Commemorating our nationhood

We have been having no less than five national days in Malta for far too long now. Il-Vitorja, Sette Giugno, Freedom Day, Independence Day, and Republic Day to date are all marked as national days of celebration in Malta. True, there are some countries that celebrate more than one national day, but having five is too many. Deciding which national day to celebrate still lies heavily upon us.

Coming back to our five national days, they were a series of successive events leading up to 31 March, 1979, celebrated as Freedom Day, when Malta took full control of its future in all aspects. Yet without that very important historical date of Independence Day, we would never have been able to embark on a new roadmap that took us on a rough journey, toying with such new concepts for us as neutrality and non-alignment, a Switzerland in the Mediterranean, submitting our candidature for EU membership, then having it withdrawn, only to revive it within a short span of years after we ably succeeded in demonstrating that Malta believes in European democratic values and that it should clearly be a member of the EU.

Steadily steering Malta through a bumpy path towards full membership eventually gave us a rightful European dimension and full sovereignty over our future. Those events not only reflect our history but are also an expression of our identity. At the same time, they are somewhat of a paradox since, on the one hand, they are a visible representation of social memory, and on the other hand, they clearly show the divisions that are still present in our society today. A single national day should have the power to unite us, but continuing to have five national days risks widening the divide.

The approaching 21 September national commemoration of Independence Day should reinforce the “nation” in the lives of ordinary Maltese citizens and provide important source materials through which the political elite may create and solidify a sense of nationhood among them.

The historical events reflected in our current national days show some aspects of the identity-formation process. In this context, especially, two levels of the Maltese people’s identity can be clearly seen: national identity and state identity.

However, the amenability of national memory to political instrumentalisation means that the relationship between commemoration and national attachment is complex. This relationship is further compounded by the fact that the boundaries of “the nation” and “the state” rarely overlap.

The nation-building process generates its own set of grievances because its selective appropriation of national memory necessarily excludes certain factional interests. The ensuing struggle over the past and what it means for contemporary politics sometimes invokes or reinforces centrifugal pressures on the nation-state. As such, there always lurks beneath the surface residual subnational attachments or identities, which could be asserted in opposition to the overarching national visions or identities.

It is time to stop exploiting certain current national day celebrations as political instruments and potent tools for the erasure of historical actors, narratives, and events from popular or collective historical remembrance and documentary records. Let’s put an end to any attempt to invalidate contemporary historical narratives surrounding the founding of Malta as a nation. It is no longer acceptable to continue belittling or questioning the actual significance of Independence Day.

Sentiments about the commemoration of our country’s independence and its significance continue to be fractured along partisan lines. This partisan divide has been manifested in public debates surrounding related commemorations and celebrations, year after year. We have been having too many competing, at times contradictory, narratives deployed by our polarised political leaders in the quest for a single, collectively agreed-upon national day.

Some of these narratives gain the recognition and acceptance of the people, while others fail to resonate and are, thus, ineffective as tools for political mobilisation and action. National history is amenable to multiple interpretations, and such interpretations may be appropriated for political purposes. Sentiments about our country’s independence and its significance continue to be shaped by partisan affiliation. Multiple, articulate interpretations of the past are aimed at scoring political or ideological goals. This implies that the celebration of the national past is never politically neutral. Yet, why should it not be so?

Undeniably and apolitically, Independence Day remains the one and only crucial and fundamental turning point in our nation’s history. It marked the day when Malta gained freedom from its colonisers, a day celebrated with great enthusiasm and respect. The event is a potent symbol of national pride, of our nation’s identity and of our nation’s history.

This coming 21 September should serve as a platform for reflection and progress, encouraging us to reflect on our nation’s journey, the challenges overcome, and the milestones achieved, underscoring the concept of unity in diversity. Simultaneously, it should prompt introspection on the areas that need improvement, fostering a sense of responsibility towards nation-building.

Today, we find ourselves once again challenged to explore what it is to be Maltese and to reflect on how we celebrate our national life. One of the ways we seek to celebrate being “us” is through the observance of a single national day. Talk of constitutional reform is rife these days, and perhaps Independence Day could easily be an obvious choice for a national day established by our Constitution. It would acknowledge a figurative “starting line”, a sense of inclusion and boundedness that is vital to every nation’s identity.