The roots of Malta

It is alarming and depressing to see racism raising its ugly head in Malta. Of course "racist" is not a nice adjective, therefore people who have these funny ideas try to disguise their true beliefs by claiming, among other things, that they want to preserve the Maltese identity.

Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but one of the main characteristics of the Maltese people is helpfulness and kindness, so if we were to start refusing to help people who are really in need we would lose our best quality and change beyond recognition. In fact, we wouldn't even deserve to be called civilised human beings at all. Some racists might counter that by saying they have nothing against Africans as long as they stay in Africa; they just don't want them to come to Malta, pure and simple. This does not apply only to illegal immigrants, some of whom admittedly do come to Malta for dodgy reasons and should be sent back to where they come from, but also to those who really do need help, those who are ready to integrate in Maltese society by learning Maltese, those who want to work like everybody else and even those who helped needy "true" Maltese by donating money.

These are not parasites living off other people's backs but decent citizens who, like the Maltese living abroad, make a useful contribution to society and bring along with them some aspects of their own culture, thus enriching the local one. They might even help us have a decent football team - just look at how France profited from its African legionnaires. These immigrants still incur some people's wrath however because they are transforming Malta into a multicultural country, thus destroying, so they claim, the Maltese identity.

But what makes up the Maltese identity after all? The language? It is related to Arabic, with a smattering of words of Italian, French, Spanish and English origin. It is a Semitic language which is written using Latin letters. An international cocktail which makes our language absolutely unique.

Christianity? This belief did not originate in Malta but in the Middle East and was brought to Malta by a Turkish guy. Wisely, our ancestors did not prepare St Paul a Norman Lowell-welcome by hanging him from a pole but, true to form, helped him and listened to what he had to say. Since they were not obstinate, narrow-minded bigots they adopted Christianity and turned their backs on their old beliefs and culture because through this foreigner's teachings they found a way to improve themselves.

The same applies to Maltese art, music, architecture, agriculture, cuisine and so on and so forth. Almost everything one finds in Malta has been introduced or influenced by the various foreign powers that ruled it in the past or by neighbouring countries. A typically Maltese village consists of North African-style buildings clustered around a baroque-style church. The countryside owes its appearance to the farming methods introduced by the Arabs, along with many of the so-called native trees. Most of the artistic treasures we are so proud of are either attributable to foreign artists or were heavily influenced by them.

I am not belittling Malta in any way by claiming that the Maltese never had any original ideas; on the contrary I believe that they deserve nothing but praise for being smart enough to adopt certain ideas when they could lead to an improvement in the quality of life on one of the most barren islands on earth. It is to this open-mindedness that we owe the current prosperity Malta is enjoying and this fascinating mix of European and Arab cultures that attracts so many paying visitors. Far from destroying the national identity it is exactly this diversity which gives Malta its unique character.

And what about the Maltese people themselves? One look through the telephone directory is more than enough to make one realise that Malta has been a multicultural nation long before this so-called African invasion. It is amazing how many of the surnames one finds are not even remotely Maltese-sounding. It is ironic that many of these bigots in Malta have such "typically Maltese" surnames. Apart from these aberrations, it is again this mixture of races which makes the Maltese so fascinating, so different from their neighbours. The Maltese come already in all shapes, colours and sizes and now we are having more and more people in Malta with a dark skin. What's wrong with that?

The only people who have a problem with this are those who consider others inferior just because of their darker skin colour and there is no other way to describe the former other than racists.

This leads me to one last consideration concerning the national identity. The national flag is like a sort of visiting card for a nation, something that makes a statement about the country it represents. In the Maltese flag there is the George Cross. What it says about the Maltese is that they said no to fascism and through their courage, perseverance and belief in what is right contributed to its downfall. All true Maltese who are really proud of Malta's identity and history should do the same today.