I too shall follow the “point form” for brevity’s sake.

2. I know that most people are concerned about the immigrants yet to come. But any solution to the problem must be both just and humane to be acceptable to me. Unfortunately many Maltese people are only concerned about stopping any further immigration by whatever means, even if this means letting people die. This is what worries me.

3. The only way to prevent rebellion and a clash of cultures is to work towards the integration of immigrants into the Maltese way of life. Some work is being done in this regard, although admittedly not enough. Segregation, on the otherhand, is a sure way to inflate cultural differences and create an aura of mistrust.

4. Yes. I believe that the comparatively smaller size of Malta would make this project more workable, not less.

6. What was racist was that he/she implied that all the immigrants who come to Malta emigrate because they do not want to work – i.e. all African immigrants are lazy. I think that if you see the lines of immigrants waiting for work in Marsa, you’d know that this is not the case. His comment was loaded with racist prejudice. Regarding solving their problems in their countries, this is not possible. In some cases they lack the resources. In other cases, they would face execution, sometimes by means of the same weapons Europeans and Americans sell to their dictatorial regimes. As for Europe and the US helping them instead of “wasting time” in Afghanistan and Iraq, I would agree with you. But perhaps, they have no oil to exploit.

7. The Jews in relation to the Palestinians? Yes, I agree with you on that. My point was that not all that is legal is moral. The situation in Palestine also proves my point. Thanks for pointing it out.

8. Yes, I am the same person. I do not want to impose my views on anyone. I only want to persuade. If you know an example where I have imposed my views on anyone, kindly quote me and let me know. There is a difference between wanting something to be so, and imposing it by force.

11. Yes, they are not comparable. The rape by the Maltese 60 year old is actually worse, if you have followed the case.

15. I am extremely careful if and when I use the terms xenophobe and racist. Most Maltese people are neither. They are just concerned citizens who are misled by people who have a xenophobic and racist agenda.

16. Of course I can put racism and concern “on the same plane”. My point was that I believe that racism is one of the dangers facing Malta. This is why, when told “You will not want the future to be more dangerous than it should be”, I said that this is why I am campaigning against racism. One of my concerns is racism, so of course I can put them “in the same plane”.

17. I am glad you agree with me on this one. So I guess you have misunderstood point 6.

Regarding being totalitarian, I’m glad you are not. Most totalitarians are not interested in debate, so I would be surprised if you were one.

As I promised, I shall not comment anymore on illegal immigration as I have written all I wanted to say, thanks to your interesting blog. But this comment by Daphne does leave me somewhat baffled. If I ever commented on national identity or the Maltese language, it would have been something as follows:

National identity: we are a European People with European traditions and a European way of life. Of course, “European” is used in a broad sense here for Europeanness is a mosaic of different mores, ways of thought, cultures and so on – Finnish culture may differ from the Greek and from the Moldovan and from the Montenegrin and from the Ukrainian but, at the basis of all these, there is a distinctive common denominator which makes them European and not African or Asian. This is where our modern cultural identity has its roots. National identity has little to do with genes and much to do with culture. Genetically, however, we are closest to Southern Italians because of our history, religion and ethnic admixture. This does not mean that other countries which are not European do not have European influence which can be quite strong but, when you visit them or, even more, when you live in them, you know you are not in Europe – and not just geographically but also culturally. In Malta, you feel you are in Europe. Some say we are a crossroads of cultures without explaining what justifies this description. I do not share this view and I yet have to hear those who harbour this contention demonstrate in which aspects of our life and culture we are Arab, north African or whatever. Language does not necessarily reflect culture and being geographically at the centre of the Mediterranean does not, in my opinion, make us part of both worlds, Europe and North Africa. Read my lips: I have a great admiration for Arab culture and have studied Islamic history and culture but I do not feel immersed in it and no Maltese does, as far as I can tell. Here, of course, we are straying off-topic because illegal immigrants do not come from Arab countries but from sub-saharan Africa but I was drawn down this path because of the reference to language (which does not necessarily have anything to do with culture and genes).

