Freedom Day and all that
This comment came in earlier today beneath an old post called Malta’s Ceaucescu Rewrites History. I thought it best to upload it here because that post is no longer active.
I was fortunate enough to be serving aboard HMS Brazen in 1986 when we sailed into Grand Harbour and I often search for information on this fantastic period in my life as I would love to be able to find a picture/footage of the event to remember in the years to come.
I want to say a MASSIVE thank you to all the people of Malta who came out on that momentous day to welcome us in, it was truly humbling.
Here’s hoping this post may trigger a reply from someone who remembers the day as fondly as I do.
Kindest regards,
Simon Pearson
I think it’s important because it reminds us that the ‘freedom’ Malta secured on 31 March 1979, when the lease on the British naval base ran out and not when is-Salvatur ta’ Malta kicked out the British, existed largely in the minds of the Socialist political class.
I remember the hordes of weeping people lining Grand Harbour to watch the last Royal Navy ship sail out and I can’t imagine that they were all supporters of the political party that most resented the British and disliked them, a sentiment reflected strongly among the party’s core vote – the Nationalist Party. Nor do I think they were mainly Progressive Constitutionalists still at a loss after the demise of their party. The British were loved mainly not by tal-pepe Stricklandjani (there were far too few of those) but by the Labour Party’s core working-class vote, and for a great variety of reasons.
As this comment from one of the men who was aboard the HMS Brazen when it sailed into Grand Harbour in 1986 reminds us, they were back in force to shout and wave and clap and sing seven years into our ‘freedom’. But the significance of the crying crowds in 1979 and the happy, welcoming crowds in 1986 was brushed off by the state-controlled media and not put into the proper context by the free press, such as it was then.
Nor was there any contextual discussion then – and neither has there been such a discussion now – of the fact that the dreadful events of Black Monday occurred just six and a half months into Malta’s ‘freedom’. Many of those who lined the bastions and wharves and wept in March 1979 wept not just in sadness but in fear. They felt abandoned to their fate, without protection, and had a pretty good idea of what lay ahead. And they were right.
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Dear Daphne, I do have some photographs which I took myself when the Brazen sailed in. I was 16 and my uncle let me borrow his SLR. I will be to happy to share them with Mr. Pearson, can you suggest any way I can contact him. Thanks.
[Daphne – He might wish to post his email address here.]
Excellent intro, Daphne.
“I think it’s important because it reminds us that the ‘freedom’ Malta secured on 31 March 1979, when the lease on the British naval base ran out and not when is-Salvatur ta’ Malta kicked out the British, existed largely in the minds of the Socialist political class”.
Declassified Cabinet minutes of the Heath government more than prove your point – as a matter of fact, in response to Mintoff’s demands in 1972, the British government had already made its mind up to wind up the operations in Malta. In other words, it got tired of Mintoff’s tactics by indirectly playing the British against Eastern powers in order to obtain the highest level of charity for which he was so famous for, ie China, Korea, Libya….
Here is an excerpt:
: ‘Conclusions of a Cabinet Meeting – January 11, 1972, marked SECRET but obviously declassified since it can be found on the Internet (filestore.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pdfs/…/cab-128-50-cm-72-1-2.pdf )
“It was also noted that Archbishop Gonzi, during his brief visit to London earlier that week’, had expressed great anxiety about the policies of the present Malta Government. His only suggestion, however, had been that NATO’s offer should be increased to £15 million a year, on the basis that if Mr. Mintoff refused such an offer public opinion would compel him to abandon office. Our position, including our unwillingness to provide any more cash ourselves, had
been made clear to him.
The Prime Minister, summing up the discussion, said that we
had made all the dispositions necessary to complete an orderly Withdrawal”.
There is also an obvious ‘surprise’ which I was not aware of until I read these minutes.
“…NATO’s offer should be increased to £15 million a year, on the basis that if Mr. Mintoff refused such an offer public opinion would compel him to abandon office” (Mgr. Gonzi).
Mintoff abandon office? Could Archbishop Gonzi have been so naive or was he using Mintoff as a lever? I shall always wonder!
I was 12 in 1979 and I saw the last parade of the Royal Marine Commandos in Valletta, and people were really weeping then. I saw the London leaving Grand Harbour and one of my acquaintances, a true Labour supporter and not a dockyard worker, was shouting ‘Ma jkolniex bhalkom’ and weeping.
Then in 1986 it was like the Santa Marija Convoy coming in with all those people lining the bastions. What I remember was the banner on the Brazen with ‘Thank you Malta’ on it.
Now I really enjoy seeing Nato warships again in Grand Harbour every now and then. So eat your heart out, Graffiti.
We’re the ones eating our hearts out, because there’s no way we’ll ever become NATO members. KMB and Mintoff sealed our fate. And Graffitti can smile all the way to Armageddon.