| It’s me again, my last e-mail in November, a review of “A Death in Malta: An Assassination and a Family’s call for Justice” by Paul Caruana Galizia, was also published on Lovin Malta. (Grammatical mistakes and confusing subject line included). Fighting cynicism I haven’t been able to write anything since then, not for lack of interesting political events I participated in, or opinions to share, but because of the cynicism I felt towards politics in the last months of 2023. I didn’t know how honest I could be about that. In November and December I felt powerless as debates at the European Green Party on a party resolution on Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza fell short of my values. When the final text of this political resolution was adopted at an online council of the European Green Party in early December I felt shame. I blamed myself for not doing enough to set a clear and strong commitment to support Palestinians. The failure to have a decent political resolution on the conflict from the European Greens however is not only my own, but also lies in the internal structures of the party. The German Greens are the biggest member party and hold the most power – and as they are also a member of the German government we find ourselves twisting in all sorts of ways to maintain appearances and avoid stepping on toes. This is clearly unacceptable, and the shame I felt in December has shifted to a more comfortable emotion from which I know how to act – anger. On the national level in Malta that has led to launching a petition to encourage the Maltese Government to show their support to the South African case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. |
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| Finding motivationIn mid-December I co-facilitated a training course on Framing, Narrative and Strategy at ulex, a transformative training centre in the Pyrenees. The photo above illustrates the view from the training centre, this distance from all the usual noise and light pollution of cities and the distractions they provided allowed me to centre in on my politics. I met some fantastic campaigners from across Europe who are working to fight against the rise in far-right fascism, supporting local communities in transformative actions to prepare for climate change, and more. As our conversations on how we are talking about and framing the political issues of the moment evolved and deepened, I found my motivation to also continue working on green politics at a European level returning.This is the energy I hope to take with me over the next 5 months and beyond as we enter the more intense campaign period for the European Parliament elections. |
| What’s coming up? We’re 148 days to the European Parliament and Local Council elections and the pressure on candidates is only going to increase from here on. In Malta, the elections will take place on Saturday the 8th June 2024. This is the day after a public holiday and I suspect that some people have already planned long weekends away from Malta in advance. If you haven’t, I encourage you to opt for a staycation so that you can exercise your right to vote. From February I will start to turn down more and more freelance work opportunities, to focus on voluntarily coordinating the ADPD campaigns for the European Parliament and various local councils. While I am also a candidate, my main focus will be that of supporting our candidates at the local level to be successful in their campaigns to become local councillors in Balzan, Birkirkara, Birżebbuġa, Pieta, and Marsaskala. |
First published as a newsletter on 11th January 2024.
MJ Tolu 
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