Of course, as an assiduous reader of history, I am perfectly aware that we were very much part of Islamic culture when this was at its golden age in mathematics, philosophy, astronomy, medicine, technology, agriculture etc. So was Sicily and so was Spain. As you know, the Andalus was a beacon of culture and learning when the rest of Europe was living in the dark ages — but does this make modern Spain any less European? Spain’s Islamic past may definitely colour its modern culture and identity but it makes it no less European. Yes, our identity is European with all the baggage of influences that European culture carries — inluence from Persia, from Mesopotamia, from Egypt, from Islam and from other cultures including, of course, the Jewish which lies at the foundations of Christianity.

As to the Maltese language (here I am even more flabbergasted because I’ve written about this on this blog), it is basically Maghrebin Arabic and superstructurally Romance with some influence from English in its more recent development. Our language is a perfect relection of our history.

But what does the origin of our language have to do with illegal immigration? Is one implying that because of the Arabic roots of Maltese we should open the doors to illegal immigration? I just cannot understand. Whatever the genetic roots of the Maltese population may be (and they are, according to the most recent studies by the UoM on the Y-chromosome, closest to Sicily and Calabria with all the ethnic mingling that took place there in the last 20 centuries) my arguments on illegal immigration remain unaffected (they are based on humane treatment and repatriation not racism). We are today Maltese and European in culture and we are neither sub-saharan African nor Arab. I have every respect for the cultures of these Peoples but our cultural identity is European.

Nevertheless, I thank Daphne and all the posters who took the trouble to comment about what I wrote, whether they share my views or not.

In your replies to freethinker (I will follow the equivalent point form you used to avoid a lot of copy and paste functions): –

2. ‘However, this question is irrelevant to the matter of how we treat the ones who are already here’….. Kenneth, a lot of persons (me included) are mostly concerned of the ones still to come and not quite about the ones which are already here.

3. Run or overrun… this is a good one, do you normally prevent problems or you wait for them to happen and than you act accordingly, you know, the typical Maltese attitude ‘mbaghad naraw!’ Yes sure, today they have no voting rights and no this and that…. But their future generations will.

4. You expect Malta to be that place from what you preach.

6. I can’t really understand why you say that the comment in question is racist. Maybe the wording was put a bit abruptly? I would suggest that these persons gather up and try to solve the problem within their respective countries. It is not that they lack the numbers or the resources so why not do that. I would also expect Europe and the US etc to help too rather than waste time in Afghanistan and Iraq.

7. Oh this is perfect…. You mentioned the Nazis in relation to the Jews, what about the Jews in relation to the Palestinians? The Jews always make us see things through their eyes but what about the counterpart?

8. If you are the same Kenneth Cassar of ‘Animal Rights Malta’ ooohhhh you really have a cheek!

11. Both cases are bad but still not comparable

13. 10 points for that one :D

14. I guess Malta is our home though and I would like it to be as it was up till a few years back prior to this exodus.

15. When you refer to the arguments of an opposing party as being xenophobic and racist, don’t you think that you are sound the alarm bells on the opposite side?

16. Kenneth, you cannot put racism and concern on the same plane.

17. I agree with you on this one.

For your peace of mind, I do not agree with totalitarianism.

Here’s exactly what I meant in my mention of Stalin and Hitler.

The context was “as long as we have freedom of religion and freedom from religion, there will always be minor conflicts. The same applies to culture and ways of life. If you believe any suppressive policy will eradicate that, it is you who are living in an Utopia. Hitler and Stalin tried it, and failed miserably”.

So the point was the eradication of different cultures, religions or ways of life.

Perhaps Lenin/Stalin would be better examples than Hitler, since in the case of Hitler, it was the war that toppled him, and so we cannot know whether he would have succeeded.

In the case of Lenin/Stalin, its a different matter. They both tried to violently eradicate cultures, religion and political ideas which went against their Utopia. The way they did it was by killing anyone they perceived as a threat (which included other communists they felt they could not trust). However, history shows us that no matter how hard they tried, they did not eradicate neither religion, nor other cultures, nor other political ideas.

Since I am an addict of non-fiction, I would suggest Robert O. Paxton’s “The anatomy of Fascism” and Robert Service’s “Comrades – Communism: A world history”.

