Guest post: PN will always treat the south of Malta as a rubbish tip

For its diminutive size, Malta is a country whose history surpasses that of some of the greatest nations. Over the centuries, the influx of different colonisers gave us one of the most vibrant cultures in the world and ultimately this is what makes Malta so attractive to visitors.

Before the latter half of the 19th century, rural culture formed the backbone of Maltese economy, however the last colonisers, the British, brought the Industrial Revolution here, at Cospicua to be exact and they changed this maritime city into an industrial zone that provided work for thousands of Maltese for well over a century.

The Dock No.1 is located at the site that the ‘Bormlizi’ refer to as ‘is-Suq’. Steel allowed shipyards to build bigger, stronger ships but the magnificent market place that once stood beside the dock was in the way, and so the green flag was given by that famous architect, William Scamp, to demolish it and to make way for the enlargement of the first drydock ever to be built outside of the British Isles. You could say that this was the first step that changed the Maltese way of life from an essentially rural into an urban society.

The British left most of the upper parts of Malta unencumbered with the ill effects of industry, and instead they enhanced places such as Sliema with beautiful promenades that provided a beautiful backdrop for its rocky beaches.

Meanwhile they imprisoned the Cospicua community behind the ‘hajt l-iswed’ or black wall that was full of soot deposits. This wall was eventually demolished about 30 years ago.

Following a change in government the Bormlizi waited for 25 years hoping to get their seafront back, but subsequent Nationalist administrations continued in the same vein of endless promises reminiscent of that famous song “Parole, Parole, Parole” that raised hopes and shattered dreams with each announcement that the promised Dock 1 project had been halted.

Nationalist governments continued to plonk dirt and waste generating projects in other southern areas of Malta and speculate in land at places like Sliema and St.Julians, where money was to be made. Ironically, what the British had sought to beautify was demolished to be replaced by ugly, featureless buildings; a certificate of shame for the PN.

The Nationalist Party always has, still is and will always treat the south of Malta as a rubbish tip. The current Opposition’s negative stance on the American University at Cospicua and Marsascala and the shock expressed by the PN leader when Prime Minister Muscat declared that further expansion of the Freeport, deemed to be detrimental to the Birzebbuga community would be halted is a testament to this.

While the British did what they did to the Cospicua community because it was the best site for the Royal dockyard, the PN did what they did to the southern parts of Malta because their credo is that we are children of a lesser god.