Get things into perspective, will you?
Our prime minister addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York and lost all sense of perspective. That’s what happens when you let perceived national electoral issues turn you into the proverbial frog in the well, who can only see a circle of sky up above, and from that severely restricted point of view thinks that the circle of sky is the entire world. Lawrence Gonzi told the assembled nations about Malta’s issues with illegal immigration and said that it is “extremely difficult” for us to carry this “burden”, which is “so acutely disproportionate to the size of the country and its population”. The same general assembly was addressed by leaders of countries where children under 10 have to walk miles to get to school or just to collect water, risking death and ambush along the way. Among those listening to him were leaders of countries overwhelmed by AIDS, starvation, war, extreme religious tension, mass destitution, and heaven knows what else. And Malta gets up and tells them that we’re suffering because of the unbearable burden of illegal immigration. Tal-misthija. You slipped up big time there, prime minister, because you made the classic Maltese politician’s error of using your international New York audience as a conduit to address your electorate back home.
From The Times, yesterday
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday highlighted Malta’s irregular immigration problems while addressing the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly in New York, saying it is extremely difficult for Malta to continue to carry such a burden “which is so acutely disproportionate to the size of the country and its population”.
“I must highlight the unprecedented increase in the influx of irregular immigrants that have been arriving in Malta mainly from the African continent. It is for this reason that Malta has continuously requested assistance in tackling this problem through the principles of solidarity and sharing of responsibilities from Europe and other countries as well as from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. “Malta is grateful to those countries that have come forward to assist us in coping with this phenomenon. Nevertheless, much more needs to be done by us all, including the countries of origin and the countries of transit,” he said.
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What is so wrong about expressing one’s difficulties?
If you look deep down you will notice how all of this is tied up together. Expressing that illegal immigration is becoming a problem for Malta should not be viewed narrowly. It should be envisaged as part of the whole ‘AIDS, starvation, war, extreme religious tension, mass destitution, and heaven knows what else’. Indeed weren’t not for the above, I truly believe that we wouldn’t have this problem to begin with.
I honestly believe that the UN are well aware of the problems of ‘AIDS….’, what might not be clear to them is our ‘problem’ – and our PM did what a reasonable man would have done, point out that we too are feeling the effects of the ‘AIDS…’, definitly not on the same scale…but nonetheless effects that need to be addressed.
[Daphne – It’s what is called inappropriate behaviour. When your colleague has just lost his daughter in a traffic accident, for example, you don’t wail and whine to him about the hard time you are having because of the plumber and the plasterer at home – though I have been in several situations where I have seen just this kind of embarrassingly tactless behaviour occur.]
I cannot understand the similitude on this occasion. The UN general assembly does not meet as much as one would meet a colleague. Thus, if you could afford to spend a whole week listening to your colleague and being a good friend, you cannot do the same on a political stage such as that of the UN.
Apart from that, as i pointed out on my previous post, the matters are related. To take your point in this matter, if someone was to come to you to tell you about a negative experience, you would most probably relate his experience to one which you have experienced. Even though they wont be on the same level of gravity, we as understand human beings, in an effort to relate to your colleague’s misfortune and finally understand his grief. In this circumstance, there is a relation between the ‘AIDS..’ and the ‘problem’ we have in Malta, and thus I do not find it inappropriate to address the UN on the matter. On another note, these ‘AIDS…’ have been with us for many years, does that mean we should sideline our needs up until a ;cure’ for ‘AIDS…’ is found?
[Daphne – No, but it does mean that we should put our ‘problems’ in the context of AIDS, starvation, devastation caused by earthquakes and real crises outside our tiny bubble. Do you imagine for one moment that anyone took our prime minister seriously when he spoke of the unbearable burden of illegal immigration, when there is earthquake devastation in China, hundreds of thousands of people in the US losing their homes, uncountable economic and social problems in the various states of South America, African states riven by war and poverty, chaos in Georgia….need I run on? It’s quite beyond belief. As the sociologist Mario Vassallo remarks in the context of a survey published by The Malta Independent on Sunday today, in the absence of real issues, the Maltese are focussing on micro-issues.]
