“Issa fl-aħħar – jiena se nsib is-sabar.”
Jum ir-Rebħ, Rużar Briffa
Project Background
Our Island III: SABAR is the third edition of the Our Island series: a series which is aimed at conserving the collective memories of Maltese communities gathered around one central theme Our Island. SABAR aims to gather the memories of citizens, residents, participants and onlookers of the Malta Protests which took place between November 2019 to January 2020.
The first in the series, Our Island I gathered nine contributions from people who were at the heart of refugee protection in Malta throughout recent years. Our Island is not a historical account of contemporary Maltese history, but rather a gathering of intensely personal insights that shed a unique light on Malta’s recent experiences with refugees.
Whilst, Our Island II presented 12 personal stories of refugees who live or have lived in Malta. There is no agenda, no NGO narrative, no point to be made. All contributions are presented in their origin
Sabar: The Malta Protests
The project aims to publish a photobook and to set up an online repository to gather images and video of the Malta Protests held between November 2019 and January 2020. The aim of the publication of the photobook, which will be widely available to the public, and of the online repository will be that of preserving the collective memories of the people during this period.
The Malta Protests represent a significant moment in Malta’s socio-political history. For us, as a human rights NGO, the Malta Protests are about a sudden awakening from a deep sleep, into a state of disbelief, shock and anger. The Protests mark a strong statement that Malta’s democracy was not a healthy one and that it demanded to be reclaimed by the people.
As with the first two ‘Our Island’ books, our intention is primarily to document this moment and to preserve its memory, particularly since remembrance and sensitisation resonate with our human rights mission to monitor, report and act on access to human rights in Malta.
Good governance and the implementation of Rule of Law principles is a human rights issue. It is hoped that SABAR will continue to stimulate the discourse surrounding these principles and their application in Malta.
Therefore, get out your smart phones, flip through your camera roll and send us the most representative, iconic or resonant of your images and/or videos!
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This project is being supported by the Malta Arts Council Creative Communities Fund, the Embassy of France in Malta and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Malta: