Today Malta celebrates its Independence Day.
Well, sort of. Actually, no one really celebrates, but unless the day happens to be part of the weekend like this year most Maltese people do appreciate the day off work they get. Otherwise, hardly anyone cares the less about our national day (or is it just one of our FIVE national days?). Which is really a shame, because it was indeed this day, 44 years ago, on 21st September 1964 to be precise, that the Maltese nation came into being after many centuries of occupation by foreign powers.
So why don't we commemorate this crucial event in our history the way it deserves to be? Plain and simple - it's petty partisan politics. The culprits are - first and foremost the Malta Labour Party, followed by the Partit Nazzjonalista, and finally those Maltese people who have allowed these two political parties to lead them by their noses.
It all started in the 1970s, when the Labour government led by Dom Mintoff struck off Independence Day from the list of Malta's public holidays. Mintoff was envious because it was his arch-rivals the Nationalists who had obtained independence for Malta, and went on to create TWO other landmark events to rival Independence Day - Republic Day (the day Malta became a republic in 1973) and "Freedom" Day (the closure of the British military base in 1979). The Nationalists rightly felt it was wrong to write off the day Malta became a nation, and each year, on 21st September, in the face of much harassment often including physical violence, they used to commemorate the day with a political event for its followers. A notorious photograph showing a fat policeman in the act of throwing a sizeable stone during one of these events is in my opinion one of the most emblematic icons of those dark ages.
As remarked in my "In search for a definition of 'time' ", nothing is eternal, and the despised Mintoff/KMB regime eventually came to an end in 1987, to be replaced by the Partit Nazzjonalista in government. The PN restored Independence Day as a national holiday (but not the National day) and to appease "the other lot" maintained "their" feasts as national holidays. We ended up with the ridiculous situation of FIVE national holidays, because in addition to Independence Day, Republic Day and "Freedom" Day, another two days were thrown into the mix for good measure, 8th September (the end of the Great Siege by the Ottoman forces on the ruling Knights of St. John in 1565) and Sette Giugno (when in 1919 the British administration's law enforcers fired on a band of rioters, killing four of them, in Valletta).
Worse than this motley mix of national holidays, the Nationalists committed the sin of hijacking this historical event, turning it into a "Nationalist" feast, rather than a national holiday, by insisting on celebrating the day with a partisan political event, even after it had been officially reinstated as a national holiday. It was OK to do this under the Labour regime, which had tried to write this great event off Malta's history books. But to have the Partit Nazzjonalista, and not the Maltese state, organise the Indipendenza Fest or whatever silly name they choose to call it nowadays, 21 years after its official recognition, is simply asking for the "other" side to ignore the historical implications of the day.
There we go again. Us and the "others". Our national holiday(s), and theirs. Two tribes. It would be funny, if it weren't so tragic. You can immediately tell which political grounding a Maltese person has just by asking them what is the Maltese national holiday. If they lean towards Labour they'll say it's Republic Day. If they are keen Nationalists, they'll tell you it's l-Indipendenza. If they're neither Labour nor keen Nationalists, they won't mention Independence, for fear of appearing partisan. A historical landmark, the day when we Maltese people should celebrate the fact of our nationhood, for reasons of silly and unnecessary pique hijacked by political parties and turned into a matter of national controversy.
Well, sort of. Actually, no one really celebrates, but unless the day happens to be part of the weekend like this year most Maltese people do appreciate the day off work they get. Otherwise, hardly anyone cares the less about our national day (or is it just one of our FIVE national days?). Which is really a shame, because it was indeed this day, 44 years ago, on 21st September 1964 to be precise, that the Maltese nation came into being after many centuries of occupation by foreign powers.
So why don't we commemorate this crucial event in our history the way it deserves to be? Plain and simple - it's petty partisan politics. The culprits are - first and foremost the Malta Labour Party, followed by the Partit Nazzjonalista, and finally those Maltese people who have allowed these two political parties to lead them by their noses.
It all started in the 1970s, when the Labour government led by Dom Mintoff struck off Independence Day from the list of Malta's public holidays. Mintoff was envious because it was his arch-rivals the Nationalists who had obtained independence for Malta, and went on to create TWO other landmark events to rival Independence Day - Republic Day (the day Malta became a republic in 1973) and "Freedom" Day (the closure of the British military base in 1979). The Nationalists rightly felt it was wrong to write off the day Malta became a nation, and each year, on 21st September, in the face of much harassment often including physical violence, they used to commemorate the day with a political event for its followers. A notorious photograph showing a fat policeman in the act of throwing a sizeable stone during one of these events is in my opinion one of the most emblematic icons of those dark ages.
As remarked in my "In search for a definition of 'time' ", nothing is eternal, and the despised Mintoff/KMB regime eventually came to an end in 1987, to be replaced by the Partit Nazzjonalista in government. The PN restored Independence Day as a national holiday (but not the National day) and to appease "the other lot" maintained "their" feasts as national holidays. We ended up with the ridiculous situation of FIVE national holidays, because in addition to Independence Day, Republic Day and "Freedom" Day, another two days were thrown into the mix for good measure, 8th September (the end of the Great Siege by the Ottoman forces on the ruling Knights of St. John in 1565) and Sette Giugno (when in 1919 the British administration's law enforcers fired on a band of rioters, killing four of them, in Valletta).
Worse than this motley mix of national holidays, the Nationalists committed the sin of hijacking this historical event, turning it into a "Nationalist" feast, rather than a national holiday, by insisting on celebrating the day with a partisan political event, even after it had been officially reinstated as a national holiday. It was OK to do this under the Labour regime, which had tried to write this great event off Malta's history books. But to have the Partit Nazzjonalista, and not the Maltese state, organise the Indipendenza Fest or whatever silly name they choose to call it nowadays, 21 years after its official recognition, is simply asking for the "other" side to ignore the historical implications of the day.
There we go again. Us and the "others". Our national holiday(s), and theirs. Two tribes. It would be funny, if it weren't so tragic. You can immediately tell which political grounding a Maltese person has just by asking them what is the Maltese national holiday. If they lean towards Labour they'll say it's Republic Day. If they are keen Nationalists, they'll tell you it's l-Indipendenza. If they're neither Labour nor keen Nationalists, they won't mention Independence, for fear of appearing partisan. A historical landmark, the day when we Maltese people should celebrate the fact of our nationhood, for reasons of silly and unnecessary pique hijacked by political parties and turned into a matter of national controversy.
What a farce. Thank you MLP. Thank you PN. Sometimes I wonder if we really deserve to be independent...
1 comment:
well said.
One would think, that it is time to move forward but sometimes I feel it suits a few people if things remained the same.
Quite a shame that in Malta, even independence day is just another political issue.
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