Author: Jacques René Zammit

Categories
Articles

Whispering a revolution

This article first appeared on the Shift news.

In May 2017 I co-founded a group called the Advocates for the Rule of Law. We took out a full-page advert on The Times of Malta in which we announced vacancies for the proper functioning of democracy. That was the beginning of a brief campaign in which we raised the alarm that the backsliding of the Rule of Law in Malta had taken a fast turn.

The Rule of Law as a concept is hard to sell. Harder still when all the signs of backsliding are happening at a time when the nation is buoyed by a false sense of confidence, itself boosted by the income from questionable economic policies.

It is even harder when you factor in the tribal rivalries, antipathies and mutual mistrust that pervade the socio-political scene. Attribution of ulterior motive to any criticism is just one aspect of the strong counter-information propaganda machines.

Sadly, we did not manage to get our message across. The majority opted to confirm the status quo. The scenes of hundreds of government supporters celebrating on the doorsteps of Pilatus Bank right after the election results were symbolic of the failure to get the people to understand what the backsliding of the rule of law was about.

You cannot start a revolution so long as the main victims of the status quo remain oblivious to its consequences. All change begins with grievances that are first thought in silence (and fear) and then whispered gradually in the streets and in the markets.

So long as these grievances are not felt, all explanations concerning backsliding remain technical. So long as the overwhelming partisan sentiment is exploited in an ‘Us vs Them’ rhetoric then discussions on the need for change remain technical.

The rotten State

The ulcer grew into a tumour at an astounding rate, despite the blatant unmeritocratic nominations to ‘positions of trust’ and despite the increasing suspicion in major deals on hospitals, the power station, and property transactions contracted without any effort of accountability and transparency.

It got worse despite the increasing amount of information patiently collected by the part of the Fourth Estate that still functions – those journalists and investigators picking up where the captured authorities failed. It got worse despite the brutal assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The alarm bells remained silent.

A culture of fear had been instilled in a segment of the population – fear from retribution. Where there was no fear there was confusion. The official opposition was in tatters – it, too, a victim of institutional capture.

This is not a partisan call. It is a call across society to win back what is ours

The heritage that the PN carries is one of perennially closing an eye to the warning signs that the system off which it feeds is sick and damaging the nation. Even the most rebellious elements within the PN still fail to understand that the change needed includes a ‘partisan-ectomy – the PN itself must ‘die’.

The last years of institutional erosion have been characterised by a weak system finally submitting to the ultimate abuse. The Executive, Parliament and the Judiciary became the playground for an all-out assault on democratic functionality.

All the while, the last vestiges of possible watchdog activity were being silenced – first clumsily with a flurry of libel activity then brutally with a brutal assassination.

The law courts became the battleground where fake news and propaganda met institutional inadequacy. The police force and all other investigators were effectively neutered by heightened political intervention. Long-drawn libel suits extended a lifeline of superficial credibility to government positions. We are only now seeing the futility of the exercise as suit after suit is dropped.

The penny began to drop.

Magisterial inquiries are bandied about in a protracted game of inconclusiveness. Muscat’s government has not had one clear judgment in its favour – only a series of dropped libel cases, stalled inquiries and unpublished results.

We have only just begun to scratch the surface of the Vitals deal, the Electrogas deal, the Panama Papers data (including the slippery eel that is Egrant) and more, much more. Every public contract needs to be scrutinised – yet with institutional meltdown, this becomes an impossible task. Or not.

‘Talkin’ bout a revolution’

This brings me back to the whispers on the streets. The streets are where change can begin to happen. The same streets that voted in huge numbers in 2013 to bring about a change for the better against what was finally perceived as a rotting administration.

The same streets are slowly waking up to the dark reality that they have been lied to. That the ‘Best of Times’ is a lie. The message that we tried to relay three years ago is now writing itself.

Fulfilling Tracy Chapman’s words, the whispers of revolution are out on the street. There is only so far that people can accept to be deceived. It is the people who must now take the lead – demand what is theirs. This is not a partisan call. It is a call across society to win back what is ours.

The divide is between those who have the nation at heart and those who are tied to the slippery race for power and money

No amount of technical explanation will be better than the real tangible experiences of life. As Immanuel Mifsud puts it in L-Aqwa Zmien (my translation):

“When the last echoes of a politician’s emotional speech dwindle into nothing; when the marathon programmes close; when the last ever-rising graph stops and the financial expert has the last smile… somewhere, someone will be closing the garage door to fall asleep; someone will have to leave his home; someone else begins to be abused; and there will be someone who is losing his life uselessly.” .

