Arts

  • Culture and politics (more Havel)

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    In this part of an essay entitled “Politics, Morality and Civility”, Havel concentrates on an important aspect in the development of citizenship. It is evident that Havel’s ideal state involves a cultured citizenship – what he calls “civility” in the wider sense of the world. The fundamentals of a state lie in the building and…

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  • Tous à poils (the naked truth)

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    Jean-François Copé, president of France’s UMP party, is currently in the news for his attack on a book that he claims is being suggested for the official primary school reading list. Entitled “Tous à poil” (Everybody naked), this book reminds me of another great bestseller among young kids nowadays (Everyone poops). Part of a wider…

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  • Il-Vapur ghal Betlehem

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    Qbadna il-kju mill-Ghadira. Il-Hadd imqaddes. Kju karozzi Maltin ta’ Malta li ghogobhom jghaddu l-ahhar Hadd tas-sena f’Ghawdex. Allajbierek. “Ghawdxi tajjeb aharqu” jghidu. Ma’ l-ewwel cans li jkollhom imaqdru ‘l Ghawdex u lill-Ghawdxin. Imma min imaqdar irid jixtri jghidu u f’dan il-kaz ix-xewqa tax-xerrej tigi ikkargata ghira. Kju jibda mill-Ghadira. Min jipprova jaqbez, min jirnexxilu b’komplicità…

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  • Monumental Aesthetics

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    There is a symbolical effervescence that pervades anyone with the right frame of mind as he walks around great cities such as Rome or Washington D.C. The former is richly endowed with a magnificent scattering of monuments built to last centuries and that eagerly proclaim the magnificence of a proud republic and empire. The latter…

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  • Blasphemy and Censorship

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    I have often been involved in heated discussions about the nature and existence of censorship in our country. Recent PLPN attempts at appeasing the crowd of baying artists who claim to be oppressed when it comes to our censorship laws were often the trigger for such conversations. I tend to hold the opinion that most…

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  • The Pale Blue Dot

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    “Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero…

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