Daphne, hopefully we will never experience anything of the sort. Unfortunetly that is the world we live in, it has been like that since man appeared on earth. There is always going to be something going on around the world that is bigger then us. Should we then just sit down and do nothing? Is that what you are saying?
I personally believe that in your attempt to ridicule the new opposition leader, you had to write this post by which you have to minimise the importance of the impact of illegal immigrants by comparing it to bigger issues such as ‘AIDS…’.
I definitly see your point, but I fail to understand why we, just for being too Small to matter should refrain from speaking about our own ‘problems’.
I personally do not agree that we are too small to matter, and hence i believe that if you have a possibility to speak up, especially in front of the UN General Assembly, I say you take it. Independant of what is happening around the world.
[Daphne – My attempt at ridiculing the new opposition leader? Can you read? This post is about the prime minister. And that is quite apart from the fact that Malta doesn’t have an Opposition leader, new or otherwise.]
Daphne: How much pressure is there on the PM to be seen responding to what some have hysterically labeled a national crisis? In a recent post, you said that the clamor is actually going away as less people are commenting about it. I’m not sure I agree with you there. Illegal immigrants are a particularly vulnerable and easy target for those driven by envy, frustration, or anger. I think that, until relatively recently, these emotions were often directed towards those holding different political views or neighbors or family members that one felt almost obliged to interact with or disgruntled spouses, or someone from a rival band club and so on. These factors are less important these days with the result, I think, that some look for other targets.
[Daphne – My colleague Michael Carabott wrote about this experience http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=75958 in a departmental waiting-room, as he listened to the reactions of a group of elderly women to two young African men who walked in. They progressed from general hostility to ‘them’ to admiring them for their cleanliness and hard work until finally one observed that the young one was good-looking and they all burst into giggles.]
[Daphne – As the sociologist Mario Vassallo remarks in the context of a survey published by The Malta Independent on Sunday today, in the absence of real issues, the Maltese are focussing on micro-issues.]
He must gave had your opinion pieces in mind.
[Daphne – Or your reproductive member, more likely. Now please go away and stop trolling here.]
“[Daphne – It’s what is called inappropriate behaviour. When your colleague has just lost his daughter in a traffic accident, for example, you don’t wail and whine to him about the hard time you are having because of the plumber and the plasterer at home – though I have been in several situations where I have seen just this kind of embarrassingly tactless behaviour occur.]”
Rather like the sort of insensitivity shown to grieving relatives in certain opinion pieces to do with the murder of well-known Maletse nationals at the hands of foreigners.
[Daphne – Are you talking about the hairdresser Alfie Rizzo who, though married and with a family of children, trawled through Gzira every night to hunt for desperate and penniless North African boys whom he could pay for sex, and was then given a Labour Party ‘state funeral’? I don’t know who I feel sorry for: the dead man, or the 17-year-old kid who didn’t have a proper defence team, couldn’t understand the language at his trial, and wound up in prison for life. Friend of his, are you> Ghandek b’xiex tiftahar If the grieving relatives want somebody to blame, they can start by blaming the dead man and their own hypocrisy. But they probably can’t bear to face the truth, can they? Nobody would have said a word about what happened, including me, hadn’t that man insisted on stuffing himself all over Super One television and every media event that he could find to take him on. .]
Daphne i couldn’t agree with you more. And it is exactly this same attitude that this government is taking to Europe. In my dealings with EU representatives and ambassadors they always question why ministers do not yet understand the game of diplomacy. We are constantly putting emphasis in the wrong place, a bit similar to the way we speak English come to think of it.
And then they are surprised when Frendo doesn’t get the top job in the Commonwealth Secretariat!
@D.A. perhaps you can quantify the impact of illegal immigrants. We give them inhumane sleeping quarters, poor quality food, nothing to do all day and then we are surprised that they revolt. Whatever the so called ‘burden’ i doubt if it comes to one-tenth the burden of the drydocks, but it is politically convenient to discount that.
