May I subscribe to The Sunday Times of Malta appeal (leader, October 14) to remember the dead of WWI. The leader refers to The Daily Malta Chronicle after Armistice Day in November 1918 splashing headlines such as “The Final Victory of the Allied Cause – Great Demonstrations in Malta – Indescribable Enthusiasm”.

For the sake of having the full historical picture may I refer readers to other contemporary local press reports on events following WWI. At the end of the war the dockyard workforce in Malta had been halved from 13,000 to 6,000; some 20,000 soldiers, sailors, artisans and labourers, who had served in the war, were faced with no other option but emigration.

As early as November 23, 1918, 12 days after the Armistice, a newly-formed local National Assembly reinvigorated the struggle for constitutional rights. The contemporary newspaper Malta, while reminding the imperial authorities of Malta’s “great war sacrifices”, reports that a petition was submitted to the British colonial government to award the island a decent Constitution for local autonomy. This was backed by all local civil and religious organisations. Il-Ħmar, the satirical newspaper of March 8, reports thousands of citizens gathering in Valletta “without even being called”. The resolution challenged England to prove with facts its declared fight during WWI “for small nations’ liberties like those of Malta”.

Contemporaneously the colonial authorities declared July 19, 1919, a holiday in order for Malta to celebrate the Allies’ victory. On May 16, the Comitato Patriottico, according to La Voce del Popolo, of May 21, called for a public boycott of these celebrations. Il-Ħmar of May 17, 1919, carried a sarcastic rhyme to show the doomed mood of celebration:

“Nagħmlu l-festi? Nagħmlu bomba/Ġo l-istonku iebes tagħkom!/Stmawna l-ewwel sew kif ħaqqna/Wara nagħmlu l-festi magħkom!” (Free translation: “Celebrating? We would rather put a bomb /inside your hard stomach (Maltese expression emphasising strong refusal to unmoved consideration)/Respect us as we deserve/Afterwards we join you in celebration!”).

The following month, during another strong demonstration in Valletta backing the National Assembly, precisely on June 7, 1919, six Maltese civilians were felled by British fire. Their Sette Giugno monument in front of the President’s palace is a gloomy reminder. The ‘great’ victory demonstrations on July 19, 1919, were held by the British forces on their own.

So let us remember all the dead of WWI but let us also remember what the war victory meant to this British colony, which had no reason to celebrate 100 years ago. Malta finally acquired its first representative Constitution in 1921.