Wednesday, 25th March 2009
Freedom Day
31 March, 1979 is one of the most important days in Maltese history. After centuries of foreign domination and occupation, Malta was finally free of the presence of the armed forces of another country on its soil. The Maltese had endured enormous hardships through the years because Malta was embroiled in several wars simply because it was under the control of a foreign power. Maltese lives had been uselessly lost in the service of another country which, for a long period of time, refused to give the Maltese any say in the running of their own country.
Indeed, the process of real Independence for Malta was completed in three phases. The first phase was completed on 21 September, 1964. The second phase ended with the creation of the Republic of Malta on 13 December, 1974. The third and final phase was completed with the closure of the British military base in Malta on 31 March, 1979.
The Independence Constitution was an imperfect instrument. Whole areas of Malta remained in the hands of the British and the Head of State remained the British Queen. More serious, in case of a perceived threat to security, the British could literally take over the country. Remember, this was after Independence in 1964!
Dom Mintoff, of course, was no fool and on coming to power in June, 1971, he immediately started working towards paving the way to making Malta independent not only in name but in fact. He made the British pay dearly for their military facilities in Malta and, then, closed the base in 1979. Meanwhile, he had transformed Malta into a Republic in 1974 and the Head of State was now the President who had to be a Maltese citizen.
Being a great statesman, Dom Mintoff knew that closing the British military base would be largely ineffective if he did not teach the Maltese to believe in themselves and shed, once and for all, the mentality of the colonised which saw all foreigners as being superior to the Maltese. Mintoff taught the Maltese that what a foreigner could do, the Maltese could do better! He was a living example of this because he outwitted the cream of European diplomacy on many occasions, Helsinki being the foremost example.
Freedom Day illustrates the difference between the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party. The Nationalists have always been poor in their diplomacy when dealing with more powerful countries. Labour has always been strong with all countries and brought the best results for Malta and the Maltese. Today, history is repeating itself because the present PN Government has been very weak in its relationship with the European Union and with Libya on the issue of illegal immigration and now the problem has reached alarming proportions. We need another Mintoff with the Europeans and our southern neighbours. Joseph Muscat? Yes, I think so.
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Comments
For the colonial years under discussion I was a student from a working class family with the standard of living pertaining to that class. Your assumption is therefore totally unfounded and the facts as stated by me were a matter of my own personal experience in Malta.
You would be of greater help to KZT's blog if you refrained from reading between the lines and just read what is actually written without making invalid suppositions.
You close your eyes to the fundamental point that whatever was willingly accepted in the first years of our Independence and its related defence treaties (because they were mutually beneficial) WE ALWAYS HAD THE RIGHT AND THE FREEDOM TO MODIFY THEM IN WHICHEVER WAY IT SUITED OUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES. This was actually done as soon as it suited us to change our Head of State, and to renew, to extend, and to terminate the mutually agreed defence agreements. That means we were truly independent as from 1964.
To make matters worse the British Government failed to pay its financial obligations as defined in Malta's Independence agreement with Britain. So much so that Mintoff's arguments to sign new financial/defence agreement had the backing of ARC. BISHOP GONZI! PM Mintoff thanked publicly Mons Gonzi for his support!
Finally Malta achieved TRUE INDEPENDENCE in 1979 and the rebuilding of a TRULY INDEPENDENT STATE started.
Dr Saliba how can you ever be independent from your masters when your masters run your life and dictate what you do or should not do?! Just simple logic and common sense will make you comprehend all.
As to 1987,when you got your freedom I lost mine and it took me nine long years to convince our Constitutional Court that your precious EFA’s Government discriminated against me and infringed my human rights. But that’s a very long story to tell Gianninu, maybe Grace read about it in the news papers-ask her.
Lack of choice was the result of the over protection of local industries and the bulk buying system which proved to be a bad policy. Did I ever say that Labour never committed mistakes? Unfortunately we only have one political party in Malta which is perfect and beyond reproach- your precious PN. Labour was the curse of the century and we should never forgive Mintoff for depriving us of Mars Bars, imported soap and other needs like double soft toilet paper. Giving Grace an equal pay, children’s allowance, maybe a plot of land and subsidised loan to build a house, free medicine if she got sick, a policlinic in her area and a good pension when she retires, do not make up for the sacrifice she had to endure because she couldn’t buy a Mars Bar.
Hallina Gianninu.
My contribution which you are referring to is based on documented facts and you can check it out. In 1971 Malta was pennyless and by 1979 our economy was strong. You may indulge in an orgy of propagandistic rhetoric but you can never alter that fact. Had Mintoff decided not to renegotiate the GBO Financial and Defence Agreement in 1971 Malta would have become bankrupt instantly and thousands of workers would have suffered.
Domestic Computers were unheard of worldwide prior to the 1990s and Colour TV was introduced to Malta prior to 1987. Water shortage was brought about with the thousands of tourists brought to Malta by Air Malta after GBO’s Air Melita got bankrupt before it took off.
If you like comparisons compare 1962-1971 to 1971-81.
Yes Mr Buttigieg, during the Mintoff years Malta's standard of living plummetted. When Malta was a British colony before World War II the Italians were envious of us. During the time of Mintoff even the Sicilians began to deride us for our forays to their country (that had lost the war, remember?) so as to buy toothpaste, chocolate etc, not to mention our brand of de-mock-racy and a quasi-dictatorship from which the Allies had just liberated them!
“The British Forces in Malta were the main employers of labour in Malta ........." That precisely was one of the most selfish policies of the Colonial Office. Unconfirmed rumour has it that pre Independence Ford Motors got interested in building a plant in Malta which would have employed thousands of Maltese workers but due to fear of losing highly skilled dockyard workers the Colonial Government created all the obstacles and the project never took off.