If we discount the wages and salaries of the RFM who are in chareg of the operation ( and let’s face it,it at least provides them with something to do, otherwise there is really no other use for them,i would be surprised if the total cost came up to a million euros.
This was the prime minister’s pathetic attempt to pass round the hat. This was a wasted opportunity where in the midst of a financial crisis of extremely large proportions, we need to see new ideas coming out, and Malta can and should be a leader in this. It doe snot do to take problems to the table. It is so much better to take possible solutions.
[Daphne – The US is in the midst of a financial crisis, and along comes Malta’s prime minister to complain of the unbearable burden of processing a thousand boat-people.]
Prosit Daphne – You stood up when it was the time to. I admire you for that.
Don’t slam the poor PM, he just did what a good number of maltese ministers do at home and abroad – they read what some semi-literate civil servant wrote on a piece of paper (which they’ll probably not have glanced at anyway) for them and regurgitated it into a mike. Just like they used to do at school. And sixth form. And university.
At what stage, would you reckon, does the issue become a national problem to be dealt with?
[Daphne – When Malta can’t, as opposed to won’t, cope. But it’s never going to reach national crisis proportions. A national crisis is exactly what it says on the tin: a crisis. Some examples: the country runs out of oil, or the power stations blow-up and there’s no electricity for weeks, or the floods come and two-thirds of the population are driven out of their homes, or avian flu finally materialises and people die like flies, leaving the morgues piled with bodies that can’t be buried fast enough, or when thousands of people can’t pay their mortgages, the banks foreclose and the streets and parks are full of families living in their cars….shall I go on?]
Thank you for that story by Michael Carabott. It just goes to remind us that the fundamental problem here is ignorance. You have commented on this many times in your opinion pieces: many Maltese are fundamentally uneducated and are consequently unable to feel comfortable outside their own immediate social and physical surroundings. Somewhere in my desk I still have an article of yours called something like “It’s getting stuffy in here” on how we Maltese often meet – over and over again – the same group of people we have known since childhood and who have pretty much retained the same opinions throughout their life. Hardly an environment that encourages inquisitiveness and tolerance.
[Daphne – It’s not just about lack of education in the ‘school and uni’ sense. I know lots of people who, on the face of it, are educated, but who have retained exactly the same friends since childhood – nothing wrong there, but how about making some new ones – and who will move around only in a group: Sunday lunch at the Marsa, summer weekends moored alongside each other in Comino, winter holidays skiing at the same resort at the same time, summer holidays at the same beach resort at the same time, evenings out at the same restaurant at the same time, and now – the latest trend – buying a second home outside Malta in the same area at the same time. It borders on pathological insecurity.]
Daphne – some have not been as lucky to spend skiing holidays every year at the same resort, moor a boat at Comino every year, or now buying a second home abroad. You are a bit out of touch with mainstream Malta. This is not pathological insecurity but downright snobbery.
[Daphne – Gerald, different folks, different strokes. I was talking about a particular sector of society, and not ‘mainstream Malta.’ Mainstream Malta has its own herd habits, but I’m not going into them here as I don’t have the inclination. And no, it’s not snobbery. Snobbery would be avoiding the herd all together.]
So Marku, if someone differs from your opinion he should be labelled ignorant? That is very sensitive to say the least!
[Daphne – I love the way there are no longer any facts, but only opinions. Some people are ignorant, that’s a fact. They’re not ignorant because X or Y disagrees with them. They just are. Just as some people are ugly and others are not, some people are intelligent and others are not, some people are ill and others are not….]
Daphne, please visit http://www.un.org/ga/ .
Each countries speak about specific issues which effect them, in order to expose them on a world stage. Fiji, for example, spoke about how “Fiji will not be able to hold democratic parliamentary elections by March next year, as previously scheduled, because it first needs to reform its electoral system, the country’s Prime Minister has told the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate.”
