The Malta Independent
Labour is organising a national protest next Sunday. It has not only the right to do so but the obligation.
Those who argue that such protests serve no purpose and should not be held, probably prefer a dictatorial regime even if dressed as a pseudo democracy. Those who maintain that such protests scare investment probably forget that investments thrives in a democratic environment and that the right to protest, peacefully and within the limits of legality, is the essence of free expression which is the bulwark of democracy.
Certainly government cannot expect to be applauded for being forced by its own past excesses to roll back our standard of living. Certainly no one pretends that the electorate should not even scream with pain when fiscal measures hurt.
Arguments that Labour and the GWU should not protest because a quarter of a century ago they had agreed to a total leave and public holiday entitlement of 26 days per annum which is still 10 days less than what is being proposed even after reduction` in public holidays entitlement as announced at last budget, are out of order.
Twenty five years ago my standard of living was far lower than what it is today. I used to travel by bus to save on car expenses whereas today`s youth expect a car on their 18th birthday as if it is a God given right. Comparing to situations so far back in time is illogical. Politicians should be careful that what they promise they give and what they give is and remains affordable. What is given is difficult to take back and comparisons to pre-war conditions are useless except for historical purposes.
However when protesting one has to be clear what one is protesting about and what is the ultimate objective of the protest.
It is best to take an analogy from the medical field. Take a patient who is suffering from a smoking induced lung malady. Overtly or covertly he has a right to protest over his own weakness in assuming such an unworthy vice. He has a right to protest against the friends who induced him into the habit, against the tobacco companies who promoted smoking temptations, and against the authorities for not doing enough (in the past) to discourage smoking.` But certainly the patient has no right to protest against the doctor who is prescribing painful medicine in an effort to save the patient`s life.` It is right to protest the causes as much as it is wrong to protest the cures.
So Labour`s protest should not be so much against the measures being proposed per se, whether these are what the government initiated, what the Unions have secretly counter-offered or some other package that may be agreed. Adopting the cure even if painful, is inevitable unless one wants to risk greater damage.
However there is so much to protest about the causes that landed us in such economic mess; a mess that is forcing us to roll back many of the measure so frivolously` given in the past for cheap political gain and which ultimately have transformed themselves into massive deficits and debt that is threatening the stability of our financial structures.
Let`s protest against so much money given in useless subsidies rather than in effective restructuring of our shipyards.` Let`s protest about sale at hugely discounted prices of our national assets.` Let`s protest against the monstrous waste of money in building San Raffaele / Tal-Qroqq / Mater Dei Hospital so much out budget and out of time. Let`s protest about so much money wasted on useless road infrastructure which still left us with a fourth world country road network.
Let`s protest against government giving wrong signals to the economy in its role as the largest employer by leaving the public sector so much excessively staffed and for permitting economic pay packages that do not reflect the excessive security of tenure enjoyed in the public sector thus promoting a market driven force for pressure to be made on vulnerable politicians to create artificially public sector jobs for the boys.
Let`s protest the money no problem culture that has been cultivated by PN administration that has eroded our belief in basic facts of life that nobody owes us a living, that we have to earn our daily bread, and that it is impossible to continue sustaining standards of living through borrowing beyond what we can afford, purely to keep up with the Joneses.
Obviously there is the very valid argument as to why is it that the working class has to bear the major brunt for correcting such excesses. No matter how unfair, it is yet another fact of life that as in the past the country has yet again to be redeemed by the working class.
If the redemption costs are loaded on the entrepreneurial class we would be scaring away the investment so necessary to lead us back to the path of strong and sustainable economic growth. If the redemption costs are loaded on the uneconomically active ( pensioners, social cases, unemployed etc) we would ripping apart the social fabric on which our society is built.
So not much else is left to carry the burden of restructuring but the working class which ultimately is the largest component of our society that has elected our governments and, as the saying goes, gave us the governments we deserve. Hopefully the next time round the pain of the cure will make the working class choose the seriousness of the long term rather than the surface gloss of the short term.
