Last week we drew attention to the very concerning situation regarding a section of our young people. This week we feel we should comment on the changes that have taken place in our community over the past 15 to 20 years and analyse whether this has affected our traditional values, something that is possibly intrinsically linked to the plight of that section of our youth that has gone astray.

When there were three families living in a flat and when people couldn’t make ends meet with the wages and salaries they received, there was a kind of camaraderie between citizens that sometimes even surpassed family links. People expressed much more concern for each other, neighbours were more than friends and supported each other at times of need or distress, friendship was less fluid than what it seems to be today; there was a tie of understanding and a common goal between people that sealed the bond of friendship for life. It was first the TGWU and later the Government of the GSLP that led the fight for improvements to the standard of living of people generally. The GSLP Government also provided real affordable

accommodation and opened opportunities for further studies in UK colleges and universities to everyone, not only to the selected few as had hitherto been the case. This, and other important social and economic advancements were hailed as the breakthrough that Gibraltar had been crying out for over many years; the standards were raised never to be lowered again in political terms. That is the social and economic revolution that the GSLP Government of Joe Bossano brought in. It is right that this should have happened and that working people in Gibraltar should have been elevated to a standard of living and a quality of life that had been missing over many years and which we all deserved.

What appears to have happened is that the materialistic gains made people more independent and the common ties of hardship that bound them together broke. The new middle class took what it could, but many then looked up and aspired for more, and regrettable some also looked down upon those that are always left behind when the social improvements come in the form of a storm. Some young people out of college or university did not see themselves as the son or daughter of that dockyard industrial worker that had fought his/her battles for a better share of the economic cake on the streets and on picket lines and instead mimicked what they seemed to think is the appropriate status in society reflecting the job they held or the qualifications they possessed. Materialistic gains, important as they are, have bred arrogance and even disdain for others in some cases with the philosophy of “I’me alright Jack” having found root. A good example of this is that whereas previously vocation was the motivation for those working in the Health Authority, today many consider it to be just another job, thanks to the culture prevalent today of nepotism and of management rewarding some at the expense of others. This GSD Government has helped fuel all of these negative values and exploited them to their advantage whilst pretending to occupy the moral high ground.

All of this has damaged the fabric of the close knit community we were once and which we need to return to. Much is said about the erosion of family values but at the centre of what happens inside a home behind closed doors is what has happened to the family of the Gibraltarians and the camaraderie and love that existed in this community. There is no need for any of this to be lost because of our economic and social advancements, we must bring back that solidarity, tolerance, respect and care we felt for each other and which made our community so unique and so rich. Gibraltarianism means all of these things and we cannot allow it to be eroded further.