Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1376560
14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 MAY 2021 NEWS JAMES DEBONO OVER the past decade Malta has been engulfed by breathtaking change on two fronts: a liberalisation of mores and val- ues which restored agency to thousands previously kept invisible; and the brutal unleashing of market forces on a frag- ile landscape which made communities helpless in the face of force majeure. This change was cushioned by a strong welfare state that is now increasingly de- pendent on economic growth – rather than taxation – but which shelters na- tives, especially those who own property and have a stable job, from the ravages of change. This makes rebellion even more unlikely. It is in this context that one can under- stand the failure of the Nationalist oppo- sition to position itself as an alternative, despite corruption revelations which have shaken Labour to the core. For cor- ruption, important as it is, was obscured by the sheer scale of changes in the so- cial fabric which left little thought for anything else. And it's this that explains why corruption has not captured the collective imagination, especially when compared to grassroots struggles against over-development and campaigns ex- tending new rights and liberties to pre- viously marginalised individuals. People are either mesmerised or angry at the pace of change. And while Labour perversely reconciles neoliberalism with social liberalism, the Opposition is itself divided. The factor favouring Labour is that the change is not only too big to be reversed, but it's also that the Opposi- tion lacks an alternative to it. That downward spiral which started under the PN The Nationalist problem on over-de- velopment is that the downward spiral had started well before Labour's election in 2013, with Malta seeing its first de- structive building boom between 2006 and 2008. It was only the economic downturn after 2009 which slowed down the process. But Labour did hit the accelerator after being elected, moving the policy goal- posts further in favour of the developers' lobby and extending the benefits of the building boom to a wider stratum of its aspirational voters. Coupled with this was an unprecedented increase in pop- ulation which brought more pressures on infrastructure and that further weak- ened working class solidarity. It was not surprising that even tradi- tional PN voters who looked up to their party as a pro business, modernising force were dazzled by Joseph Muscat's 'Dubai vision'. Neither was it surprising that those who rejected this model of development could not look towards the PN for inspiration. Laments on uglifica- tion from the deep Nationalist establish- ment – as was the case with contractor Nazzareno Vassallo in an interview on the Sunday Times last week – only rein- force this distrust based on the proxim- ity of the PN with segments of the busi- ness class when in power. People still facing the ravages of the 'rationalisation' How Labour's cocktail of over-development and liberal reforms cripples the PN The disarray in the opposition brought about by its positioning on these changes further contributes to the perception that Labour is a better manager of its own contradictions Key to Labour's ability to retain support at 2013 levels is the Opposition's inability to respond to the two greatest social changes of the past two decades: the country's social mores and Labour's 'development' model BUILT TO LAST?