No racists allowed, the other Joseph Muscat says
Josie Muscat and his Azzjoni Nazzjonali are going out to protest against the EU’s Immigration Pact on Thursday, and racists aren’t welcome. I wonder how they’re going to control the situation, given that racists don’t exactly wear yellow stars on their coat-lapels, or T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan I Am A Racist, or even Racists Do It In Black Shirts. I just lo-o-o-ove that last bit: urging racists not to attend. That doesn’t leave AN with much room for manoeuvre, does it?
www.timesofmalta.com, Sunday, 12th October 2008 – 12:43CET
AN urges the prime minister not to sign Immigration Pact
Azzjoni Nazzjonali leader Josie Muscat this morning urged the Prime Minister not to sign the EU Immigration Pact next Thursday…..Dr Muscat said AN would hold a protest against the Immigration Pact on Thursday and it was urging racists not to attend.
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I still have to pinch myself when I think that the fool leading these racists and xenophobes is a medical doctor who owns one of the main private hospitals in the country. Pretty freaky!
Ridiculous! This reminds me of when I was a teen in the 80’s. We Rockers would plaster posters of future Rock Group gigs in the Hamrun area (Teddy Boys haunt) just to make them attend these gigs and pick up a fight!
Malta’s political scene would be amusing if we didn’t live here. Why bother organising a public protest if you’d prefer many of your supporters not to participate?
What will their placards and banners say, I wonder? “Niggers and racists go home”?
considering that ‘real’ racists consider us as ‘wogs’, there is a certain irony in ‘us’ looking down on anybody else.
When Josie Muscat was kicked out of the PN, he should have called it a day. After twenty years he decided to give it another try and formed AN. He aimed for the racist and xenophobes votes and still failed miserably in the last elections. I cannot understand why the media give him so much prominence when he calls a press conference. He should be completely ignored.
Having shown how little he knows about the dockyard the gallant Doctor has the solution to illegal immigrants. I say stick to your hospitals Joseph that seems to be the only matter you know anything about.
Edgar Gatt: It’s not AN’s prominence that is the problem so much as its being taken seriously.
I can’t for the life of me imagine why, with a secretary-general who can’t spell or construct a coherent argument, a ragbag of ‘officials’ with dubious qualifications for the posts they occupy, an organisation led by a self-appointed keeper of public morals should be met with anything other than derision and ridicule.
That AN appeals to public sentiment is no defence. Many people would applaud a proposal for a 1000% salary increase. No one but the most deluded would assume that that is feasible.
[Daphne – I’ve just watched AN’s Malcolm Seychell on BondiPlus. This is the only pearl of wisdom to squeeze past his lips: when the war in the Balkans displaced people and lots of them came to Malta, we didn’t bother. But with these people, that’s another thing altogether. They have a different culture, and even the colour of their skin is different. The Minister of Justice cut him short: ‘That’s racism’. Am I the only one to think it’s hilarious that Mr Seychell continues to rant on against Africans, when his physical appearance clearly betrays the lingering presence of African genetic traits? I imagine that most Maltese are part-African, but some Maltese look more African than others, and strangely, they tend to be the ones who protest loudest.]
Malcolm Seychell must have been thrilled to be on BondiPlus. The fool has effectively and very publicly banned himself from the protest march he has no doubt helped organise. What a shame he has no sense of irony. That gem is completely lost on him.
Come to think of it, Malcolm Seychell may protest so often and so loudly because he’s uncomfortable with the physical reminder of his genetic traits.
[Daphne – I saw a stark black and white passport-style photograph of him in the last election campaign (the sort that reveals our racial characteristics, as is its intended identification purpose) and it struck me immediately how much he looked like the sort of person whom earlier politically incorrect generations would have described as ‘qisu xi Sambo‘.]
I agree with the assessment of a low average intellectual level of AN but we should not underestimate them. In Britain, the BNP is led and represented by persons even more uncouth than Malcolm, Josie and the other members of his party and yet, on occasion, they have managed to garner enough protest votes to elect local politicians. I find it hard to imagine that AN could one day elect even one local councillor but their presence in the lists could still condition the other parties.
If elections were to be held tomorrow, I think PN would win again but AN would most probably get more votes than AD.
