In theory and in public statements, we are all for the protection of the environment. In practice, unceasingly, decisions have continued to be taken which certainly do not take this direction. It’s a point that applies to us all, or almost.

For instance I admit that in the past and up to right now, I still believe there’s nothing wrong for a golf course to be laid out in Malta – and believe too that this would not be to the detriment of the environment. I have been criticised about the matter but still believe that apart from the fact that land taken up by golf could easily be given back again to farming, such a facility would help restrain environmental pollution.

Others would however hold their own views about other projects with which I would then have to disagree. And it’s not always a play of hypocrisy.

For this reason, it might make sense to have some kind of charter laying down the principles that should guide us on matters of environmental protection when we come to decide about real “everyday” choices. At least that would serve to provide an anchor by which to speak out against the surge of projects which are in the pipeline and which seems fuelled by a strange urge that gets high on tall towers, monstruous villas nesting in the countryside and wideranging flyovers.

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RELIGIOUS BELIEF?

In a secular state, what role should religious belief – as represented by churches and organized religious institutions – play?

The issue arouses keen interest in France where for well over a century, the state has proclaimed – with a quasi-religious fervour – that it is secular in character. In fact a controversy is presently unfolding there about how organized Islamic belief should adapt its ways to the secular norms that the country subscribes to.

Here too, the problem has frequently come to the surface. Moves towards the secular state were carried out jerkily and some developments are still works in progress. Many Maltese feel that there are still too many “religious” drags on how national agendas are framed. Meanwhile, others complain that the advance towards secularism has led to the abandonment of values and traditions that define the Maltese identity.

Over the years, the tensions that built up shook society over controversies about freedom of expression, civil marriage, the decriminalisation of homsexuality, the teaching of religion in schools, divorce, same gender marriage and today abortion and euthanasia.  

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ELLUL MERCER

Perhaps during the year when the one hundredth anniversary of the Labour Party was being celebrated, some more attention could have been given to LP leaders active in the party’s heroic period (1944 – 1971). Among them Ġuże Ellul Mercer.

For Labour adherents, his name became linked to what happened after he died – when he was buried in the so-called “dungheap”. Yet Ellul Mercer was much more than that – namely a strong-willed politician, a creative writer and a greatly  talented columnist, a political thinker. Overall, one problem with the Labour Party’s historical recall is that while what happened and was decided “at the top” is rather well documented, how then this was relayed to the cohorts of Labour supporters is given much less attention.

Ellul Mercer’s lifelong endeavours (as well as those of others like him) need to be considered from such a perspective while being accorded a better recognition.