Charles Flores’ piece last Sunday titled “Deidunism” is humbling indeed, especially since it attributes a newly coined word to the undersigned. However, since the same piece is potholed with misconceptions, some rectifications are in order.

Charles gave the impression that he followed my MEP campaign very closely, but some omissions on his part suggest otherwise. To be fair, he did manage a couple of half-hearted disclaimers... Ghadira bypass press conference (followed by an acerbic response from the Infrastructure Ministry), the two Wied l-Ghasel ones, one at Bahrija (not referring to the famous post-election protest), the statement about the Delimara power station, the one about yacht marina proposals and many others. Certainly more than a couple, and this in literally a wink of an eye (three months) campaign. Charles tries to give the impression that hordes of canvassers followed my every track to shield me from inquisitive media hacks. I trust I am the PN candidate who answered the most blunt questions put by the PL media and quite a contrast to the PL candidates, who consistently skirted questions they were asked by the PN media. On a particular occasion, of which I am sure Charles and many others are not aware of, my comments to One News failed to impress the Super One team, so much so that they omitted the inclusion of such a feature in their evening news bulletin. Such consistency!

Then to the crowning moment. Charles’ opinion on the Bahrija saga, where he questions, in a rather malicious way, whether I would have attended the Bahrija protest had it been held before the election. Charles should know better. I have been campaigning to save Bahrija for the past seven years and it was not my first time at Bahrija, unlike the many other MEP candidates who rightly chose to attend the protest but who hardly knew how to get to Bahrija. I remember past campaigns where we NGOs locked horns with ELIZA to support the intimidated Bahrija farmers. I remember taking up the cudgels and finally convincing Mepa and ALE to start positioning an annual patrol in the valley during the Bahrija St Martin’s feast to prevent youngsters from pillaging freshwater crab populations. I remember the campaign I embarked upon, together with Nature Trust, to clear the garigue close to the parish church from construction debris and to fence it off to avoid vehicles steamrolling over it again. Closer to home, last March, I remember attending (the only MEP candidate to have done so!) a protest organised by locals to object to a proposed development in front of the parish church, in an area earmarked for a public garden. I also remember vividly the unsavoury phone calls I got every time I visited Bahrija. Therefore, as a person who presumes to have followed my campaign closely, Charles should be abreast of such events.

The term Darwinism has many connotations – detractors of the theory of evolution in the US peg it to atheist connotations. However, in the UK, where the theory of evolution is embraced unanimously, Darwinism is generally purported to signify pro-evolution thought. I consider my decision to contest the MEP election as a natural move, as the evolution from the environmental campaigner who uses the newspaper columns to relay his message to a worker in the vineyard. As I stated in this paper about two weeks before the election, in a piece titled “Preaching to the unconverted”, as an environmentalist who is not daunted by challenges and who aims to score as effective a hit as possible, it is indeed a Darwinist move to contest with a party, which admittedly also represents the construction lobby in this country and which has committed numerous environmental shortcomings in the past. Having at least one green candidate within the ranks of the rightist political party is the most effective way to instil much needed reform – gnawing at the political structure from the outside will just result in frustration and cynicism. As for cynicism, a photo showing a particular placard at the Bahrija protest epitomises such cynicism. Some, obviously lacking foresight, had predicted I would be a no show at the same protest, and, when confronted by the man himself, the holder of the placard did not even know who Alan Deidun was! Talking of people being instrumentalised... I can imagine the scene, “Hey, you, just hold this placard will you, don’t worry if you don’t know the person whose name is splashed on it.”

Then again, to simply condense an individual candidature on the merits of a single issue – the environment in this case – is minimalistic indeed. I have also based my campaign on other themes – namely education, culture, youth issues and sports – areas where the PN has set the pace in the last couple of decades. The fact that I was not elected is of little significance… it’s the ripple effect generated that is important. Mind you, had the playing field been more level for everyone...

Charles poses many questions in his piece, so let me return the favour. What is the probability of the same PL MEP candidates, who attended the Bahrija protest, doing the same had the case emerged during a Labour administration? What is the probability of the same candidates staging a protest in front of the residences/properties of the three PL MPs who brazenly developed ODZ sites, some of which illegally and asking for sanctioning later on? I trust I have the answer here and it starts with a ‘z’. I will not be muzzled and my fortnightly column (closed during campaigning not out of a personal choice) is continued proof of this. I don’t give a toss if the ODZ developer at Bahrija is a high-ranking PN official or a construction tycoon or Joe Bloggs... my green credentials are untainted and will continue to be so.

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