12 Nov What nonsense!
Most countries in the world have one national day, or at most, two. A national day is normally one where people celebrate their country and, in most cases, it’s on the day when the country became independent or a new Government was formed. Perhaps not so surprisingly, the UK doesn’t have one, but most treat the Queen’s Official Birthday as such.
Malta on the other hand, is the only country in the world that has not one, not two, but five, national feasts, and of course this year we will celebrate all of them – just like we did last year, the year before that, and the year before that. We’ve been doing so for the past 10 years, and for decades before joining the European Union, we celebrated four national feasts with no major issues.
This year also happens to be the 50th anniversary of Malta obtaining Independence from Britain but, when our celebrations should have been at their best, our political leaders not only invited the ex for the wedding (Prince William) but also worked themselves into a lather bickering about which of these five days is most important.
Seriously, sometimes I wonder what they do all day and how come they have time to bother with such fake patriotism.
I mean it’s fine for Cettina and Joey to have this sort of discussion on their way to the grocer, and even for Mario and Johnny to argue about it until they are blue in the face, but for our two main political leaders, and their party machines, to get into what is essentially a childish squabble about which day is more important than the other, is ludicrous.
Apart from the five national holidays, which are Sette Giugno, the Feast of our Lady of Victories, Freedom Day, Republic Day, and 50 years of Independence this year we also celebrate:
40 years since becoming a Republic on December 13, 1974, (The Queen was replaced by a Maltese President)
35 years since Malta stopped being a military base on March 31, 1979
10 years since Malta joined the EU on May 1, 2004.
Except for when Malta joined the EU ten years ago, the current Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition can’t possibly remember much about the other days, at least not first hand. Like me, they might have read, heard and, learnt about those days and what led to them. They might feel passionate about the trial and tribulations that were faced to get there, but how dare either one of them try to minimize or maximize the importance of one at the cost of the other?
They claim that the official intention behind all of this is to stop the partisan approach to these so-called national feasts, but how on earth did they think that this would happen by poking their political faces into the matter?
Isn’t it obvious that the moment a political leader cranks his neck into something, especially something so symbolic, that it automatically becomes even more political (with a small p) than ever?
The truth is that even the most die-hard labourites enjoy their day off on the 21sst of September, and though they might not be amongst those on the granaries eating hot dogs and watching mediocre shows, they too appreciate the free day. They might not get, or appreciate the historic context of it, because their version of the facts has been tinged in red, but same goes for the bluest of Nationalists who will never give up their holiday on the 13thth of December, even if they think that historically it’s a farce.
Whether it’s a national day or just a public holiday effects the few and far between, but until our country remains controlled by this bi-partisan situation, there is no way in hell that we can sort this one out, at least not without going back in time or coming close to a civil war. And as such sorting it out will not change anything practical, will it? So why don’t we just cut the crap, let things be, and concentrate on what actually matters?
And instead of bickering across different sections of the media, and playing charades with Princes and Princesses, why don’t our political leaders take a basic course in psychology?
Simon Busutil should learn that even the calmest of dogs will bite if backed into a corner and that therefore his suggestion to make September 21t the only national day was just provocation in this vein.
And whilst Muscat was just as petty when he suggested that the number of national days should be reduced to two, at least he had the good sense of telling the Maltese to ‘put aside the old nonsense and join the independence anniversary celebrations’.
A couple of psychology classes might also teach them that the only way to put an end to this silly attitude, and for both days to be given the importance they deserve, is if both parties celebrate both days together. What is it they say? Lead by example, not by being an arrogant jerk?
In a few days time we all come to our senses and realize that this was just a useless and needless discussion, possibly staged to distract us from other hot issues such as the thousands of immigrants dying in our seas and, the anti-democratic decision to cancel local council elections which will only serve to give a leg-up to the hunting community in the abrogative referendum.
Until then, let’s continue to enjoy being the country with the most national holidays in the European Union shall we?
*this article was first published on The Malta Independent on Sunday.
