Manwel Dimech: 100 years of amnesia. And defiance
100 years after Dimech’s death in exile in Egypt, JAMES DEBONO examines his legacy in a country that was more willing to commemorate Prince Philip’s passing than the cruel repudiation of Malta’s first true democrat
27 April 2021, 7:28am
by James Debono
Manwel Dimech, the first Maltese political activist to advocate for women’s suffrage, the foundation of a Maltese republic, a welfare state, and official recognition of the Maltese language, died in POW camp in Alexandria, Egypt on 17 April 1921, seven years after his arrest and exile by the British colonial government for “agitating” Dockyard workers and for holding anti-clerical and socialist principles.