Just in case you haven’t noticed, in other contributions I made it very obvious that I do not have one single anti British bone in my body, on the contrary, I am considered as an Anglophile due to my strong admiration for Britain, the British and anything made in Britain, hence my unequivocal past support for Integration. I am anti all kind of Colonialism be it hard or soft, British, French, Belgian, Italian, Portugese or Dutch. The anti Colonial revolt within me was instilled by the late Lord Farringdon, a personality whom you most probably heard of.
Charles, my friend, thank God that Malta had just got a new political leader in 1987. He is the one who freed us from Socialist oppression and led us into the EU. May God bless him with a long and healthy life in his retirement on Sunday.
Could you please describe the difference between the "sham" independence of 1964 when compared with your "true" independence that followed the declaration of Freedom Day in 1979? When Mintoff was elected Prime Minister in 1971 he gave ample proof that he was already completely independent judging by his foreign relations with the rest of the world - within the conditions of an existing defence pact that were so beneficial to Malta that he freely extended them beyond their initial expiry date.
But I hate to say that in 1964 we had a "SHAM INDEPENDENCE"!, which I personally participated in, since I was unaware of the truth then. Knowing the truth later, I always found myself guilty for participating in such political deciet.
Indeed, I was only clever 'afterwards'! Hope that this 'open confession' helps me.
“........it is true that our fortunes understandably rose and fell with those of Great Britain.”
Our fortunes rose when the Royal Navy was in port to give us free ‘gushin’ and fell when the Navy was out at sea.
If you really believe in what you have just dotted down in your little contribution, all I can say is that you must have been living on some other little island,but Malta. You might have had a better standard of living thanthe average as a professional, i.e. a doctor, you must be of a certain age.Don`t remember the beggars roaming the streets of Malta?
Whether you like it or not or believe it or not,it was Dom Mintoff who abolished poverty in Malta, put money in everybody`s pocket, especially the old and most needy, free education, free health service, two thirds of wages pension (unheard off anywhere in Europe except Germany) and the rest of goodies we are reaping today, if you negate this, then you must have been living either on the isle of Elba or Stromboli.
What disturb me is, that as learned man you still deny the truth.
“I wish we could say the same for the Mintoff-KMB years when our living standards plummeted to those normally associated with underdeveloped third world countries.”
What?
Napoleon invaded us in 1798. No doubt 1898 was an obvious typing error. You did say 164 of British rule which adds up to 1800 until1964.
@ Gianninu Saliba.
In 1964 George Borg- Olivier accepted one agreement not two- the ten year ‘Defence and Financial agreement’ and was given a Hobson’s choice. In principle the plan was a good one due to our strong dependency on military spending. When Labour was elected in 1971 our coffers were found empty and it was obvious that by 1974, when the agreement had to expire, Malta’s financial and economic situation would not have allowed us to go it alone safely. In 1972 Mintoff renegotiated a new agreement and by 1979 Malta’s economy became strong enough to sustain the loss of the British Defence spending.
The same fate was suffered by MOST neutral European countries in World War II. Let us not rewite history.
And while on the subject of rewriting history, let us not depict British rule in Malta in total negative terms. The growth of Malta's population, and its welfare, during the 164 years of British rule speak for themselves. Bad patches there were, but the same can be said about the performance of Maltese 'rulers' during self-government and independence.
In the course of the 19th century Malta became more and more important to the British Empire especially after the opening of the Suez Canal; Malta became a perfect stronghold, both for the British fleet, and the British trade. The Maltese economy depended heavily on the British navy, but most Maltese didn't take much benefit from it. There was much poverty and the 7th of June 1919 saw the first riots against the British because of a rise in bread prices.
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During the Second World War Malta was extremely instrumental to shorten the war years and being a British base, we were heavily targeted by both the Italians and the Germans. As a reward we got the George Cross and Britain retained its Empire. Some mutual interest indeed!
In 1798 Napoleon did not come to Malta to defend us, he came to collect the Church’s and the Knights’ wealth and had it not been for the rebellion led by Dun Mikiel Xerri and others as well as the requested Lord Nelson’s assistance, the French would have stayed after September 1800.
Initially Malta had so little importance to the British that they didn't know what to do with it so much so that at the Treaty of Amiens (1802) they decided that Malta was to be restored to the Knights. Our forefathers were not very keen on that and requested the British to stay on to defend us and allow us the much desired home rule which did not happen and Malta was to be ruled as a British crown colony. I call that a dominant force to suppress us against our interests. Dr Saliba sees my statement as a gross travesty of the historical facts.
My point is not that it is impossible for a small weak country to retain its independence in time of war. The insuperable difficulty arises when that small weak country also happens to have a huge geographic strategic importance out of all porportion to its size making it an irresistible attraction to the much larger warring parties all around it. Abbysinia was not small at all, it did not have any major strategic importance but was highly attractive to Italy's expansionist colonial dreams. And the Abbysinian victory at the battle of Adowa was undone by the conquest of Abbysinia by Benito Mussolini and its retention until Italy came out on the losing side during World War II.
On the other hand Military presence in Cyprus and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba are there to protect the British and American interests respectively and have a sovereign status.
The historical military presence in Malta before and after Independence was a dominant force to suppress us and to protect the British interest in the Mediterranean and other regions, at times against our interest, and, always posing a danger to our safety. 31 March 1979 was the last day of that dreadful era and it would be sinful to water down its great significance.
For the record, an Italian military mission stayed on in Malta after that date, and Libya also retained a small military presence.
And now ... this .... this statement of yours that goes: "We need another Mintoff with the Europeans and our southern neighbours. Joseph Muscat? Yes, I think so."
I don't think you are doing the gentleman - Muscat, that is - a favour by saying this.
I really, really think that you have become a liability to your Partit. Watch it. hehe