Don’t believe the counterfeiters!

The Nationalist Party’s poor green credentials
Ralph Cassar

Having PN executive committee members like Caroline Galea (Sustaining The Green Debate, January 7) and PN candidates for the European Parliament writing articles extolling the supposedly green credentials of the Gonzi government does not make the PN green; not even pale green.

Consulting opinion polls and realising that the middle class have become more aware of green issues must have led the PN to plagiarise AD’s eco-Gozo proposal (with no real progress as yet) to do a volta face and profess the importance of renewable energy while not so long ago Austin Gatt rubbished alternative sources of energy. In the same breath this government is ignoring Maltese scientists and experts in this area who are calling for a strategy different from the government’s Sikka l-Bajda adventure. Indeed, how can one believe a Prime Minister who vowed that he would build a golf course in Xagħra l-Ħamra only to change course at a later stage on the basis of political expediency? The area previously earmarked for a golf course by none other than Lawrence Gonzi himself is still just a national park on paper only.

Hopefully, the NGOs entrusted with running the Majjistral Park will put their expertise to good use to get the government moving. Throwing around buzz words and slogans to dupe the misinformed does not make Dr Gonzi and the PN green. Far from it.

Ms Galea says that “climate change and alternative energy grabbed the limelight in 2008”. They may have grabbed the attention of the strategists at Pietà, but climate change and alternative energy have been on progressive green agendas for at least 20 years now. Wind energy is comparable or even cheaper than fossil fuel energy. As regards bio-fuel, extreme care must be taken not to make staple-foods from which ethanol is made-prohibitively expensive. If a field of corn is priced at the price of conventional fuels what we face is a world with even more poverty, hunger and threats to our collective security.

As for the complaint of “dragging our feet”, as Ms Galea remarked, who has been in government for the last 20 years almost uninterruptedly? The Nationalist government is still dragging its feet. The budget measures on renewable energy are but a drop in the ocean, and are more or less just cosmetic “look we’re doing something” measures. The way forward is first of all fuel efficiency, followed by sustained serious investment and incentives in renewable energy systems.

Another important issue is the urgent overhaul of the public transport system – another case of feet dragging and, worst of all, promises that nothing will change for years on end, obviously because getting at least one more vote than the opposition parties is the all-important target for the PN.

What about the building spree because of the Nationalist government’s decision to rezone whole areas of the country, allowing citizens to be buried alive in their homes – Attard, Swieqi, Sliema, Iklin, Lija, Balzan and many other places – and more than 4,000 permits outside development zones?

What Ms Galea has failed to mention is the regressive “leadership” of the European Peoples’ Party in the European Parliament and of other conservative governments.

The EPP and Angela Merkel, not to mention Silvio Berlusconi, have consistently given in to multinational corporations and diluted measures intended to seriously tackle climate change and pollution.

According to Friends of the Earth Europe’s EU vote watch, although sometimes MEPs vote tactically and “sacrifice” a certain vote in order to win another, the EPP is the worst political group by far when it comes to voting on environmental (including quality of life and pollution) issues. It ranks last of all the political groups, voting in an eco-friendly manner only 21.7 per cent of the time(www.foeeurope.org/euvotewatch/). The facts are crystal clear, propaganda will not change the truth one bit.

At the European level we need Alternattiva Demokratika MEPs to work for progressive, ecologist and visionary policies. Go for the original; not for a very poor counterfeit.

Victor Galea – Segretarju Generali ta’ AD fuq l-2009

(artiklu pubblikat ghall-ewwel darba fil-gazzetta ILLUM)

Jien nahseb li ser tkun sena interessanti.

Probabbli tul ix-xahar ta’ Jannar in-nies jibdew jircievu l-kontijiet tad-dawl u l-ilma. U dan ser ikun ta’ thassib ghall-maggoranza tal-familji bi dhul medju. Izda f’Marzu, imbaghad, ghax ikunu waslu l-elezzjonijiet, il-Gvern ihabbar trahhis fir-rati tad-dawl u l-ilma. Soltu storja nsomma.

F’April jrid jinbidel il-President u jkollna president jew presidenta, li suppost tgawdi ir-rispett ta’ ghadd kbir ta’ Maltin u Ghawdxin. Ma nafx kemm il-gvern nazzjonalista li m’ghandux il-maggoranza assoluta tal-voti tal-poplu Malti u Ghawdxi, jerga’ jissogra jinnomina xi politikant iehor nazzjonalist. Nittama biss li ma jintghazilx xi hadd li jkun maghruf kemm hadem ghal xi partit izda mhux ghall- pajjiz.

