Maltese people’s innate need to stand out and express pent-up feelings of anger generated by competitive envy may be at the root of the football rivalry that comes to a climax today as England and Italy battle it out for glory in the Euro 2020 final.
The roots of this rivalry go way back to a time when Malta was governed first by the Kingdom of the two Sicilies, then by the British – with the Great Siege and French occupation in between, among other invasions.
Malta became a British colony, although the presence of Italian culture and language remained strong. The Italian language was the official language in Malta for about four centuries – until the British took control and demanded “English and English only” in 1880, says historian Henry Frendo.
The 100th anniversary of the 1921 constitution is worth commemorating. It was a crucial step in Malta’s political and constitutional development since, among the many different constitutional arrangements – from official majorities to representative government – Malta was granted ‘self-government’ for the very first time.
The premise of the ‘diarchy’ was simple. Malta was to have two governments. The imperial government was to take care of all ‘reserved matters’ concerning imperial interests in Malta. ‘Reserved matters’ included control over military and defence, the dockyard, harbours, communications and censorship. They also comprised functions such as the issuing of passports and the minting of currency.
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.
Malta’s national anthem Lil din l-art ħelwa has today become part of the routine fixtures of Maltese nationhood, enshrined in the Constitution, accepted effortlessly by all shades of political opinion. The inspirational story of Dr George Borg Olivier’s dogged relentlessness to have the Innu Malti recognised and dignified, against equally obstinate colonialist resistance, was wholly unknown, until recently revealed by Prof. Joseph M. Pirotta in his 2016 book Nation, Pride and Dignity. Borg Olivier and the National Anthem, Malta.
Lord Grenfell, Governor of Malta, who banned the playing of the new national anthem.
But, as it happens, Lil din l-art ħelwa, words by the poet Dun Karm Psaila, music by Robert Samut, first sung in 1922, is only our second national anthem. The story of the first, almost totally overlooked and forgotten, was recently unearthed by Dr Albert Ganado in his article ‘When the Maltese national anthem was barred by closing the Royal Theatre’ (The Sunday T
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