From Mr J. Azzopardi

I refer to the letter from the Director General of the Malta Red Cross Society emphasising its disassociation from the appeal for clothing for immigrants (TMIS, 23 December).

After reading the letter, I was curious to see what the Malta Red Cross Society stood for and logged on to its website. The website lists five attributes that are presumably the society’s vision: Humanity, Impartiality, Neutrality, Independence, and Volunteer Service. They must have forgotten to add Bureaucracy to the list.

Unfortunately, in this particular matter they have failed on all fronts. The letter asserting that the appeal did not originate from the society is nothing but a grave admission of failure. The society should have made the appeal. Is the society’s dissociation a sign of impartiality, or neutrality, or independence perhaps? It is definitely not a sign of humanity or volunteer service. It is neither a reflection of the much trumpeted Maltese hospitality nor of the Roman Catholic Apostolic values that our Christian democrat government wanted to impose on the whole of Europe not so long ago! And where is the Church in all of this?

Once again, we have got our priorities back to front. If the Malta Red Cross Society and the Church want to sit on the fence for reasons best known to them, they should not try to control people who want to help.

John Azzopardi

BIDNIJA