This weekend the Malta Marathon will be held, as usual.  Runners come to participate from several countries including our own island.  The event this year will have a greater importance for some runners who have decided to run the marathon in aid of creating more awareness of the need for freedom of the media.

The non-Governmental organization Il-Kenniesa have informed the public that more than 12 members of Il-Kenniesa, a group of young activists striving to challenge Malta’s political system, will be participating in the 2018 Malta Marathon on 25 February to support The Shift News with the slogan Running for Change.  The participation in the marathon is also in protest at SLAPP and other abuse on the freedom of the media. 

We are now at a point that the interest of one group is overlapping or converging with the interest of another as so many of our rights and values are coming under threat.  This is leading to a common front, united and growing in their reach and in strength.  Co-ordinated actions are striking a nerve and generating an energy that has been missing in the past.

Perhaps previously we relied on Daphne to call out the bad guys and draw attention to the harm caused by ill-judged behavior from public officials and high- profile persons.  Now we see that – as her last words state – it is all around us.  Slowly but surely, as the slack was picked up by one NGO after another and protests began to expose the sentiment of those who previously had remained silent, a mobilization of society is now emerging. 

There are journalists and bloggers from different quarters who are committed to informing the public on current affairs, political changes and false statements and who share their opinions in a balanced manner or in a factually based content, to defend truth and justice and keep check on the government and other powers that in turn have power over society, individuals and even those without a voice. 

Slowly but surely society is realizing that we cannot simply rely on facebook comments or on the independent media or indeed, the Opposition, to generate the anger and the action needed to counter the Labour government’s economic method which is causing irreparable damage to our heritage and environment and to the disregard to the rule of law in Malta.

One thing that people have got used to is the instant feed of information coming from the internet and internet- based apps giving them a real-time access to ideas and events.  Political parties cannot procrastinate on the side, with postponements and long drawn out discussions on what their opinion and position is.  Each and every member of Parliament should already have a defined opinion that they are comfortable with and confident to share.  Collectively, a shared political view is essential to the coherent positions taken by the party. 

In the case of Labour parliamentarians, they simply repeat the mantra coming from above.  But the leadership is swift to come up with radical changes and laws which strike into the psyche of the population and they take the higher ground by being bold. 

In the middle of this extreme state of affairs, the public have begun to take a different road, not the New Way that the opposition had in mind but the National Way that is needed to right the ship in the storm.  The convergence of minds and hearts is enabling a chord to be struck that will eventually rise above the failed and outdated politics of a voting-based system of support to a manifesto of good governance open to all society.

Whoever can create the inclusive value-based organization, set in experience, forward-thinking, seeking justice and open minds will have truly started a movement worth investing time and energy into. 

The stronger participation of the public in recent protests especially since the Panama Papers and the response in the wake of the assassination of journalist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia is evidence that people are becoming more aware of the influence they can have beyond the usual election and also of the need to direct their anger and find a way to express their rejectionat the way corruption and impunity is allowed to go unchecked.  It also indicates that people can change their mind from one election to another and their vote may not be at the expense of their freedom and values.

Making things happen is not easy but most of all it takes belief.  Without it nothing can take hold.  Many believe that the true perpetrators of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder are still to be found out.  Many believe that the free fall in construction permits, including the gratuitous fuel stations on Outside Development Zone land are exceeding the limit of sanity and actually go against the good of the economy.  As does the shameful insistence to go ahead with the Zonqor AUM land to Sadeen.

Without a doubt there are only few people left who believe that Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri should not be removed and few also who do not see that the hospital deal with VGH was a scam from top to bottom.  

Several too are quite clear in their understanding of the harm that is being done to our financial services and gaming industry.  Or of the association with Azerbaijan that is dirtying Malta’s name especially in connection with Pilatus bank.

From this belief a picture is emerging of the impunity all around us and that the country cannot be left to go on as it is.  People are taking lawful action and finding courage to stand up and unite in one voice. 

When the election was called ahead of its time by nearly one year, Daphne had said there must be a reason for this, apart from the favourable indication of the polls.  Once again, Joseph Muscat has announced that he will be leaving office ahead of the next election.  What is prompting this on his part?  Could there be a link running through the cause of the early election and his now early departure? 

Perhaps the catalyst at the time of the election was fear of the negative news by the Panama Papers implicating Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri and the owner of Egrant – hence all the stress on the opposition being negative – to the mobilization being seen today and inevitable revelations coming to light.  Most probably there is an even darker place where this is coming from and we may never know the full extent of it. 

In the meantime, Running for Change is a good place to start to come together and support the journalists and organisations that are committed to defend freedom, truth and justice for all.