled by the High Court) and electing Norbert Hofer, of the Freedom Party, as their next president.
Acceptance of persons who are different represents a conscious and unconditional choice to treat and respect others in the same way that I respect and treat myself
The Freedom Party is a right wing populist group campaigning on an anti-immigrant and Eurosceptic platform. Parties such as the Austrian Freedom Party have also done well in Germany. Only a few weeks ago, Chancellor Angela Markel’s Christian Democratic Union was overtaken by the right wing populist Alternative für Deutschland as the second largest party in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Federal elections in Germany are due sometime between August and October of next year.
The French will also choose their next president next year, in April and May. Latest opinion polls favour right wing former prime minister Alain Juppé and extreme right wing National Front leader Marine Le Pen making it to the second round, though also predicting that in such case, Juppé would triumph.
Closer to home, in Italy last June, Beppe Grillo’s anti-establishment 5 Stelle party won key mayoral races in the capital Rome and Turin. Virginia Raggi captured 67 per cent of the Rome vote. 5 Stelle won in 19 out of 20 towns and cities in which its candidates stood for mayor. Furthermore, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi seriously risks losing the referendum which he is calling to endorse constitutional reform approved by Parliament earlier this year.
Thankfully, back home we have so far managed to avert the growing trend to back right wing, populist or anti-establishment parties. One possible reason may be that the political parties have, from time to time, adopted positions that one might label as populist. In a bid to encompass as wide a spectrum as possible, the Labour Party transformed itself into a moviment prior to the 2013 elections whereas the Nationalist Party is currently working on setting up its koalizzjoni for the next election.
In Malta, I find it difficult to speak of the left and the right in terms of political ideology. Both parties are more or less mainstream centre yet sometimes veer to the right or to the left on a particular issue. The fact that both are more or less anchored in the centre of the spectrum ensures that, at least, the vast majority of the Maltese electorate continue to vote for the established parties.
This has minimised the risk that an extreme right wing party, for example, manages to garner significant support. In the 2008 general election, Azzjoni Nazzjonali won less than 1,500 votes. However, this does not deter small right wing groups from seeking to ferment populist sentiment particularly on issues relating to race and religion.
They manage to succeed to an extent because prejudices are deep rooted and sometimes mistakenly linked to a particular stereotype of what it means to be Maltese. Unfortunately, when referring to diversity, we often stop at speaking merely about tolerance. Tolerance is a passive attitude almost like, well we have to lump it because we cannot do otherwise. Acceptance of persons who are different is something different altogether. It represents a conscious and unconditional choice to treat and respect others in the same way that I respect and treat myself. It signifies using the same measure for all human beings irrespective of whom they are or where they come from. It also implies allowing the other to enjoy and exercise his or her inalienable rights and freedoms as a human being.
I, therefore, add my support to that of others in favour of the unhindered right of Muslims in this country to practice their religious beliefs and to do so even collectively. I find it very difficult to comprehend how, following a meeting attended by a substantial number of residents, the St Paul’s Bay local council unanimously objected to a planning application for the change of use and sanctioning of a garage into a prayer room in Buġibba.
What led the Council to conclude that the proposed prayer room was inadequate for worship? In what way would such a place of worship hinder and reduce public order? To claim that parking problems would increase as a result was the cherry on the cake.
Every year, in summer, we have to bear up with many inconveniences that are the direct consequence of the celebration of the ‘religious’ feasts in our towns and villages. Sometimes, the entire village centre is closed to traffic for a week or more; streets are also closed to traffic to allow band marches and processions to take place. Parking spaces and pavements are occupied by feast decorations, sometimes even for a couple of weeks or more. There are loud fireworks and bells that peal at all times. Moreover, sometimes even major roads are closed to traffic to allow the letting off of fireworks. Furthermore, Catholic religious services such as funerals and marriages celebrated in quite a few churches also cause considerable traffic and parking problems.
To then claim that allowing a small Muslim community to congregate for worship in a garage that would be transformed into a prayer room would hinder public order and add to parking problems is really absurd. I hope that the local council was not merely bowing to pressure from the ‘substantial number of residents’ present for the meeting.
Thankfully, Mario Mallia and the Dominican community have sought to redress this by offering the premises of their school to the Muslim community to congregate for worship. It was a bold move, bound to meet some resistance though surely welcomed by the overwhelming though silent majority of Maltese.
We cannot allow a small bunch of bigots to appear to speak for the rest of us. Moreover, we also need to speak out louder in defence of our values and freedoms lest we too become contaminated by the bug that is continuing to spread in so many other countries.