Labour is organising a national protest next Sunday. It has not only the right to do so but the obligation. Those who argue that such protests serve no purpose and should not be held, probably prefer a dictatorial regime even if dressed as a pseudo democracy. Those who maintain that such protests scare investment probably forget that investments thrives in a democratic environment and that the right to protest, peacefully and within the limits of legality, is the essence of free expression which is the bulwark of democracy.
Certainly government cannot expect to be applauded for being forced by its own past excesses to roll back our standard of living. Certainly no one pretends that the electorate should not even scream with pain when fiscal measures hurt.
Arguments that Labour and the GWU should not protest because a quarter of a century ago they had agreed to a total leave and public holiday entitlement of 26 days per annum which is still 10 days less than what is being proposed even after reduction` in public holidays entitlement as announced at last budget, are out of order.
Twenty five years ago my standard of living was far lower than what it is today. I used to travel by bus to save on car expenses whereas today`s youth expect a car on their 18th birthday as if it is a God given right. Comparing to situations so far back in time is illogical. Politicians should be careful that what they promise they give and what they give is and remains affordable. What is given is difficult to take back and comparisons to pre-war conditions are useless except for historical purposes.
However when protesting one has to be clear what one is protesting about and what is the ultimate objective of the protest.
It is best to take an analogy from the medical field. Take a patient who is suffering from a smoking induced lung malady. Overtly or covertly he has a right to protest over his own weakness in assuming such an unworthy vice. He has a right to protest against the friends who induced him into the habit, against the tobacco companies who promoted smoking temptations, and against the authorities for not doing enough (in the past) to discourage smoking.` But certainly the patient has no right to protest against the doctor who is prescribing painful medicine in an effort to save the patient`s life.` It is right to protest the causes as much as it is wrong to protest the cures.
So Labour`s protest should not be so much against the measures being proposed per se, whether these are what the government initiated, what the Unions have secretly counter-offered or some other package that may be agreed. Adopting the cure even if painful, is inevitable unless one wants to risk greater damage.
However there is so much to protest about the causes that landed us in such economic mess; a mess that is forcing us to roll back many of the measure so frivolously` given in the past for cheap political gain and which ultimately have transformed themselves into massive deficits and debt that is threatening the stability of our financial structures.
Let`s protest against so much money given in useless subsidies rather than in effective restructuring of our shipyards.` Let`s protest about sale at hugely discounted prices of our national assets.` Let`s protest against the monstrous waste of money in building San Raffaele / Tal-Qroqq / Mater Dei Hospital so much out budget and out of time. Let`s protest about so much money wasted on useless road infrastructure which still left us with a fourth world country road network.
Let`s protest against government giving wrong signals to the economy in its role as the largest employer by leaving the public sector so much excessively staffed and for permitting economic pay packages that do not reflect the excessive security of tenure enjoyed in the public sector thus promoting a market driven force for pressure to be made on vulnerable politicians to create artificially public sector jobs for the boys.
Let`s protest the money no problem culture that has been cultivated by PN administration that has eroded our belief in basic facts of life that nobody owes us a living, that we have to earn our daily bread, and that it is impossible to continue sustaining standards of living through borrowing beyond what we can afford, purely to keep up with the Joneses.
Obviously there is the very valid argument as to why is it that the working class has to bear the major brunt for correcting such excesses. No matter how unfair, it is yet another fact of life that as in the past the country has yet again to be redeemed by the working class.
If the redemption costs are loaded on the entrepreneurial class we would be scaring away the investment so necessary to lead us back to the path of strong and sustainable economic growth. If the redemption costs are loaded on the uneconomically active ( pensioners, social cases, unemployed etc) we would ripping apart the social fabric on which our society is built.
So not much else is left to carry the burden of restructuring but the working class which ultimately is the largest component of our society that has elected our governments and, as the saying goes, gave us the governments we deserve. Hopefully the next time round the pain of the cure will make the working class choose the seriousness of the long term rather than the surface gloss of the short term.
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