What is a 'stabbed Arab'?
The Times writes about 'Arabs' in the same way that the Missippi Herald wrote about 'negroes' in the 1950s
timesofmalta.com, this morning
Stabbed Arab’s condition improves
A 40-year-old Arab who lives in Msida has taken a turn for the better after he was grievously injured yesterday when he was stabbed in the chest.
The police said the incident happened at around 10 p.m. in Racecourse Street, Marsa.
When are we going to move out of the 1950s and stop describing people like this? It’s always a stabbed Arab or a stabbed African but never a stabbed European in the headline.
We differentiate between Europeans according to their citizenship, and we should do the same with others, rather than lumping them together according to racial origin as ‘Arabs’ and ‘Africans’. This shows the way we think: that THEY are all the same to us.
But there’s more: The Times uses ‘Arab’ in the same way that the Mississipi Herald used ‘negro’ in 1940.
Racial type or nationality shouldn’t even be the main point of the story at all, still less enshrined in the headline.
The news is that a man was stabbed, and not that an Arab was stabbed. We shouldn’t mention race at all – but if we must mention nationality, then surely somebody at The Times can point out to those who write news stories that ‘Arab’ is not a nationality, and nor is ‘African’. That’s RACE.
And even if we are going to mention nationality – because for some reason it’s important that we mention he’s not Maltese because the Maltese don’t go around stabbing each other, God forbid – then it should be as an afterthought.
This is so elementary that I cannot believe I am writing it in 2010.
The Times is terrible in this respect – quite antediluvian. I once wrote a piece in which I listed similar incidences of ‘Arab’/’African’ reportage in that newspaper over a week. It was quite….revealing.
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And yet – please do not hate me for what I am going to say, but I have to say it for the sake of coherence – you, Daphne, tend to do the same thing with Labourites.
There are Labourites like Anglu Farrugia, and there are Labourites (completely unlike Anglu Farrugia).
Yet you tend to classify people who vote Labour into a vague “Labourite” category – very much akin to Negroes, Arabs, etc etc
This was once pointed out to you by a certain Mr Aquilina…
[Daphne – Fudged and fuzzy thinking, Min: politics are entirely a matter of personal choice, and because we are responsible for our choices, we lay ourselves wide open to criticism about them. Race, skin colour and nationality are not a matter of choice and we are not responsible for them. Comparing ‘Labour supporter’ to ‘negro’ or ‘Arab’ is completely flawed in terms of logic. We don’t choose our skin colour but we sure as hell choose our politics.]
@ Daphne
Referring to a person by his creed or colour is very much the same I would say. Unfortunately, on this island we still use the labeling theory…
Stereotyping is OK.
Daphne,
Would you mind posting a link to the piece you wrote……. I’d like to read it.
[Daphne – Oh, I have no way of tracing it. I can’t even remember what year it was. It probably isn’t even on line.]
There are other instances of long-standing racist comments which are quite baffling. For example I’ve heard people saying things such as “Dak miskin Ingliz” or “Miskina Ngliza” or “Jahasra Taljan.” Not that the Englishman in question required or sought any amount of pity, however minute. It’s just the way his particular nationality was described – as pitiful. What’s that all about?
Certainly antediluvian, but no different to the British media, with their “Asian”, “Eastern European”, and “Black” labels. Remember Jean Charles de Menezes? He was variously described as “Middle Eastern”, “Asian”, “South American” for a few days until it was established that he was Brazilian.
Reporters are often on the scene within a few hours of the incident, and all they get are confused eyewitness accounts. Hence “looking like a North African and speaking Arabic” – for yes, there is such a thing as typical physical characteristics – gets translated to “Arab”. It’s stupid, but that’s the way it is.
[Daphne – Round where I come from, we call it poor reporting that reveals prejudice while not getting the facts right.]
I believe that the piece in the Times is probably translating the Maltese reference to “Gharbi” which is often used in common day language in a disparaging way.
