For God's sake, Malta, wake up to what's happening just 200 miles across the water
If it weren’t for Sky News, the BBC, the London newspapers and Al Jazeera, I wouldn’t have known about the terrible things going on now in Tunisia.
The Maltese media are dead silent on the matter. Have they noticed what’s going on – or do they think, like Brian Whittaker of The Guardian, that Tunisia is in the Middle East?
For a problem to be any closer to home, it would have to be in Sicily. But if these things were happening in Sicily, you can bet your last cent (the one you need to spend on that carton of milk) that it would be headline news in Malta.
I can only think that we behave this way because we don’t want to be reminded that, if you leave Sicily out of the equation, Tunis is the closest city to Valletta, a mere hop away if we could drive there instead of taking a plane or a ferry-boat. We don’t want to think about it because we don’t want to acknowledge our genetic and cultural roots, or the fact that the Maltese are essentially Tunisian, whether derived direct from Tunisia or via the ‘Arabs’ who colonised Sicily and were actually Tunisians.
So Maltese journalists busy themselves researching attitudes to a four-cent increase in the price of a carton of milk and writing stories about who stole Baby Jesus, while the last remaining shreds of democracy and free speech go up in flames 200 miles away.
Practically everyone in Malta knew about the university student riots in London last month, identified with them and were interested. That’s because we Maltese identify with London still in the same way that the people of the far-flung ancient Roman empire looked to Rome.
But there might as well be a wall in our minds that blocks out Tunis, and if you ask people if they know what’s happening there, almost nobody does.
You’d think that our government or even Opposition could at least be arsed – excuse the expression, but nothing else fits – to make a statement of condemnation or, at the very least, concern. But no. Of course not.
We haven’t been told (no doubt because it hasn’t happened) that the Foreign Minister has summoned the Tunisian ambassador for an explanation and briefing. And what are the odds that those chumps in the Labour ‘leadership’ haven’t a clue what is going on?
This is what’s happening.
Tunisia is in the throes of a national uprising against high unemployment and general suppression of basic freedoms, which was triggered on 17 December when a 26-year-old university graduate set himself on fire after police confiscated his greengrocery stock, saying that he did not have a permit to trade.
Journalists, bloggers and political activists who report on the protests are being ‘disappeared’ in government crackdowns. The authorities have even gone so far as to arrest a rap singer.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has said that at least six bloggers and activists have been arrested or have disappeared in locations across Tunisia, and that there are probably others who have been targeted.
One of them has had his email and Facebook accounts hijacked by the government. He has not been heard from for many days, and his mobile phone has been disconnected.
Another was arrested at dawn by police dressed in civilian clothing. His laptop and hard drive were seized. The police officers told his wife that they had “a few questions to ask him” and that it would take a few hours. There has been no news of him since.
Yes, it does sound familiar, doesn’t it. If we needed any other reminders that these are our genetic and cultural cousins, it’s the fact that you keep expecting Anglu Farrugia’s name to pop up somewhere.
A member of the Tunisian General Students’ Union (UGET) was taken in for questioning in Bizerte and had his computer confiscated. He has not been released.
Tunisian journalists face violence and arrest as they do their best to report on the protests. And what are Maltese journalists, in their privileged position, doing to help out? Sweet FA, that’s what. If our media organisations were functioning properly, they would have somebody out there reporting direct. Tunis is just 40 minutes away, for heaven’s sake.
Maybe they’re scared they’ll be arrested. The Tunisian government has refused to allow Le Monde’s correspondent into the country.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has said it is “disturbed” by the Tunisian government’s attempts to censor coverage of the protests, using violence, arresting journalists and blocking websites.
Now even a 22-year-old rap singer who made a song which criticises government policies (‘President, Your People Are Dying’) has been arrested. His brother told Reporters Without Borders that he was picked up at home by 30 plainclothes policemen. “They took him away without telling us where they were taking him. When we asked why they were arresting him, they told us ‘He knows why.'” The young man was released two days ago.