Last week’s peaceful protests in Valletta were another step in this struggle. Parliamentarians of goodwill, who hold the interest of the people at heart, would do well to follow this call. There are no longer any Nationalist or Labour politicians – the divide is between those who have the nation at heart and those who are tied to the slippery race for power and money.

Categories
Constitutional Development Rule of Law

Vigil: justice for Daphne

Credit: Paul Borg Olivier

Speech delivered at Vigil for Justice for Daphne. 16th November 2019.

First, Let’s Kill All the Lawyers. L-ewwel ma nagħmlu, ejja noqtolu l-avukati kollha. Xi ħsieb dak eh? Ħsieb li jxewwex il-massa. Huwa ħsieb li jmiss xi ħaġa fil-fond ta’ kull wieħed u waħda minnkom, anki jekk forsi ma tkunux lesti tammettu. X’qed ngħid? Probabbli daż-żmien ħadd ma jiddejjaq jgħidu. Daphne Caruana Galizia wkoll forsi kellha xi ħsibijiet koroh dwar l-avukati f’xi mument… imbagħad iżżewġet wieħed… mur obsor …

L-ewwel ma nagħmlu, ejja noqtolu l-avukati kollha. Dik il-frażi taslilna dritt minn triloġija ta- drammi ta’ Shakespeare dwar l-ġlieda għall-poter fi żminijiet diffiċli ħafna fir-renju tal-Ingilterra – qisu Brexit imma fil-passat. Il-mument li fih titlissen dik il-frażi jiġi hekk kif persunaġġ li jismu Jack Cade qiegħed ixewwex folla ta’ nies komuni kontra min qiegħed fil-poter. Mument populista.

Cade qed iwiegħed ikel irħas u birra irħas. Ikompli jwiegħed li ’l quddiem ma jkunx hemm bżonn flus, kulħadd jiekol u jixrob kif irid u kulħadd jilbes tajjeb. Lanqas jilħaq jispiċċa jwiegħed dan kollu li mill-folla ma tqumx l-għajta :  “L-ewwel ma nagħmlu, ejja noqtlu l-avukati kollha.”

Shakespeare kien jaf li b’dan il-vers kienu se jogħxew ħafna nies.U hekk hu. Is-sentiment li jesprimi ma huwiex sempliċement wieħed kontra l-avukati iżda kontra l-istruttura legali sħiħa illi fuqha tiddependi u topera s-soċjetà sħiħa. Il-poplu ribelluż, imxewwex minn dak li jixtieq isir Re bil-wegħda ta’ status aħjar ma jirrifjutax il-possibbiltà li jinjora obbligi, li jivvjola wegħdiet u li jikser ir-regoli.

Cade jirkeb id-dagħdigħa tal-mument u jsejjaħ lill-massa biex tkisser l-iskejjel tal-liġi u l-qrati. Minn issa ‘l quddiem il-liġijiet isiru kollha minnu u minnu biss. Cade huwa l-eroj tal-mument. Is-segwaċi tiegħu lesti jaċċettaw sistema li trendi r-rappreżentanza istituzzjonali inutli – lesti jkissru sistema sħiħa. Kollha kemm huma jafu li Cade huwa giddieb magħruf imma lesti jagħzlu l-ħolma-wiegħda tiegħu fuq kollox: “Henceforward all things shall be in common.” L-Ingilterra Tagħna Lkoll.

Cade jgħid lill-marmalja ta’ quddiemu li l-għadu huma l-litterati u l-għorriefa. Ma jdumux ma jixxewxu biex jgħallqu skriba “bil-pinna u l-klamar m’għonqu”. It-tradituri tal-kawża kollha għandhom jinġabu quddiem il-ġustizzja tal-marmalja.

Nista’ nkompli b’iktar eżempji minn dal-kapulavur storiku. Li rridu nifhmu hu li Shakespeare, li kien qed jikteb fi żmien meta stejjer dwar ribelljoni kienu ċċensurati bil-kbir, qed jikxef l-elementi taż-żelqa lejn it-tirannija.