It is another reason to put in place an Equality Act…together with a serious effort to change our mentality as a nation.
[Daphne – How will an Equality Act help, exactly?]
Not sure it will help with articles like that in the Times, but will help with the use of the word “Gharbi” by the Maltese people. In my view, it is a racial slur.
I mean an Equality Act which prohibits discrimination on the basis of personal characteristics such as race, age, gender, etc.
A racial slur? What if the person in question is from a country that defines itself as Something Arab Something Republic?
What else is a racial slur then?
Russian? (As in “Russi = Anyone east of the Vistula = prostituti/pimps/lapdancers”)
Ghawdxi? (As in “Ghawdxin = haxxejja”)
HP, the Ghawdxin will probably take that as a compliment. As for the Russians, as long as they stay away from balconies, it should be OK also.
Remotely related to the subject of Arabs and stabbing, the American media made a fuss recently about the following comment which Sarah Palin’s had posted on twitter:
“Ground Zero Mosque supporters: doesn’t it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate”.
Interestingly, the controversy arose not about religious freedom, but about the term “refudiate” – which reminded me a bit of that rikotta controversy here in Malta.
you failed to include religion
[Daphne – How will an Equality Act help, exactly?]
If you’re Swedish and you’re lumped with the Scandinavians you have every right to be equally offended (hence Equality Act) as an Egyptian who’s called an Arab … I think
How many headlines have we had when a murder or a serious crime is committed by somebody from Zejtun – ragel miz-Zejtun or Zejtuni.
This goes also for L-Orizzont, and the Independent?
For some reason I tend to refer to Germans as “dogs”, as in “Those German dogs …”. Probably a combination of WWII comics and Basil Fawlty.
Are you attempting to be humourous? Didn’t work.
Careful Harry. We haf ways.
Don’t think your elevator goes all the way to the top, Leonard.
Look Leonard, zet’s me (kneeling German bic) wiz my boyfriend:
http://www.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http://cache4.asset-cache.net/xc/81773879.jpg%3Fv%3D1%26c%3DIWSAsset%26k%3D2%26d%3D38FCB2103A208D7791B2244956E58C61D7D08BDCD1F3D74806B34858110C81DE&imgrefurl=http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/81773879/Retrofile&usg=__oeytMKA9kS-LrqAvG5Pa-d2nnH4=&h=474&w=361&sz=26&hl=de&start=58&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=qMQrbd-is9fuzM:&tbnh=129&tbnw=98&prev=/images%3Fq%3DGetty%2BImage,%2BGerman%2Bshepherd%2Bdog%26start%3D40%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dde%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1B3GGGL_deDE362DE362%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1
But zen, on ze other hand, ze war is over…actually quite a while ago! Wuff!
Andrea, have you brushed up your German viz loz ov epizodes of Hallo Hallo recently?
@ciccio2010
There was no need for it since I am German. My ‘Good moaning!’ comes naturally.
Unfortunately, it seems to be happening in more than one article. The Times has described a man charged with rape in Israel as an Israeli Arab. Funny, I thought that if a man had Israeli citizenship, his ethnic background would be immaterial for reporting purposes.
What a world…. tsk tsk tsk…
Ahem. Actually the state of Israel itself has something called “nationality” on its own passport, which can be Jewish, Arab, Druze, Bedouin etc.
does the truth hurt you. Yes if the murder was committed by an Israeli arab, that is what should be reported. An Israeli arab not a common Israeli. Facts are facts in my dictionery. Comment is free.
“does the truth hurt you”
What ‘truth’? That Israel is effectively an apartheid state? that Israel distinguishes between the creed and race of those living with in its borders? That Israeli Arabs lose their citizenship simply by studying abroad for more than a few months whilst anybody in the world (preferably white Ashkenazi) who claims Jewish ancestry is automatically given a passport and the chance to settle in occupied territories? A terrorist state that is actively discriminating against the legitimate population, hoarding them up in a ghetto?
