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mardi, juin 06, 2006

Lamppost Campaign


The latest arson attacks are not necessarily linked to the wave of intolerance that has gripped Malta and as such one cannot go on making assumptions without concrete evidence. Nowithstanding this fact, evidence of an ever-increasing number of people joining the intolerant crowd could be found in the Maltatoday survey that told us that 6.6% of Maltese would consider voting for extremists. 4.8% would actually vote for Lowell while 4.7% would vote for Marlin Debattista's ANR. Aren't we just a lovely bunch?

The barks by some columnists and the 15-organisation demonstration yesterday against extremism fall still short of an informed and pro-active campaign to deroot both intolerance and its causes in Malta. J'accuse does not harbour any delusions of grandeur and would love to be another ripple in an ocean of voices speaking out about the evils of intolerance. Following my earlier call for every individual to book their lamppost I do believe that it is a time that a veritable campaign is started that can hopefully start provoking the right reactions in the right circles. We will pick up from where the "Le Ghar-Razzizmu" campaign was prematurely dropped.

Until I find time to design a proper logo I have drafted something which you can see above. You are free to copy and paste it into your blog as a sign of support. Here are my first ideas on what can be done and what I am planning to do... any suggestions are welcome...

1. The blog called postform will be changed to (lamp)postform for the duration of the campaign. All bloggers listed as contributors will be given the chance to drop out should they prefer not to be associated with the campaign. Others wishing to join need only send me an email to jacques dot zammit at gmail dot com.

2. A manifesto and letter launching the campaign will be drafted. Depending on the interest shown here it will be either one from a group of Maltese bloggers or simply kicking off from J'Accuse.

3. The next step will be to rope in NGO's and pressure groups to unite under one banner and begin an educational campaign using the net... the aim will be to set up one net address. Postform has limited flexibility and will probably be used as noticeboard more than anything else (or a point of reference).

4. Next I will try to get a series of articles going (hopefully with the participation of some of you out there) under the general theme of lampposts. By this time we should have found a newspaper that is ready to subscribe to the campaign as well as publish some of the articles.

5. Stickers and t-shirts are also being considered. Something rudimentary has been designed in the Akkuza Memorabilia Shop. Just to get an idea of course.

Any ideas... any bright sparks...? Lets get kicking!

8 commentaires:

zetetiq a dit…

I have a friend who simply loves taking photos of lamp posts if you're worried about copyright, and designing a professional logo shouldnt be a problem with the amount of design whizzes in the maltese blogosphere. A website should also be plain sailing for the same reason.

mistoqsija a dit…

Now that's a great idea Jacques. Hekk jew b'hekk nobody will take the hassle of travelling all the way to Luxembourg to burn your front door down. :P Bitter humour apart, I think that Malta badly needs a contrary flow against the the extreme rightists. The only way we can fight them is by exercising our right to an opinion and not by trying to suppress theirs.

Antoine Cassar a dit…

Idea nobbli u eċċellenti. Jekk Justin jaqbel, ta' min nikkopjaw din il-bloggata ġewwa Lamp-Post-Form, kemm biex ikompli jirranka l-mutur. Hemm xi kitbiet tajbin ħafna ta' Pecklectrick ukoll. Sadattant ovvjament naħsbu għal materjal ġdid, forsi (forsi) indawlu xi erbat imħuħ... imma nammetti, ma tantx ninsab ottimista dwar kemm nistgħu ninfluwenzaw l-affarijiet. Id-dibattitu bejn l-hekk imsejħin "intellettwali" bejn l-"intellettwali" se jibqa'. Min iħobb iħambaq u jxejjer il-ponn fil-forums u fil-marċi, aktar ma jisma' argumenti kontrih aktar se jsir akkanit. Wisq nibża' li aktar ma nitkellmu dwar/kontra r-razziżmu aktar se nagħtuh saħħa u aktar se jinstema' leħnu... biss biss il-fatt li qegħdin nitkellmu dwarhom {dawk l-għedewwa oskuri bir-raġġiera} hawnhekk huwa sintomatiku ta' kemm għandhom poter, kważi kważi qed nagħmlulhom pjaċir...

Madankollu, it-tentazzjoni li naddottaw atteġġjament ta' "non ragionam di lor" negħlbuha malajr. Jiena nemmen ħafna fir-reżistenza kreattiva, is-saħħa tal-pinna kontra dik tax-xabla... Għandi xi żewġ kitbiet qed jistennew biex norqomhom... stay tuned.

Justin Borg Barthet a dit…

ghalija tistghu tikkopjaw li tridu mill-blogg tieghi. sadattant nipprova nikteb xi haga gdida meta ma nkun ftit iktar kalm - forsi xi haga dwar il-lingwa u l-istorja ta' malta; tipo kif jghallmuna li dejjem konna pajjiz tal-krocjati mentri ghandna lingwa bbazata fuq l-gharbi li tinkludi kliem bhal ghid, randan u alla (forsi twanny hafna iktar espert f'das-suggett). x'jidhrilkom?

Antoine Cassar a dit…

Justin, tajtni idea.

Jacques René Zammit a dit…

Guys.

This is not a campaign AGAINST. It has to be a campaign FOR. It will mock no one. It will just bring out the arguments for tolerance and diversity.

The above is not an admonition - it is a clarification.

Twan - ara tiehux idea minn dan l-artiklu interessantissimu: http://debate.uvm.edu/dreadlibrary/herbold.html

toghgobni l-idea ta' "I an I"

zetetiq a dit…

Forsi bhala azzjoni pro tolleranza, taghmluha daqxej open ghal tolleranza ta' kollox, mhux biss kulturi differenti imma twemmin u x naf jien.

L affarijiet li qed jigru Malta bhalissa m'ghandomx x jaqsmu biss mar-razzizmu imma anka kontra nies ta' twemmin differenti minnhom (ecc.)

B'dan il-mod inkunu qed nindirizzaw il-problema tar-razzizmu wkoll. Mill-banda l ohra ma tkunx biss reazzjoni ta' l-affarijiet li jaghmlu huma imma sempliciment messagg pro xi haga ohra.

Antoine Cassar a dit…

One of the most powerful letters in the alphabet used by the Rastafarians is the letter, number, and word "I". "I" and the noun phrase "I and I" replaces the pronouns "him," she," "we," "you," and "me. "The phrase "I and I" is used to remind the speaker and the listeners that Rastafari is a community of people all the time and it praises and acknowledges the presence of the Almighty (Pulis, 1993). For example a Rasta would say "I and I went home," never "I went home." The "u" sound in words such as "unity" and "human" is replaced with the first person "I" to create "I-nity" and "I-man." In general "I" represents positivity. The word "irie" is the ultimate up-full sound meaning uplifting spiritual or nothing could be better (Nicholas, 1996).

Togħġobni ħafna l-idea wkoll. Grazzi tal-link.

FOR diversity, not against those who purport to kill it... għandek raġun. No problem.