Shakespeare qed iwissi dwar dawn is-sejħiet biex jitfarrku l-ġustizzja u l-għarfien. Twissija li tapplika ghal dawn iż-żmienijiet ukoll. Qiegħdin hawn għal darb’oħra fuq kollox sabiex infakkru kittieba, ħaddiema tal-kelma li sfat suġġett ta’ ordni moqżież : mhux li titgħallaq bil-pinna u l-klamar ma għonqha imma biex iġġarraf splużjoni b’mod barbariku.

Dik l-ordni ġiet fi żmien meta l-battalja kontra l-ġustizzja, kontra l-loġika u kontra r-raġuni kienet ġa bdiet. M’hemm l-ebda dubju – Daphne Caruana Galizia hija l-vittma tax-xewwiexa li qarrqu bin-nies bl-illużjoni ta’ ħajja aħjar, li wasslu biex inkonxjament jiġi injorat it-tkissir tas-sistema, li biegħu il-gidba li dan huwa L-Aqwa Żmien.

Is-sinjali ta’ twissija kienu ilhom hemm. Imma spjegazzjonijiet tekniċi dwar it-tkissir tas-Saltna tad-Dritt – ma jistgħu xejn kontra mewġa fuq mewġa ta’ populiżmu u demagoġija.

Xogħol Daphne kien jifforma parti minn makkinarju ikbar ta’ xogħol impekkabbli magħmul minn mewġa ġdida ta’ ġurnalisti u investigaturi – moviment ġdid kontra l-korruzzjoni fid-dinja, fl-Ewropa u f’pajjiżna.

L-istituzzjonijiet tagħna nħatfu. In-nies għadhom f’qagħda lluppjata ta’ aċċettazzjoni. Għadha ma nqalbitx il-folja. L-isfida li niffaċċjaw illum huwa li nkomplu nipperseveraw u nseddqu l-veritajiet li nies bħal Daphne kienu qalbiena biżżejjed li jikxfu. Hekk kif iktar nies jifhmu bil-qerq il-kbir li tagħha huma l-vittmi, iktar ma tikber ir-rabja għall-bidla.

Sentejn wara l-fatt, irridu naċċettaw ir-realtà patetika li dan l-assassinju ma kienx atroċità kbira biżżejjed li ssarraf f’azzjoni konkreta reali mill-poplu. Irridu naċċettaw il-verità qarsa li anki jekk rajna l-istituzzjonijiet jinħatfu wieħed wieħed, anki jekk rajna ir-rappreżentanza titmermer u titniġġeż mill-kilba partiġġjana, anki jekk rajna lill-għassiesa tagħna nnewtralizzati, dan kollu għadu ma kienx biżżejjed biex ikebbes nar ta’ moviment ta’ bidla.

L-irjus koroh tad-dubju u tan-nuqqas ta’ fidi fil-proxxmu jqumu kull meta forsi kien hemm ħjiel ta’ bidu ta’ bidla. Dak l-istess dubju u nuqqas ta’ fidi jkissru u jifframmentaw l-ilħna tal-bidla u jsaħħu lill-użurpaturi tal-poter.

Imma. Nixtieq inwassal aħbar tajba lil din il-velja. Nixtieq ngħid li l-movimenti taċ-ċittadini mgħaddba għall-istupru tal-ambjent u għall-abbuż tal-awtoritajiet tal-ippjanar, li il-kuxjenza dejjem tikber dwar differenzi kbar soċjal-ekonomiċi – huma sinjal li r-riħ qed iqum.

Nixtieq nenfasizza li minkejja li għad hawn politikanti lesti jixorbu mill-ilma mdardar tar-razziżmu, xenophobija u mibgħeda għall-barrani – hawn ukoll min lest jieqfilhom. Irrid nenfasizza dawn l-aspirazzjonijiet ġodda għal Malta verament Ewropea li taspira tkun parti mill-bidla kontinentali għal futur aħjar.

