Many of us Maltese with progressive ideas are today worried about the pronounced growth of an intolerant culture within Maltese society. Indeed, those who have a sound grasp of Maltese history are describing today’s situation as a regression to the ideas and practices prevalent in the 1960s. We have to be very careful that the narrow-mindedness of a minority of Maltese citizens does not put at risk all that has been attained in the decades preceding our own times to ensure that freedom is present in all aspects of life in the Maltese islands.

One of the things that retarded social development and progress in the Maltese islands many years ago was a narrow-mindedness which led some people to look suspiciously upon anything that deviated from the norm. This led to a condemnation of different lifestyles, unusual ideas, new concepts, different religious beliefs or the lack of them, different sexual orientations, etc. Then came progress and enlightenment when people started to accept that what was different was not necessarily bad but could also be quite positive too, albeit in different ways.

Unfortunately, today, there are still people who seem to have nothing better to do with their lives than to interfere in how other people want to live their own lives, imposing their values on such people and leaving no space for different conceptions of reality. These narrow-minded people choke to death the creativity of others and destroy the magnificent diversity of our culture to try and create, instead, a drab uniformity that is as boring as it is unattractive.

I believe that, in a democracy like ours, we should be striving to broaden the options available to people as to how to live their lives in the most enriching ways possible. We should surely not be moving towards a situation where the opposite is the case. Above all, I find it morally condemnable that anybody should encourage legal sanctions to silence the voices of those who manifest opinions, ideas, concepts and lifestyles which the hegemonic social groups in Malta find alien.

Qualifying my arguments only by excluding what is illegal, what right have I, in the year 2010, to say that what I believe is right and that what somebody else believes is wrong? That the way I live is right and the way somebody else lives is wrong? What right have I to force somebody else to do as I do? To act as I act? What right have I to eliminate the options open to others? Others who engage in a discourse different from the mainstream one but which they regard as just as relevant and worthy of respect. Tolerance enriches us as human beings, intolerance impoverishes the human condition.

At the present time, we are witnessing a period of transition in Maltese society. Long-held ideas, traditions, lifestyles and beliefs are increasingly being questioned and, sometimes, attacked. Not all change is positive, it can be negative as well. However, if we really seek progress, we have to be open and receptive to innovation, to ideas and concepts that may seem strange at first because of their very novelty.

The crux of the argument is to keep an open mind towards change.

To reject something even before it starts being discussed is a negation of democracy and a negation of the dignity and respect we should accord to others.

We need flexible positions on burning social issues. We need to empathise with those on the other side of the fence. We need to put ourselves in the shoes of others living realities much different from ours.