I had a happy childhood. At the time, Marsascala was the picturesque, quiet fishing village featured in many postcards. There were a few grocers, a handful of restaurants and a close-knit community where everybody knew each other.
I spent many a tranquil afternoon in the front garden of a small house my grandparents rented by the sea. There was a huge tree that towered above the rest of the seafront, sometimes a refuge for my grandma’s cats, which would scamper up, only to forget their way down.
That little corner of peace, much like many others in the same town, would not survive the ravages brought about by overdevelopment and speculation that swept through Marsascala over the past decades. Last summer, ERA head Victor Axiak had pinned the blame for the state of the town on its residents.
It was a sickening statement from a big cheese in the employ of government and, by extension, of the people. And it was doubly ironic that, as the head of the environmental regulator, Axiak has refrained from condemning Transport Malta’s marina proposals which cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be blamed upon residents.
Axiak can have a quick look around him and pinpoint culprits very easily, without having to break into a sweat. First up, his former boss, Ian Borg.
The transport minister ordered the hit and sidestepped into the shadows; at the time of writing, Borg has yet to utter a word. He has yet to acknowledge the local council’s vote against the marina, the opposition of various resident and local associations and even the irritation of Jean Claude Micallef, the only MP from the third district to voice his perplexity at the proposal. Other representatives of the electorate have yet to find their tongues, if not their conscience.
In typical fashion, an agency under Minister Borg issued a tender in cloak-and-dagger fashion, abusing the general lull brought about by midsummer. Without worrying about the uproar caused by yet another dishonest project (remember the tanks in Marsa?), TM confirmed the fait accompli in a subsequent press release stating that the designs are only at an “initial stage”.
However, tenders aren’t issued with “initial plans” but with finalised designs; the best Transport Malta could have done is to withdraw the expression of interest. Instead, Borg enjoyed a quiet August shutdown, perhaps giving some thought at how to separate residents from activists or even residents from each other.
Another culprit is Axiak’s current boss, Aaron Farrugia. If Borg is a wily fox, Farrugia is another kind of animal: I’m thinking cuddly house cat. The environment minister has inexplicably defended the marina, confusing a private project such as this with a project of national importance, an airport. And it wasn’t a faux pas: Farrugia would rather roll over to the whims of his prime minister and to those of his district rival than be seen to be doing and saying the right thing.
A day after his shocking betrayal of the environment he’s supposed to protect, Minister Garfield gleefully published a selfie of his Cheshire grin on the set of X-Factor. It would have been more fitting if he turned up on the set of “Would I lie to you?”
PM Robert Abela also has a lot to answer for. Abela, as we’ve seen last summer, is one of those politicians who love boats and values his August break more than anything else, including his fellow residents in Marsascala. Hiding behind a thin veil of silence, Abela indicates his obstinate and unflinching desire to sacrifice his own hometown on the altar of “economic growth” but everyone knows that this marina will only appease select private interests.
Clearly, the scathing condemnation of the closeness between politics and business borne out of the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry will not serve as a lesson to our stubborn PM. It hurts more, because Abela and his father – both residents of Marsascala – were among those who attacked the ħbieb tal-ħbieb many moons ago.
Now these ħbieb tal-ħbieb, and maybe some cousin, are preparing to strangle Marsascala (Jerma and Żonqor, the two tips of Marsascala Bay, are both privately owned and also earmarked for development). They can rely on the support of the PM, who, so far, has done his best to keep dissenting MPs from discussing the subject.
Farrugia tried to play the “not in my backyard” card when it comes to the marina. Farrugia, like Borg and Abela, is sure his own backyard won’t face certain issues: these people live or are about to move to detached properties on the outskirts of town; detached from the ire of residents, from the realities they face and from the havoc they themselves wreak upon the rest of the island.
Marsascala is not unlike other sad realities other towns have had to endure – from faulty local plans to the onslaught of construction and the dismemberment of communities as a result. And while my hometown looks very different, much greyer than it used to be, the community’s pulse still beats strongly, showing its love to what is still a beautiful seaside town.
On Friday, we’ll protest against something more than just a marina: we’ll fight them and their pretentious, malicious effort towards the destruction of Marsascala as we know it, of its communities and groups who have kept it alive, of its very spirit.
Bring your anger with you, wherever you come from: what happens in Marsascala has, or can soon happen, in your own backyard.