Dan kollu minkejja – u mhux grazzi għal – ħafna minn dawk li suppost jirrapreżentawna. In-nies qed tfittex vuċi ġdida, bidu ġdid li jwarrab stili qodma u li jwassal proġett ġdid għall-ġid komuni taċ-ċittadini. Il-mara li xogħlha nikkomemoraw illum ħadmet ħafna biex tikxef il-veritajiet li huma neċessarji f’din il-ġlieda. Tagħha ma kenitx qlubija fiergħa. Kif qal Peter, ir-raġel tagħha:

« Il-Qlubija waħedha ftit għandha valur jekk ma għandhiex skop. Mingħajr sens ta’ ġustizzja. »

Illum niltaqgħu biex naqtgħu ras il-mostri tad-dubju u nuqqas ta’ fidi. Niltaqgħu hawn biex inkebbsu dak is-sens ta’ skop. Niltaqgħu hawn biex nikkonfermaw li nemmnu f’socjetà ġusta. Niltaqgħu hawn biex nikkommettu ruħna għat-tfittxija tal-verità, għall-ġlieda għall-ġustizzja u għat-twelid mill-ġdid ta’ Repubblika li rat wisq uġiegħ u ġarrbet wisq dannu.

First, let’s bring them all to justice. L-ewwel ma nagħmlu, ejja naraw li jsir il-ħaqq.

Categories
Rule of Law

Vigil for Justice

Categories
Mediawatch

(Personal) Space Invaders

Ferragosto or Santa Marija, as it is known in our parts, is the top summer holiday. The heat feels like it is at its hottest and the feeling of living in the most densely populated islands on earth is exacerbated by the manifestations of mass movement that are the villeggjatura and festi. There has not been much of a political armistice this year, at least not as much as usual, and this has thankfully meant that the momentum gathered towards the beginning of summer by various civil society actions did not peter out with the onset of the hot damning sun.

Space seems to be a common denominator that underlies the main occurrences on the island. It began with trees. The trees were condemned to be removed because the autocentric society that we live in needed more space in which to put our traffic jams. Once the alarm was raised over the latest action of intransigence, then it would be little time before the spaces on our facebook walls would be taken over by example after example of other barbarian assaults on the scant flora that our nation can still boast of. A sense of awareness had been created and the anger was finally harnessed.

Pioneer activists wanted the online indignation to be transferred away from the ether to the physical spaces and the momentum is being continued with a date for the 7thSeptember when the angered will meet again to fill spaces with their bodies. 

Space is what our few beaches have as an important commodity. The news that the government of the expanding middle class (Invictus) has negotiated the return of 10% of certain bays to the people was announced as though this was some kind of triumph for the and by the people. That the remaining 90% should also be the people’s space and is part of the foreshore that should not be subject to commerce seems to have been ignored.

An angry businessman in another part of the island was called pastaz by a Minister’s portaborsefor the simple fact that he had complained of the invasion of an idyllic space by part of the ever-growing army of campervans in Malta. That’s something I never quite understood – campervans in Malta? Why? In any case the chances of the powers that be accepting the fact that the abuse of public spaces to feed the supposed middle-classification of the islands is a no-no are close to zilch.

Old, traditional public places are in danger of being morphed by the government’s frenzied approach to development. Rows of houses in Rabat under threat by the unplanning authority that together with the motor vehicle authority (read transport malta) has declared war on the Maltese landscape. Their invasion of space is beyond the barbaric. The determination to succeed is strengthened by the far from meritocratic filling of spaces by the Invictus elected. No stone will be left unturned. Every day brings a new item of news announcing the perversion of Maltese space for the satisfaction of the middle-class laureates.

Access to property is tougher and tougher – making that personal space all the harder to come by. Meanwhile the annual exodus to the ‘sister island’ will surely mean more complaints of lack of space, lack of place, lack of air. The air they breathe incidentally is ever so unhealthy much to the chagrin of the asthmatic community – never enough space in the lungs to take in the much-needed oxygen.

The open seas around the island are also full of ‘invaders’ of another kind. Bodies upon bodies will be bartered by governments and NGOs for the sake of understanding which space they are entitled to scrape a living upon. 

At PN HQ they have already started planning ahead about which space to fill for the traditional Independence Day celebrations. The Fososmight seem dauntingly like too large an expanse for the second largest party in Malta so they will try to make do with the space in front of the HQ in Pieta’. Much space for irony there. 

No irony was lost when newly anointed Minister for Pinkwashing paraded a made-up Malta-LGBTQ flag with the rainbow colours replacing the Red part of the Maltese flag. Yet another exercise of facile endearment risked turning sour as the nationalists (not the PN ones) felt angered and offended by what they considered to be a desecration of a national symbol. 

