June 7 – Sette Giugno in Malta

nPostednon June 7, 2016

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The Sette Guiugno Monument

nFoodnwas scarce, riots kept breaking out, British troops fired into thencrowd and killed four people! Hooray! Let’s celebrate!

nIfnyou really think about it, some historical anniversaries we celebratenare really tough times or horrific events. But we celebrate thenanniversaries for the positives that came out of the events. n

nInnthe case of June 7, 1919, in Malta, the unrest and rioting andnkillings led to more and more people challenging the British troopsnon their island. These events increased support for pro-Italiannparties. n

An annual reenactment of Sette Guiugno

nYounsee, some people in Malta – and, I presume, in Italy – thoughtnthat Malta belonged to Italy and wanted to “restore” the islandnto that country. This idea was also bundled up with the “LanguagenQuestion” – the struggle between the old Italian-speaking societynand the new English-speaking rulers. From the 1500s until 1814, thenofficial language of Malta, and the language spoken by the “elite,”nwas Italian. But by the time of Sette Giugno, a century after Maltanbecame a part of the British Empire, English was the main language innMalta. A few decades later, in 1934, only about 15% of the Maltesenpeople could speak fluent Italian, although almost everybodynunderstood it. Some people wanted Italian taught in the schoolsnagain.

nAnlook at history shows us that Malta’s position in the MediterraneannSea gave it importance in matters of both trade and naval security,nand so this island had been ruled by a LOT of different empires andnpeoples. We’re talking Phoenicians, Romans, Moors (Muslims from Arabnregions and northern Africa), Normans (people descended from Vikingsnwho took over a great deal of Europe, back in the day), Siciliansn(Sicily is of course a part of modern Italy), Spanish, Knights of St.nJohn (a Catholic military order), French, and British!

nItnwasn’t all that clear, then, if “restoration” were to happen, whonMalta should belong to – except Malta itself!

nAndnas to the Language Question, why not the Maltese language?

nThenrioting and rebellion of Sette Giugno showed the British how verynimportant self-rule was to the Maltese people. There were surges ofnincreased self-rule, and in 1934 Maltese was declared the colony’snthird official language (after English and Italian), and a few yearsnlater Italian was booted from “official” language status.

nWorldnWar II interceded between Sette Giugno and independence, and in factnthe Maltese had to wait quite a while post-war before acquiring fullnindependence in 1964.

This tomb for the four people killed on
Sette Giugno is written in Italian. Can
you guess what “riposino in pace”
means in English?

nInthink it is interesting to note that Sette Giugno is still celebratednas one of Malta’s five national days, even though it seemed to be anlargely pro-Italian movement, and yet Malta never did join up withnItaly. I also think it’s ironic that this national day is called bynan Italian name – Sette Giugno means “seventh of June”nin Italian – even though the Italian language in Malta increased inndisuse ever after this event.

nTonlearn more about Malta, check out this post, this other post, and even this earlier post.

nAlsonon this date: