Today marks a very important milestone in Malta’s history. Today is Freedom Day, a national holiday to mark the day – 31 March 1979 – when the last British troops left Malta, and for the first time in thousands of years, Malta was no longer a military base for foreign powers. The situation came about under a Labour government led by Prime Minister Dom Mintoff.
Prior to Freedom Day, Malta had secured independence on 21 September 1964 under the stewardship of Nationalist Prime Minister Gorg Borg Olivier. It was the beginning of a process which led to Malta forging its own destiny after Malta became a Republic on 13 December 1974.
Since then, Malta has been one of the most politically polarised countries in Europe with the Socialists and the Democrats taking all seats in parliament in each and every general election since then.
Malta’s parliamentary composition has had a direct effect on people – or vice versa – and the country is split between those who support the Labour Party and those who support the Nationalist Party.
In essence, Malta has three national days, and perhaps it really is time to decide on one. In 2013, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had expressed a wish for two national days – presumably to placate both sides he would have picked one ‘labour’ day and one ‘nationalist’ day. But wouldn’t that mean polarising the island even further? Whatever the case, nothing has been heard of that proposal since then, and the issue also seems to have dropped of the Nationalist Party’s radar too.
The problem with it all is selecting a day that has significance to both sides of the political spectrum – not in terms of political parties – but in terms of the supporters of political parties.
Some have suggested the feast of Sant Marija – 14 August, and others have also suggested Victory Day on 8 September. Both can be considered days that are relevant to all Maltese people and both also represent days of triumph against adversity.
Others have also suggested the anniversary day of Malta joining the European Union – 1 May. But that day too can be considered by some as being polarising, considering that the Labour Government of the time had opposed EU membership.
The jury is still very much out, but the need to have one National Day is still on the agenda. There is no hiding the fact that we are polarised in every bit of our life as Maltese, whether it relates to which parish we are from, which band club we support, which football team (or country) we support and, the be all and end all, which political party we support. The odd thing is that when our backs are pushed against the wall, we tend to rally and unite as one people. When we have done that, we have always managed to beat the odds and pull off spectacular results. If we could translate that spirit into everyday life, we would be a very strong people.