In the article ‘No business being a racist’ (December 11), the writer questions the Maltese identity and Malta’s place in the world. I found such writing replete with anti-Maltese innuendo, condescending and blatantly racist. His arguments and conjectures are without basis. They merit no further scrutiny or discussion, except for the purpose of rebuttal.
But what if (you’re told) you’re not white at all? Oh, spare us! The Maltese have been aware others had paler skin than theirs for decades. The Maltese are southern European and their skin colour is genetically inherited. We are products of accidents of human evolution, centuries of climate change and, even more so, accidents of history. But, seriously, does anyone really care?
The Maltese people and their language have evolved over centuries. We are intolerant and find unacceptable the practice of introducing a Latin word in place of an existing Maltese word for the sake of sounding European. Those who have studied the Maltese language as it should have been taught, uncorrupted and in its pure unadulterated form (rules and all), are perfectly content with its unique richness. Our prose and poetry pay tribute to our culture and history.
Under no circumstances should Maltese be confused with Arabic. True, our vocabulary has Arabic roots, however, it is written in the Latin script. Turkish is the only other language which has this unique distinction and then only since the 20th century.
Our educational establishments graduate professionals to European levels and we enjoy an exceptionally high standard of living. Neighbouring countries, to our north as well as to our south, view the Maltese people as somewhat of an enigma and with envy.
Orientalism is a written work by Edward Said, a Palestinian-American. It deals with how the West, mainly European imperialists-cum-colonialists, have portrayed the East.
Our capacity to assimilate and absorb alien cultures is truly limited
I quote: “Throughout Europe’s history, every European in what he could say about the Orient [read Middle East], was racist, an imperialist, and almost totally ethnocentric.”
Moral: being European is not something to be proud of. What the writer did not mention was that, to substantiate his indictment of Europeans, Said was selective in the evidence he presented and ignored whatever contradicted his thesis. Furthermore, he filled gaps with conspiracy theories. Some critics have called his work racist and politically motivated. Ideologues will usually grab at anything that suits their world view and ignore whatever contradicts it.
Malta has been at the centre of it all for decades. Throughout history, Malta has been part of various empires, was occupied by forces alien to its established culture and beliefs and was uninhabited for a time due to natural or man-made catastrophic forces. It was resettled again, became a fiefdom (the Knights), was besieged time and again and eventually became a colony of Great Britain.
Throughout all this time, our forefathers fought and worked hard to retain our cultural identity.
So now that we know who we are and where our place is, are we to be denied the right to defend our new-found freedoms and independence? Should we not hold to a high value our national pride? We are within our rights to reject encroachment by alien cultures. Our capacity to assimilate and absorb alien cultures is truly limited. Unchecked intrusion threatens our very Maltese raison d’être. This in no way brands us racist. It is common sense.
No Maltese words exist for racist, racism or prejudice. However, the Arabic word for racist is eunsuriun (pronounced ‘userium’), while prejudice is tahizum, in case anyone is interested. My point is that I know of no Maltese words that sound remotely similar
Until recently, the word racism was hardly ever mentioned, neither in every day conversation nor in print.
In the book Le Voyageur Francois, the good abbé notices the “surprisingly” pale skin of the Maltese but then remarks on their “flat noses” (genetically, most Maltese have pronounced noses) and “upturned lips”. This work was written during the mid-to-late 18th century.
The Knights were still in power then and it is well-known they kept slaves.
As for the upturned lips, the traveller priest would surely have had more to say had he been around two summers ago when a certain world-famous actress was honouring Gozo with her presence.
The writer of the article mentioned above would have us believe that one of the underpinnings of our European identity is the arrival of St Paul in Malta. Malta has been predominantly Christian Catholic for centuries. Prior to the schism with the Orthodox Church, the Maltese Church was actually subject to Constantinople and not to Rome.
Belief is a personal matter and each one of us is free to believe what he or she wants to believe.
As one local wit put it, St Paul wrote letters to the people of cities in which he had preached, however he never wrote a letter to us Maltese. Perhaps in a fit of unwitting first century racism, the good Paul had lumped us Maltese with the Romans.
Joe Morana has lived, worked and travelled in a number of Middle Eastern countries.