The president’s conference on national unity is on. Earlier this month, Ranier Fsadni wrote an article about it. His main point was: there’s nothing to lose, possibly there’s something to gain. This article provoked a barrage of criticism from a number of bloggers. Their objections are that George Vella would be biased because of his political past; that it is impossible to dialogue with crooks and perpetrators of corruption; that nothing would come out of it.
I find myself in agreement with Fsadni. Despite the fact that, probably, nothing would come out of it, let’s give this conference a chance. It would have a better chance of succeeding if it is done in the right way. Often, agreements are reached when talk is informal and relaxed. If I remember right, it had been reported that the end of the Vietnam War was brokered not during the official meetings but in the coffee breaks.
Pope Francis believes very strongly in dialogue and he dedicated a whole chapter of his latest encyclical, Fratelli tutti, to it. In this chapter he tells us what dialogue is and what it is not, about the spirit in which it needs to be approached in order to be successful and about some solid principles that need to be held tightly.
Pope Francis’ chapter on dialogue is long and touches many points. I shall only mention a few points that he stresses. It would be good for the interlocutors of the conference and for all those who would like to involve themselves in the process to go through the whole chapter.
President George Vella should be given the benefit of the doubt- Fr Alfred Micallef
In the first place, Pope Francis gives a sort of definition of dialogue: “Approaching, speaking, listening, looking at, coming to know and understand one another, to find common ground.” It is encouraging that President Vella uses more or less the same terms.
Very often we pretend to be in dialogue and we even invent set-ups to convince ourselves. Some try to convince by an exchange of opinions on social networks. Referring to these, Pope Francis says that they are simply “parallel monologues” and leave everybody stubbornly entrenched in their own positions. Roundtables are mainly negotiating sessions in which, rather than cooperating, participants seek to seize every possible advantage.
Authentic dialogue, the Pope emphasises, “involves the ability to respect the other’s point of view and to admit that it may include legitimate convictions and concerns”. How very true! We say that truth is one, and so it is, but it has several aspects and nobody can grasp all of them. Only if we come together and listen profoundly to how different people are experiencing different aspects could we come close to a whole picture of truth. Ultimately, we are different and even if truth is one it does not touch each of us in the same way.
Authentic dialogue should also be based on the acknowledgement of “the existence of certain enduring values, however demanding it may be to discern them”, the Pope insists and continues, “once those fundamental values are acknowledged and adopted through dialogue and consensus, we realise that they rise above consensus; they transcend our concrete situations and remain non-negotiable”.
Without such a basis we would have relativism and relativism opens the door for the most powerful to impose their ways.
If we approach dialogue with this spirit we would come in contact with one other, appreciate our differentness and experience a sense of togetherness in spite of our different experiences and opinions. The differentness of others, rather than distancing us from them, would make us appreciate their ways without feeling obliged that they should also be our ways.
Some insinuated that President Vella had other motives for calling this conference. Apart from the fact that nobody can read anybody else’s mind, I believe that the president should be given the benefit of the doubt and hope that this conference – even if its set-up may not be perfect – may prove to be an opportunity to overcome some of the polarisation that is enslaving us. If we truly love our country and ourselves we should do our best to make this initiative a success.
Fr Alfred Micallef is a member of the Society of Jesus.