Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/770367
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 8 JANUARY 2017 16 News Monuments serve as a dialogue of history orchestrated by the state towards its populace: so presenting past personages in an abstract form points to a lack of clear thinking on how best to reconstruct Valletta's public space for a proper cultural identity CHARLES XUEREB THE emergence of multiculturalism in a world in search of democratisation seems to have aroused a new awareness of one's na- tional identity in an atmosphere of diversity. Researchers from different countries seem to be putting their own social collective memo- ries under the lens to find out more about the characteristics that unite their communities in seeking a forward-looking path. In recent months this was clearly manifested by phenomena and events that seem to have provoked the reactive outpouring of public expressions of nationalism conveying sympa- thy and solidarity following terror attacks on communal traditions. The Nice carnage on the French national day, July 14, and the Ber- lin massacre on December 19, attacking one of Germany's surviving winter traditions – the popular Christmas markets – came close in the wake of strong public violations previously hitting Paris and Brussels. Fairly or not they were all perceived as being a consequence of recent immigration mobil- ity, the perpetrators of the attacks having been a handful of Muslim Arab criminals living in Europe. The ripple political effect appears to be getting out of hand as evidenced by the rise of extreme populist movements challenging the stability of long established liberal democ- racies such as that of the United Kingdom, Austria and the United States with France, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy lining up for their share of nationalistic, possibly unex- pected upheavals in scheduled elections dur- ing 2017. Historical background The majority of European nations were es- tablished during the first half of the nineteenth century after actively searching for symbols, traditions and meanings of nationalism and identity. Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes in Le Tiers État, published on the eve of the French Revo- lution, opines that nations exist in the state of nature and are ultimately the source of power, will and law. They may slumber through cen- turies but continue to exist beneath the debris of history until the moment of their rebirth. Reacting to discourse on patriotism in 1973, historian John Schaar opined that he believed a nation exists only in repeated acts of re- membrance and renewal, through changing circumstances; he insisted that 'the patriot keeps his eye on the past, on places and things, on traditions'. In the USA it was perhaps the collective memories of ethnic groups that achieved the biggest visibility in recent times, mostly after Alex Haley's Roots. The TV series was launched in 1977, based on the book, published a year before. With hindsight one could say that it must have gen- erated the greatest American dream, when the United States elected its first coloured presi- dent in the new millennium, now completing his term after eight years in office. American historian Michael Kammen re- ports that towards the end of the 1980s, 'the vigorous winds of strident nationalism' be- came less fashionable; initiatives were thus taken to find alternative ways of remember- ing, such as placing plaques at suitable sites in honour of neglected heroes. In 1981, a Na- tional Trust board member from Jacksonville, Oregon offered a long awaited definition of cultural heritage: an accumulation of large tra- ditions, social, racial and religious, frequently built up from beyond time and memory. This seems to have encouraged private and public cultural societies to dedicate 55 per cent of 8,000 museums in the United States to history by the end of the decade. Making the UK and Italy During the last decades of the 19th century, beginning of the 20th, Europe, experiencing rapid social transformations, called for new devices to ensure social cohesion and identity. Industrialization, democratization and the expansion of mass electorates ushered in new methods of how to maintain public loyalty. To create these bonds new nation states tried to secure mass conformity with the help of new symbols, such as flags, national anthems, mili- tary uniforms, and new celebrations and ritu- als. Britain witnessed the revival of royal ritual- ism to counterweight the dangers of popular democracy, while Italy was the only European nation which had to construct its traditions from scratch by inventing public ceremonies, erecting public monuments and developing education, justifying Azeglio's famous phrase 'We have made Italy, now we must make Ital- ians'. New traditions were also in store for the colonies. From the 1870s, in India and Africa, Britain set out to create a secure and usable past fitting the countries where 'authority was achieved'. Cohn (1983) gives a clear example of the British inventing a tradition in India with the modification of the Indian army uniform to include turbans, sashes and tunics, making it appear to be an 'authentic' local trait. No civil commemorations Contrastingly during the same 19th century on this Island colony Malta's politicians seem to have been struggling with how to identify with a culture originating in Italy or England. To a certain extent, under the British, Malta could still balance its newly introduced com- memorations – colonial jubilations marking coronations and other trivialities of the British Empire – by its numerous holy days. These liturgical observations included only one commemoration of a seemingly secular nature, that of the Knights' 1565 victory over the Ottomans. In all probability, it survived because the Catholic Church marks the Birth The Sette Giugno monument (top) represents victims of a national anti-British protest in the streets of Valletta rather than a 'revolution'. VALLETTA'S CAPITAL AND THE NATIONAL STORY