So I hope this will start a lively discussion. These academics may finally have woken up or found the courage to articulate the truth.
What we need is a critical race theory for Malta. Malta is built to disparage and discriminate its own people and I have witnessed repeatedly over the years outrageous abuse and no one speaks up.
I recall a student of Maltese descent who was clearly catch is some catch 22 reserved only for Maltese and not applicable for foreigners. She spoke up, clearly having absorbed the culture of what I suspect was the USA and was brutally shut down by the politician with the attitude she was not important enough and how dare she speak up, when he had spend the last hour talking about how welcoming Malta was to foreign students.
Only this week, someone posted on Reddit. How they had a job opportunity to work 4 years in Japan but he was told he must pay taxes in both Japan and malta at the same time, making it impossible for him to take this opportunity.
This is particularly rich, seeing that Malta has set itself as one of the simplest countries to move to and there are no obstacles. This person approached the tax department and even showed them the laws that would solve his predicament but they kept insisting he has to pay, coz laws apply differently for Maltese.
So not only there are no reciprocal agreements to help Maltese travel and move abroad in return for welcoming their nationals in Malta, there are legal obstacles and blocks against Maltese, lest their chattel move away.
We see how Maltese are treated differently, where demands for bribes and jobs are made on Maltese business but foreign businessmen find lots of support and even money available to them. This spitefulness, the attitude that Maltese must be put down and obstructed was even reported in a very good article on BBC.
So how does it work? Malta inherited a colonial system which was designed to serve the needs of the occupiers and keep Maltese in servile positions, something which they truly embraced. Socially and history, having missed out on all the reforms and social progress in Europe, they were coming out of a medieval social structure when the very alien British appeared on the scene. A better setup of Them and Us could not have been set.
After independence nothing really changed. Now we had the political class for whom the law did not apply and we had the population still down trodden by the system.
Instead of rights, we have a culture of supplicants begging their rulers for favors. There is an understanding that Maltese have a glass ceiling over them.
I myself experienced this many years ago when I was doing all the work, was one of the few qualified people and was being asked to train foreign consultants who where paid 10 times (one of them told me his remuneration) my salary. I was told, you are already paid too well for a Maltese person. There was genuine shock that I expected equal treatment or even fair treatment. That was the best thing that happened.. left the country after that where I was treated equally.
And now that Malta is part of the EU, when there is a huge influx of foreign workers, the situation for Maltese who are talented and who do not subscribe to the corruption and sleaze that oils business culture in Malta for Maltese, the situation is truly desperate, leaving them with only the option to leave …
And leaving is not enough .. Malta still expects you to keep paying taxes on your income. At the same time foreigners receive tax breaks and foreign owned companies pay only 5% tax while Maltese pay one of the highest rates on the planet. Yet move away and you are now a criminal. The slavery is not just mental, the slavery is real.
Then off course we get the new passport holders who somehow are exempt from these laws. Which comes back to what I said above, the tax laws are applied arbitrary based on your ethnicity.
The slavery is not just mental. The slavery is very real.
Lots of Maltese people still truly have colonial mentality, this urge to please the Europeans, especially the northern ones, or anyone North of us really (particularly England/UK) and we also seem to have an inferiority complex which is incredibly common and most don’t know it, being embarrassed speaking their native tongue, thinking english is a “rich” or “civilised” language, doesn’t help when the colonisers spent the last few centuries convincing the people they’re 2nd class citizens
I absolutely agree with this, it can be seen most clearly culturally in my opinion, Malta has a decaying culture this can be seen from the fact that all our favourite shows, personalities and entertainment are ALL in the English speaking world mostly American (barring simpatici ofc a sitcom from 20+ years ago). This goes as so far as to even affect the children, most children in my family or my friends’ families all feel uncomfortable with Maltese.
Go to a University campus and the most common language you will hear is English even if it is 2 Maltese people speaking. I understand why the lectures are in English but even with our friends… Why ?
I believe it has to do with a deep insecurity Maltese people have with our language that comes from the fact that we lack a national pride due to all of our history as the colonised.
Hegel says that like it or not, your people’s history defines who you are. Our people were colonised peasants and serfs, as independent as we want to be it is simply not in our national character, and the truly sad part is, historically national character was built from a national disaster. (See republican France, ww2 for the Germans, the fall of the soviets for the Russians, and most of all the breaking of Yugoslavia for all almost all balkan countries)
I even see this in myself with my obsession for European history and wanting to live outside of Malta. These very personal instincts are something most Maltese people cannot avoid and they are simply natural.
Tldr; we need a hero.
…none but ourselves can free our minds.
honestly reading this thread made me question reality. Still, then I realized most students here have grown up with American media and can speak English better than Maltese which saddens me but over the last, 4-ish years I’ve grounded myself.
I’ve realized that our nation isn’t the great socialist republic the labour party promised it’d be even though it’s been significantly improved from what it was under the nationalist party. I’m not great with politics, I don’t see them as opposing sides, they’re both in it for the money nothing else.
returning to my point about speaking English better than Maltese. it has aided the country greatly in both tourism and business. American/British brands can set up shops here without needing to change much, they sometimes even bring some workers from other foreign stores.
we don’t really need a saviour we just need to prove ourselves. prove that the older generation doesn’t need to run the country but that the younger one can, again the situation with the local political parties. still I don’t plan on moving out of this country, I’ve been born here and raised here, so have my parents, grandparents and those before them.
TLDR; we just need to evolve and grow, yes we might be neutral when it comes to superpowers but Switzerland hasn’t been eaten up by a superpower, so why can’t we be more like them?