Unfortunately mentioning “Israeli Jew” would risk you a verbal lynching of “anti-Semite” from the hoard Zionists connected to the Zionist megaphone…
The rape story being referred to is quite poignant in that the Israeli Jewish woman filed a claim when she realised that she got deceived into believing she was having sex with a Jew…
Comment is not free. Somebody always pays for it.
After all, it happened in RACEcourse Street….
Liberals like Daphne are terrified of ‘labels’. Labels are for a purpose. People like to identify so they can act accordingly, it helps the survival instinct.
When Liberal Utopia is unearthed as Hell on Earth Liberals are shown up for what they really are.
So let us keep all the negatives under the carpet, eh Daphne?
It’s all a matter of identity. For some could be very important to the others it has no meaning.
This article reminds me when I started going out with the man who became my husband, who happens to be Italian. Some of those who knew me used to refer to him as “it-Taljan”. As if the word boyfriend didn’t exist in their vocabulary or if he didn’t have a name.
I have friends who called themselves British for the fact that their father is English. In reality their mother is Maltese, they were born in Malta, were educated in Maltese state schools where they had to speak Maltese, and visited the UK for the first time when they were teenagers.
Certain Maltese are like that. They are so embarrassed of their origins.
Tunisians have the same attitude, they deny that they are Arab and refuse to speak Arabic to foreigners. I speak French and classical Arabic which I studied in Tunis, I could not practise my Arabic with educated Tunisians. They look down on you if you speak Arabic to them. Tunisian snobs speak French.
The is the same with most educated Maltese.
Most English people do not like the label British, because it is used by people who are NOT English.
80% of readers voting in Timesofmalta.com poll want immigrants rescued in international waters returned to Libya, not nearest harbours. Bet you 95% will be receiving holy communion this Sunday.
http://www.timesofmalta.com./articles/index/?action=results&poll_ident=324#poll
The problem of immigrants is because we are so small and cannot afford to keep so many “immigrants” some of whom are of dubious character as seen recently.
Tell me about ‘dubious characters’ on the island, red nose.
For sure you don’t need any more!
red nose I have a plan so cunning that you can stick a tail on it and call it weasel…
Let’s round up our own “dubious character” guys and exchange them – one for one and sorted by sex so as not to overpopulate – with “regular immigrant guys” …
Daphne, I think you are making a storm in a tea cup and mixing lettuce in this particular case. The Times mentioning that an Arab was stabbed is not tantamount to what the sentiment back in the USA of the 40s was when they used the word Negro and those disgusting KKK times. Surely you don’t expect us to believe that The Times of Malta or its journalists adopt a racist (as in your “Negro” argument) stance.
Let’s face it, there’s no love lost between Daphne and the Times of Malta and you are nitpicking. I don’t usually go round defending journalists and neither their employers, I don’t have any connection to either of them, nor do I have an axe to grind against you or any journalist, but I am the type to call a spade a spade, irrespective of colour, creed, gender, nationality and political inclinations.
You will find, around the world, even in African newspapers, that if a foreigner is stabbed and the nationality has not been yet established that they will report it as a European, an American etc. You know, newsrooms always want to be the first to report an incident, a scoop or whatever, so they don’t necessarily always have the full details before they report an incident. I mean, it’s not like they’re going to stop the victim and ask him whether s/he’s from Botswana or Bolivia. They’re going to state American, African, European, Asian, etc. Until more details are given. Some Africans do want underline, for example, that they are African American or Asian American, etc. So it’s not like that specifying race is equal to being racist.
I do not subscribe to your thinking that somebody wants to underline that Maltese people do not go about stabbing each other. It is patently obvious they do, and much worse, newspapers and news bulletins are full of such gruesome news every other day, so to speak.
I am not saying that racism is not present, it is and all around the world, even in Africa about the whites and in Malta about the Africans and Arabs, but in this specific case, I think you are being childish.
