1 comment.Artists unite to save Gozo – Our Voices Our Land
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Malta ARCH is a collective group of citizens, who are “deeply concerned about the future of the Malta’s natural, cultural and archaeological heritage.”
In a statement, the organisation said that its goals are to “protect Malta’s beautiful natural landscape from unnecessary development, to protect Maltese cultural heritage, and safeguard Malta’s numerous archaeological sites from destruction.”
In response to the “barrage of unnecessary, unsustainable and destructive development being planned throughout Gozo,” Malta-ARCH said that it is hosting an online art-exhibition taking place on Friday, the 23rd of April from 6:30-8:30pm.
This Zoom event will include film, music, poetry and visual art following the theme of protecting natural, cultural and archaeological beauty in Gozo.
Interested artists can submit up to three pieces of work. The deadline for submissions has been extended to midnight on the 3rd of April.
MALTA-Arch said that it has also released a petition as a call to action for citizens across Malta and Gozo to speak out about this plague of construction and to set the precedent for future developers who wish to desolate the beauty of our islands.
The activists said that they are also planning a physical march against the needless development in Nadur, but due to Covid restrictions, this protest has been postponed; however, plans are still in place to hold the event once restrictions are lifted.
“We call on Maltese citizens and residents to unite together and work to protect Maltese heritage and landscape,” they said.
Malta-ARCH explained that it “dedicates itself to activism; through objection-letter writing campaigns, physical protests, and artivism activities that utilise performance, we have raised our voices to draw attention to issues like the proposed destruction of the archaeological site Tal-Qares in Mosta, and most recently, joining forces with local Nadur residents and NGOs to object to the unnecessary development planned in the area.”
How many Gozitans actually know the nature surrounding them? 95% drive their cars to go everywhere. Some even drive up the cliffs and watch the sunset without ever leaving their car. This “destruction” everyone is talking about is merely the latest stage in a long-term development. Try walking across the island. You won’t see much natural beauty on foot. Just cars racing past you. Ban the cars and set speed limits to 20 for essential traffic and people will realise what has gone wrong the past 50 years.