5 comments
So I hope this will start a lively discussion. These academics may finally have woken up or found the courage to articulate the truth.
What we need is a critical race theory for Malta. Malta is built to disparage and discriminate its own people and I have witnessed repeatedly over the years outrageous abuse and no one speaks up.
I recall a student of Maltese descent who was clearly catch is some catch 22 reserved only for Maltese and not applicable for foreigners. She spoke up, clearly having absorbed the culture of what I suspect was the USA and was brutally shut down by the politician with the attitude she was not important enough and how dare she speak up, when he had spend the last hour talking about how welcoming Malta was to foreign students.
Only this week, someone posted on Reddit. How they had a job opportunity to work 4 years in Japan but he was told he must pay taxes in both Japan and malta at the same time, making it impossible for him to take this opportunity.
This is particularly rich, seeing that Malta has set itself as one of the simplest countries to move to and there are no obstacles. This person approached the tax department and even showed them the laws that would solve his predicament but they kept insisting he has to pay, coz laws apply differently for Maltese.
So not only there are no reciprocal agreements to help Maltese travel and move abroad in return for welcoming their nationals in Malta, there are legal obstacles and blocks against Maltese, lest their chattel move away.
We see how Maltese are treated differently, where demands for bribes and jobs are made on Maltese business but foreign businessmen find lots of support and even money available to them. This spitefulness, the attitude that Maltese must be put down and obstructed was even reported in a very good article on BBC.
So how does it work? Malta inherited a colonial system which was designed to serve the needs of the occupiers and keep Maltese in servile positions, something which they truly embraced. Socially and history, having missed out on all the reforms and social progress in Europe, they were coming out of a medieval social structure when the very alien British appeared on the scene. A better setup of Them and Us could not have been set.
After independence nothing really changed. Now we had the political class for whom the law did not apply and we had the population still down trodden by the system.
Instead of rights, we have a culture of supplicants begging their rulers for favors. There is an understanding that Maltese have a glass ceiling over them.
I myself experienced this many years ago when I was doing all the work, was one of the few qualified people and was being asked to train foreign consultants who where paid 10 times (one of them told me his remuneration) my salary. I was told, you are already paid too well for a Maltese person. There was genuine shock that I expected equal treatment or even fair treatment. That was the best thing that happened.. left the country after that where I was treated equally.
And now that Malta is part of the EU, when there is a huge influx of foreign workers, the situation for Maltese who are talented and who do not subscribe to the corruption and sleaze that oils business culture in Malta for Maltese, the situation is truly desperate, leaving them with only the option to leave …
And leaving is not enough .. Malta still expects you to keep paying taxes on your income. At the same time foreigners receive tax breaks and foreign owned companies pay only 5% tax while Maltese pay one of the highest rates on the planet. Yet move away and you are now a criminal. The slavery is not just mental, the slavery is real.
Then off course we get the new passport holders who somehow are exempt from these laws. Which comes back to what I said above, the tax laws are applied arbitrary based on your ethnicity.
The slavery is not just mental. The slavery is very real.
Lots of Maltese people still truly have colonial mentality, this urge to please the Europeans, especially the northern ones, or anyone North of us really (particularly England/UK) and we also seem to have an inferiority complex which is incredibly common and most don’t know it, being embarrassed speaking their native tongue, thinking english is a “rich” or “civilised” language, doesn’t help when the colonisers spent the last few centuries convincing the people they’re 2nd class citizens
I absolutely agree with this, it can be seen most clearly culturally in my opinion, Malta has a decaying culture this can be seen from the fact that all our favourite shows, personalities and entertainment are ALL in the English speaking world mostly American (barring simpatici ofc a sitcom from 20+ years ago). This goes as so far as to even affect the children, most children in my family or my friends’ families all feel uncomfortable with Maltese.
Go to a University campus and the most common language you will hear is English even if it is 2 Maltese people speaking. I understand why the lectures are in English but even with our friends… Why ?
I believe it has to do with a deep insecurity Maltese people have with our language that comes from the fact that we lack a national pride due to all of our history as the colonised.
Hegel says that like it or not, your people’s history defines who you are. Our people were colonised peasants and serfs, as independent as we want to be it is simply not in our national character, and the truly sad part is, historically national character was built from a national disaster. (See republican France, ww2 for the Germans, the fall of the soviets for the Russians, and most of all the breaking of Yugoslavia for all almost all balkan countries)
I even see this in myself with my obsession for European history and wanting to live outside of Malta. These very personal instincts are something most Maltese people cannot avoid and they are simply natural.
Tldr; we need a hero.
…none but ourselves can free our minds.
honestly reading this thread made me question reality. Still, then I realized most students here have grown up with American media and can speak English better than Maltese which saddens me but over the last, 4-ish years I’ve grounded myself.
I’ve realized that our nation isn’t the great socialist republic the labour party promised it’d be even though it’s been significantly improved from what it was under the nationalist party. I’m not great with politics, I don’t see them as opposing sides, they’re both in it for the money nothing else.
returning to my point about speaking English better than Maltese. it has aided the country greatly in both tourism and business. American/British brands can set up shops here without needing to change much, they sometimes even bring some workers from other foreign stores.
we don’t really need a saviour we just need to prove ourselves. prove that the older generation doesn’t need to run the country but that the younger one can, again the situation with the local political parties. still I don’t plan on moving out of this country, I’ve been born here and raised here, so have my parents, grandparents and those before them.
TLDR; we just need to evolve and grow, yes we might be neutral when it comes to superpowers but Switzerland hasn’t been eaten up by a superpower, so why can’t we be more like them?