Cultural identity, history and myth discussed at AZAD

Once upon a time in Malta, several decades ago, a bride and groom could not agree on what the language of their wedding invitations should be, English or Italian.

The groom was from an ardent Nationalist family, the bride from a family of strong supporters of Lord Strickland. Neither would budge on the 'language question' because they saw it as a political question that transcended their private choice and love. In the end, the bride's guests received an invitation in English, the groom's in Italian.

Bride and groom were the grandparents of Dr Austin Sammut, who used the family anecdote to contextualise and explain the Language Question that animated Maltese politics in the first half of the 20th century.

He was speaking at a discussion organised by the Academy for the Development of a Democratic (AZAD) on Friday. The discussion, entitled "The European DNA of a Nation: Maltese Identity in the Face of England and Italy", focussed particularly on the politics of identity in colonial Malta in the pre-1947 period. Historians Henry Frendo and Joseph M. Pirotta were the other speakers.

Professor Frendo, whose study of Giorgio Borg Olivier will be published in October, told the audience a grimmer story: A man who was young in the 1930s and enthusiastic about Italian football was warned by the colonial authorities to curb his exuberant enthusiasm for things Italian - "or else you will be shot!" When, several decades later, in a home for the elderly, the man told his story to Professor Frendo, the deadly threat still made him incandescent with anger and terror.

Professor Frendo retold the story as part of a wide-ranging presentation that outlined the political struggle between the dominant colonial power, which wanted to make the Maltese to become like the English in word, thought and deed, and a people whose identity resisted this ambition.

Professor Pirotta outlined how PN leaders like Enrico Mizzi understood the relationship between Maltese identity and Italy. In terms of general context, Professor Pirotta pointed out that the colonial government itself was well disposed towards Mussolini and Italian fascism until the Italian conquest of Abyssinia changed everything. And the charge that has sometimes been made that Enrico Mizzi and his followers had Fascist sympathies was a slur: Mizzi insisted on a cultural affinity with Italy, not a political one with Fascism (and in any case what Maltese Fascists there were at the time tended to look towards Oswald Mosley, the English Fascist leader).

The discussion was chaired by Ranier Fsadni, chairman of AZAD, and was the first of a series of five that will be held over the next eight weeks to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the Nationalist Party (PN), the oldest European political party founded on Christian Democrat (CD) principles. The general title of the series is "DNA, Identity and Evolution: 125 Years of Christian Democrat Activity in Malta and Gozo".

AZAD, as a CD centre of political studies, would like the discussions to examine the contribution of those 125 years of activity to the political, cultural and economic life of Malta and Gozo, across the historic span from colonialism to globalisation. The aim is threefold: to make a critical evaluation of the political-cultural revolution that CD leaders wanted for Malta; to assess whether and to what extent that revolution took place; and to appraise what kind of contribution CD politics might make to the challenges of a globalised, multicultural world.

More information on the discussion series may be obtained from AZAD (2124-7515; info@azad-malta.com).

The next discussion will be held on Thursday, September 22, at 7 p.m., at Tigrija Palazz in Victoria, Gozo. The subject will be Fortunato Mizzi, founder of the PN, with particular reference to the distinctiveness of his socio-political vision and the Gozitan background that informed it.