“the removal of legal provisions that made a promise to marry enforceable even if one of the people involved changed his or her mind”

Well, today the court will make you pay back any meal you had at his/her parents!!

I’m off too but before I go, let me thank you for pointing out to yourself that there is no Dolly Parton cleavage “between the Maltese common man and his Maltese leaders”.

You can’t single out former French colonies as being an unmitigated disaster. What about India? Uganda? They were British colonies. As for the British giving free reign/rein to Maltese culture, I’m not sure about that but I’ll stop there because I’m not 100% informed.

@ Corinne

I don’t understand what you mean by your statement re. the banner of nationalism (which in this day and age I consider cringe worthy). What banner of principle are we talking about here? And the Maltese leaders who served the British so well were the ones who had alot to gain from Malta being a colony, unlike others who desired a general raising of the level of education of the people, such as Manuel Dimech, in order that they could then take charge of their nation’s destiny.

What I want to say is that nothing we are discussing here is black and white. Too many times people tend to interpret history in simplistic terms, which is dangerous in my view. That’s all. Anyway, discussing on line really tires me out. Cheerio.

[Daphne – India? India beats us on every score industrially and in terms of IT. Uganda – the problem was Idi Amin, just as our problem, had it been allowed to go further, was Dom Mintoff. ‘Free rein’ – it’s a technical phrase borrowed from carriage-driving.]

[Daphne – To see how we would have fared had we been a French colony, take a look at all the former French colonies, which are an unmitigated disaster of poverty and backwardness. This may be the result of other cultural influences, but I don’t think it’s solely that. The British did give free rein to Maltese culture. People carried on exactly as they did before, and still do today, the difference being that they were obliged – odd word given the context – to accept the principles of religious toleration and freedom of expression, and the removal of legal provisions that made a promise to marry enforceable even if one of the people involved changed his or her mind. Those are just a couple of things that come immediately to mind. The greatest oppression the Maltese suffered in the 20th century was not by the British but, interestingly, by Maltese autocrats in the period 1971 to 1987.]

All “other powers” were here for hundreds of years with barely a squeak from the locals. The French were here 3 measly months and all hell broke loose. That should give you a clue as to how much better off we would have been.

[Daphne – That’s because the French weren’t smart enough to leave religion alone, which is why their empire never really got off the ground. History has shown that the only way to do it was to ‘persuade’ or force people to convert (the Arabs to Islam and the Communists to atheism) or to be completely tolerant. There is no halfway house called insulting the local religion while allowing people to worship. The most successful empire-builders in history – Rome and Britain – used an approach of religious toleration, being wise to the fact that people are more likely to riot over insults to their religion than they are over food shortages.]

Actually, the “cleavage” between the Maltese and the British was worthy of Dolly Parton :) Perhaps the divide was really between the Maltese common man and his Maltese leaders, the ones who served the British so well. I’m not about to get into a debate about the pros and cons of the British presence in Malta. I suggest you read Orientalism by Edward Said for a mind opening take on what colonialism entailed (and still does). The recent misadventure in Iraq is a case in point. I also am of the opinion that if we had been a French colony, bad as that would have been, we would have fared better from a cultural standpoint. Under the British the Maltese pretty much lost their barings as a people, and it can be seen to this day.

Actually, without the British there was a good chance we would have ended up under the Russians when the French were kicked out!

The cleavage between “the Maltese and their colonial masters” is not as sharp as that phrase implies. Some people may have seen themselves as victims of circumstance. Others may have seen an opportunity to serve. The former did not exclude the latter – and thank heavens for that.

[Daphne – Thank God we were a British colony. I would have hated to have grown up on some remote Sicilian island. Remote Sicilian islands are fine for holidays. Full stop.]