Mythical place of origin

In her article on today's Malta Independent on Sunday, Daphne Caruana Galizia discusses the politics of race, identity and emigration. She says that very few Maltese emigrants return, and "only when they can be sure of living a better life here than they were living elsewhere. Nobody swaps a high standard of living for a lower one". Taking into account the current state of affairs and future prospects in Malta she states that more Maltese are bound to leave this country. With Malta in the European Union, "people are now free to leave and, believe me, leave they will":

The Maltese are, on the whole, not at all sentimental. We are a pragmatic bunch; we go where the money is, where the work is. We adapt; largely speaking we can fit in anywhere. In Felipe Fernandez-Armesto’s landmark work, Millennium, we are described as the world’s most successful emigrants, because we are able to enter an alien culture and “disappear” into it.

That’s why we manage to do so much with so very little. And when we go away from Malta, we rarely look back. Of course, once we’re safely out of here and raking in the money on the other side of the globe, then we take the time to get a little bit nostalgic. We want news of Malta. We fake village feasts in Sunshine. We stick up pictures of Mintoff in Melbourne. Our Toronto sala features a large photograph of Mosta dome. We listen to Radio Malta over the internet. When a Maltese dignitary visits, we rush to greet him with flags and pastizzi. But then when we come to Malta to visit “the family”, we have to try hard to keep quiet about the inconveniences that we find so difficult to put up with. We grit our teeth at the roads, the dirt, the lack of efficiency, the rudeness of service-providers and shop assistants, the sloppy behaviour in restaurants – and we’re relieved to go back to wherever it is we came from. We suddenly realise that what we always thought of as ‘home’ is home no longer. Sydney is our home. Detroit is our home. Coventry is our home. Malta is just our mythical place of origin.

Tajjeb jew Hazin pajjizi jibqa' - Mark Vella