Ah. The memories. No wonder our Labour Party hasn’t issued a statement of concern, when it’s got that Anglu Farrugia in the No. 2 position. Ex-inspector Farrugia will see nothing wrong in any of this.
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This problem will only hit the news if/when it triggers off any issue or problem remotely related to illegal immigration. At that stage it becomes a problem and only at that stage would our Foreign Minister (zzz…) maybe call the Tunisian ambassador for consultation.
After all, having a president who has ruled the country like an old-style monarch since 1987 does not make any difference to those going on a group-tour to Tunisia next summer…”kollox inkluz fil-prezz, hi!”.
Obviously the same arguments you put forward with regards to Tunisia apply to Algeria, which are not fairing any better really. But Algeria is a remotely far country isn’t it, so it will get even less coverage.
The news about Tunisia means more in Washington than it does in Valletta. Here are some links to help our deadbeat Maltese press and cabin-fevered politicians.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/09/AR2011010901022.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/violent-protests-leave-eight-dead-in-tunisia-2180304.html
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/11-Killed-in-Tunisia-Protests-113162684.html
http://af.reuters.com/article/tunisiaNews/idAFLDE7080I120110109
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE7080BN20110109
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=132782710
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/3498/World/Region/Tunisia-death-toll-at–report.aspx
Hmmm, it looks like you’re compulsory reading for the crew at Malta Today. Look what they’ve just uploaded.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/world/video-hunger-revolt-in-tunisia-kills-50
They certainly lack originality, don’t they?
Governments in Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Egypt (and others) face the daily double-eged sword of keeping a semblance of a secular state while keeping fundamentalist Islamic parties out of power.
Given the stated intention of Islamic rulers in many parts of the globe to rule their countries and replace civil law by Sharia, it is difficult for such governments to determine if protests are genuine or if they have a hidden fundamentalist Islamic hand.
If these governments give up their vigilance then everyone can say goodbye to elections (be they a fraud or fair).
A really glaring example is the murder of a liberal and outspoken Pakistani governor. In Pakistan there was open and widespread praise for the killer by the country’s Islamic leaders.
Although the political situations of countries as mentioned above (and many more) are not the epitome of liberal democratic systems, they serve as the front-line against a creeping Islamisation of secular governments.
Given this dire situation, and if I had to be asked what to chose between the least of these two ‘evils’, I know where I would cast my vote. In my view, internal and external Islamisation is the most dangerous threat facing liberal democracies in our side of the hemisphere.
The most dangerous threat to liberal democracy is the restriction of individual freedom. The agent and motive are secondary.
La Redoute: I would not dare agree with or contradict your statement. But I would venture stating that this subject (threats to liberal democracy) is a hot potato which deserves urgent attention.
Why is it a hot potato? The measure of whether “Islamisation” – or any other influence – is a threat to liberal democracy is how far it restricts individual freedom.
That’s why I said the agent and motive are secondary considerations. If someone or something curtails your freedom, you’re hardly likely to think “oh, but that was the Catholic church, not Islam, so it’s all right then”.
face the daily double-eged sword of keeping a semblance of a secular state while keeping fundamentalist Islamic parties out of power
That’s the opposite of reality. The de facto dictators down there in the Magreb and Egypt play the left against the right to keep their pants on the seat of power, further polarizing society. The situation explodes sometimes like what happened in Egypt.
If you were commenting a couple of decades ago you would have said that the likes of Mubarak were keeping the communists out of power…
I get irked when priests on TV continue with this tired trope of Islam being intolerant and Catholics are angels. The Ottoman Empire and the Mughal Empire were certainly more tolerant of the various religions and subcultures than Europe.
Let me remind you: Jews and Roma were harassed and massacred in pogroms, inquisitions and worst. We couldn’t even agree on the finer points of the christian faith which resulted in countless wars and massacres since the Council of Trent…
I heard it this morning on the BBC World Service on Campus FM. It’s become my only source of news now. Local newspapers – there are times when I have to read sentences twice to try and grasp what the journalist is trying to say and what about the headlines?
