Adrian Grima
A letter to Noora
I’m sorry, I know I’ve disappointed you. After all I’m just another European. And our elections are just round the corner, too, and I’ll get all heated over – perhaps I’ll even write an article – and then, when the day arrives, I’ll vote for a Europe, and a proud Malta, that will continue to screw Palestine.
2009-01-08
Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival
Birgu, Malta, 11th to 13th of SeptemberSix foreign and four Maltese short story writers and poets, a Funk band and a singer songwriter will be participating in this year's third edition of the unconventional Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival at Couvre Porte in Birgu.
2008-09-03
The World in Alphabetical Order
As I prepare to write this piece about Péter Zilahy’s ingenious picture dictionary for the over fives “The Last Window –Giraffe”, Le Monde announces the arrest, after over a decade defying the vagaries of human justice, of Radovan Karadži?, the “poet, politician, psychiatrist, psychopath, war criminal.”
2008-09-03
A “Prophetic Call” for Fair Trade
A survey carried out in 1997 found that awareness of fair trade as a concept in the Mediterranean member states of the EU was very low and that there was a greater awareness and experience of fair trade products in the northern and central Member States. The study claimed that “only 13% of French, Greek or Portuguese citizens had ever heard of the concept of fair trade, and only 3-4% had ever purchased any fair trade goods.” Can we draw any link between Fair Trade and religion?
2007-04-05
The Mediterranean as Segregation
Over one hundred civil society activists from all over the Mediterranean and beyond met in Rome to renew their commitment against war and colonialism and to discuss ways of working towards peace, democracy, human and civil rights, justice, peaceful coexistence, and freedom. Adrian Grima joined the fray.
2007-02-13
Controlling Civil Society
Perhaps it is no coincidence that in “the year of civil society, ” the embattled government of Malta presented Parliament with an “over-regulatory” Voluntary Organizations Act that, according to an international expert, “is likely to hinder development of civil society.” Adrian Grima looks at the details, and the spirit.
2007-01-29
Caught in a Dirty Business
This year’s edition of the Taste the World fair trade festival to be held on Saturday, 9th December at St. James Cavalier in Valletta, will focus on the injustices that plague the cotton and textile industry in general and urge consumers in Malta to voice their concern and choose those products that respect workers and the natural environment.
2006-12-06
New Women
Maltese literature has traditionally failed to “tell” the stories of “real” Maltese women. This is a serious lacuna because it is the vision of the writer which defamiliarizes habitualized sight and allows us to ‘know’ a community which is unable to know itself. Adrian Grima writes about how new Maltese prose is slowly but surely making amends.
2006-10-31