Saturday, 10th October 2009
La Valette does not deserve a monument!
I was flabbergasted to read recently that the Vittoriosa Historical and Cultural Society has asked the Vittoriosa Local Council to erect a monument to Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Valette.
I was also astonished to read several letters by Maltese citizens asking for a monument to la Valette to be erected in Valetta, the capital city. I am totally against spending money, especially public funds, to erect monuments to a tyrant who, in his heyday, trampled over the rights of the Maltese.
Are we still so steeped in the colonial mentality that we seek to erect monuments to those who showed such contempt towards the Maltese?
Funds should be spent on monuments to Maltese historical personalities who did their utmost to honour their country's name and to improve the lot of the Maltese population.
Have we forgotten that de la Valette was the person who hanged Giuseppe, known as Matteo, Callus because he dared to speak out in favour of the rights of his fellow Maltese which were being denied by the tyrant Grand Master himself? Are we not ashamed to recommend erecting monuments to a foreigner who sent a Maltese patriot to the gallows?
Have these people who are recommending monuments to la Valette realized that they are making a laughing stock out of the Maltese nation? In which country does one honour a foreign tyrant who hanged a local patriot?
As far as I know, in all countries without any exceptions, it is the patriot who gave his life for his country who is honoured and not the cruel tyrant who sent him to his death! Yet, here in Malta, it seems that some people turn logic upside down.
I sincerely appeal to all Maltese citizens to make their voices heard and to nip in the bud condemnable initiatives which are an insult to all those who have made so many sacrifices for Malta and the Maltese.
Yes, erect monuments, by all means, but to Maltese historical personalities, not to those who treated the Maltese as despicable inferiors and who kept the Maltese population in subjection and misery. Otherwise, our descendants will be ashamed of our abject stupidity and historical ignorance.
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Comments
But true!!!
@ J Martinelli
Weasel words
A monument to Pope Clement VII, Henry VIII and Pope John Paul II should be erected right across your suggestion of a monument for George Borg Olivier, Mintoff and Eddie Fenech Adami.
The middle figures in both monuments will be monumentally out of place!
@ K Spiteri
Monuments are not erected for people who are still alive. All our late Presidents and Prime Ministers deserve a huge monument because they had all given their utmost to get us where we are today. GBO, Mintoff and EFA deserve one big National monument together as the trio who positively led the revolutions to change our way of life.
We may argue between us who was or is best to lead the country but there should be no argument about the fact that all our Prime Ministers had the best national interest at heart even though we don’t always all agree.
But then, whatever is great will always be great, I say, and Valletta is a World Heritage city which LaValette built.
I repeat, what happened 400 years ago cannot be judged using today's circumstances. However Valletta was built back then, remains now and hopefully will for innumerable generations to come. We should never forget the man behind it but rather rejoice for his deed which has left us such an important heritage.
Besides our thanks, LaValette deserves a monument!
So according to you, who deserves a monument?
Dom Mintoff who destroyed loads of heritage sites just to say that he done this to develop the country?
Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici,
Alfred Sant: Spent a whole career in Opposition cos he did not even manage to make a whole term as a Prime Minister.
Enlighten us who of these three deserves a monument instead of La Valette.
Giuseppe Callus was tried, found guilty and sent to the gallows for the crime he committed. Today we consider Callus as one of our patriots however the fact remains that in the ambience of the Knight’s epoch his letter to the Spanish Emperor was considered as an act of treason. Those were also the days when Popes beheaded their opponents and the church still erected monuments in memory of their good deeds.
In the USA Joseph Ross was executed for committing Sodomy in 1785; James Wilson and Fred Salkman were hung in 1851 for stealing a horse; In 1860 four American Negroes were executed after they led a slave revolt. In his quest to unite America during 1861-65 Abraham Lincoln, the same President who legislated against slavery was also responsible for the killing of thousands of Southerners. Yet the Americans still erected monuments in memory of the good deeds of President James Pork who sent Ross for execution, of James Buchanan who allowed the killing of the four freedom fighters and to Abraham Lincoln.