Daphne: by no means am I writing this to defend anything Malcolm Seychell said. However there’s a very misleading inaccuracy in your comment which must be corrected. You quoted M.S. as having said “They have a different culture, and even the colour of their skin is different”. I saw the program and that’s not what he said. It was more like “They have a different culture… this is NOT about the colour of their skin”.
[Daphne – That’s not what he said at all. He tried to give the impression that it wasn’t about skin colour, but failed. His ridiculous assertion that we had no problems with Balkan refugees because we share a common culture shows that he doesn’t even know that the vast majority of them were/are Muslim, and that he assumes ‘white’ people share manners and mores whether they come from Montenegro or Mosta. ]
Why do you choose to ridicule Malcolm Seychell and AN rather than tackle the subject of the program? Do you consider the figures stated as not being worth discussing?
I find it quite amusing how Dr. Mifsud Bonnici held firm to the fact that the difference to date between Maltese Births and Illegal Immigrants arrivals is not yet identical. Is this something which should put our minds at rest? What about the fact that discussions are underway at EU Parliamentary level in order to have these illegal immigrants reunited with their family here in Malta?
Doesn’t that give you food for thought? And please, I’m trying to be realistic and not xenophobic or racist, I would really appreciate if you avoid such adjectives.
[Daphne – If you want to avoid my adjectives, you can avoid reading what I write. I don’t particularly like the adjectives used by AN, but I still think it necessary to know what they are saying and thinking. I don’t think the programme was at all informative and I even think it was skewed. For example, I would never have filmed and broadcast a mini-riot at the detention camps, or directed the camera-man to take long and lingering shots of food thrown onto the ground. I would instead have used the rare opportunity to take in a television camera to show conditions in the camps – how those people live and how those looking after them cope. Broadcasting a mini-riot and scenes of food being thrown about just amounts to incitement of negative sentiments and projects the notion that all the people in the camps do is riot and waste the food that the generous Maltese have given them. I can’t imagine what possessed the show’s producers unless they imagine that a good dose of skewed sensationalism is good for ratings. Accurate reportage is even better for ratings, but some programme-makers have yet to discover that.
The concern about Them outnumbering Us is rooted in the belief that They are less desirable than We are. I have my own set of preferences, and they are not based on nationality or skin colour. To me (and many others, I have to say) They are not necessarily Africans, but people from a truly different culture: those born and bred into the Maltese under-class, who share no values or behavioural codes with Us at all. If We are honest, then We will admit that we are far more put off by these Maltese Theys than we are by any number of quiet and reserved Africans who live and let live. I would much rather be outnumbered by Africans who keep themselves to themselves than by Maltese people from that alien underclass with whom all I have in common is a passport. Nationality is just a fractional part of culture, which is why these people are more likely to marry somebody from the British or Italian underclass than a fellow Maltese from a completely different socio-educational background. How hard is this to understand?]
Here’s another bit of nonsense involving AN’s secretary-generalMalcolm Seychell.
http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=65381
That’s not surprising once he didn’t see anything wrong with this:
http://images.google.com.mt/imgres?imgurl=http://www.timesofmalta.com/media/serve/20080213—poster_an.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080213/news/an-billboard-causes-shock-dismay&h=415&w=540&sz=14&hl=en&start=12&um=1&usg=__iqCKKwM8tfXSSAhei4Mj-A1_RTo=&tbnid=6nnpQERVQvEEnM:&tbnh=101&tbnw=132&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522malcolm%2Bseychell%2522%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den
But Miss Caruana Galizia, why do you undermine the fact that they did destroy completely that fridge and they also wasted all that food? Those are facts and yes, they have done that to attract attention but please, is that the proper way to tackle the matter?
They should elect a representative (or more) in order to discuss matters around a table rather than revert to violence, don’t you agree? We have numerous NGOs whom they could seek help at.
