Forgetting about colonialism – Aleks Farrugia
Recently I was watching a film during which the dialogue between two characters ran something like this: “I don’t believe in God, no one’s ever seen him.” “Do you doubt gravity?” “What’s that got to do with the existence of God?” “No one’s ever seen gravity, yet you don’t doubt its existence.” “We don’t see gravity but this (he drops a pen) wouldn’t happen if it didn’t exist.” “The same is with God. It’s his working that speaks for his existence.” Now here I don’t want to get into arguments about the existence of God, but this short dialogue reminded me about something more mundane that came up during a radio discussion with host Andrew Azzopardi. The discussion was about Maltese language, during which I made the point that Maltese parents switching to English to speak to their children was a residue of colonialism. What inspired this article, though, was Andrew’s immediate response: whether in this day and age should we keep bringing up colonialism. After all, most of today’s parents weren’t even born when Malta got its independence. This argument is often brandished against the few who still dare to maintain that the colonial chapter in this country hasn’t yet been closed. The...