The advances in architecture and medicine should not serve to blind us to the autocratic rule of la Valette. Erecting monuments to such a tyrant is an insult to the Maltese of his time.
Furthermore, what is wrong remains always wrong and the passage of time should not be used as an excuse to whitewash the wrongdoings of Grand Master la Valette.
Our Capital became known as the most aristocratic and exclusive fortress in Europe,"Superbissima"
I think for this alone the man deserves a monument
La Valette died before the completion of our city and was buried in St John's Co-Cathedral. The Latin inscription on his tomb translates to:-
“Here lies La Valette.
Worthy of eternal honour,
He who was once the scourge of Africa and Asia,
And the shield of Europe,
Whence he expelled the barbarians by his Holy Arms,
Is the first to be buried in this beloved city,
Whose founder he was”.
Should we remove this epitaph too?
quote
Free medical service was available not just for the local inhabitants but
this was also extended to sailors and travellers who might have fallen ill
whilst in Malta - there used to be a large number of these, and they were
treated irrespective of race, colour or religion.
The medical facilities established by the Order - that is, the building of
two hospitals, the setting up of a medical school, the employment and
stipulation of working regulations of skilled medical personnel and the
provision of sound pharmacy practice - were in fact the first social
services to be established on the island. - end of quote
So the knights made Malta one of the best hospitals if not the best in
europe since we know they were considered the best doctors themselves.
They saved god knows how many maltese lifes with a high level of
medical excellence and the best european doctors of the time.
You cannot just see one side of the coin Mr.Marmara. You have to see
the good and the bad in every circumstance/person
Mark.
Cheers to the Vittoriosa Historical and Cultural Society. I think an imposing statue of la Valette would do a great image of patriotism in remembering how the maltese and the knights of St.John defended our islands from slaughter. This should be remembered but on one point I agree with you..there should also be statues of Maltese patriots . 500 years have passed. Live and let live.
Let’s go back to the sixties and start our Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Demolish Valletta, Cottonera, St. Angelo, Manoel Island and Mdina. Change street names like Churchill, Queen Victoria,Mountbatten,De Rohan and all other reminders of our ante Independence era. Rumour has it that our flag was regaled to us by Count Roger so let’s change that too. And why should we have English as our official second language-let’s do away with that too.
Viva Malta pura mehlusa minn kull memorja tal barrani.......ommi ma ...sa fejn ser naslu?
It is as stupid as trying to pass judgment on an event which happened over 400 years ago using modern logic, while some still condone the exile of 42 innocent Maltese only sixty years ago by the British government!
Many monuments are erected to famous people who did great things but also erred in other ways, therefore let us destroy all their monuments acknowledging their good deeds, but remember only their few bad judgments. There will be a lot of empty sites formerly graced by the absent monuments!
I can think of some monuments erected to commemorate local politicians who, personally, I don't think they deserved one, but I don't bemoan the fact that that they are publicly acknowledged even if I never shared their political views.
Does one have to hang someone in order to be disqualified from having a monument erected in his memory? How about those who repressed democracy and condoned violence? Are they entitled to a monument?
I have to take a cue from Martinelli, here, unfortunately - can't help it, this time. Why are you so surprised IF La Valette REALLY 'trampled over the rights of the Maltese'? Considering the historical period and context, considering that he was a foreigner and that the Order OWNED Malta, you would come to accept such 'trampling'. But for such 'trampling' to have taken place by some Maltese, at a different historial period and context, and mere representatives of the people, living within a democracy, was unacceptable ... and where were you at the time, Mr ZM? I never read a single line fo yours, at the time, condemning what was happening between the 70s and the mid-80s.
More recent leaders were idolised by their supporters when in power and reviled by their opponents. When the fell out with their supporters these went were even further than their opponents and labelled them traitors. Today, these former idols and are still awaiting apologies and rehabilitation. However what label will posterity stick on them? Only the fullness of time will provide us with an answer. In la Valette's case it already has. Hence the popular request for a monument.