Here’s what you need to know about the Island of Malta!

yun_oo_
Jul 6, 2019
6 min read

Updated: Aug 5, 2019

I would like to state in advance that this post will most certainly be discussing big issues which are, in their nature, very political. As frequent viewers already know, I generally do not tend to lean on politically arguing on a subject but as in pretty much almost every aspect of society, things tend to get political. The points to highlight about this post will be the constitution of religion within our country and our lives, the economy and open market and central to this, the reigning capitalist system in which Malta finds itself in. With that being said, let’s start!

The population of Malta is around 433,224. In more recent years, the population actually went down and rates of birth aren't as rapid as they were. Even more so, women aren't as traditionally inclined as they used to be however this doesn't in any way suggest that they have moved away from the evident fact that women are subordinate to men. In other words, the system isn't just a capitalist system but a highly patriarchal one as well.

Malta’s predominant religion is Catholicism. The arrival of Christianity in Malta dates back to the third and eighth century CE. Throughout its various invasions it remained Christian and we now see religion incorporated into our laws and institutions such as schools. Catholic teachings form a part of the compulsory education for nationals however, for those who are not Maltese, they are excused from taking up the classes. We see that Malta, an island of 316km is home to 312 churches with 63 of those 312 being parishes. Gozo, the neighboring smaller island of 67km, has 46 churches With 15 of those being parishes. In Malta, every locality has its own parish church, apart from 2 to 3 small localities. Additionally, some localities have more than one parish church and a good example of such is the city of Sliema which has four parishes in all.

‘Churches’ found in Malta are organized as such:

Cathedrals

Minor Basilicas

Parish churches

Churches (the ordinary ones)

Chapels

And even smaller Chapels (these chapels are so small and very old plus not all of them still actually function or hold masses. They aren’t even open to the public and are kind of run down. I provided a picture of what I am referring to for your own personal understanding.)

Now, let’s talk stats!

The most recent statistics (2018) regarding religion in Malta are distributed as such:

So first you’ve got the Catholic Church which compromises a whooping 93.9%.

Atheists are a 3.9%.

Other Christian denominations are a 1.3%.

Islam makes up 0.3%.

and finally, Agnostic result to 0%.

Alongside this overview of religion, I'd like to also include that secularization in Malta is generally based on a weekly church attendance. This, of course cannot simply be analyzed without looking to other various declines and inclines like that of the high levels of church membership.

The following only states the weekly decline in church attendance:

1982: 75.1%

1995: 63.4%

2005: 52.6%

2017: 36.1%

In 2018, 63.7% of the Maltese population considered themselves as practicing members of religion.

Catholicism is reflected into a variety of elements of Maltese culture. A very common example of this is the small statues and niches with holy rosaries and candles with saints on them that can be found in many corners of streets all across Malta. During the year,several religious gatherings and feasts take place and these events attract attention not just from the passionate locals who put so much into them, but also from foreigners who come to experience the unique history it has to offer.

The following link will direct you to a list of all the Maltese feasts according to the month:

https://www.maltainfoguide.com/malta-village-feasts.html

Although, in more recent decades, we have seen a massive decline in church attendance and and incline in students choosing ethics over religious studies(approx. 4,000 students opted for ethics instead of religious studies in 2018, with over half of secondary-level students attending private independent schools no longer opting for religious studies), Christianity still remains very much fixated into every aspect of our lives. Christianity is a major factor in Maltese politics and in 2011, the year that the divorce took place, a revolt triggered the start of a civil liberties wave, something we have never had before due to being suppressed. Now what has started cannot be stopped because when people revolt for their own good they recognize that the power that once oppressed them is no longer the same kind of power. The people's voices are no longer muted and a cry has been heard very clearly however, there still are many religious fanatics and right wing supporters but one thing can surely be confirmed, and that is that the right wing party and the church are afraid. They are afraid because now the people whom they controlled so well are starting to show them that together, they do have a power and that power is greater than their own.

One of the recent most heated disputes in the country is Abortion. Malta is the only member of the EU that prohibits it entirely. The single valid alternate exception to this would be a case where the mother's life is in danger. Nationalist Tonio Borg looked to ban abortion completely in 2005. An approximate 300 to 400 Maltese women have abortions per year, mostly in the UK (60%), Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and also Belgium. This estimate reveals it's is just about as frequent as EU average. At the moment, the Nationalist party is using abortion as a means to abuse people and instill fear in them. One good thing about this whole mess is that there is a new Doctors group known as Doctors for choice which advocates for safe, accessible and evidence-based reproductive healthcare in the island of Malta. They stress about how dangerous it is to criminalize abortion for women who need the service.

A survey conducted by MaltaToday showed that an overwhelming 95% voted against abortion resulting it into being a politically untouchable subject.

''we can debate abortion all we want...but Maltese women are getting on planes''

The current situation in Malta, on the other hand, remains that the church and right wing party still hold some evident power over the people due to it being the dominant capitalist minority. The bureaucratic church's role can be better explained when using the hypodermic model. The church is as Marx had said, the opium of the people. It injects its ideology into the people, numbing them and taking control of them. It acts like a morphine that ensures it drags the people away from ever even coming to the realization of things which secures that their power remains prevailing and conformity is reproduced. The ideology of the church is, of course, the right wing ideology, a belief that community is to be a Christian-democratic public and the church, like most churches outside Malta, encourage the people to advocate for a commitment to social market principles and qualified interventionism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ideas and traditional Christian values, incorporating the social teachings espoused by the Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, and also Pentecostal traditions in various parts of the world. In defense of Max Weber, this political ideology is seen as being Neo-Calvinist.

Malta is largely industrialized. The economy here is concentrated in financial services, hospitality, retail etc and the society is a class-divided one. Malta's economy is a service-based economy and Malta is classified as an already developed country with high-income, mainly for being so heavily driven by technological innovation.

The entity in power and control of the country at the moment is the center-left wing, the Labor party. The labor party in Malta is a social-democratic party. The PM is very business- minded and has previously stated that he and his party aim for a pro-business government and that that's how it is to remain. He also told the left-wing followers and supporters to 'embrace capitalism'. He is very interested in capitalism and as of a short while ago, Malta has been seen as shameful. This is because of the dirty money scandal and money-laundering. Malta is indeed corrupted and there are existing groups that are only concerned of themselves and pre-occupied with sustaining their obvious power over the state. It's honestly so deep-rooted that those who do know of a few things they 'shouldn't know' are terrified to say anything and in fear of losing their lives.

Malta is very contemporary, having a fully advanced, open market economy, a high yielding workforce and a stable developed branch of finance groups.

Given that either political party in Malta is so much in favor of capitalism, my fear is that matters have become too captured by capitalist interests either directly or indirectly and from what it seems, the government wants to maintain that flair of business 'confidence'. Without implemented social constraints, democratic governments can do less to improve the condition of the working-class. Social democrats opt to see social change as being implemented by the government. They see politics as a marketing exercise. My fear is that they are way too biased and supportive of the capitalist system. The social democratic system in Malta believes that the state can be run beneficially by bosses. I see this form of managerialism as claim to expertise as being an ideological front, a justification for inequalities of wealth and power. The Maltese population are in desperate need of a true leader. A leader that is not biased in any way and a leader that does not silence the majority, being the working-class, which is the largest group in Maltese society. The working-class must wake up from their state of false-class consciousness and take matters into their own hands.

QUOTE OF THE DAY!