A symbol of love

The decision announced by the European Court of Human Rights on the use of crucifixes in school classrooms caused quite a controversy and expectedly so. The sentence, pronounced by the Court of the Council of Europe, upheld a complaint filed by an Italian mother of Finnish origins who felt disturbed by the presence of crucifixes in her children's classrooms.

I fully agree and sympathise with Archbishop Paul Cremona's reactions when he described this tendency, which is growing in Europe, as being "a new form of censorship". Mgr Cremona went on to say that it seems that people can now express themselves on anything except religion!

This sentence reminded me of the statement by the late Pope John Paul II who, in September 2002, said that "in a world which is increasingly becoming secular and materialistic, the presence of a symbol of faith, such as the crucifix, is becoming ever more important in public places".

It is my humble opinion that these decisions are fuelling the sentiment that modern societies can exist without God's presence. A crucifix is essentially a symbol of love, besides being also a symbol of a religious belief. It is highly disappointing that these cultural traditions, which are rooted in centuries of civilisations, are brought down by superficial decisions and sentences such as this. Before we know it, we will all be left with just the Halloween pumpkin - November 5.

Mustering all forces

This morning I visited the 80-metre-high wind monitoring mast that has just been erected at L-Aħrax tal-Mellieħa. The mast will make it possible for technical experts to develop a wind profile of the area to ultimately see whether the planned offshore wind farm at Sikka l-Bajda, a shallow reef some 1.5 kilometres to three kilometres from the L-Aħrax coast, is feasible or not.

If the collected data indicates that the project is viable, the proposed wind farm at Sikka l-Bajda would generate almost 40 per cent of the clean energy that Malta is expected to produce to reach the EU's 2020 targets. The successful private bidders for the wind farm project will be investing around €300 million. All in all, about 18 to 20 turbines can be installed at the Sikka l-Bajda site. Each turbine will generate about five megawatts, with a total of about 90 to 100 megawatts.

By 2020, 10 per cent of the energy that Malta generates must come from clean renewable sources and the Maltese government is therefore focusing on three resources to generate cleaner energy: sun, wind and waste. When it comes to generating clean energy, we have to act. We need to take decisions that lead to concrete action. We take decisions that, albeit not always popular, are necessary to translate words into actions. Politics is meaningless if it is not substantiated by a sense of leadership, determination and commitment - November 1.

Pawlu Mizzi's heritage

There are few people who manage to leave a veritable legacy during their lifetime without any fanfares. Pawlu Mizzi is one of them. Today, he turned 80 and yesterday a reception hall, full of distinguished guests, turned up to acknowledge his contribution to our country. Mr Mizzi can be considered to be the father of the Maltese book trade. Forty years ago, only a few years after Malta achieved independence, Mr Mizzi founded Klabb Kotba Maltin that was to transform book publishing in Malta.

Oliver Friggieri and President Emeritus Ugo Mifsud Bonnici know him well and could share with those present the extent of Mr Mizzi's vision and how he managed to successfully pioneer what he believed in. Prof. Friggieri opined that, while politicians gave us political independence, Mr Mizzi, thanks to his publishing house, gave us independent thought.

Furthermore, Mr Mizzi was very conscious of the fact that, for Maltese publications to gain their rightful place, Malta had to have a professional set-up for book publishing. As someone who was present said only too well, there was the era before Mr Mizzi's books were published and the subsequent era. Probably, my generation was initially exposed to Maltese history and culture through another of his publications - the Heritage magazine - which I still cherish in my personal library to this very day. Speaking for myself, I used to read it avidly.

The event that the Mizzi family, led by his son Joe, organised for their father last night, was intended to be and indeed was an evening to celebrate Mr Mizzi. It was a privilege for me to be part of the gathering, honouring a Maltese national truly worthy of his country. - October 28.

BNP: Bearing no presents

I've just watched Question Time, one of my favourite programmes on BBC. But tonight's edition was probably watched by more people than usual because one of the panelists was Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National Party (BNP), the far right party in the UK. Mr Griffin's appearance raised quite a few eyebrows but, after having watched the programme, I think that the BBC's decision was a wise one for two main reasons.

For one thing, the fact that the BNP managed to elect two representatives in the European Parliament cannot be glossed over. It has the level of support that meets the threshold and is a reality that cannot be ignored.

Secondly, ideologies like Mr Griffin's need to be challenged and scrutinised like any others. So it is important that there are also occasions - such as this BBC flagship discussion programme - where these ideas are confronted and strong counter-arguments made. Mr Griffin vacillated when faced with the arguments put forward by the Conservative peer and shadow communities minister, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, who is of Asiatic descent, and by Labour Justice Secretary Jack Straw.

In retrospect, Mr Griffin could hardly feel that the "BBC had given him an early Christmas present", as Welsh Secretary Peter Hain had opined prior to the transmission. I agree with Baroness Warsi who said that the programme showed up Mr Griffin and the BNP for what they were. Furthermore, the mainstream parties needed to show that they were prepared to listen more to the electorate's discontent because, otherwise, sheer frustration might spur them to turn to parties like BNP to vent their dissatisfaction - October 25.

Mr Pullicino is Minister of Resources and Rural Affairs.

http://georgepullicino.blogspot.com