In search of an ‘other’ country

Despite everything, there is still so much to like about Gozo and Malta.

For me this includes the evening light, the rugged landscape, the ‘big’ sky, the magical ‘feel’ of the sea, the magnificence of truly ‘world class’ thunder and lightning storms, local stone, a Gozitan ‘field’ at sunset and, of course much art and architecture.

At the risk of leaving so much else out, I might also add tomatoes (especially field tomatoes), peppered Ġbejna, Qarabali Mimli (George’s version), hobz biz-zejt, pizza at Electra in Marsalforn, a summer’s evening dinner on the band club terrace in Għjansielem, a late-night ferry ride home from Ċirkewwa, most band marches, the list goes on and on.

And then there’s the people. Our network of friends and neighbours willing to introduce, share and help, answer questions, offer solutions; to discuss family and parenthood, travel and discovery, recipes, and stories and above all those inevitable life experiences. A network of ordinary life affirming people who value mutual respect, care, and assistance.

Not values and behaviours unique to Malta by any means but nonetheless specifically flavoured. The kind of stuff that makes life pleasant, enjoyable, and even fulfilling.

At another level entirely there’s much else to like and admire. Gozitan people work hard (often too hard) especially for their children and for their education. They believe strongly in the value of education as the future. It is uplifting to see them take care of elders and of those with disability. They have considerable and appropriate pride in Gozo.

In my experience, they are most certainly not a society of Gaħans (as frequently asserted insultingly and stupidly on social media). As a society, Gozitans embrace the best and the worst. In this, they are no different to many in, for example Trump’s America or Johnston’s England or elsewhere worldwide. Like many across these islands, they remain conflicted and even contradictory in their sentiments and behaviours. For me, a normal part of the human condition.

They continue to struggle with the contradiction in all of us between individual needs and wants and the current and future well-being of our society at large. And they engage in this struggle on a tiny island where everyone knows everyone (and their affiliations) and where economic and political overlords (and their acolytes) yield real time threat and power.

Despite this reality, many continue to speak out privately and publicly and to act against the agendas of the bullies in business and politics. Facing an avalanche of macro and micro misuse and abuse of power, critics, activists, journalists, and commentators continue to push back. They not only insist there is another Gozo and Malta, but they also embody it even when increasingly silent and withdrawn.

Despite all official lies and the immoral manipulation of public conversation, critical discussion and reflection have not been stamped out, it continues to quietly beat and shows signs of periodic resurgence. But sadly time is not on our side.

It obviously goes without saying that there is so much to dislike and dislike intensely in Gozo and Malta. The rot and the evil (I use that word deliberately) that stalks the land has been and

continues to be described and catalogued by many, even by those who perpetrate it (with all the accompanying idolatry of wealth, power, and ego).

Many of those with whom I talk (and for whom I have great respect) recognise that we are currently in the throes of an intense and vicious struggle for the soul of the land, for that ‘other’ country that has not yet been fully stolen from its people.

Despite everything, there is indeed much to like about Gozo and Malta.