Bottom line is that they have so much rivalry amongst different ethnic groups within the open/closed centres that you can’t really pretend to find some sort of balance with us Maltese, the ones with the passport :)
[Daphne – Because human beings kept indefinitely in a cage behave like that, and when they don’t it is because they are cowed and beaten or intimidated by violence and fear of death and torture, like the Jews in Nazi extermination/work camps or the British in Japanese POW camps in World War II. The human spirit is naturally defiant and when it is not, it is a sign that something is seriously wrong: depression, for example, or fear of having pain inflicted on you. I would behave in exactly the same way in those conditions, for the simple reason that I am normal and do not take kindly to being caged like an animal without due process through a court of law. And I imagine that so would you. When the only thing you have to throw is food, then food is what you throw. It happens in a zillion kitchens the world over during marital rows. In the full transport of rage and irritation, when a man has said or done one hurtful thing too many, the last thing a woman thinks is ‘Oh, I really mustn’t waste this plate of spaghetti….’ and so the plate of spaghetti ends up stuck to the wall or ceiling, unless the woman is the sort who has been trained to be meek, mild and submissive from birth. You seem extraordinarily naive about human nature. And if the spouse dares comment on the horrendous waste of spaghetti, he usually gets to see a couple of exploding cartons of milk too. This is common practice, but women don’t broadcast it to the world, they just tell other women about how many pots of food they threw about when their husband said precisely the wrong thing during the most ‘tired and emotional’ part of the day. Caged immigrants throwing food around is something that trapped housewives everywhere can relate to.]
“I would instead have used the rare opportunity to take in a television camera to show conditions in the camps – how those people live and how those looking after them cope.”
We have already be bored to the point of ad nauseam with such video clips. If the immigrants bored, they should be given ingredients and cook their own food (as most people do) and not give it to them on a plate like a 5-star hotel. They have better conditions than some of the poorest Maltese. Now if you see broken toilets and smashed fridges, you know the reason why. :-) I don’t suppose the toilets get smashed by the soldiers for target practice or hand to hand combat.
“Broadcasting a mini-riot and scenes of food being thrown about just amounts to incitement of negative sentiments and projects the notion that all the people in the camps do is riot and waste the food that the generous Maltese have given them.”
Of course the situation is negative. Why should we pay taxes so these ungrateful intruders waste good food (bread loaves, pasta and chicken mind you). They surely did not hunger in their own country if they do such things. As if it is not enough, they want beef and not lamb so I have heard. So they DO know what beef is like. Thus, the situation in their countries is not as bad as the media tries to depict. I think you should have asked Kilin about whether he knew about ‘beef’ or ‘chicken’ when he was young.
[Daphne – I would rather be outnumbered by decent black Africans than outnumbered by people like you, even if you have chosen one of my favourite cheeses as a pseudonym. I’d like to see how you would fare if caged for 18 months without trial. No, we haven’t been ‘bored to the point of ad nauseam’, as you put it ungrammatically, by reportage on the detention camps. There has been virtually no such reportage, because the camps were opened to cameras very recently, and still no programme-maker or journalist has seen fit to give a balanced picture. A five-star hotel? You must be joking. Better conditions than some of the poorest Maltese? Really? Which Maltese would those be, who still live packed 20 to a room or in tents after the soaring affluence and GDP growth of the last 20 years? The lavatories are broken – and this was explained by one of the men looking after the detainees – because those who use them clamber onto them and squat – and before you rush to say how primitive and backward squatting is, I’ll tell you that every Italian public lavatory or restaurant lavatory was like that until around 20 years ago – including those in the public areas at the Vatican. Two years ago at a restaurant in Piemonte I found a ‘squat’ lavatory and opted to suffer all evening instead. My refusal to use these things makes it much easier for me to understand the disgust of those who are used to the ‘squat’ system when faced with the western European lavatory-bowl system – a British 19th-century invention restricted to Britain for the best part of the 20th century – that demands you sit where others have sat before.]
It’s embarrassing to us, Maltese, most of whom profess to be practising Catholics to admit to even listening to such hatemongering, let alone encouraging it. Catholics should love everybody unconditionally – a poor emulation of God’s love for us.
Forget the “Catholic” part. In the 50s and 60s we were the ones leaving the islands in boatloads. Why was it OK then but not now?
