Could you give me a definition of civil society with reference to Malta?

It is the voice of the average citizen defending interests outside the officially sanctioned institutions of the State – the political parties and the trade unions. It manifests itself through social and political campaigns to defend and promote interests it feels are being ignored or trampled on by the State and big business. It mediates in the space between private interests and public institutions, and would include non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as the Moviment tal-Ambjent but also ad hoc grass roots organisations such as the Movement Against the Verdala Golf Course, which then mobilised existing institutions such as the Jesuits and got the Archbishop off the fence. Another ad hoc organisation would be the movement that militated against the Gozo airstrip some years ago.

You have said the role of civil society has become more urgent today. Why is that?

Malta is increasingly caught in the grip of the global market economy, which the European Union promotes. We live at a time when multi-nationals are becoming increasingly more powerful, fuelled by the capitalist generating power of the US, which controls the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organisation. The EU also promotes the free market, which gained legitimacy with the collapse of the Soviet Union, was built up in the 1980s and 1990s, and now rides roughshod over the interests of the common citizen. Big business consumes the environment with the expansion of industry and tourism. The free market favours free enterprise and privatisation and removes cushions. It leads to fusions of companies, the bigger ones swallowing the smaller, and promotes the interests of company shareholders at the cost of service to the consumer: corners are cut, jobs are axed.

Here in Malta as elsewhere, one of the areas the pressure of capital favours is the building industry, with the ensuing disastrous effect on the environment. The Maltese government is closely linked to big capital in the building industry, and repeatedly attempts to push through unpopular projects, which are then opposed by civil society, at times successfully. In recent years we have had conflicts over the new Hilton, Ta’Cenc and the tourist complex project on the perimeter of Munxar, adjacent to St Thomas Bay. The latter campaign was successfully blocked, and the Italian-Maltese consortium behind the project was forced to back down after fierce opposition from civil society. Also, the local Siggiewi grass roots got their way and blocked a proposed cement factory from being built there.

How is civil society becoming more of a force to be reckoned with?

There is an increasingly powerful movement of agitation by NGOs in most industrialised countries, as a reaction to the growing impact of trans-national corporations and big capital. With the help of modern technology, such as the Internet, NGOs have formed themselves into strong networks through which they keep in touch and coordinate action. The pattern in Europe is for NGO networks to put pressure on recalcitrant governments to reform laws through the EU. Governments try as hard as possible to ignore NGOs, which are seen as a hindrance to “progress”, but ironically the very organisation which has fuelled the problems coming from free enterprise, for civil society in Europe, provides part of the solution, by stipulating that NGOs must be given a statutory place on policy making boards. The EU requires governments to create a legal framework for national NGOs. This is happening in Malta if very slowly. The white paper for the Act to regulate NGOs has been gathering dust for months, preventing most NGOs from accessing EU funds, but it will eventually have to be put into force.

Similarly, when local environmentalists’ protests against abusive hunters fell on deaf ears, they simply turned to the EU, and we are now informed the Union is sending a mission to study “the slaughter of birds”. Besides NGOs, any individuals who feel wronged can appeal to the European Court of Justice. I know of at least two cases of people who felt wronged by MEPA in Kirkop after Multigas was set up in the periphery of their village. The town council is appealing the decision on the grounds of a conflict of interest of the chairman of the MEPA appeal board, who threw out the local council’s protest.

You have been coming to Malta since 1956. How has civil society changed?

I wrote an article in the 1970s about why Maltese asked so few questions, after an English teacher involved in teacher training pointed this out to me. My answer was that throughout history, the Knights, the Church, the British colonial regime and political parties had taught the Maltese to be passive, to obey. People still don’t ask enough questions at university, but they have learnt to stand up for themselves. I have seen a gradual explosion of civil society as the pressure on the environment has grown. There is more to complain about and there is more freedom to do so. NGOs are able to harness people’s energy and co-ordinate action. This is what led to the Verdala success story. Now the Verdala experience can be shifted to other causes because activists have gained expertise and streamlined their networks. If you look back over the last 20 years, you can see it was the NGOs who put the environment at the top of the political agenda where it is today. The NGOs are creating a new cadre of young politicians. In fact a lot of the members of Alternattiva Demokratika are former members of NGOs.

How is Malta being affected by market forces?

It is most manifest in the enthusiastic promotion of consumerism, feeding the free market and the increase of consumer durables and pressure on citizens to buy, buy, buy. What strikes me when I come to Malta is the enormous advertising hoardings that blot out scenes of countryside and inveigle people to buy more and more. You see them on the way from the airport, on the coast road between Pembroke and Ghallis, on the roundabout outside St Paul’s Bay, and many are plastered on farmhouses. You had the same thing happening in Spain at one time, but after the government was persuaded that the hoardings were polluting the vision of the country, the hoardings were dismantled. I’d like to see that happen here. The free market has encouraged the acquisition of status toys such as huge houses, fabulous cars, far more powerful than is needed on the road. Malta has the highest percentage of Ferraris per capita in the world.

The ubiquitous four-wheel drive is totally unsuited to Malta, with the amount of petrol it guzzles and its bulkiness. Fish farming despoils the sea, hotels built by the sea, and pleasure boats all contribute to the general pollution. Around every town periphery there are dumps. With just two million lira, the government could clean up Malta, and maybe even make money on scrap collected. I am also very bothered by the way towns have sacrificed their identity to HSBC, allowing it to sponsor signs for their towns with their logo.

How far is a strong civil society possible in tiny Malta where the family and the friends of friends network is so strong?

The network certainly hampers the ability to act freely and cuts into solidarity. The patronage system is based on dependency relations and makes people vulnerable. I know that people employed by government were afraid to protest against Multigas; others who worked with ST Microelectronics, which favoured the station, were also loathe to put their names down.

There is still the perception in Malta that this is the way things are – that if you come out in favour or against something, you will be victimised. If you are given something, does it make you beholden? In this sense, what is the significance of police cars donated by Daewoo?

What has changed is that patronage has shifted. It is no longer the Church, or the doctor or notary. They are not as powerful as they used to be. Peddling goes through the party channel now. Political parties still have influence; relatives still hold sway. I would like to think people are defying the duopoly by voting for a third party but the latter don’t have the power of patronage that MPs of the big parties have.

Since so much is patronage based, people don’t vote for Alternattiva Demokratika because they think they can’t get anything out of them. This is clear when you consider that when patronage wasn’t an issue as in the recent MEP elections, a huge number of votes went to them. I personally think a large number of people will give their vote again to AD but the threshold limit is a problem that could see them still kept out.

How do you see the future of civil society in Malta and elsewhere?

I am reasonably optimistic. The voice of civil society is going to increase because Malta is going to be obliged to provide the legal framework that gives NGOs a voice. Secondly, the cooperation on a transnational basis with other NGOs increases the power base and extent of expertise, information and tactics, and this enables them to counter some of the problems created by Capitalist organisations. An example is the way the Movement against the Verdala Golf Course got the support at EU level and from the Holy See. In Spain, civil society brought the issue of fish farming before Parliament thanks to the intervention of fellow Greens in the EU. In the same, problems in the Italian fishing industry were brought to Parliament with the backing of European Green NGOs.

In Europe, groups against genetically modified products successfully blocked their use on the continent.

Beyond the EU you have an international organisation of groups fighting for social justice called the International Social Forum that tries to combat the ill effects of global capitalism. One example of their success includes the prevention of the sinking of the Brent Spa oil rig in the Atlantic by Shell.

Finally, I think the voice of civil society will be increasingly listened to and will accomplish feats. The little fish can defend themselves well if they learn to school together.