Old men and ministerial lackeys also seem to be offended on a daily basis by the continuing manifestation of solidarity with the cause of Daphne Caruana Galizia. The calls for justice are manifested in a small space opposite the law courts and they are also removed on a daily basis by those who cannot seem to be able to survive the fact of being reminded daily that justice has not been served.

There’s a general feeling of suffocation. It’s claustrophobic. Something has got to give. Watch this space.

Categories
Mediawatch

Eyes Wide Shut: Santa Lucia & Lady Justice

In my childhood Santa Lucia meant a visit to an uncle of mine. Wikipedia tells me that the village was named after a 16th Century chapel in the vicinity, which is quite extraordinary given how that particular century kept cropping up as I ‘researched’ the background behind my ideas for this post.

The village is really a 20th century invention – ta’ Mintoff, some would say. An idea of a neatly laid out village snuggled between Luqa and Tarxien underneath the Addolorata Cemetery. In my mind I associate Santa Lucia with Mintoffian street furniture – stone benches, planters and some greenery – and an idea of a centre where one would find a grocer, a butcher and some other amenities put together. The village houses that I remember had their front parapets with some greenery.

Santa Lucia’s streets are colourfully given the name of flowers and trees, From Vjal l-Oleandri to Narcis, Petunja, Vjol, Znuber, Rand, Bruka, Iris, Ibisku to Stefanotis – the idea behind a green modern civic centre was there all right. It was a social experiment that to an extent had worked. Lining the village to the north is the Chinese Garden of Serenity. Described in this way Santa Lucia is definitely an oasis of green idealism far from the destructive obsessions that we are used to today.

Santa Lucia – Ville Fleurie

Saints, Cemeteries and Blind Justice

Ian Borg’s latest pet project – the one where he claims to have consulted and not heard any response – involves the massacre of a green part of Santa Lucia (and a jogging track). The cemetery has shifted closer within the confines of the village but instead of the souls at the Addolorata (sorrows) we have the sorrowful sight of hundreds of trees being axed in the name of the God of Vehicles and Progress. A vox pop on Maltatoday clearly showed the anxious confusion of the Santa Lucia residents who on the one hand are loath to criticise anything the government of the tattoed undefeated decides to do while on the other they are visibly shaken by the loss of their immediate green surroundings.

There seems to be no justice when opposing such horrible developments. Blind justice seems to peek through her bandages and always, inevitably sides with the developer, the permit seeker and the tree-slayer. Civil society is reduced to holding wakes for the dying after belatedly realising that the justice’s blindness was rigged. Santa Lucia, the village named after a 16th century chapel will be raped in the name of progress – against the inner will of its citizens but to the sound of much acclaim for this government that privileges development above all.

A blindness acquired

Now to a serendipitous series of uncanny coincidences that I came across prompted by the fact that two figures in this modern fable seem to be associated with “blindness” of sorts. Saint Lucy, to begin with. Lucy hailed from nearby Syracuse and was a great devotee of Saint Agatha (one of Malta’s trilogy of patron saints). To cut a long story short, Lucy died a martyr, refusing to renounce her religion. “The Christian tradition states that when the guards came to take her away, they could not move her even when they hitched her to a team of oxen. Bundles of wood were then heaped about her and set on fire, but would not burn. Finally, she met her death by the sword thrust into her throat.” (Wikipedia)

What is absent from Christian tradition – at least not until the 16th century – is any mention of the eye-gouging with which Saint Lucy is associated nowadays.

Which brings me to Lady Justice. The image of Blind Justice is imprinted in our collective minds. The “blindness” is really a blindfoldedJustice and the reason for it is to guarantee impartiality – justice is applied without regard to wealth, power or status (or it should be). Other symbols are normally to be found around images or statues of Justice. Most common of all are the scales of justice – they have been around since depictions by the Egyptians. The Ancient Book of Death depicts a scales in which a heart is balanced by a feather of truth. Justice is often seen carrying a sword that represents the authority of swift and final justice. Sometimes the sword is replaced by a book representing the law.

But back to the blindfold. I was extremely surprised to find out that early depictions of justice never included it. The Greek Themis and Roman Justitia had their eyes uncovered. It is only since the 16th century that justice has been depicted wearing a blindfold. The first known representation of blind Justice is Hans Gieng’s 1543 statue on the Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen (Fountain of Justice) in Berne.

