Came across this poster on some kind of art display in Conspicua today. I’m visiting here from Canada this week and was shocked to see the wokist concept of “decolonization” has reached Malta’s shores. In Canada our left-leaning mainstream media has so overused this term that it has lost all meaning. It has become a trope for overthrowing any aspect of the political order that one finds offensive, e.g., ‘decolonize the school math curriculum of Eurocentric “ways of knowing.”’ Decolonize language of words that might cause offence. Decolonize the country of white “settlers.” Its endless.
What astounds me is that a discussion of “decolonization” is even possible in a Maltese context. This is a society and culture built over countless layers of colonizing influence, from the phoenicians through the Carthaginians, Greek, Romans, arabs, Normans, French, Italian and British. Surely whatever “original” Maltese culture has been subsumed at least a dozen times over; if you even tried to eliminate “colonial” influences, what would you be left with? The poster calls on Malta to “free its history from subordination, humiliation, external instrumentalisation….” Why not just call your culture and society a thriving melange or fusion of different cultures (which it is!) and stay off the inane, meaningless and undefinable “decolonization” bandwagon?
by b17flyingfortresses
6 comments
How interesting how a Canadian would come to Malta and offer us a lecture on our feelings towards decolonisation. This is not a wokeist concept recently concocted like your stupid culture wars ongoing in your continent. This is a journey regarding the Maltese identity after being subjugated as a colony for 164 years under the British empire. What you have to understand is that Canada and Malta have different historical experiences with the British. Canada is essentially a country of British and French emigrants who took control over a massive area of land controlled by Native Americans. Before the British and apart from the 2 years under the French, Malta was a semi-independent feudal domain part of the Holy Roman Empire, although self-governed by the Knights for over 250 years, which brought about a massive advance for Malta and also whereby Maltese felt tied to their land although at times disillusioned with overall governance of the island. On the other hand, the British had little interest in the prosperity of Malta. Yes they improved sanitation, health and education but only after much pressure from Maltese representatives petitioning the Colonial Government and after years of being rejected. All infrastructure development centred around military and naval objectives. When WW2 was finished and Maltese cities completely destroyed after suffering the highest bomb count per capita, the British thank you came in the form of preventing us from accessing Marshall Aid. When Malta requested to join the UK to remove the two tiered society favouring British emigres and Maltese lackeys to British imperialism, and enjoy equal rights as British citizens, this was rejected because it would have “cost too much”, despite this idea of integration originating from the British government. So yes there is a lot to dislike about the British and their occupation of the island (which was not sanctioned by the Maltese at any point). This is why there is a discussion. I’m not a fan of destroying statues and erasing history, but it disappoints me to see revisionism about the British period in Malta painting them in a brighter light than they deserve. So let the discussion continue and kindly don’t think that the Maltese reality reflects what’s happening in your country. I expect it from Americans but surprised to see it from Canadians
I am a Maltese Canadian and support decolonization in all its forms and locations. 🙂 Please know that OP does not speak for our whole country.
Good god, OP. I’m sure you meant well, but are you seriously saying ‘hey, don’t sweat all that invasion stuff. Not all colonisation is bad. Think of the positives!’
This isn’t some sneaky woke agenda. What on earth does that even mean anyway? This is hundreds of years of history. Stop watching Fox News, and reflect on where your opinions might have come from.
This is incredibly and impressively tone deaf.
Yeah a lot of American woke marxist crap has found its way to Malta and Europe.
The funny thing is that the people who whine endlessly about this shit will staunchly defend our ‘colonisation’ by Brussels.
Good on you for seeking locals’ perspectives, but you should do some reading.
‘Decolonisation’ predates woke by quite a few decades. They might be correlated in Canada, but they are totally unrelated here.
If you wanted a conservative vacation, Russia wouldve been a better choice for you, because Malta is one of the most “woke” countries. We got our independence and we deserve it. Deal with it.