“Azerbaijan, Armenia express views on Nagorno-Karabakh”
There are others… sadly don’t have the time to look them up.
[Daphne – Yes, exactly: by behaving like Fiji, we cast ourselves in the same mould.]
I love it when people whose husbands/wives are probably watching cable/satellite TV and whose children are probably chatting away on their latest mobile phone model, switch on their personal computer or laptop, connected to broadband internet, and complain about a “national crisis”.
I can already picture it in a Monty Python sketch.
I disagree with the idea that illegal immigration is a micro-issue. To my mind, it is a problem primarily of values as manifested in language, and therefore, it is latched onto one of the highest rungs in the ladder of social issues. (Although i will have to agree that its inferior to natural problems like AIDS, earthquakes, etc.)
It is a problem of values – in – language precisely because the phrase ‘illegal immigration’ is not a balanced phrase. Although the phrase is made up of two words, ‘illegal’ and ‘immigration’, the words are not imbued with equal gravity. Somehow, in a strange application of the rules of syntax, the latter word conditions the former, when it should be the otherway round.
To bring to the fore an example, the word ‘development’ is value-neutral, but putting either ‘illegal’ or ‘sustainable’ before it determines either a positive or negative qualitative inclination.
Should the same logic be applied, the word ‘illegal’ should condition ‘immigration’ and this type of immigration should be treated as any other criminal phenomenon and the people participating in it should – must – help the investigations. And if they had any active part in it, like, disposing of identity papers and conceiling identity, they should be punished in accordance to law, while taking into account their predicament.
Language becomes also a problem when one talks about the treatment of refugees. Here, the word refugees has been romanticized to such an extent that, in my opinion, it bears no reflection to whan a refugee really is.
A refugee is someone who is seeking refuge from something. This something can be natural, environmental, political or economic. The stereotypical African refugee is most often a political or economic refugee. In the former case, the problem of language comes into sharp relief. This is because a the word ‘refugee’ tells you that the person is seeking ‘refuge’ but it does not tell you from what, and the person could be seeking refuge from justice just as likely as he or she can be seeking refuge from persecution. In this sense, although both Albert Einstein and Josef Mengele were refugees, I would have been honoured to rescue an Enstein, but in the same vein I would have paid to watch Mengele` drown.
How should this observation influence the ongoing discussion on illegal immigration?
The sight of a boatload of African men and women clining on to a dinghy in the middle of the mediterranean is precisely that: a boatload of people clinging on to life. Duty binds me to rescue, and rescue I will. However, that’s where it should stop. Integration is a completely different kettle of fish. A work permit, residence permit, etc, do not follow logically from rescue, precisely because we do not who the rescued is, and what has he or she done, and what effect can he or she have on Maltese society.
I trust that I will not be called a racist if I say I would not want an Idi Amin as my neighbour.
In essence, I think reason would drive us to a common logical conclusion. All people found at sea in distress should be rescued by the person closest to the site and taken to the nearest land. These people should be made to collaborate in the investigation. Those who are bona fide individuals and have something to contribute to Maltese society should be encouraged to stay, those who do not have anything to contribute to Maltese society should be given the option to stay, learn and integrate and develop a quality to help Maltese society or go back and live in their country where they can contribute. Those who have intentionally concieled their identity and have a shady past and those who have criminal backgrounds should be processed and punished according to the law of the country where the crime was committed.
There are people risking life and limb to come to this island, and I do not believe for one second that they are all here to take over our lives. I believe most have something to contribute if they are willing to integrate in our society, and we are willing to give them a chance. For that, we may need to start thinking of some sort of ‘Maltese Spirit’ along the lines of the American one. However, I think that rigorous screening and the due process of law should be strictly applied because the law of probability leads me to believe that amongst the hundreds that land on our shore, some of them may have blood on their hands. And while I would not mind at all living next to a Nelson Mandela, I would object with all my sense and strength to living next to a Foday Kallay or one of his minions – some of whom are still at large.