[Daphne – Last year, on the internet, I came across a collection of 20th-century Australian immigration ‘first person’ experiences which included the experience of a woman who arrived there in the 1950s as a child. It was horrific. I have since lost it, and am trying to find it again so as to post the link here. Her father went ahead of the rest. Her mother followed months later with around eight small children. The home their father had found was an illegal shanty put together from bits of scavenged wood and corrugated iron, with a packed-dirt floor. Every time it rained, they were soaked. The only running-water was from a public tap: one tap to serve the entire shanty-town in which the Maltese immigrants lived in their hovels. They had no sewage system. Every day, each hovel-household would take the slop-pail a little way away from the hut, dig a hole and bury the excrement and urine. This woman said that after a while, they ran out of space to dig holes, and soon they were sleeping surrounded by buried crap. To make matters worse, a ton of relatives arrived from Malta to live with them in the hut. White Australians, she said – a crucial distinction, given that Maltese people now think of themselves as white – looked down on the coloured trash Maltese immigrants in their makeshift hovels. They found it hard to get proper jobs because nobody wanted them. They couldn’t integrate because they weren’t given an inch. Their religion was regarded as highly suspect by the mainly Protestant established community. And so on. Sounds familiar? We never hear about this. All we hear is the heroic success stories played out by people who talk as though they just sailed in and became Australians.]
So Ms. Caruana Galizi, I have to conclude that you actually acknowledge these riots within the closed centres. I agree that the detention period is very long but at present that is the only deterrent for these persons to take the voyage from North Africa, albeit, it is not actually working.
I do understand your compassion for the subject but please, Ms. Caruana Galizia, when can the Maltese say stop to all of this? We are being stretched beyond our capabilities especially when you see what other problems are looming at the horizion.
As to your reply to Zizzu’s comment, well, it proves that at least our Government is doing very well in the way they give help to these persons once they arrive within our confines. I’m sorry to note though, that the general opinion of the NGOs is not the same.
(Do I have your permission to refer to you as Daphne in my future posts?)
[Daphne – Temporary detention is no deterrent to people facing a lifetime without hope, or fleeing extreme violence. Ask all those women who live in shelters like Dar Merhba Bik. They would rather spend years sleeping on a fold-out bed surrounded by strangers than go back ‘home’. Go ahead and call me Daphne – everyone else does.]
Zizzu: “Forget the ‘Catholic’ part.” Quite right. What about rolling over and playing human, instead of behaving like a wild dog?
I’m not talking about the immigrants…
Corinne: The wild dog bit went over my head. Sorry.
Daphne, I have no doubt that women coming from these countries have a lot of atrocious stories to tell. But is fleeing an ultimate solution?
I would like to see the EU, USA etc unite to try and eradicate dictatorship from these countries rather than just accept the few (compared to their gross population) which come here. Why don’t they direct the anger shown to the media (such as yesterday’s clip on Bondiplus) onto their oppressors? Unity is the key but from my experience in North African countries I must say, that they are racists amongst themselves in far greater proportion than what we see here in Malta.
AN’s position on immigration (illegal or not) essentially amounts to one thing, namely shouting “ma rriduhomx, ma rriduhomx”. Malcolm Seychell’s performance yesterday was pretty pathetic but then he and AN do have the advantage of not needing to appeal to the best and brightest that Malta has to offer. I was particularly glad to see minister Mifsud Bonnici’s expression of distaste every time that he had to debate Seychell. I was disappointed that the program seemed more geared toward sensationalism and sound bite journalism rather than trying to convey the complexity of the problem. Such attitudes only serve to play into the hands of racist and xenophobic groups such as AN.
Daph, sorry for posting here. Couldn’t locate a ‘contact us’ button on this blog. Just wanted to know whether you’ve seen the sketch about you in “Four Play”. It’s soooooo funny. Wish you could see it. Your fan, Dumbledore.
[Daphne – Well, I was told about it. But I don’t go to the theatre so I haven’t seen it. There isn’t a ‘contact us’ facility on this blog.]
@I. M. Dingli
When can the Maltese say stop to all this? When they come up with a (magical) solution to problem spots like Somalia.
I’m always amused to read the “solutions” proposed in the Times comments. I particularly love the one where it is proposed that Malta withdraw from the Geneva Convention and repatriate immigrants. Funnily enough, none of the commenters ever volunteer to fly the plane or sail the ship to Mogadishu themselves.
Zizzu: I was referring to the people you criticise, not to you personally.
Daphne – Your reply to I. M. Dingli was spot on. If he’s never been involved in one such incident, then I can vouch for the fact that they are commonplace.
