PN urged to become a ‘catalyst’ for social change

The Nationalist Party should place cultural integration at the forefront of its policies, law student Naomi Bugre said as she addressed the party’s national convention.

“Political parties have a strong influence in Malta. If cultural integration is at the forefront of the policies they could help change mentalities,” the Ghanaian-Maltese student said.

Speaking at the second session of the first national convention organised by the PN to listen to the ideas of people outside of the party, she compared her childhood experience in Malta with her experience in Belgium.

“When I started attending school in Malta, I started to feel different. People looked at me strangely when I started speaking in Maltese and I heard other mothers asking my [Maltese] mother where she adopted me from.”

“Everyone is different, everyone has different perspectives on life, even two children who are born in the same village who attend the same school,” Bugre said.

“The world has become more globalized which has allowed us to learn more about each other. Multiculturalism is about how different people can live together in peace, while dealing with the challenges that arise from diversity.”

“The world has become more globalized which has allowed us to learn more about each other. Multiculturalism is a social process how different people can live together in peace while dealing with the challenges that arise from diversity. I never questioned whether Maltese or Ghanaian was better. Maltese people listen to American music and eat Chinese food but are still Maltese,” she added.

Meanwhile, transgender businessman Alex Mangion told the PN convention that the opposition’s decision to abstain from voting on the Civil Unions Bill was a mistake, one that it should not repeat when voting on the Gender Identity Bill.

“I find myself thinking twice before going to a bank, because I’d have to present my ID card that is still registered under a female identity,” Mangion said.

“Similar problems arise when I want to go on holiday or into a club in Paceville.”

Jacqueline Azzopardi, vice-dean of the University’s Faculty of Social Well-Being warned the PN that it must wake up to the modern realities of the family.

“The PN can’t wait for the church to accept females as priests or to accept gay people; the church has the right to their own doctrines but they’re doctrines that have become separated from modern values” Azzopardi said.

“Our youths are free spirits who live on the world wide web, in a multicultural world, not isolated in Malta. The PN must look at the election loss as a wake-up call and become a catalyst for social change.”

Meanwhile, Amy Camilleri Zahra, manager at KNPD, urged the PN to do more to observe the needs of people with a disability.  

“The role of people with a disabilitiy has changed in Maltese society,” Camilleri Zahra said. “They used to be hidden from society and considered as burdens on their families. That has changed now, even thanks to the PN’s initiative to set up KNPD where the discourse began shifting to the rights of disabled people rather than charity, such as the right to inclusive education, employment, family, and access to communication.”

However, she said that a lot of work still needs to be done.

“Politicians can’t help disabled people with words alone,” she said. “They need to have fully equal ights, such as the right to equal access to justice, and the right to full participation in politics through secret voting.”