STRANDED IN MALTA Myriam Thyes, 2008, video Pal, 11:04, color, stereo The video connects three ways and times of stranding and living in Malta: Saint Pauls believed shipwreck in Malta 2000 years ago (celebrated till today); the Knights Hospitallers naval battles in the Mediterranean (15th till 18th century); today: immigrants from Africa reach Malta in small boats and live in refugee centres. A journey into Europes (repressed) memories and collective unconscious ... 2000 years ago: St. Paul was shipwrecked on his way to Rome and stranded on a Mediterranean island. The Maltese are convinced it was Malta, where St. Paul immediately began to evangelize the Maltese population. Up tp now, every year in February they celebrate „St. Pauls Feast“, a large religious holiday, which culminates with the statue of St. Paul being carried out of St. Pauls Shipwreck Church and through the streets of Valetta. 15th to 18th century: Installed in Malta, the Order of the Knights of St. John were Christian Europe’s Mediterranean police, who, on behalf of their member kingdoms and the Pope, defended Christianity and the coasts of the western Mediterranean against the Ottoman Empire (Turks and Arabs) and Islam. This was the time of naval battles and galley-slaves – and whenever a galley sank, all chained rowing slaves drowned. Today: Immigrants from Africa reach southern Europe (if they survive the journey in the Mediterranean in their small boats). Many of them strand in Malta, and those who are allowed to stay, have to remain in Malta, because the larger countries of „fortress Europe“ dont allow them to immigrate. For years, they live in Malta in provisional refugee centres, sometimes tent villages. Since the times of the Knights Hospitaller, Malta has got many fortresses, but to the refugees it means staying o u t s i d e the wall. The video STRANDED IN MALTA connects these three ways and times of stranding and living in Malta. ift.tt/1v2W3dY _______ FOLLOW LIPSapp Hits56 Radio _______ FB: r-js/1rlggeQ / TW: r-js/1us3SdS / Listen to LIPSapp Hits56 Radio r-js/1dOIQ18 #thewho #beatles #elvis #jimihendrix #dylan
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 12:38:12 +0000
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