Force of numbers
Published on The Times of Malta on Tuesday 3rd July, 2007 by James A. Tyrrell.
I would like to extend my hearty congratulations to all those who took part in the "National Save Gozo Protest", and made it such a success. A special thanks goes to Astrid Vella from FAA and to all the other NGOs, political parties and associations who were there to show their support for this worthy cause. My biggest congratulations however is reserved for the ordinary men, women and children of Malta and Gozo who gave of their time to make this protest march such a success in spite of the stifling heat. This has sent a clear message to the government in general and to Mepa in particular that the voting public will no longer tolerate their underhand tactics.
Hopefully it will show the ordinary person in the street that they can make a difference, that they can do something about the destruction of their historic country. To these ordinary men and women I say this: In the Amazon River there is a fish which everyone in the world has heard of, the piranha.
On their own they are nothing, just an annoying little fish which may give you a nip and at worst can be seen as an irritation. This is how most governments, including this one, think of individual citizens who complain about their policies - as an irritation. However, when the piranha gets together with a few thousand like-minded friends they can reduce a horse to bones in seconds. No longer just an irritation, but a force to be reckoned with. You, the people of Malta and Gozo are now exactly that, a force to be reckoned with. Keep it up.
This is just the beginning. Hopefully the next protest march will be even bigger and the one after that bigger again. The hardest thing to achieve in any fight for change is the initial movement. Once you have overcome that resistance to movement, which has now been done, keeping up and indeed accelerating that movement becomes easy.
Once again well done to everyone involved and to Mepa a warning - time to wake up and smell the coffee.
I would like to extend my hearty congratulations to all those who took part in the "National Save Gozo Protest", and made it such a success. A special thanks goes to Astrid Vella from FAA and to all the other NGOs, political parties and associations who were there to show their support for this worthy cause. My biggest congratulations however is reserved for the ordinary men, women and children of Malta and Gozo who gave of their time to make this protest march such a success in spite of the stifling heat. This has sent a clear message to the government in general and to Mepa in particular that the voting public will no longer tolerate their underhand tactics.
Hopefully it will show the ordinary person in the street that they can make a difference, that they can do something about the destruction of their historic country. To these ordinary men and women I say this: In the Amazon River there is a fish which everyone in the world has heard of, the piranha.
On their own they are nothing, just an annoying little fish which may give you a nip and at worst can be seen as an irritation. This is how most governments, including this one, think of individual citizens who complain about their policies - as an irritation. However, when the piranha gets together with a few thousand like-minded friends they can reduce a horse to bones in seconds. No longer just an irritation, but a force to be reckoned with. You, the people of Malta and Gozo are now exactly that, a force to be reckoned with. Keep it up.
This is just the beginning. Hopefully the next protest march will be even bigger and the one after that bigger again. The hardest thing to achieve in any fight for change is the initial movement. Once you have overcome that resistance to movement, which has now been done, keeping up and indeed accelerating that movement becomes easy.
Once again well done to everyone involved and to Mepa a warning - time to wake up and smell the coffee.
posted by Hondoq at
1:09 PM