Your comment actually made me laugh, because I had once emptied the left-over spaghetti onto my partner’s, after one uncalled-for comment too many on a particularly bad day. Luckily we both saw the funny side of it afterwards, and the best bit is that he cleared the mess up himself. (He even found it amusing when a little while later I purposely bought him a cassette (in pre-CD days) entitled “The Spaghetti Incident”. – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22The_Spaghetti_Incident%3F%22 )
I cannot even begin to imagine what would drive a human being to take such a journey. Imagine travelling across numerous war zones, the world’s largest desert, crossing 400 miles of sea in a dinghy. What drives a human being to take such a risk? It is something that I believe none of us can ever understand. I do not even want to imagine what Malta would have to look like for me to take on such a trip.
What would life be like if the only hope you have to living is to take such a trip? What would it be like living without hope? Imagine at every stop on this trip you are always looked down upon, you are discriminated against, and you are treated like a inferior human being. Can you even try to imagine what life would be like living like that? Imagine working and living in squalid conditions for 2 years in the hope that you can earn enough to pay for a chance to get on a 20ft dinghy packed with another 20 humans. Imagine knowing all the dangers associated with this boat ride and still willing to take the risk. Can you xenophobes even think of what drives a human being to take such risks.
I agree that the numbers are a strain on a small island like ours, and I agree that something needs to be done. But I disagree that we should vent our anger at these people. We should be directing our anger at the people who employ this immigrants and pay them a pittance, thus exploiting their predicament. We should be directing our anger at people who are making a fortune transporting these people. That is where I believe this government is seriously failing us.
Maybe Ivan Magro Dingli boils his own spaghetti, so he’s safe.
I’ve watched MORE FOURPLAY too and the Daphne sketch made me damn near wet myself. ….LOL
quote [Daphne – I’ve just watched AN’s Malcolm Seychell on BondiPlus. This is the only pearl of wisdom to squeeze past his lips: when the war in the Balkans displaced people and lots of them came to Malta, we didn’t bother. But with these people, that’s another thing altogether. They have a different culture, and even the colour of their skin is different. The Minister of Justice cut him short: ‘That’s racism’. Am I the only one to think it’s hilarious that Mr Seychell continues to rant on against Africans, when his physical appearance clearly betrays the lingering presence of African genetic traits? I imagine that most Maltese are part-African, but some Maltese look more African than others, and strangely, they tend to be the ones who protest loudest.] endquote Isn’t that itself a racist gem? The more African amongst the Maltese people are more vociferously racist?
[Daphne – No, dear sir: it’s an observation that the less European certain Maltese men (and the occasional woman) look, the more they protest against Africans and ‘Arabs’ (by which they mean anyone from the Atlantic coast of Morocco all the way up to Iran and Persia). It has something to do with self-hatred and a skewed perception of self. Look at your own political grouping, for a start: Norman Lowell’s thingumy-jig. You’re hardly a bunch of Vikings, are you?]
It has been written that Maltese are travelling abroad in greater numbers. But are Maltese holidaying in Africa unless it is a North African Country such as Egypt, Tunisia etc? Can anyone explain the true reason for keeping black Africa aside? There are more things to see in Africa’s undeveloped regions. Seeing the Earth in its natural state is the first thing I would wish to explore had I enough earnings. What is there to see in developed European countries except buildings of all sorts; every corner shows how the inhabitants of developed countries exploit every available stretch of land to turn it into an unnatural gold mine! Instead of the experience of watching wild animals living in their natural environment they prefer to pay for a visit to the zoos where wild animals are kept captive.
Travel agents, come on, open Africa to Maltese travellers! To Daphne who is of African descent, so it is understood when going through her writings. This comment should be taken in its true spirit. We all Maltese are, and not ashamed, or are we? Do not avoid sitting next to an African. They do not avoid sitting next to white people. In Africa, life is cheaper and there are beautiful things to see.
Perhaps I am mistaken. Non racist Maltese would not visit Africa for fear of being devoured by a lion or some black panther or swallowed fully dressed or bitten by an African large snake or by a wide open mouth of a crocodile. “Everything is possible” so goes the saying.
Missionaries could build hotels for people who want to enjoy new experiences. Visiting Africa and lodging within a missionary-owned hotel will give a good return to the needy natives.We love so much our missionaries. N.B. The problem is not racial but Malthusian.
[Daphne – Truly, it takes all sorts to make a world.]
