Citizenship, difference, and the schooling of Muslim children in Malta

Abstract

Malta, a small island-state in the middle of the Mediterranean, represents an ‘in between’ country. A member of the European Union, its roots are nonetheless embedded in North African soil. Located on the periphery of the European Union, it is geographically nearer to North Africa than to many of the European countries its inhabitants try to emulate. It can be figuratively said that the Maltese people are very much like Janus. One face, representing the present and future, looks in awe towards Europe. The other face glares at North Africa, watching its past. Sometimes referred to as the island of ‘Catholic Arabs’, Malta was conquered by the Arabs from Tunisia in 870, and was once fully Muslim (Wettinger, 1986). Arab rule came to an end 220 years later, when Count Roger captured Malta, although Islam remained on the Maltese islands for much longer. According to Guido de Marco (2007), former President of Malta, ‘the island can act as a bridge between the north and south of the region [the Mediterranean]’ (p. 204). More recently, Sultana (2009) pointed out that, our [Maltese] history shows that what we have done best is to act as a bulwark to keep ‘non-Europeans’ – whoever these are – (and Islam) out of Europe – a vocation that, might I add, we ironically seem to have revived with a vengeance when, following our entry into the EU in 2004, we became a vital outpost in helping the EU secure its borders through collaborating on Frontex operations. (p. 12) There seems to be a deliberate attempt by the Maltese to distance, or rather detach, themselves from their Arab heritage. For instance, Dr Ugo Mifsud Bonnici (1989), then Education Minister and later President of the Republic, in his address to the National Congress on the Maltese cultural identity, went to great lengths to explain that Maltese culture is European. He pointed out that Malta is formed by Catholic values just like the rest of Europe. In that sense, our culture defines our identity. A very important aspect of Maltese culture is without doubt religion: ‘Our moral culture gives great value to gentlemanly behaviour as well as to charity … it is a European Culture, in the sense that Europe, like us, was formed on Catholic values’ (p. xiii). Dr Mifsud Bonnici seems to imply that gentlemanly behaviour is the monopoly of European culture, more so since its roots lie in Catholic values. There is a tacit insinuation that those who are not European are boorish, since they are not Christians. Thus, Christianity and Catholicism are depicted as being part and parcel of the Maltese identity irrespective of the fact that many nowadays are not practising Catholics. According to the Sunday Mass Attendance Census of 2005, only 52.6 per cent of Maltese Catholics attend Mass on Sunday (Discern, 2006). Many more people follow other religions. The Republic of Malta had 410,000 inhabitants in 2008. According to its National Statistics Office, 95 per cent of the inhabitants are Catholics. Various government and media reports suggest that in 2007, there were also about 3,000 Muslims, 500 Jehovah’s Witnesses, some 200 Coptic Christians and very small communities of Greek Orthodox, Church of England, Church of Scotland, Hindus and Jews, among others (Vassallo, 2009). When speaking about the Maltese language, Dr Mifsud Bonnici added, ‘We speak a language which we kept and enriched, but from which we removed [neħħejna] excessively harsh sounds’ (p. xiii). It is clear that the harsh sounds referred to are the guttural sounds of some Arabic phonemes. Interestingly, he used the word ‘neħħejna’ (removed), as if this was done consciously, a deliberate attempt to distance Malta from its Arab heritage in order to take on its European identity. Dr Mifsud Bonnici’s approach is well reflected in more recent statements of other Maltese politicians. For instance, Edward Fenech Adami, President of Malta in 2004–2009, frequently alluded to the Christian identity of the Maltese. In a speech delivered on the occasion of Republic Day in 2007, he stated that, ‘We should acknowledge and feel proud that Maltese society still treasures Christian moral principles that have nurtured our identity, we have to make sure that we pass on these values to future generations’. Thus, there is the assumption that to be a ‘good’ Maltese citizen one has to be Christian. Linking citizenship with Christian identity can be considered as a discourse of exclusion in relation to Maltese citizens who are not Christian. It conflates citizenship and religious affiliation, while the latter is not the same for all Maltese. Furthermore, the large number of undocumented African migrants reaching Maltese shores has provoked a discourse of invasion and Islamisation, regardless of the fact that many migrants are in fact Christians. The main political parties exacerbate this negative discourse by riding on the crest of people’s negative attitudes towards immigrants in order to gain votes for the forthcoming European Parliament elections (Debono, 2009). Many regard the presence of Africans and Muslims as a threat to Maltese identity, as John Spiteri (2009), a member of Azzjoni Nazzjonali and candidate for the European Parliament, wrote in his blog that “Flooding Europe with immigrants … helps destroy the culture and identities of the member states”. Thus immigration is seen as a threat to Maltese identity and there is a call, especially from right-wing parties, such as Azzjoni Nazzjonali and Imperium Ewropa, as well as from exponents of both the Labour and Nationalist parties, to preserve Maltese identity. The immigration issue is merging with other issues such as national culture, identity and rights to create a discourse of exclusion. A number of Maltese people have tried hard to believe that they cannot be anything but European and Christian to the core. Through the curriculum and their choice of textbooks, politicians, religious leaders and education authorities have done their utmost to depict the Arab Muslim as our enemy, positing that we have nothing in common with our North African neighbours, ‘… conveniently forgetting to tell us that linguistically, culturally, genetically and even religiously, we had absorbed our so-called “adversaries” right into the core of our being’ (Sultana, 2009, p. 15). The ambivalent identity of the Maltese is further accentuated by the fact that while Malta professes to be ‘European’ it lacks the lay traditions of most European states. The hegemony of the Catholic Church is such that politicians are afraid to take a more progressive stance in areas such as education, health, and civil rights. For instance, Savona-Ventura (1995) notes how the Church influenced the Government in suspending the service of Intrauterine Contraceptive Device (IUCD) insertion in the state’s family planning centres (p. 31). Also, as of 1995, the Maltese state and the Vatican reached an agreement which stipulates that if a marriage is celebrated according to the Catholic rite, it is recognised and has the same effect as a civil marriage (Marriage Act, 1975, 21(1)). One must also note that the Catholic religion is mentioned in the Constitution as the state religion. In this chapter I argue that the underpinnings of a Maltese homogeneous identity, as outlined above, have created a chasm between those who are included ‘within’ Maltese society and those who are considered as ‘outsiders’ to it. This chapter illustrates how the concept of citizenship is culturalised, that is, woven together with culture and religion in ways that define citizen rights in exclusive terms. The chapter examines this problematic as it is reflected in schools. The chapter shows how Maltese minority groups, in this case Muslims, are regarded as the ‘Other’, because they do not fit the perception of what a Maltese citizen stands for.