This new year 2022 is set to be a one of great change lasting through the whole year and beyond.  Astrological forecasters predict a “radical change of direction” mostly resulting from a shift in consciousness.

Here on our spec of an island, we seem to miss even the influences of the stars and the planets, since we are more inclined to follow the sun god Robert Abela.  Time and again Malta bucks the general trend in humanity and development, defies the mind and the spirit and builds on a spectrum of slogans and propaganda that define what we should be thinking and doing and where we go in the coming year.

In simple terms, the easiest way out of everything is the one that attracts the most following.  Whatever affords the most permissive life-style, away from the interfering eye of responsibility and good measure, is the one that gets the vote.  Anything that jars with this concept is cleverly brushed aside, camouflaged and packaged by some media pontifications and the calming influence of our own Prime Minister who disregards the nation in favour of the greater investment into people’s unconsciousness. 

New year’s day is reserved for surreptitious demolishing of balconies on the Barracuda building in Balluta.  It enforces the power of belief that all is safe and sound, continuity enshrined and all the wealth to be created is in the hands of the Labour autocratic government.   The picture is imprinted into the subconscious that this government does whatever it likes, that the Planning Authority is the same beast without change and the forecast is that Labour will once again prevail in the coming elections and life can go on in whichever direction we choose to take it irrespective of external realities.

Consultations on the future of our country’s fortune are a thing of the past.  Time is a perception.  How long Malta stays in the grey-list is no more of an issue than adding a few vegetarian items to a restaurant’s menu.   Some people may want it.  The majority couldn’t give the slightest mind to it. 

Down at Police Headquarters, the same task is at hand.  Avoiding reality and consciousness as a daily thought for the day.  The effort was so well ingrained into the mind of the Commissioner and his deputies that now it has become a natural inclination, with creative bursts that convince the soul of the moral good of being a tool in the hands of impunity.  That is their mission.  That is their moral duty, to serve the government and not the people, who are themselves the servants of the powerful and the force of re-election. 

Beneath the extensive organization, calls for change strive to enter into the minds of the uneasy, of the saddened and those who grieve for a new structure and path to real growth and consciousness.  The consistent pleas for justice are like small stones of patience that are added to each time that Konrad’s chaotic deals are revealed in more detail or foreign powers call the country and public figures to task about the corruption and dishonor surrounding them. 

One of these days the sun god will enter the dungeon and find that patience has run out, that the stone has become a boulder and that it is soon coming crashing and hurtling towards the silence. 

If the Commissioner of Police and the Prime Minister are to fear something in 2022, then let them fear their own silence.   How much longer can they hold back the momentum of protest?  In time, as with the momentum generated in the minds of people, at the choice of becoming members of the European Union, the people will start to see that they are in a backward place, different in step to other countries who have gone for the mind, for consciousness and radical change. 

They will feel like a third country, still clinging to outdated beliefs on the many values that have become embraced by other more developed states.  They will sense that our nation is shrouded with injustice.  They will see the women who are killed and feel embarrassed.  The effects of climate change will become palpable and their pockets will start to empty.  Their life will be compromised by having to work more and more to afford less and less.  They will get sick of the corruption, of the need to have a minister intervene for them on every little thing.  Memories of when life was easy and friendly, kind and satisfying will come to surface and strike a chord of sadness to where we are, over time.

It is not that there were no problems or shortcomings in the past but at least then there was a community, a sense of opportunity and real progress coming our way and divisiveness was not endemic.  The respect afforded to our leaders and our country gave us security and peace of mind.  Even today, in the midst of all the chaos, the voices that remain manage to achieve so much more than the empty vessels.  Great sacrifices are being made by individuals and groups that unite and defend the truth and are committed to fighting for justice. 

This will continue in the coming year.  The silence will be broken. 

People will start to travel again and get out of their bubble of construction permits for 120 apartments with pool.  They will long for some fresh air and nature where children can learn to be themselves again, instead of being groomed into products of consumerism.  They will see that the world has moved on to another model and how old fashioned and out-dated their unsustainable life-style has become.  At that point, the Maltese spirit of competition and ambition takes over and the call for a new way of living on this cemented rock and bird-less sky will prevail. 

In no time at all, things will change.  Whichever party can lead that change will become the natural leader.  End hunting, dismantle the PA collusion, create meaningful plans to combat climate change, re-structure education and work.  Become responsible actors in the international order whether in our duty towards immigrants at sea or human trafficking.  Let justice be done with all victims of construction incidents and especially with political crimes.  Clean up the filthy mess of Electrogas and the hospitals’ contracts.  Give the police commissioner the kick he needs to stop sucking his thumb and get out of kindergarten.  Start fresh with our mental hospital and have proper services in hand to provide for the cancer patients here in Malta, for the drug users and the marginalized.  Save Gozo.  Make it a symbol of the new era by abolishing all that is wrong with the way things are now.

Then tackle the economy with sound policies, re-structure banking and remove the Governor of Central bank and restore the battered and trampled name of this country, which we were once proud of. And pray.