Malta: New Amsterdam in the Med?

'Christ Yes Divorce No'

What do Malta, the Phillipines and Vatican City have in common?  Answer:  Not much, really.

But up until 2011, they were the last three countries in the world where divorce was still illegal.

In June of 2011 a divorce referendum was held in Malta, notable for some pretty passionate debating on both sides leading up to the vote.

A sample Church pamphlet against divorce opined that:
"If battered wives are granted the right to remarry, so too will their abusive husbands.  If you do not vote it means you do not care about the family or your children."

(I think it's fair to say that not everybody agreed with this logic).


Even the Prime Minister at the time voted against divorce in the referendum, so it's  somewhat remarkable that it managed to pass at all.  In fact it seems that the rather hectoring nature of the 'No' campaign persuaded the swing voters that they would go for 'Yes' in a "don't tell me what to think" sort of a way.

So fast forward a few years, and suddenly Malta is one of the first countries in the world to legalize civil unions and give same-sex couples the same rights as couples of opposite sexes.  Granted, there is a new government in office, but it's still quite a swing away from the strict Christian Conservatism of Malta's very recent past.  Also important to note that this was government introduced legislation, rather than a public referendum, but recent polls seemed to show a majority of people in support of the idea.


The opposition PN took the decision to abstain from the vote on civil union, which doesn't seem like a tremendously strong line to take on the issue.  Apparently the party was divided on the issue, so it was agreed that in order to maintain the appearance of unity nobody was going to vote either way. As usual with politics in Malta it is hard to find a consensus on anything, and when the Times of Malta ran a poll on whether it was a good idea for the PN to abstain from voting, this was the response:

(Note the small number of 'don't know's - Maltese people have strong opinions on everything).

Meanwhile Labour PM Muscat is pressing on with his liberalisation policies, and is now talking about decriminalising drug possession, so that possession of certain drugs for personal use will no longer be punishable by jail sentences.  This of course has led to a certain amount of doom-sayers imagining junkies passed out on the streets and the collapse of Maltese civilisation as we know it.  Relax, doom-sayers, you won't even notice the difference.

Juuls Bar, popular with Bob Marley Afficianados

Either way,  liberal Dutch folk can rest easy because Valletta is unlikely to take over from Amsterdam as Bob-Marley-Lover's destination of choice any time soon.






Top Photo reproduced from Guardian.co.uk