“An integral ecology is inseparable from the common good, a central and unifying principle of social ethics”. These words come from Pope Francis in his encyclical letter Laudato Sì. The implication is that every citizen has the responsibility to work for the environment to secure human rights, social justice and sustainable development in “an organised response”.
An integral ecology can come about through a sustained programme of education for democratic citizenship, including a strong political education component.
This need has never been more urgent in Malta than in recent weeks when we experienced an intense political campaign for the election of the new Nationalist Party leader, a campaign marked by undesired public statements mainly in the social media.
We have just celebrated the 53rd anniversary of Malta’s Independence.
The political evolution of Malta from a colonial nation to a sovereign and independent State is a significant landmark in the island’s constitutional history. Knowledge of historical and political facts alone do not, however, make all there is in politics.
Politics involves fundamental issues in the public domain in the way of equity in the distribution of social goods, equality of rights along with good governance. Consequently, political education is more about developing ideas and critical thinking skills to evaluate different points of view than having knowledge about institutions and rules.
This brings out the vital link between politics and citizenship. Civic and political education is what gives citizens their identity as politically-literate and effective members of their society. It is in the Maltese context of the present historical, social and political developments that I attempt to highlight issues of democratic citizenship qualified by a political education dimension.
Modern-day shifting of political communities is linked to a rethinking of citizenship as citizenship of multiple identities.
This has become particularly urgent as we move from the idea of the private or passive citizen to participatory citizenship, centred on communitarian responsibility. This ties up with the notion of social citizenship, wherein a richer understanding of personhood is realised through social rights and social justice with new demands of inclusiveness and freedom from poverty.
A new socialisation in civic and social values, including digital ethics and media literacy, is required in the political landscape.
Civic and political education gives citizens the necessary skills to develop methods of participation in political life. As politically-responsible citizens, we need a stronger skill base that enables us to spot exaggerations and bias, weigh up sources, analyse critically pieces of evidence, accept different views and see the contrast between the virtuality of social media and reality.
Political awareness should make us sufficiently intelligent to interpret political issues in terms of the common good rather than individualist interests
Political awareness should make us sufficiently intelligent to interpret political issues in terms of the common good rather than individualist interests.
This reflects Pope Francis’s exhortation in The Joy of the Gospel to “enhance the social dimension… by acting as committed and responsible citizens, not as a mob swayed by the power that be”.
In his homily during Independence Day Mass, Archbishop Charles Scicluna echoes Francis’s words in the sense that “Men, both as individuals and as intermediate groups, are required to make their own specific contribution to the general welfare”.
The common good includes an ecological dimension to responsible citizenship.
Ecological citizenship corresponds to the promotion of a common heritage of environmental values.
Again quoting Laudato Sì, members of society as individuals or part of organisations can “work to promote the common good and defend the environment, whether urban or natural” out of the sense of environmental solidarity and the understanding that “we live in a common home” entrusted to us by God with the aim of leading man towards “integral human development”.
On this basis, civic and political education makes up the ‘good citizen’ who knows what human, social and political rights are while adopting a communitarian way of reasoning.
Some outstanding examples of issues from the local political experience include: striving for equality, narrowing the gap between the few rich and the low-income majority group, ensuring entitlement to decent housing by affordable rental payments, especially by those with limited resources, stepping up the struggle against drug trafficking, guaranteeing the country’s welfare services like education and health and finding ways of rationalising the Planning Authority’s permits for the construction industry with social and environmental impact assessments in mind.
Such public policy issues can be adequately addressed by a persistent education agenda. Much has been done in this direction through both formal and non-formal education by the central government, the Faculty of Education, the Church, especially through the Pastoral Formation Institute, and non-governmental organisations.
Education for democratic citizenship is one of the key learning areas in the national curriculum framework.
What is being suggested here is that the political literacy component be better stressed in the learning outcomes framework for subjects like social studies, history and personal, social and career development.
This applies equally to initial teacher training courses and classroom practice.
Post-modern Maltese society, marked by relativistic individualistic autonomy, freedom of expression and the paradox of pluralism within a culture of ‘living alone together’ due to social media, calls for greater emphasis on political literacy and political education as a whole within the framework of contemporary issues of citizenship.
phsaid@maltanet.net
Philip Said is a former education officer and a Nationalist Party local councillor at Żebbuġ.