Society & Politics
The Top 10 Stories of 2018
The year 2018 has been both challenging and exciting. Here are a few stories, best-loved by our readers and editors, which delve into Malta’s most discussed and pertinent issues of 2018.
Loneliness: Why We Should See Individual ‘Problems’ as Social
No person is an island. We need to shift our language of ‘individual problems’ to a discourse of social causation and situatedness. Now more than ever, we need to connect each other’s problems to find their root causes and foster opportunities for solidarity.
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Demanding a Fair Housing Policy, not Charity!
In countries with low public welfare spending such as Malta, individuals are aware that their (and their family’s) social welfare depends on the accumulation of private wealth. Therefore, the state needs to step in as a social partner.
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Valletta and Our Common Good: MUŻA
Sandro Debono talked about the significance of story in curating and of community engagement. I’m hopeful that MUŻA will enable a legacy of community engagement through pedestrian access that the University and Is-Suq alike have been unable to realize.
The ABCs of Malta
Malta is a culturally diverse country with a complex social and political sphere—the fact which might come across as unexpected of an island state of such a minuscule size. And due to this complexity, Malta’s everyday political and social realities could be a treacherous terrain to navigate.
Valletta and Our Common Good: is-Suq tal-Belt
How does Is-Suq tal-Belt, the restored old market that covers a block linking Merchant St with St Paul’s St, shape up on good neighbourliness and enabling human interaction?
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Why the EU Is Mishandling Brexit
To win its battle of Britain, the EU must undergo a process to regain trust of the Brexit voters so that they will advocate Britain to rejoin the EU for the very same reasons that led them to pin their hopes to it some 30 years ago.
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Valletta and Our Common Good: Strada Stretta
After having been involved into the community consultation processes in preparation for Valletta’s bid to become European Capital of Culture, I’ve started to think about the things that we all share as humans—the commons or the common good.
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The Politics of Space and Social Segregation
As ancient Greeks once put it, we design the city and the city designs us. Therefore, territorial planning should be treated as a formative tool for helping us become the humans we want to be; any unequal opportunity at this stage will drastically increase the social segregation we are already experiencing.
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