To bully a child is extremely bad and harmful.  The damage and pain can last a lifetime unless properly dealt with.  The same too for women who are bullied by aggressive or narcissistic men. 

As a society, we need to change our attitude and emotional maturity if we are to save the fate of those victims all around us.

A particular focus for bullying has also fallen on the foreigners, legal or other, who all too often are defenseless and innocent and have to put up with behavior that they know nothing about and cannot even begin to understand.

Here in Malta we have reached a point where we cannot even open our mouth to defend our rights and protect those of others, without being verbally assaulted.  In a simple message to the owner of a hotel just behind my house, which continues to disturb with the level of noise of an aeroplane from the AC fans, written with some humour, I was told to watch my language.  That is nothing less than bullying.  The neighbours are being harassed by the noise, we have been patiently allowing time to the owner to rectify the situation, as he has partially done and says that he continues to do, but instead of showing some compassion towards us for the disturbance caused, he says I should watch my language.  Had he said that for an earlier message I had sent, under serious frustration after a sleepless night, I would have agreed and indeed I did send an apology.  But this one was just jokingly put with a slight “what’s your excuse today?” to follow as a bit of a nudge because that is the reality we live in today, where we are made to defend ourselves against the ongoing saga around us.

The fact is that harassment and bullying come together, the latter as a self-defence for the former. 

This situation is repeated on a national scale.  Our habitat is under constant attack, our spaces diminishing by the day, our culture and social norms are trampled and manipulated.  And all of this by sub-cultural industries and businesses, endorsed and enabled by powerful persons who give them the green light for reasons we have come to understand well.

We are not alone as a nation to endure this legacy of a not-fit-for-purpose political system.  It is time now for us to re-create a system that can work for the benefit of the country, the family and the individual.  The same is being said for the Climate Emergency, where it is not just about cutting our foot-print but that the whole way we operate our economy needs to change to a better form. 

An example rose in Lebanon, last week, as hundreds of thousands of regular people, from across the religious, political and age divide, came together with one voice and one cause.  Lebanese protesters say all their politicians have stolen tens, or even hundreds, of billions of dollars from them, aided by laws that allow bank secrecy.

“Down with the rule of the mafia,” is spray-painted next to the word “revolution.” The names of every member of the Lebanese parliament are on the blast wall. The word “thief” is written below each name. Nearby, a crowd chants the same, “thieves, thieves.” 

There in Lebanon, the citizens face a stagnating economy.  The country has been ruled by the same religious factions for decades.  But above all, they want a clean sweep of the political system and would prefer to have a secular government not under the influence of religious factions.

Wherever it is, Lebanon or Malta, people are fed-up of being rode rough-shod over.  Their bays and shores, their streets, their jobs, their voices all being dominated by the rich crowd of “investors” who have monopolized our economy and our freedom. 

Scrawled on walls across Beirut in Arabic are the words: “Everyone means everyone.”

“We want them all to go out of the country, but before they go, we need our money,” says 40-year-old Nour Swaidan, pledging to continue the protest. “We need all the money that they stole.”,  as reported by Rebecca Collard, Time Magazine.

Having been bullied into submission by pampering our ego, by the pursuit of money and power, by suppression of journalists, fake assurances of a booming economy and threats to our pension if we don’t cooperate in putting up with the inconvenience of a crowded country on testosterone, we remain victims of an unopposed regime.

We know about the corruption.  We know who is bullying us.  The system is hijacked and we allow thieves and brigands to walk freely. 

Malta faces an unprecedented level of corruption and state intrusion, on a scale that can hardly be believed were it not for the gullible and vain society we have become and the weak opposition party.

We too need to look towards the stalwarts of the Repubblika and the journalists who continue to risk their livelihood and their life, together with those who have stood for justice and others who have been unjustly treated and removed from their office or job, to come together and form a new coalition which can oppose this regime and bring about a meaningful revolution and be elected to run a democratic and fair country.

At this point in time, the first and most important qualification must be integrity and intelligent leadership.  The ability to save the economy from crashing due to the ill-reputation that our country has gained and turn it around into a thriving but sustainable one. 

Democratic rule of law and inclusivity that upholds our human rights, wherever we come from and true freedom of speech.  A new chapter in education and culture, free of discrimination.

We are being trampled, we are being boxed in and handed a ticket stub with a number, to register our complaint.  We receive acknowledgements from the PA with reference to our protest on the latest application to push us aside and tear down what little is left of our environment, whilst being told by the perpetrators to modify our language. Because we now live in a society where there are kings and serfs and an un-specified class of government-made, Jacuzzi-loving, modernists, ready to dance on the head of a pin.

If we remain as we are, without any prospects of new leadership for this country, other nations, considered as dictatorial will see their regime fall, whilst ours will continue to stand. Tables will be turned as the Maltese become once again a nation of emigrants.  We are already heading that way with 25% of our population emigrating.  Let us hope there will be some free country willing to take us in and offer us hope of a better life.