The “accent” is a dead give-away to the fact that the writers often think in Maltese. (An example being “The pellet crashed into a low boundary wall.” http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110109/local/18-year-old-critically-injured-at-ta-qali ) Hence the often hashed-up headlines.
Really, certain issues bypass the Maltese isles. Wondering what’s the reason behind this: whether it’s the inefficiency of Maltese journalists as suggested above – which is quite possible to say the truth – or is there some dark political motive for not reporting Islamic / Sharia issues?
I wouldn’t be so sure about the Tunisian roots.
DNA tests show we are closest to the Sicilians and the Spaniards.
[Daphne – Yes, and guess why: because of the Tunisian origin common to all. It’s easy to forget that.]
Sicilians are not Tunisians! There are Greek, Spaniard (Andalusian and Catalan), Lombard, Norman and Saracen strains in the Sicilian genetic make-up.
[Daphne – When assessing genetic origin, you pick up various ‘strains’. It’s not one to the exclusion of the other. The true test of origin is language. That’s why the Basque people and the Finns are such a ‘mystery’. With us, it’s no mystery at all: we speak a language derived from the variety of Arabic spoken in Tunisia a thousand years ago. Despite the separate development, the similarities are still striking. You wouldn’t be able to follow a conversation in Tripoli, but in Tunis you would. I certainly have, and I know no ‘Arabic’. The other obvious evidence of origin is surnames. Maltese surnames are overwhelmingly of Arabic origin, and one of the most common surnames is Caruana (Kairouana, the original Arab fortress capital of Tunisia). The Maghreb is full of people called Bouhagar, and let’s not get started on Said, Abdilla, Abela, Busuttil, Buttigieg, and the rest of them. We also use Muslim terminology for Christian feasts and festivals – Randan, Ghid, Gemgha l-Kbira and so on. You really shouldn’t be so defensive about it. It makes us more interesting than we would be otherwise. It’s possible to see that if you are able to drop the prejudice of years of cultural brainwashing in Malta. Why is it not possible to accept the fact that we might be Christian and European now, but a thousand years ago we were not. We were Muslim Arabs, from Sicily but originally from Tunisia and other parts of the Maghreb.]
Tunisians are partly Phoenician, partly Berber, partly Arab, partly whatever else the peoples who people that part of the North African coast left there.
[Daphne – The Maltese have no direct Phoenician roots. Malta was depopulated around the ninth century, which means a complete break with any people who were here before that. If there were any survivors at all, it was just a few families scrabbling around in caves, certainly not enough to dominate the genetic pool of the new inhabitants who came in after the 10th century. Any genetic connection the Maltese have with the people of Lebanon today comes via Tunisia where, as you point out, the biggest Phoenician colony was located (at Carthage).]
Do not be taken for a ride by 19th-century nationalist rhetoric!
[Daphne – It is the myth that we are NOT of Muslim Arabic origin (despite the screamingly obvious evidence of language, religious terminology, family names and toponyms) that is nationalistic rhetoric, and it was deliberately propagated starting in the late 18th century. Before that, nobody appears to have been in any doubt at all that the Maltese were North African. The myth served us well because had we been classed as islands off Tunisia, rather than islands off Sicily, we would never have joined the European Union. But now I think we can ditch the myth, its having served its purpose, and face reality. The ancient admonition to ‘know thyself’ applies to nations as well as to individuals.]
The language proof is probably dubious. Judging by their language, neither the Spaniards nor the Sicilian could be termed Tunisian – which is in fact your claim.