[Daphne – The moderator has long since departed for foreign climes. I have to do the moderating now, and there’s an immoderate amount of it.]

By the way, even if I did compare freethinker to Stalin and Hitler (which would be silly…they hated each other’s guts), that would not make me an extremist. An extremist is one who has extreme ideas.

If I made the above statement (which I didn’t), I would be silly, not an extremist.

You were not harsh in your statement. You were just incorrect.

I never said that whoever is against integration is just comparable to Nazis or Stalin.

What I actually said in reply to “freethinker” was: “If you believe any suppressive policy will eradicate that, it is you who are living in an Utopia. Hitler and Stalin tried it, and failed miserably”.

I was speaking of totalitarianism, and not about any policy in particular. I assume that you oppose totalitarianism.

No, I am not extremist, not if you understand what I am actually saying.

You say that I do not show any of that (tolerance) to individuals who do not share your same views or aren’t they humans”.

There is a difference between attacking the person and attacking what a person says. In a public debate, conflict of ideas is to be expected. I never said freethinker should be expelled, imprisoned or anything of the sort. I only “attacked” his arguments.

If you think this is not so, please show me where (preferably by quoting me).

And finally, once again, I only mentioned Nazis and Stalininst as examples of totalitarianism. But I guess it is misunderstanding and misrepresentation that stifles debate the most.

Oh… was I too harsh in my statement! Whoever is against integration in your opinion is just comparable to the Nazis and Stalin. How’s that for being extremist?

You preach a lot about balance, cordiality, integration, acceptance, human rights etc but you do not show any of that to individuals who do not share your same views or aren’t they humans. You want backing for this comment… well just have a look at your replies to freethinker (not that I agree with all that he says but neither do I have reactions of your sort).

If someone criticises your input you ‘stifle’ debate by mentioning things like holocaust, Nazis, Jews, Russians and what not (to quote a phrase from your friend’s repertoire) :P

I would like these commentors to ponder some questions:
Imagine one is totally blind from birth;

Would you ask anybody within hearing range to assist you cross the road, board or get of a bus?
Would it matter if your helper is not your same skin colour?
Would it matter if your helper is tall, short, thin or fat?
Would it matter if the bus is full up with black/white/yellow wo/men,?
Would the colour of the skin make any difference?
Would one be certain that the smell is coming from white/black passengers?

Come on board a bus and close your eyes until you arrive at your destination.
Surely one will have more to say about the driver than the passengers.

As for integration;
How much has the white race (sic) gone out of its way to integrate into the cultures of South Africa, Rodesia, Ethiopia etc. when they were under white (sic) control?

Bearing in mind the way many go about local politics, village festa etc., it is better to find a way on how we as a nation integrate within ourselves before finding it difficult to integrate with other cultures.

This is simply not true. In Sweden there have been huge success stories of proper integration. Obviously there have been a large number of failures as well, resulting in ghetto like areas especially around the larger cities, but that does not negate the tens of thousands of immigrants who today live a prosperous life, being great contributors to society and raising children educated in our schools. Currently the ratio of immigrants exceeds 12% of the population and you would be surprised to notice that the society hasn’t broken down into splinters yet.

I’d be the first to point out flaws that have been made and we have certainly had our share of Joseph Muscat’s, especially in places where they shouldn’t be (like having prominent ultra nationalists heading immigration agencies), but where integration have been made a focus, the success rate have been incredible. One of our biggest problems in the past have been to recognise talent and educated people, especially from the middle east, something which made one of our more prominent immigrant stand up comedians (who sadly passed away far before his time) express that it’s time to get our phycisists and phd’s out of the sausage kiosks.

[Daphne – The Maltese know all about immigrant ghettoes, having formed them in Australia, Canada and the US – but not in Britain, because of the shame linked to being Maltese at the time of the mass exodus in the 1950s and 1960s.]

Your pseudonym is a misnomer. May I suggest you change it to ‘blinkers’?

[Daphne – Freethinker thinks freely about religion but not, it seems, about questions of national identity or the origin of our language, which means that the struggle to be free has pulled him only half away.]