Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1451574
8 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 16 FEBRUARY 2022 JAMES DEBONO ROBERT Abela's announcement on TVM's Xtra that the govern- ment will take back public land in Zonqor and Bormla granted to Sadeen group through a par- liamentary resolution under his predecessor's watch, vindicates the demand made in Malta's largest ever environmental pro- test held in June 2015. It was a time when Joseph Muscat was at the peak of his popularity, yet unscathed by subsequent corruption scandals, and right after a spring hunting referendum in which he played a decisive role in ensuring a victo- ry for the hunting lobby. It also followed a full-frontal attack on planning regulation which fa- cilitated the property boom in subsequent years, but which till then was met with weak resist- ance. Muscat then banked on strong support in the south of Malta af- ter decades of neglect, contrast- ing the proposed American Uni- versity to public infrastructure like the waste recycling plant in Marsaskala and the sewage treatment plant in Xgħajra, both built under the PN. In short: the success of the na- tional protest defied the prevail- ing political climate of the time, to the extent that Muscat and his allies were surprised by the big turnout. A harbinger of things to come The protest was set in motion after a public meeting organised by Moviment Graffitti immedi- ately after Muscat announced the project in May, which led to the formation of Front Harsien ODZ, an ad hoc coalition of es- tablished NGOs, left-wing radi- cals, Marsaskala's Labour deputy mayor Desiree Attard, Nation- alist councillor Charlot Cassar, and former AD leader Michael Briguglio. In another taste of things to come, Labour MP Marlene Far- rugia not only declared her op- position to the project but also opened up the meetings of par- liament's environmental com- mittee, which she presided, to civil society activists. Ironically, by lashing out against these critics, Labour pushed some of them straight into the PN's orbit. Yet while the protest move- ment followed an inclusive tem- plate, with particular attention given to address Labour sen- sibilities, the Nationalist Party then led by Simon Busuttil was desperately seeking a rallying cry, organising its own poorly attended protest in May. This played into Labour's hands as the participation of the likes of former environment minister George Pullicino in Busuttil's 'small' protest was used to dis- credit independent activists who were unfairly depicted as PN stooges. Activists in a partisan minefield The PN's militancy against the Jordanian business group Sadeen's 'American University of Malta' project posed a dilem- ma for activists wary of the PN for its past misdeeds, including a disastrous extension of build- ing zones carried out nine years earlier, but who were keen on a successful turnout for the pro- test. To short-circuit the problem, all political parties, including Labour, were invited to partic- ipate in the June protest in the knowledge that only the PN and Green Party Alternattiva Demokratika would participate. The end result was a high turn- out, which emboldened civil society in the knowledge that it could mobilise thousands for a just cause. Yet it also raised questions on whether the participation of politicians piggy-riding on pop- ular protest, ultimately weak- ened the legitimacy of such pro- tests. Still, the successful turnout had an immediate impact as Muscat reacted by reducing the ODZ take-up in Zonqor from 90,000 sq.m to 18,000 sq.m by splitting the project in two, al- locating more public land in Cottonera. But ODZ land in Zonqor as well as open spaces Protest vindicated: How Zonqor emboldened communities to strike back and win In his bid to redeem himself from the shady deals concocted by his predecessor, Robert Abela has vindicated the demands of Malta's largest ever environmental protest against the land grab in Zonqor Labour MP Marlene Farrugia Prime Minister Joseph Muscat with Sadeen owner Hani Salah