A voice in the wilderness : Manwel Dimech and the education of the Maltese proletariat

Abstract

Manwel Dimech (1860-1921) was a man ahead of his times. His ideas, such as the independence of Malta, the emancipation of Maltese women, compulsory education for Maltese children, and many progressive goals that he strove for, have all become a reality, but long after his death. Dimech is today mostly remembered as a social reformer, an anti-clerical and anti-Imperialist writer whose critical voice was silenced by the British Colonial administration in collaboration with those Maltese reactionaries to whom the ideas of Dimech were anathema. It is surprising, therefore, that Dimech's unceasing initiatives towards the education of the Maltese proletariat have, to date, been largely ignored.