Guest Post: In Defence Of The Queen Victoria Monument – Does Anyone Actually Care About OUR History?
Another week has come and gone in which we have decided that a proud symbol of our national heritage is actually the most vile and oppressive thing on the island. I am of course referring to the Queen Victoria Monument in Valletta; a supposed remnant of British colonial tyranny.
I really hate this narrative about the Brits reign as the cruel overlords of the Maltese islands and people. Not only do I hate it because it is factually incorrect; I hate the fact that it’s so popularised and unchallenged by the masses.
The reason this is the case is because of the way history is taught on the island. Because if it was taught correctly, all Maltese would know that the very concept of being Maltese came from British rule. Yes, I said that right.
Prior to the 20th century, Malta’s relationship with Britain was fairly mutually beneficial; we kept our churches, they got our ports, and not much else changed socially or politically. Malta retained its own currency and most of its laws for almost 60 years after the British arrived.
However, things began to change after 1900 when the Maltese nobility, an Italianate social group frustrated of being excluded from the island’s political processes, began to see unification with the Kingdom of Italy (whom they and not the rest of the population aligned with) as a natural next step in our island’s history.
This posed a problem for the British. They knew the island’s local elites were relatively powerless but that a convinced general population would be less easy to control. They realised that the Maltese could never truly be British; they were Catholic after all. However, they could be certainly one thing; Maltese.
This sparked an elevation of the Maltese culture and language that had never been seen before. The Maltese alphabet began to take shape, and resultantly, its literature. It was elevated to the status of an official language in 1934 and began to be used in the courts and the national administration for the first time EVER. I think people failed to understand how significant this is, that our language is legally younger than some of the people living in Malta today!
Ultimately, we never became an Italian island, nor did we integrate with Britain, but we did become Maltese. We have to recognise that there is a clear synonymity between our colonial idea and our republican one. Britain undoubtedly invented Maltese nationalism for their own benefit, and we have done so too, for better or for worse.
We must protect monuments of our colonial heritage at all costs, and we must remain ever wary of our island’s “new nobility” who seeks to do things for their own interests, and not for the general populous.
Timothy Zammit studied Maltese and Global European history as part of his BA at the University of Malta
Lovin Malta is open to interesting, compelling guest posts from third parties. These opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of the company. Submit your piece at [email protected].
Do you agree that many Maltese have misunderstood our colonial past?