Exactly. I am always surprised at the general lack of education in the broad sense of the term, even among people you would expect should know better: professionals with a university-level education, people who run businesses, etc. I used to cringe when I had to introduce my non-Maltese girlfriend to people like these. It’s like you never know what’s going to come out of their mouth… And they seem to totally lack the capacity to feel embarrassed about themselves – maybe a legacy of the Mintoff/KMB years.
[Daphne – I know exactly what you mean about not knowing what’s going to come out of their mouths. They don’t feel embarrassed in the way that a child doesn’t feel embarrassed. It’s all to do with lack of self-awareness. You live in a bubble, you don’t read, you travel in a cocoon, and this is what happens.]
…And the Prime Minister was right to mention the issue at the UN because the hundreds that drown on the way here make it a major issue, the complacency of the Libyan authorities in raising a finger on the matter is a major issue, the lethargy that some African states are showing in achieving their millenium development goals is a major issue, the indifference exhibited by some European countries in recognizing the problem and sharing the burden is a major issue.
The absence of discussion, let alone action, at any national or international forum helps to foster the idea that the government and institutions have no relation with the populations for whom they where created to serve. By bringing up to the UN assembly an issue which concernes the maltese citizen, the prime minister did what a prime minister of a representative democracy of a republic is elected to do: bridge the gulf between the citizen and the highest forum. And because of that, I have a tiny little bit more trust in the institutions than I would have had, had he not mentioned the issue in the first place.
Ok… Bulgaria then…
“The Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev addressed Friday the 63rd annual session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly held in New York.
In his speech Stanishev pointed out the importance of the 100th anniversary of Bulgaria’s independence and the preserving of this independence through Bulgaria’s participation in many international organizations, including the UN.”
[Daphne – Haven’t you noticed the common factor among the state representatives you quote? Bulgaria? Fiji? They’re all backward. If you want to position yourself among the big players, you have to be nonchalant about the petty issues and talk about the big problems – the biggest players of all talk about other people’s big problems. Or hadn’t you noticed? It’s a mirror of what happens in real life on a micro-level. You meet two people at a party. One of them whines and drones about the hasla. Your opinion of this person based on instant reaction? Small-minded, petty, selfish, self-absorbed, a ‘little person’. The other one talks about the bigger picture, cracks a couple of jokes, voices concern for what’s happening in X country, has heard about a recent big art event across the globe and says what a good idea it is. Your instant reaction? That this is a bigger, better person who is more interesting and not a petty navel-gazer. You prefer this person – at least, if you’re normal.]
Dear Daphne, I don’t want to sound small minded and “a local yokel” (in the memorable words of Catherine Tate :) but pls , pls , pls don’t compare Malta with really big players. If countries like Austria and Portugal are treated like small countries in the EU, let alone globally, what does that make us? Micro states.
What exactly do you mean that we must be nonchalant about the petty issues, and talk about the big problems? I think you’re equatting our Maltese sense of being the centre of the world with our capabilities. We individually may have a good career (most probably abroad), but to ever equate the state of MAlta as ever amounting to anything in an International context is totally ridiculous. Let’s get down to Earth, please. And don’t bring up the excuse that were in the EU now, and thus have equal rights as France and Germany. WHen they broke EMU rules, they changed those rules to accomodate themselves and their economies. I don’t think they would be so lenient to us, or to other small states.
I see your point that for an issue to be labelled a crises it needs to have reached sufficiently alarming levels. However that should not stop the government doing what its elected to do and establish policies and legislation to avoid issues snowballing into crises. I get the impression that you’re against any debate which goes against illegal immigrants settling here. If the immigrants reaching our shores by boat had arrived here on a plane, immigration officials would have applied the rules to send them back. It’s only because there is no easy solution to repatriating boat people with no identity or proof of citizenship that these individuals are accepted in our country. There are crises which you cannot avoid, particularly those emanating from mother nature. Others, can be pro-actively avoided or mitigated before they get out of hand.