[Daphne – I did not say that the Spaniards and Sicilians are purely of Tunisian origin. I said that the genetic make-up of those populations would in a significant part be derived and shared with the people of the Maghreb (including Tunisia) because the Iberian peninsula and Sicily were under Arab dominion (via the Maghreb) for many centuries. Yet their original language survived despite that. This is because language is ‘of the essence’. The fact that the people of Malta spoke (speak?) only Arabic tells us that they were Arabic. If they were not, then their original language would have stayed alive. It didn’t because there was none to be kept alive. More evidence: toponyms predate incoming languages and survive linguistic change if there is continuity of population. Look at England, where so many place-names are Anglo-Saxon still today. But Maltese toponyms are all Arabic.]
The same applies to the Lombards – we know they are Germanic, still they speak Italian, which is Romance. Any Sicilian who migrates to Lombardy will produce children who will grow up speaking Milanese. The Irish are giving up Gaelic in favour of English – still the Irish are not Germanic, whereas the Anglo-Saxons are. The Americans speak English, yet they are the melting-pot par excellence. The language issue was a late 18th- and 19th-century blind alley.
[Daphne – You are making the wrong comparison: talking about incomers being subsumed into the existing language, when you wish to prove the point that, in Malta, the incomers imposed their language on the existing population. You should know that this isn’t possible: Malta was under British rule and with a very heavy British presence here for 160 years, during which time the only official language was English. Yet how many people speak English as anything other than a foreign language and very badly at that?]
Christ, not this again.
Kindly be aware that Maltese uses Christian Arabic terminology as well, such as salib, qassis, isqof, raheb, knisja, dejr, qrar, tqarbin, ruh il-qodos, titlit,g hid il-milied, ghid il-hamsin, xbin, frejha, hadd il-gdid, rfuh (carnival), miru, maghmudija, etc.
Muslim terminology randan, ghasar, zerda, possibly gilwa, not much else.
This is a subject that should be treated on its own.
I can see why we’re not worrying about our neighbours: we don’t have any business or commercial ties with them.
Ties with Tunisia were cut in the middle of the twentieth century when the Maltese who migrated to that place were ‘sent away’ to France or Malta after independence.
At the beginning of the last century a lot of people from Malta went there to work and settle in Tunisia, but now we go there as tourists and probably some importer buys dates from there.
Our cultures are different: I find that in most Arab countries they feel that the western culture was imposed on them by their colonisers.
We still share the same type of language but who cares whether my grand grand father was from Barbarija.
If the trouble was in Libya it would be a totally different story; in Libya there are hundreds of Maltese workers and there are Maltese business interests.
So there’s no need for our journalists to wake up , they have better stories to write about.
Our PL leader is too busy following the story of Aung San Suu Kyi in far away Miyammar.
“They have better stories to write about”.
Anything involving sex or ghoulish deaths, for instance. What cultural and commercial ties does Malta have with Acapulco, Arizona and Northwest Iran, all of which feature in “world news” sections today?
Perhaps it’s because of travel agencies organising tours Malta-Tunisia. Guess they would want to avoid bad publicity for Tunisia, but doubtful that they enjoy so much power over Maltese media.
Ma nafx ta, but something tells me that your blog will have to disappear when PL is in gov in two and a half years’ time.
[Daphne – No. It will really come into its own. I had a great time 1996 to 1998, with so much to write about.]
@ASP – Let’s have some fun reminiscing … http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2008/03/09/sunday-8-march-2230hrs/
“So Maltese journalists busy themselves researching attitudes to a four-cent increase in the price of a carton of milk and writing stories about who stole Baby Jesus, while the last remaining shreds of democracy and free speech go up in flames 200 miles away.”
Not quite up-to-date, Daphne! I turned to a local TV station some two or three days ago to hear the headlines on the early news. I thought that nothing else was going on in the world, because the first item on the news was the Malta Song Festival / the Eurovision song contest / whatever it’s currently called.
I have first hand experience in Tunisia where I studied Arabic at Bourghiba school.
