Labour remembers Manwel Dimech

Labour Party leader Alfred Sant yesterday underlined the need for change, as the party paid homage to Maltese patriot Manwel Dimech.

Speaking on the 85th anniversary of Dimech's death at the foot of the patriot's monument at Castille Place, Valletta, Dr Sant drew several parallels between Dimech's days and the present.

Dr Sant shot down suggestions that globalisation left no space for national interests. Such claims only served the needs of capitalists, he said.

Though Malta was an EU member, there was still space for manoeuvre and its leaders need not follow other countries blindly, the Labour leader said, adding that the choices being made by the government did not reflect the country's needs.

Dr Sant said the rate of illiteracy was on the rise and that was why it was important to underscore Dimech's calls for education.

Born in 1860, Dimech was a workers' leader and a writer of novels and poetry.

Imprisoned several times, he was exiled and died in Alexandria, Egypt, in April 1921. He was buried there in an unmarked grave.