I’m sorry Spaghetti but i didn’t catch the drift. Daphne replied to my comments on various occasions. :P
[Daphne – No, dear sir: it’s an observation that the less European certain Maltese men (and the occasional woman) look, the more they protest against Africans and ‘Arabs’ (by which they mean anyone from the Atlantic coast of Morocco all the way up to Iran and Persia). It has something to do with self-hatred and a skewed perception of self. Look at your own political grouping, for a start: Norman Lowell’s thingumy-jig. You’re hardly a bunch of Vikings, are you?]
I’d go into question as to why you think that all dark-skinned folks should be grouped with Africa… but I think it’s besides the point. You’re saying that those of us who are truly African at heart are imbued with self-hatred. And you’re rather late, Ms. Caruana Galizia. I’ve been officially missing from any political grouping for the past six years now – give or take.
[Daphne – Malta’s dark skin comes from Africa or the Middle East. There can’t have been that many southern Indian people passing through and certainly no aboriginals from the Southern Hemisphere. As for your six-year absence from political groupings, I don’t think it’s been six years since I saw you on BondiPlus representing Imperium Europa. Or maybe the years are just tumbling by?]
Anthony Magri
Sub-Saharan Africa is already open to tourists and there are many Maltese travel agents who sell African holidays. The destinations are not as popular as the traditional ones because they are relatively more expensive and not everyone has enough “earnings” to afford them.
The rest of your comment is a poor attempt at humorous sarcasm which falls flatter than the veldt, to remain on topic.
Antoine Vella.
It appears that you do not receive travel brochures every period. I do receive a lot. I go through them but according to what you write I must miss those that promote Sub Saharian Countries.
What you understand by “relatively” more expensive needs elaboration. Why do you consider Sub Saharian Africa ” relatively” more expensive? Yes Why?
I have a feeling that you went trough my contribution but failed to read the N.B.that encapsulated the whole argument.
Not racism but Malthusian is the problem.
[Daphne – Malta’s dark skin comes from Africa or the Middle East. There can’t have been that many southern Indian people passing through and certainly no aboriginals from the Southern Hemisphere. As for your six-year absence from political groupings, I don’t think it’s been six years since I saw you on BondiPlus representing Imperium Europa. Or maybe the years are just tumbling by?]
That was about five to six years ago, yes. And I was then representing solely myself, despite associations.
In any case, the Latins and the Southern Europeans in general have always been dark-skinned. Did they get that dark-skin from Africans or Arabs too? I’m not saying that we don’t have Arab and African genes flowing through our veins, but simply answering your rather ridiculous contention that one is either a full blonde or an African-Arab admixture. The lack of naturally dark skin is a question of melanin and exposure to the sun – the higher up towards the North Pole the whiter any people will be, whether European or Asian, and the closer towards the equator they are the darker they will be, whether Latin or Arab.
[Daphne – Modern humans originated in Africa, so we all have African genes, so to speak, and your contention is superfluous.]
Somebody is mixing things up:Iran and Persia are the same country and the iranians are not arabs but they are in their majority muslim!
We do have a malthusian problem though:the world is already overpopulated and our effect on nature is simply not sustainable in the long term:they used to tell us religiously that this argument was a rebuff to God’s providence:I guess the church has become more convinced that Malthus was not totally wrong in his prediction!
Anthony Magri: I don’t know what sort of travel brochures you receive, but if you really want information about travel to africa, there’s plenty online. It might have escaped your notice that travel to sub-Saharan Africa from Malta qualifies as long-haul, which usually costs more than a shopping trip to Catania. You don’t need a travel brochure to tell you that. You just need a bit of common sense.
Did Malthus have anything to say about narrow-mindedness?
Daphne,
Bad use of good science makes for bad science.
[Daphne – I’m not the one who roots for Norman Lowell.]
Bondi+ asked a simple question : Should the Immigration Pact be signed?? I think the programme answered this question and left the majority I’ve met since then with one answer: YES!! This Pact ,against which our far-rightist conservatives joined with the guy who professes to be liberal and moderate are so much against, is a small step in the right direction and is for the very first time including the burden-sharing mechanism in a Europe-wide pact!! It might not work, it might not be fruitful or live up to our expectations and it is exactly for this reason why the PM and his Cabinet need to exhaust every possibility and every diplomatic opportunity to the full so as to make sure the mechanism together with EU financing ( increased to the tune of 5 million thanks to Simon Busuttil!!) leaves the desired results!!