F’Gunju wiehed irid izomm f’ghajnejh li l-Maltin u l-Ghawdxin kollha ser ikun mitluba jivvutaw u jaghzlu membri ghal Parlament Ewropew u ghal numru ta’ kunsilli lokali. Hawnhekk il-poplu ser jerga’ jfakkar lill-gvern li huma ghandhom il-poter fuq il-vot taghhom. Allura ma nistaghgibx li nerga’ nara manuvri ma’ xi kategoriji ta’ votanti, bhalma gara bejn Gonzi u dawk li bnew illegalment fl-Armier lejlet l-elezzjoni generali. Lanqas nistaghgeb jekk, minkejja li l-insib spicca fl-1 ta’ Jannar, in-nazzjonalisti jippruvaw jilghabu xi loghba ohra mal-kaccaturi u n-nassaba. Probabbli wkoll naraw xi applikazzjonijiet miftuha ghal-xoghol mal-Gvern u forsi anke xi sorprizi fil-hatriet. L-esperjenza urietna li l-kilba ghal poter taf taghmel minn kollox.

Mill-banda l-ohra, nahseb li nibdew naraw xi rizultati ta’ xi riformi mwieghda qabel l-elezzjoni. Fosthom dik tal-ligi tal-kera, tal-kunsilli lokali u tat-trasport pubbliku. Inhoss li din ta’ l-ahhar hija l-aktar wahda li ser tolqot b’mod immedjat lil ghadd kbir ta’ nies. Ironikament, ir-riforma tat-trasport pubbliku suppost tibda mill-gzira t’Ghawdex, fejn it-trasport pubbliku huwa kwazi inezistenti – allura anke jekk inzidu xi rotta, din tkun okkazzjoni tajba fejn nistghu naqtghu xi zigarella u narawhom fuq l-ahbarijiet tat-tmienja ghax xi hadd jiddeciedi li din l-ahbar ghandha news value. Interessanti naraw kif Austin Gatt u Govanna Debono ser jahdmu flimkien biex ma jirfsux kallijiet.

Bil-haqq insejt ir-riforma tal-MEPA! Bhal hafna tibdiliet ohra li saru huwa inutli li tbiddel il-work practice jekk ma tbiddilx il-work ethics. Nifhem li din ta’ l-ahhar ser tkun bicca xoghol iebsa ghal Lawrence Gonzi, li nehha din ir-responsabbilta’ minn idejn George Pullicino. Id-diffikulta’ tibqa li wara li darrew lin-nies jemmnu li ‘mhux kemm taf imma lil min taf’, issa jriduna nahsbu b’mod iehor. Ma nahsibx li taht tmexxija ta’ gvern immexxi minn partit wiehed wahdu f’kollox, ‘kollox huwa possibbli’.

Nahseb li din is-sena wkoll tibqa is-sena tas-skiet u fomm maghluq fuq affarijiet li suppost isahhu d-demokrazijka f’Malta Ewropeja. In-nies mhux ser jinsew il-manuvri li nkixfu lejn tmiem is-sena li ghaddiet mill-e-mail ta’ Pawlu Borg Oliver fejn talab lill-Gvern jerga’ jibda jghaddi lill-Partit Nazzjonalista informazzjoni personali u sensittiva ta’ nies privati li jkunu marru ghandu b’xi ilment jew talba ghal ghajnuna. Ghalhekk mhux sorpriz li matul din is-sena wkoll, Lawrence Gonzi jibqa’ sieket dwar dan ukoll.

Mill-banda l-ohra, zgur li din is-sena ser nisimghu hafna kliem ta’ ottimizmu kemm mit-tmexxija nazzjonalista u anke mit-tmexxija laburista. Diskorsi.

Fuq livell internazzjonali, nahseb li hemm stennija dwar il-hidma tal-President Amerikan Barak Obama. Nahseb l-akbar stennija hija kif dan l-ewwel President Afro-Amerikan ser jahdem favur il-paci u s-serhan tal-mohh f’dinja mbezza’ mill-kunflitti, traffikar tan-nies f’pajjizi b’mod irregolari, gwerer, guh u ngustizzji.

Nahseb li naraw tibdiliet drastici dwar il-politika Ewropea rigward dak li kien jissejjah is-suq hieles f’dinja globalizzata.

Indunajna issa li s-sinjur aktar ma jkollu aktar irid, xi drabi b’detriment ghal min hu ifqar. Nahseb li fejn qabel il-gvernijiet tal-pajjizi hallew liberta’ assoluta lis-suq b’rizultat li l-ekonomija dinjija falliet; issa naraw li l-gvernijiet ser ikollhom jaghtu kaz aktar il-harsien socjali tac-cittadini taghhom. Allura nistenna li nara Ewropa aktar socjali.

Fuq livell personali, nahseb li ser tkun sena fejn ser inkompli nitghallem hafna affarijiet godda fosthom kif norganizza l-quccija ghat-tifel, li f’Mejju 2009 jaghlaq sena.