Celebrate the process

Today we celebrate the 35th anniversary of Jum il-Helisen, commemorating the closure of the military base on 31st March 1979.

Next September we will celebrate 50th anniversary of Independence on 21st September 1964.

In December we celebrate the 40th anniversary of becoming a Republic on 13th December 1974.

Soon on 7th June we celebrate another national day being the 95th anniversary of Settu Giugno when the British colonizers killed 5 Maltese civilians who were protesting against the rise in price of basic commodities ( bread ) on that day in 1919.

And on 8th September we celebrate the national day of Vitorja commemorating the victory over the Ottomans in the Great Siege of 1565 and the end of hostilities in Malta by the axis power during the WW II.

The stretching of national day calendar to commemorate 5 different occasions exposes political immaturity and forced compromises, partitioning the process in nice clean boxes along political dividing lines.

It is time to grow and show political maturity.   Rather then celebrate the event we should celebrate the process which started with the dream  of nationhood by Mikiel Anton Vassalli in the 18th Century, continued through Manwel Dimech in the early 20th Century and was finalized in the post war history by our current political formations.

Rather than commemorating the event every time we celebrate a national day we should be celebrating the process which involves all the five national days.   And there is no need to celebrate the process five times every year.  Once a year is enough I would say.

Which one?   Ah, that is the million dollar question and unless one adopts a rotation system we need a higher dose of political maturity to resolve that.

And what would happen to the other four holidays if we ever agree to a single national day?  Possibly the best would be to add three bank holidays falling on a Monday in Spring, Summer and Autumn ( so many holidays Winter ).   Why not four?  Because normally one day would have fallen on a weekend.

Advantages:  avoidance of too many mid-week breaks which disrupt production; political maturity; better spread of public holidays.