Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/467065
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 22 FEBRUARY 2015 Opinion 23 frontier that, in an island of limited space and a growing population, the need to 'claim' public territory – figuratively, in this case – is becoming more acute. And more emotive, too. Architects have shed salt tears over the desecration of their masterpieces; hawker's wives have sobbed at public insults; people have been called names, and names have snapped back in retaliation… (in fact, if nothing else good has come from this, at least we all now know how to spell the name 'Ordnance Street'). There has, in a word, been weeping and gnashing of teeth all round. And all because of contrasting views of what this small area of public space actually means to different people. Because different factions want to set their own, personal and indelible stamp on the place once and for all… to put their own claim to it (represented by either a market stall, or a superior code of cultural values) beyond any doubt. What is that, if not a progression from the same territorial disputes underpinning so many other current issues? What does it point towards, if not a conceptual view that Malta, as a real or symbolic territory, is there to be claimed and fought over endlessly… with any number of unrelated issues standing by in wait, to be called into action in their turn? Happily, this same perspective also fits neatly into a pet theory I've been working on for some time now. We've all heard theories aiming to answer the question of why we are, in fact, so inveterately factional a people: be it about politics, football, religious band-club affiliation, commerce, or any other areas which involve an organised network of human beings. The most common theory I've heard so far holds that 'factionalism' of this sort is an inevitable hang-over of the Colonial experience: when advancement of any kind depended on successful lobbying with a central, foreign authority… which in turn had a vested interest in ensuring that the various factions were forever at each other's throats. But if this were the case, one would expect it to diminish over time… instead of increasing in intensity, which is evidently the case today. Personally, I've always preferred explanations of the more… well… mythological variety. The rock we call Malta? It was none other than the raging battleground of the original elements, as they first strove for dominion over the nascent Universe, many, many aeons ago. If any proof were needed – but wait, why should it be? Most people accept far more fanciful accounts of the origins of the universe without any proof whatsoever. Still, if it's proof you want, Malta's strategic location at the centre of the Middle Sea… thus placing it at the precise epicentre of the entire world, and consequently (in mythical terms, at least) at the very pulsating heart of the Universe itself… that should suffice. And it naturally follows that any culture born from the seed of that conflagration must perforce contain a spark of all its inner strife. That, then, is my theory… and if I say so myself, it is supported by as much, if not more, evidence as belief systems shared by billions of people around the world. Besides, it can account for some of our other peculiarities, too. As we can all see, the aforementioned war of the elements must have concluded with an uneasy truce. No one side ever seeks total dominion anymore; but every now and again, one or two will launch a sudden, half-hearted surprise attack… you know, just to remind the other elements that their original argument had never been really settled at all. And no, it doesn't make any difference that they've all forgotten what they originally argued about. So instead of an all-out war, we now have only occasional skirmishes disrupting a tenuous, fragile peace. As I write this, it's 'air' and 'water' versus 'earth' and 'fire': the latter two being represented by the walls of my home, and the pilot light of the gas heater near my toes. Most of the 'water' is currently mass- torpedoing my window panes, and infiltrating little spy-puddles through any available crack in the stonework. As for 'air', he is shrieking battle-cries down the ventilation shaft (having already toppled most of the flower-pots that stood as sentries outside). Meanwhile, the gas keeping my 'fire' lit is about to run out. But here on the location of that first epic battle in all pre-history, storms subside as quickly as they begin… and so, too, do all the little frenzied controversies that occasionally flare up from time to time, only to soon fizzle out and then re-emerge in another form. You know, just to remind us all that there are still, oh, so many issues that remain unresolved… Personally, I've always preferred explanations of the more… well… mythological variety. The rock we call Malta? It was none other than the raging battleground of the original elements, as they first strove for dominion over the nascent Universe, many, many aeons ago