I don’t know why this is so difficult for the usual LGaleas, Denis Catanias and Seychells of this world to fathom!! I don’t know why these people keep shooting or downplaying every constructive step only to offer nothing but hot air!! I don’t know why many are outraged at this problem and expect all the immigrants to vanish in thin air in a split second!! I don’t know why rational people start talking like the “ghaqda Nisa tal-kofii Morning” when they hear the word immigrants!! I don’t know why Joseph Muscat came out saying ‘lawrence don’t sign” and now all his merry men seem to be twisting this statement around!! Are we playing Sant’s game of changing our discourse according to the viewers so as to please everyone and his brother???? Or did Joseph Muscat misjudge the way this issue would turn out?? Will JM go to the protest tomorrow rubbing shoulders with those who oppose all his social policies?? Or will he hide behind a tree so as to say ” Ara I was here…but I wasn’t here…I clapped…but all those rascists around me are very bad….lawrence shouldn’t vote but those around me (MLP) think he should………..”
Fact–ONLY the government/PN has offered solutions (whether excellent or half baked) the others cliched themselves to the media and will cliche themselves to the streets waving flags of Malta and saying that they (far-right, ultra-Conservatives, mainly homophobic, hunter-huggers……..)love malta and are trying to protect us!! How?? God knows!!!!
QUOTING Gove’: I’m not saying that we don’t have Arab and African genes flowing through our veins,
QUOTING Daphne – Modern humans originated in Africa, so we all have African genes, so to speak, and your contention is superfluous.]
UNQUOTING BOTH :)
As it happens I had written a dissertation on the molecular characterisation of G6PD. G6PD is the enzyme (protein) that catalyses the first step of internal respiration (i.e. how we get our energy at the cellular level). The enzyme is supremely important. G6PD is so important for life that it has retained its structure across various phyla, PHYLA, mind you, not species.
I was looking for mutations in the DNA “sections” that code for this protein. (I got the DNA from blood umbilical cord blood.)
I found that we share our mutations with African (continent) people. Keeping in mind the extreme importance of the enzyme this can only mean one thing: we are directly descended from African stock. Miscegenation does not dilute the DNA coding for this enzyme.
Put simply, if you don’t have the right protein, you die, so you can’t reproduce.
As regards races there are 7 distinct human “strains” – you may have heard of the seven daughters of Eve – each identifiable from mitochondrial DNA, which each of us inherits from the maternal side.
Races arise through a) chance mutations which do not kill the organisms carrying them in a given set of environmental parameters b) geographical isolation.
Biologically “races” means significant genetic variations among members of the same species which, however, are not big enough to forbid reproduction. It has none of the pejorative connotations normally associated with it.
A race is a “step” below “breed”.
A. Gauci Cunningham, my only concern regards this pact is that once Malta signs in favour of voluntary burden sharing, if it doesn’t work, we will be tied up with this pact for 10 years. How’s that for short sightedness!
These women contributors! They go personal without knowing whom they are addressing. Now it is the turn of a certain Ms. Corinne Vella.
She refers to long haul when travelling to Africa. Which country is nearer our shores Norway, Sweden, Finland the Baltic countries, Moscow or Nigeria, Kenya Mauritania ….Unless long in the expression long haul has another meaning than “long”
I am not interested at looking for travelling sites on the Internet, but I go through the unwanted literature that fill the Sant Antnin recycle centre out of curiosity to admire some nice photo either of land marks but particularly of the large tourists’ ships that enter harbour that illustrate the new generation of these splendid boats. I just received the Mondial Autumn tours brochure it invites tourist to visit Salzburg, Tyrol, all of Austria, the usual Lourdes, no African country is mentioned. Just to proof my point. This is just to proof my point.
About Malthus it will be interesting to know what he appears to know better besides population problems.
As for poor commun sense It is more practical to buy expensive goods in Malta, they are cheaper on the whole than the overall price that includes a trip to, out of all places, Catania, the normal shopping centre for Maltese housewives. Those who travel for shopping purposes are no tourists Ms Corinne Vella. A question: what does Corinne stand for, no sarcasm but out of curiosity. I have an extensive list of names with their commemortion dates.
With best regards.
[Daphne – Funny how some Ketlik men who have a problem with blacks, Jews and Protestants also have a problem with women – surprise!]