I wish to pay tribute to the young lad who stood in front of the President and spoke to her about what really matters. I have spent the last 4 months lamenting that most protesters for justice and rule of law had wrinkles and white hair, or beards.
Things are not quite so dark when a young man stands up while his friends drop their jaws and speaks his mind. When this happens, again and again, the excuse that protesting is pointless because it can bring about no change, fizzles into thin air.
No one alone can change much. But many of us, and many more yet, one day will. And you can see that the persistence is starting to make them nervous. They no longer laugh at us. Their mockery is laced with sourness. Their anger is coming through.
How sad was it to watch Jason Micallef of V18 describe the projection by Il-Kenniesa on Castille’s facade yesterday as anti-democratic vandalism. How ironic when only a week before he projected on the same facade an image of a nightmarish Malta buried under towers grown like a rain-forest of cement where acid falls in place of rain. He joined the hallowed ranks of Tony Zarb egging the government to retaliate, as if the SLAPPs, the threats of prison, and the institutionalised collective rape broadcast over its party media were not enough.
But these are growing signs of barely suppressed tremors.
More of those young people in that image from yesterday’s meeting with the President need to close up their jaws, hold their chin up, stand and speak up. Say no to power. Speak truth to power.