Again, the Labour Party in Malta has scored an important goal in the cultural field. Nothing new there. For many decades after its inception, Labour always attracted the elite of our writers, actors and other artists; suffice to mention the bitter and highly politicised battle of the 20s known as the Language Question that was finally won on their behalf – and that of the vast majority of people – thanks mainly to Malta’s first Labour Prime Minister, Paul Boffa.

But something odd, though much better understood in retrospect, happened in the late 80s when the “culture” wagon train gradually shifted rails, with some of our more well known representatives of the Muses joining or publicly sympathising with the then increasingly strong call for a change towards the political Right.

The pendulum today seems to be swinging rapidly – and traditionally – back to Labour and its growing national movement of moderates and progressives, a kind of a Left, but not in the sense of the old Left, if you do not mind the play with words. Over the past decade especially, Maltese politics have changed drastically, as has the world, and if we are to agree that artists really do provoke social and political change, then at this moment in time they certainly have no alternative to Labour leader Joseph Muscat’s realistic approach to culture in general and to Maltese creativity as the dynamo for future generations.

The “Soċjetà Kreattiva” seminar held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre last week was the long-sought breakthrough, a sort of back to the future, and hopefully only a beginning. A multi-generational audience − made up of artists from writers, painters, dancers and actors to television producers, filmmakers and fashion industry leaders, was witness to an activity openly meant to stoke the fires of discussion rather than merely hanging out the nation’s cultural washings.

There were moments of course when some, from the floor, actually wanted to do just that, but overall, the seminar served as a practical launching pad for what should eventually be a deeper analysis of what is to be done, what really can be done, and how to ensure it will continue to be done.

People from all walks of cultural and political life were present for the seminar, a reality that boded well for the evening’s discussion, perhaps sadly hampered by the obvious attempt of tackling too much at once. In the end, it was inevitably recognised that the seminar has to be followed up with other seminars and workshops on the vast and more specific aspects of creativity.

So where does my foot come in? Three of the five Maltese panel speakers, ironically presided over by one of the co-founders of the “Moviment Qawmien Letterarju” that in the mid-60s had bravely and determinedly won the post-Independence battle for the minds of the Maltese as regards their national language, chose to address the rest of us poor Maltese souls (compatriots?) in English.

I will not succumb to the sexist temptation by drawing attention to the fact that the three happened to be women, while the other two, men, found no problem talking to us in Maltese. But could there be something in that, after all? I’m afraid I frequently encounter this conundrum and the same gender divide in most shops and restaurants – the females parrot at me in bizarre English, the males quickly deduct I am no foreigner and, well, they naturally resort to the native lingo!

In their studies, top-notch linguists, I have always been taught, insist that the real appreciation and practice of culture, in whichever sphere and environment of creative influence on these islands and anywhere in the world where they are blessed with a distinct language, HAS to include both the use of and respect for one’s mother tongue. The other languages we learn and practise as tools, as I am after all doing here on this English language newspaper, is something the Maltese have always been highly successful at and rightly proud of.

I always feel embarrassed when a so-called, self-perceived cultured Maltese announces to an overwhelmingly Maltese audience that he or she is will speak in English as he or she (sorry, we have seen it is, more often than not, a she) feels more comfortable. In contrast, I must say I do not in any way feel embarrassed when a Maltese who has no alternative, because he or she is addressing a foreign audience, but speak in English – the Maltese English we are all familiar with. That kind of embarrassment, I must add, is strictly reserved for Maltese politicians and representatives who foolishly opt for English within the fora of the European Union where Maltese is, supposedly, an official language.

Why should we feel amused and smilingly accept it when the rare Englishman chooses to learn and speak Maltese, in that sweet, Anglo-Saxon tone of Maltese, but are openly offended when a Maltese finds it difficult to express himself or herself “properly” in English? It all smacks of an inferiority complex we must have been infected with as an eternally colonised nation and which we automatically carried into our genes over the centuries.

Both Joseph Muscat and his fellow Labour MP, Owen Bonnici, happily spoke in Maltese when it was time for them to put, in a nutshell, all that had been intended and achieved with this first, very well organised seminar. And, you know what? Everyone seemed to be getting the message, including the three panel speakers nodding their approval of what is being proposed for a future – and exciting – creative Malta.

I rest my foot.