A Camilleri:
The UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees does not differentiate between modes of transportation. There is a large community of Kosovar refugees in New York, and they did not sail across the Atlantic.
Matthew:
Only an insignificant number of the immigrants are refugees. They are just ILLEGAL immigrants.
A Camilleri:
When people arrive at a country’s borders, and whichever way they choose to arrive, they normally have three choices: to enter ‘the normal way’ using a visa or other travel document; to declare their status as an asylum seeker; to say, ‘Whoops, sorry – wrong country’, and leave.
Unfortunately asylum seekers do not wear little badges that say ‘I am a refugee’ or ‘I am not a refugee’. They undergo a process to determine whether they are in fact refugees, and to make sure that they are not war criminals or people guilty of non-political crimes like murder or terrorism. It is government policy to interest asylum seekers in returning to their home country voluntarily. I happen to think that this is immoral, but anyway, it’s allowed by the UN Convention.
Malcolm, Not having any identity documentation should indicate that they are not bona fide refugees. Which brings us back to the argument that there is no easy solution to repatriating them.
[Daphne – That’s not quite right. While it’s true that many dispose of their documents, many others never had any to start with. If you have to flee your country within hours, you’re not going to apply for a passport first, or go down to the registry office for a birth certificate.]
@ Matthew:
“Only an insignificant number of the immigrants are refugees. They are just ILLEGAL immigrants.”
Illegal for whom? For all you know these same immigrants may be considering yourselves as the illegal residents. Its yourself and your own law that is calling them illegal. These immigrants may have their own opinion about what is legal or not.
You remind me of those Germans who lay down their towels on deckchairs late at night and then expect that they have some right to the deckchair the next day, if someone else comes over first thing in the morning and occupies it.
I say finders keepers and if these immigrants had the motivation, determination and courage to reach these shores then welcome to them.
Lino, Ever heard of Immigration rules? Try going to the USA and many other countries without a VISA. You’re nearly interrogated even if you have a visa let alone…
Yeah we definitely have too many close-minded racists in this country who cant even sit down near a black man or an “arab” (who may well be anything from a Pakistani to a Kurd or a Turk)on the bus. Sadly, We have our fair share of Rednecks in this pretty little Island of ours. All you have to do is hear the man talking on the street, or the famous “no-i-cant-walk-home-alone, an-arab-will-rape-me” kind of thing, often heard amongst the circles Daphne mentioned previously.
What people fail to see is that Malta should utilise these human beings to fill gaps in our economy. Just take a look at whose picking up your rubbish in the morning. Someone’s got to do it, and why not the immigrant who will work for anything? These type of people are what the country actually need- motivated people, constrained to actually get off their arses and make a living! Not lazy slobs cushioned by the ever-benevolent nanny state immortally set up by His Socialistness the Mintoff. These migrants are in no position to go on strike demanding any ridiculous wages, but due to their lives’ cruel circumstances they must get out there and sweat to actually keep alive. The trend amongst maltese is white-collar industry (due to its obvious attractions, no complaints there). Yet who is going to do our dirty work later? In comes the migrant, who is willing to be paid less since he has nothing. The employer always prefers a cheaper wage. Supply meets demand. There we are, economic bliss!
Ian, I’d rather be labeled a close-minded racist than be advocating cheap labour because, they ‘are in no position to strike’, or because they do our dirty work. I think that as a sovereign country if we wanted to allow a number of migrants it should be done by policy rather than having to deal with whatever numbers arrive. Like the US Green. As things stand illegal immigrants are only accepted because there is nowhere to repatriate them to. Had they arrived on a plane they would be bundled back. Normally there are established immigrations policies and procedures which allow a lot of discretion to the Principal Immigration Officer on allowing a person in a country requiring identification, term of stay, having sufficient funds to sustain their stay etc. While the situation may have to be tolerated because there is no easy solution, it doesn’t mean they anyone voicing concerns is a racist and anti-Arab, and yes, the comments would be equally applicable if the boat-loads were made up of ILLEGAL immigrants from any other country or continent.