History on TV in interest of national education

Arnold Cassola (January 3) and Andrew Azzopardi (January 5) rightly lament the fact that the younger generations have no idea what went on in Malta in the 1960s or even more recently, in subsequent decades; or indeed earlier.

They see grave lacunae in the school curriculum and general indifference to the worth of oral history.

May I just inform them, and all readers, that as of January 2, the 10-programme TV series L-Istorja Minn Wara l-Kwinti, first aired on TVM in 2006, is being repeated on TVM2 (Education 22)? The first programme on the 1950s, including the Break With Britain Resolution in December 1957, appeared on January 2 at 10.35 p.m. Monday’s programme was L-Interdett (repeated on Sunday at 4.50 p.m), where for the first time ever such a subject, treated from different angles, was aired on national television, vividly and evocatively, without any ulterior motives or propaganda tactics.

L-Istorja Minn Wara l-Kwinti was universally acclaimed by the public. In spite of the potentially explosive subject matter, it did not provoke a single complaint to the Broadcasting Authority from anyone. One leading TV critic, Tania Cilia, wrote that no work of such calibre had ever appeared on national television. Presented by Mark Fenech and based on my script and interviews with individuals from all walks of life and all sides of the political spectrum, it features personalities such as Alexander Cachia Zammit, Ċensu Esposito, Albert Ganado, Joe Micallef Stafrace, Ċensu Moran, Paul Saliba, Victor Ragonesi, Lino Spiteri, Charles Vella, Ċensu Tabone, Ġorġ Agius, Ġużi Spiteri, J.G. Vassallo, and many others, including hardline grassroots supporters of both Dom Mintoff and George Borg Olivier.

As if to highlight the pivotal role of oral history mentioned by my friends and colleagues in The Times last week, several of the interviewees, now thankfully recorded on camera, have since passed away, many of their views inevitably lost to posterity. These include Pawlu Carachi, Josephine Amato Gauci, Guido de Marco, Philip Saliba, Fr Leopoldu, Lino German, Ġorġ Hyzler, Ġwann Dimech, Charles Camilleri and Joe Fenech.

A second 10-programme series, covering the period 1969-1974, and comprising inter alia my interview with Lord Carrington in London, was repeatedly rejected by the public-funded PBS editorial board, as then constituted, but perhaps it may be worth trying again, in the interest of a national education. Never say die.

Impartiality is indeed difficult to attain, particularly in local contexts. Perfection is truly unattainable. However, with all due respect – depending on the required professional disposition, methodology and track record – one cannot simply allege that no national history can be written in Malta because all “historians” are either “red” or “blue” (sic).

Such a facile, dismissive and actually uninformed attitude is profoundly insulting to those among us who have dedicated a lifetime trying to seek out the truth, be that concerning Manwel Dimech or Dr Borg Olivier, mortal sins or political murders.