So there you have it. That chapel that gave its name to the 20th century village of Santa Lucia dates from the 16th century. That’s the century when Lucy “lost” her eyes and Justice “gained” her blindfold. In the 21st century, the village of the streets of flowers and trees is losing its greenery. Justice seems to be looking the other way and the only blindness that is apparent is among the citizens who find it hard to criticise the decision-makers… even if their own quality of life is at stake.

Categories
Mediawatch

The Road to Perdition

Il-proġett li se jeqred 48,000 metru kwadru ta’ art agrikola, joqtol iktar minn 600 siġra, jiżola 1,200 ruħ u jkeċċi 47 bidwi – filwaqt li ma jsolvi assolutament xejn -għadu kemm għadda mill-Bord tal-Awtorità tal-Ippjanar bi 3 vota kontra u 9 favur.

Moviment Graffitti react to PA vote

Mad dogs and artists

Seven. That’s seven football fields worth of agricultural land. They are being frittered away in order to purportedly give way to a more fluid transport situation. Cars have to move apparently. To do so 600 trees have to die. Forget about replanting and make no mistake about it. The trees will die. There will be less trees, more tarmac and if the artists’ impression is anything to go by two parallel high walls locking the cars in their smog driven ecstasy of a trip.

The artists’ impresssion also includes a madman walking his dog on a superhighway of a pavement. No billboards or lamposts feature in this impression but then again the impression is only there to give some form of ‘substance’ for the ‘visionaries’ backing Ian Borg’s latest transport brainwave. According to the twitter reactions by the idiot savants who trumpet Borg’s cause, the people will soon forget the minor inconvenience of environmental armageddon once they gain their 5 extra seconds on their commute to Saqajja.

#thesystemisbroken (reprise)

The guys at Moviment Graffitti are rightly taking up the challenge. They speak of encouragement because residents, environmentalists and farmers got together to argue against the development. The arguments, they say, were rock solid and unquestionable. The problem is that the Planning Authority – a regulator that should be acting in the interests of the people voted in the large part in favour of the road – they call it the Central Link.

Unlike what happened in the case of the Marsa Racetrack development where the PN barely lifted an eyelid, it would seem that the PN rep on the PA board voted against the development. The other two votes against came from an NGO and from an Attard councillor. Still, votes against notwithstanding, the system remains heavily rigged in favour of a party in government that has no qualms about bulldozering over the real public interest.

It should already be shocking that the distribution of positions on such boards has to take into consideration a form of par condicio for the two parties. Instead of experts in the field acting on a clear policy remit we have party interests represented. Add to that the blatant interest of strong lobbies such as the construction and development lobby paired with a state captured in their interests and you will begin to understand how the backsliding of the rule of law in this particular quarter is having its undesirable effects.

Steve Bonello – Soon to become history…
This iconic farmhouse in the area known as Taht ir-Rahal in Attard is set to be demolished as part of the Central Link Project which has just been approved by that criminal organisation otherwise known as the Planning Authority.

A Republic based on Automobiles

Public transport policy and the general management of cars is a farce. An island that should be aiming to reduce cars to the bare minimum instead plans and builds around the dreaded automobile. Proper public transport is shunned for the exaltation of the private vehicle. More roads, more tarmac, more development.

Don’t forget more petrol stations too. This notwithstanding the lip service paid to a supposed target date for going electric. There is really no way out. Today’s lesson is that the livelihood of 47 farmers is of no consequence to policy makers and shapers so long as cars will supposedly shave a couple of seconds of their commute (which they will not).

What about the trees? 600 of them. The “replanting” lie has not yet been put paid but the more it gets exposed the harder it gets to use it next time. If there is a next time of course.

Ezekiel 25:17

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the
Inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men 
Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will 
shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness 
for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children 
And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious
Anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers 
And you will know
My name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee

Ezekiel 25:17, Pulp Fiction (Quentin Jerome Tarantino)

Unfortunately the battles that need to be fought by the likes of Moviment Graffitti are twice as hard because the system is rigged against them. Where equity, justice and common sense should apply there is a state capture of gargantuan proportions led by the corrupt and the selfish. It is time to transform the multiple minor skirmishes into the full battle on all fronts that leads to systemic change.

It’s either that or continue down the road to perdition.

perdition/pəˈdɪʃ(ə)n/

noun

  1. (in Christian theology) a state of eternal punishment and damnation into which a sinful and unrepentant person passes after death.