Which history?

A comment by Caxxaro, in response to my earlier post 'Knights of Malta on hold', raised the question of historical accounts that only take into perspective the version of events over the years as licensed by Malta's ruling elites. Evarist Bartolo, a former education minister and current MLP tourism spokesman, has often discussed Malta's identity in a post colonial theoretical context. During parliamentary debates last year he insisted that Malta should not join the EU with a colonial mentality. He wrote a play that places under a modern spotlight the novel 'Mattew Callus' written in 1878 by Guze` Muscat Azzopardi. The play, produced two years ago, recounts the story of a Maltese medical doctor who was sentenced to death by GrandMaster La Vallette for protesting against taxation and lack of representation. This story about events that took place 5oo years ago could be a useful point of reference for future revisionists of Malta's history. From a paper by Evarist Bartolo:

Il-bierah, illum u ghada ... x'differenza hemm bejniethom? Ta' qabilna, ahna u ta' warajna ... kemm nixxiebhu? Fejn ahna differenti? Qatt jigri xi haga gdida fid-dinja? Dak li qed jigri llum u li se jigri ghada, kemm hu differenti minn dak li gara l-bierah? Dawn huma kollha mistoqsijiet li nqajjem fil-kitba li qed insejjah websajt ghall-palk guzeppimattewcallus.com.

Ir-rabta mal-imghoddi, ma' dawk li gew qabilna ilha tqanqalli mistoqsijiet difficli. Mhix l-ewwel darba nkwetajt b'dik it-tip ta' rabta fejn l-imghoddi ma jhallix lill-prezent jitwieled u jizviluppa b'mod gdid. Il-poeta Russu Yevtuschenko jitkellem dwar il-passat bhala katavru li miet bil-ponn tieghu maghluq fuq il-prezent. Il-prezent ma jistax jiftah il-ponn tal-mejjet u ma jistax jaqbad triqtu u l-haj jibqa f'idejn il-mejjet..

Ahna nistghu nkunu nafu mnejn gejjin? Kif nistghu nkunu nafu jekk ghall-hafna snin l-istorja li konna nafu mhix taghna, izda l-istorja ta' dawk li gew jahkmuna? Kif nistghu nkunu nafu mnejn gejjin jekk lanqas kapaci nahsbu b'mohhna u naraw b'ghajnejna dwar dak li ghaddew minnu ta' qabilna f'dawn il-gzejjer u lilhinn minnhom? Jekk hafna minn dak li nafu dwar ta' qabilna nafuh mhux minnhom stess izda minn dak li qalu dwarhom dawk li gew minn barra dawn il-gzejjer kif nistghu nkunu nafuhom? ... U allura kif nistghu nkunu nafu min huma? Kif nistghu nkunu nafu min ahna?

'Minn Moby Dick sa Mattew Callus' by Albert Marshall

Interview with Evarist Bartolo - MaltaToday