Yesterday, the country was treated to the second surprise announcement regarding the legislation of civil and fundamental rights in the space of less than a week.
We certainly could not agree more with both proposed pieces of legislation, one of which, yesterday’s, could be considered as quite novel, and the other that begs the question of what had taken the government so long to wake up and smell the coffee.
Both could also be considered to have been knee-jerk reactions but these are the kind of knee-jerk reactions that we can live with, and have more of.
That is because in both cases – the first addressing homophobia and violence against homosexuals following recent incidents that garnered a protest and substantial media attention, and yesterday’s announcement of four new modern day civil rights related to internet freedoms that came just after yesterday’s ACTA protest – the government appears to have paid due heed to public sentiment and acted accordingly.
If it takes public outcry to legislate for civil and, in the case of violence against homosexuals, human rights, then so be it and let there be more of it by all means.
There is ample evidence that civil society as well as individuals in Malta are becoming more active and proactive, possibly fortified by the recent divorce debate in which so many people from either side of the moral divide found the courage to stand up and be counted for what they believe in.
It was only some 18 months ago that we had remarked on this editorial page that, with the exception of a handful of NGOs, people on the whole are quite reticent about speaking their minds, at least in such a way that would see them standing up and being counted.
Many others, we pointed out, are simply too conservative to stand up and be counted, scared as they are of being perceived as running against the grain of the status quo, or of being pigeon-holed as they are when they do speak out.
Others, given the country’s strong patron client system, are afraid that if they speak out and upset this or that politician, they would lose political favour or that certain relative won’t get that job s/he is aiming for after graduating.
But that all appears to be changing and it is the people who are taking the great strides in that direction. For example, agree or disagree with a drug classification system or the decriminalisation of cannabis, most would agree that the thought of the crowds present in Valletta recently for a demonstration along such lines a few years back would have been an absurd idea. Nor would many have imagined that so many people from so many walks of life would have stood up to be counted in the highly polarised divorce debate. The results of that, truth be told, were very surprising indeed in many respects.
When people stand up to be counted, politicians stand up and listen and the number of people who stand up to be counted is directly proportionate to the amount of listening that will be done.
The world over, and Malta is by no stretch of the imagination any different, the political class is quite content to preserve the status quo. It is, after all, in the establishment’s interest to retain a system, which is beneficial to it, up and running, and keeping the people as silent as possible about the real ills affecting their country.
It is only when the public makes its voice heard forcefully and en masse that politicians are compelled to respond, and if taking issues to the streets is the only way for politicians to respond and react, then let there be more of it.