Enter civil society

The Independent of Malta

Enter civil society

by Josie Muscat

http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=98898

Is there a state of quasi-war between environmental NGOs and the government? It certainly seems so judging by recent events. In this small country of ours it is not difficult to recognise the agenda of any organisation one cares to mention. And those whose agenda is to defend the government have been clashing badly with environmental groupings by using what in Malta is the ultimate accusation of iniquity: they are not only politically motivated, they are actually in cahoots with the opposition. Shame on them!

Civil society lacks the nuts-and-bolts power of executive authority or the more sweeping powers of elected leaders, but everywhere in the free world its voice has been growing stronger. Civil society is no longer considered a bunch of dubious do-gooders, but as the genuine voice of participative democracy. Needless to say, they can be, and often are, a source of embarrassment to even the most democratic of governments. That embarrassment is often underlined when, on the one hand, government has perforce to give space, meet and listen to civil society, but then ignores most of its suggestions. That is nothing but cosmetic democracy in action.



Civil society is close to the roots

Nevertheless it is a fact that civil society has been ahead of governments on many key issues and the reason generally is that, due to the inability of the political system to solve many urgent problems, civil society, which represents an infinity of views and ways of thinking, has organised itself in different ways to express its wish to change and correct the orientation of political management and put pressure on those who have political and executive authority. It has often been an instrument of correction for erroneous policies. The less government delivers, the stronger the voice of civil society grows, and any government would be very shortsighted indeed to ignore such obvious signs of discontent.

I remember a claim that in the UK, Amnesty International has more members than the Labour Party. If that is so, and I say this with reference to all political parties, it is a sign of a healthy democracy that we could well imitate in Malta, where far too often debate ends up in the usual political recrimination that poisons the well of good intentions that was its origin. Reading online comments recently, one would think that trying to save green areas for our children, trying to save historic buildings that may have been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair (often the first step towards demolition), and trying to restrain development gone mad, is a crime of heinous proportions.

Participative democracy

At the heart of the growth of civil society is the belief that democracy must express itself between one act of voting and the next. When civil society organisations, such as environmental organisations, promote campaigns to preserve diminishing green areas and to preserve our historical heritage, and in doing so obtain the support of whole communities in the affected areas, they are actually promoting another form of democracy or politics. Participative democracy is a more effective way of marshalling a genuine consensus and drawing on the actual experience of citizens when developing policy and legislation. It is, after all, the way it was at its inception and it is increasingly becoming more and more obvious that simply voting every few years and leaving the rest to politicians will only serve to endanger the democratic principle.

Make love not war

It’s also not fair to expect governments, once elected, to possess the full universe of knowledge that’s necessary to address all problems. Real engagement with civil society, while allowing it space for real participation means that governments enrich themselves when utilising the reservoir of knowledge that is to be found within any society, including ours on this island. This was the reason why Azzjoni Nazzjonali had proposed the use of referenda, both to enable the citizen to express his consent to the passage of laws and, equally, ask for their abrogation.

In Malta the voice of civil society can only get stronger. Democracy can only be strengthened when political parties and the government realise that they need to listen and act when organisations express the hope and aspirations of their communities, just as these same civil society organisations can encourage government when they support practical interventions which have a direct effect on people’s lives.



In the name of the ruled

In an ideal world, civil society would be complimentary to the democratic process, not a competitor to it, but in the current world civil society, the voice of the citizen in his community, has the right to challenge the perceived corruption, the waste, the unaccountability and the lack of transparency of the current political system.

Dr Josie Muscat

Leader Azzjoni Nazzjonali