Horsemeat kebab?
And inappropriate was our President Abela on Xarabank last month, when commenting on his support of the Italian team, rather than the English team, said “Qas kieku jien ginger”.
Nobody in the audience laughed. You could hear a pin drop. He has turned out to be such a disappointment.
The Times of Malta is pretty much like the British Daily Mail/The Sun etc in that respect. Sans the Page 3 girl, obvs.
Daphne you seems to like these people and go a long way to defend their rights??? .
You have a big villa in a quiet place in the northern part of the island. Why don’t you offer some of these people shelter in your home. At least you relieve us of some of them here in the south. This goes more than mere words. Actions speak louder than words.
[Daphne – Yawn. The person in question is Libyan, married to a Maltese. The person who stabbed him is Maltese, like you, and me. What is the worse crime – stabbing somebody, or being stabbed?]
We still have a loooong way to go, Daphne!
No comment necessary
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/25/saber-kushour-rape-deception-charge
Dear Daphne, I am attaching a link from the guardian.co.uk regarding female circumcision. This custom is so sickeningly abhorrent. This little link has made the point even more poignant. I wonder whether this custom is happening here in Malta? And if so, can we do something to help these innocent girls from this atrocious abuse by patriarchy. I guess what I am begging you for is to write an article raising awareness in case it is happening here under our noses and we are not doing anything to make this into a crime. Thank you!… you need not publish this on your blog.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/jul/25/female-circumcision-children-british-law
[Daphne – It is illegal here, so if it happens, it happens secretly and discovery depends on reports. There was one case in which the woman ended up at the general hospital for some weeks receiving treatment for complications arising, but it turns out that the mutilation occurred before she came to Malta. I had asked about it at the time.]
Same story as when something negative happens in Gozo. For example if a man (living in Malta) is arrested in a drug find the Times of Malta article heading would read:
“Man arrested in drug find”
If, on the other hand the person involved is Gozitan the heading would read:
“Gozitan arrested in drug find”
Not surprisingly, when reporting positive news in which Gozitan people are involved, then they always fail to say the person in question is Gozitan.
yes – poor reporting – yes antediluvian – but this is not just The Times of Malta – all newspapers across the globe are guilty of this poor reporting, for example “a man with southeren European features was today arrested for…”
The Times is no exception.
I once had a conversation with a Maltese man in a senior position at work. He had spoken to somebody who was involved in the same sport as me. I asked him the guys name and I was told ‘he’s a foreigner’.
A bit shocked, I asked, well can you be more specific – a country, for example, and he looked at me and said ‘Well, you know… a foreigner’.
Jesus! What a backward rock this place is!
@ HP Baxxter – Russia is a country, but ‘Arab’ is just a general, vague and, yes, racist term used to categorize all persons of Middle Eastern or North African descent, or Muslims. Fact is, most of the world’s Muslims don’t even look ‘Arab’, as they come from Indonesia or Malaysia.
‘Arab’ is used in the same way as US airport security screen persons for more accurate searches. I for one was a victim of such discrimination, simply because I had a Libyan Visa on my passport.
Reporters and journalists have a duty to deliver accurate news, whatever the deadline. If they can’t make it right on time, then they should just go and write gossip about celebs -at least those are always read with a pinch (or rather a pile) of salt.
[Daphne – It turns out the ‘stabbed Arab’ is Libyan, married to a Maltese, stabbed by a Maltese.]
Oh dear. So “Arab culture” is a racist term then? The “Arab conquest” is racist historiography? I was a victim of racial discrimination countless times (‘You Arab mongrel Mediterranean bastard’ etc etc’) but I took it on the chin and soldiered on. You people are such wimps.
Good point, Baxxter – ghidilhom! Qas tboss ma tista’ bihom.
Ostra. Ghal darba kev qed jaghtini support fl-iscrum. Vas-y, kev, pousse, pousse!