Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1526771
10 OPINION maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 18 SEPTEMBER 2024 WE have been having no less than five national days in Malta for far too long now. Il-Vitor- ja, Sette Giugno, Freedom Day, Independence Day, and Repub- lic 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 hav- ing five is too many. Deciding which national day to celebrate still lies heavily upon us. Coming back to our five na- tional days, they were a series of successive events leading up to 31 March, 1979, celebrated as Freedom Day, when Mal- ta took full control of its fu- ture 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 jour- ney, toying with such new con- cepts for us as neutrality and non-alignment, a Switzerland in the Mediterranean, sub- mitting our candidature for EU membership, then having it withdrawn, only to revive it within a short span of years after we ably succeeded in demonstrating that Malta be- lieves in European democratic values and that it should clear- ly be a member of the EU. Steadily steering Malta through a bumpy path towards full membership eventually gave us a rightful European di- mension 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 par- adox since, on the one hand, they are a visible representa- tion 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 con- tinuing to have five national days risks widening the divide. The approaching 21 Septem- ber national commemoration of Independence Day should reinforce the "nation" in the lives of ordinary Maltese cit- izens and provide important source materials through which the political elite may create and solidify a sense of nationhood among them. The historical events reflect- ed in our current national days show some aspects of the iden- tity-formation process. In this context, especially, two levels of the Maltese people's identi- ty 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 com- pounded by the fact that the boundaries of "the nation" and "the state" rarely overlap. The nation-building pro- cess generates its own set of grievances because its selec- tive appropriation of national memory necessarily excludes certain factional interests. The ensuing struggle over the past and what it means for contem- porary politics sometimes in- vokes or reinforces centrifugal pressures on the nation-state. As such, there always lurks be- neath the surface residual sub- national attachments or identi- ties, 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 instru- ments and potent tools for the erasure of historical actors, narratives, and events from popular or collective historical remembrance and documen- tary records. Let's put an end to any attempt to invalidate contemporary historical narra- tives surrounding the founding of Malta as a nation. It is no longer acceptable to continue belittling or questioning the actual significance of Inde- pendence Day. Sentiments about the com- memoration of our country's independence and its signifi- cance continue to be fractured along partisan lines. This parti- san divide has been manifested in public debates surrounding related commemorations and celebrations, year after year. We have been having too many competing, at times contradic- tory, narratives deployed by our polarised political leaders in the quest for a single, col- lectively agreed-upon national day. Some of these narratives gain the recognition and acceptance of the people, while others fail to resonate and are, thus, in- effective as tools for political mobilisation and action. Na- tional history is amenable to multiple interpretations, and such interpretations may be appropriated for political pur- poses. Sentiments about our country's independence and its significance continue to be shaped by partisan affiliation. Multiple, articulate interpreta- tions of the past are aimed at scoring political or ideological goals. This implies that the cel- ebration 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 fun- damental turning point in our nation's history. It marked the day when Malta gained free- dom from its colonisers, a day celebrated with great enthu- siasm and respect. The event is a potent symbol of national Commemorating our nationhood Mark Said is a veteran lawyer Mark Said