President Zine Abedine ben Ali is a ruthless despot who stops at nothing to stay in power. He is despised by Tunisians. He controls Tunisia with an iron fist. Ben Ali is more hated than Ghaddafi in Libya by Libyans; his wife is a prima donna with criminal brothers who control everything in Tunisia.
Secret police and informers are everywhere in Tunisia and any dissent is brutally suppressed.
I was followed by the secret police many times and anyone speaking to me was interrogated afterwards. Tunisians are extremely poor and deprived of basic food and vital goods.
Dear Daphne,
I studied Arabic in school thanks to Mintoff and the requirement to enter 6th form. When we got satellite TV I could perfectly understand channels like Dubai 1 and mbc 4’s adverts and promos not through my Arabic matric but because it is Maltese spoken with an accent that is much more gutteral (closer to some dialects). If you remember the proper Semitic word of an object instead of the Italian or Engish word, it makes perfect sense.
I think the one who got closest to the political situation in Tunisia is Another John. Ben Ali is tolerated by the US and other western powers because he is not overtly anti-west and they dread a surge of fundamentalism after he’s gone. There is considerable western investment in Tunisia. Tunisia fears Algeria especially because that’s where the threat of fundamentalism thrives most strongly in the neighbourhood. Ben Ali is a dictator and has ruled since 1987, changing the constitution to allow him to stay in power virtually indefinitely. He is feared and you will not find a shop, an office or even a taxi that does not carry at least one portrait of him. Every little village has its main road called Rue or Avenue 7 Novembre which is the day when he deposed Bourghiba. Tunisians are mostly nice folk and they try to live as best they can. The Ben Ali regime, undemocratic as it may be, is not all negative and the alternative could be worse. The female university student population is very high and, if I’m not mistaken, has outstripped the male one. Many Tunisians are highly educated and what English is for us, French is for them. They have good doctors and engineers. Non-Muslim religious practice is allowed within limts and the imposing St. Loius Cathedral is in the one of the main streets of Tunis.
If we take “Arab” to mean one who originates from the Arabian peninsula, I am inclined to say that probably a minority of North Africans are really Arab though they, of course, speak Arabic and profess the Muslim faith. My impression is that Tunisians prefer to be called simply Tunisians rather than Arabs. The Muslim invasion of North Africa was so devastating that little, if anything, survived from previous cultures. Christianiy was completely wiped out, much more radically than, for instance, in Egypt. Many find it surprising that the North African culture had been very much part of the Roman world and later the Byzantine one. Augustine, of Roman stock, hailed from Hippo in Algeria and Emperor Septimius Severus, native North African, came from Leptis Magna, Libya. Huge and wonderful archeological remains of Roman towns are found in Tunisia as in other North African countries. Unfortunately, most Maltese who go to Tunisia never go to Dougga, Sbeitla, Tuburbo, El Jem (which boasts the largest well-preserved Roman amphitheatre after the Colosseum) and many other similar sites which are rather far from Tunis. The Bardo museum in Tunis probably houses the largest and best collection of Roman and Byzantine mosaics in the world. These sites are still undeveloped for tourism and some are wary not to stress too much the pre-Islamic history of Tunisia. Of the original Carthage, little is left (the Romans raised it to the ground – Cato famously said Cathago delenda est) apart from the old circular harbour and very little survives of the Roman Carthage either. The fact that Tunisia was dominated by Ottoman rule for a long time did not help it.
There are very nice sandy beaches with clean sea in Tunisia. There are also some reasonably good wines at very affordable prices. Kairouan is said to be the fourth holies Muslim shrine. It has nice architecture going back to the the 17th century and earlier. Tunisia also has a small but ancient Jewish community, many of them in Djerba.
By the way, I hold no brief to advertise Tunisia for tourists. I am Maltese. I am also very sorry to see the latest events happening in Tunisia though I was by no means surprised. Such trouble has been brewing for a very long time.
