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		<pubDate>Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA['I walk proud and with my head held high up']]></title>
			<link>http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130523/blogs/i-walk-proud-and-with-my-head-held-high-up.470973</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
								On Tuesday afternoon the French far right historian, Dominique Venner, committed suicide on the altar of the Notre Dame cathedral in in the centre of Paris. The 78-year-old man walked up to the altar, placed a sealed envelope and then shot himself in full view of many people who were visiting. The envelope contained the “Declaration of Dominique Venner: reasons for a voluntary death.”
Venner paid the ultimate price in defence of his conservative beliefs. His tragic death seem to have been a final protest against the introduction of gay marriage in France and what he considered to be the Islamisation of his country.
The reaction of the Femen activist group and other far right protestors is despicable and condemnable in the extreme. Whatever views one holds, the moment of one’s death is a moment that should be respected.
This is not the first time that a suicide was committed publicly as an act of protest. On 6 May 1998 Bishop John Joseph of Faisalabad shot himself publicly at the court. His death was an act of protest against the execution of a Christian man who was falsely charge of blasphemy by Muslims in Pakistan. Bishop Joseph had spent all his life fighting for the rights of...				]]></description>
			<pubDate>Thu, 23 May 2013 18:21:00 +0200</pubDate>
						<dc:creator><![CDATA[Fr Joe Borg]]></dc:creator>
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			<title><![CDATA[The first prime minister who hates politics]]></title>
			<link>http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130523/blogs/the-first-prime-minister-who-hates-politics.470972</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
								Nothing bores people more than politics. That’s what Joseph Muscat realised and that is why he won by an amazing landslide. Lawrence Gonzi and his clique were not just passé, they were obsessed with politics. They spoke and lectured us ad nauseam about the economy, job creation and the way forward. They quoted figures, they digested facts, they explained their policy.
And they were thrown out—with a thud. With no if you please: just scram and go hide in the opposition wilderness.
Dr Muscat did not use his youth or vigour as his new way. His new way was to be positive, smile and talk about facts and figures as little as possible. He did to politics what true politicians usually hate: he said let’s not talk about politics and policy but just smile and say nice, positive things. Let’s talk in platitudes—let’s leave politics aside and move on to a new era of enlightened no-politicking. He even went so far as to decree—let there be no party, let it all be a free, glorious movement. He asked the party diehards to do away with the party and its old symbols. No need for policy, no need for old ideology.
Thanks to this anti-politics stand he won a great following, a great victory. And...				]]></description>
			<pubDate>Thu, 23 May 2013 17:09:00 +0200</pubDate>
						<dc:creator><![CDATA[Victor Calleja]]></dc:creator>
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