The university of Malta conducted a study into the Y-chromosome of Maltese males and demonstrated that it is identical to that of males in southern Italy up to Calabria. I have not heard of a similar study on females yet. The Y-chromosome is transmitted through males only and remains unchanged. Language is a separate issue from genetics. Many North Africans are Berber (especially in Algeria and Morocco) and yet they speak Arabic. Berber is an Afro-asiatic language unrelated to Arabic. It seems there are a few Berber words in Maltese. There are movements for preserving Berber language and culture. Of course, there are Arab genes in the Maltese population as well as in that of most Mediterranean countries. A steady influx of genes from other peoples during the last 800 years, however, must have diluted the original “Arab” gene-pool quite heavily, I should think. DCG is right that we have nothing to be ashamed of if we speak a basically Arab language (heavily Latinized and somewhat anglicized) and have some Arab genes. When the “Arabs” took Malta, Islamic culture was in its golden age. There are few “Arab” surnames in Malta but they are highly diffused. Italian surnames are more numerous and some of them are also very common (e.g. Vassallo, Grech). I agree with DCG that we should be proud of our mixed heritage which is found very interesting by foreigners. Finally, my apologies to whoever has had the patience to read this for its rather disorganized structure owing to impromtu drafting.
You are all guilty of over-interpreting the dramatic footage of the riots.
Remember the “huge, earth-shattering” protests in Iran a couple of years ago? What has happened since then? Nothing.
And I’ll tell you why. Because real revolutions occur when one tribe fights against another, when one ethnic group hates the guts of the other ethnic group. This is just a few urbane educated kids fighting against the establishment. In other words, a war between social classes. And it isn’t even the whole educated elite, but the young educated elite.
They may be internet- and media-savvy, and they may wear the latest French fashion and profess liberal values, and for all we know they may represent the torch of liberty, but a revolution it ain’t.
Now I expect that twit Anthony Manduca to write some inane rubbish pawned off The Economist (motto: “Getting it wrong since 1830”).
The age of revolutions is over, ladies and gentlemen. Today’s protesters are just hamming it up for the cameras.
To state that the Maltese population originates from Tunisia is controversial, to say the least, in the absence of evidence. Most probably Maltese people have similar characteristics to Southern European and North African and Middle East people. However our physical features are clearly mainly European. This shows a predominatly European influence and is reflected in scientific research (http://forum.stirpes.net/human-applied-sciences/13332-genetic-origin-contemporary-maltese.html). This is reflected also in our culture and our geographic position which is closer to Europe than North Africa.
Our language certainly has Semitic origins but the current Maltese language has a majority of words which are not derived from Semitic languages. Therefore our language cannot be simply descibed as a Semitic language but is in fact a mixed language.
The riots and protests in Tunisia and also in Algeria should be reported, and even if these incidents happened in Chile or China. I think that if these incidents happened in Libya they would have been reported.
There were many Maltese or descendants of Maltese in Tunisia and other North African countries but many have now left Tunisia and are now living in France.
The cultural differences between Tunisia and other North African countries and Malta means that we feel cut off from these African countries and we relate and compare ourself to European countries.
[Daphne – In Tunis (the city) you will see no cultural differences. What you will find are breathtaking similarities. I find it quite amusing that so many people here in Malta talk about cultural differences with the Tunisian capital, but amazingly find no cultural differences when they visit, say, Copenhagen, where those cultural differences are so very much greater. My observations tell me that the average Maltese would be far more at home in Tunis than in Stockholm.]
Must be a knee-jerk reaction to reject our ancestry! But as you said somewhere above, sixty miles south of Sicily not 200 miles north of Tunisia got us in the EU.
By the way, seen any Sicilian hairdressers around; they must have been replaced by pots and pans salesmen.
When some time ago I was in Iceland, I was told that corsairs from Tunisia use to pillage Icelandic villages and take the inhabitants to North Africa as slaves; therefore somewhere in the Mediterranean, there must be some genetic remnants of these persons.
[Daphne – That’s right. The people of Iceland themselves used to raid Ireland for slaves.]