After Dalli's 'I know the Libyans…they preach vindication', here's that Akbar Zib Frans Sammut
Frans Sammut, one of the Labour Party's liberal intellectuals, seen here surrounded by books to convey the appropriate impression to peasants and Libyans
This comment was posted on timesofmalta.com, beneath the story ‘Libyan protestors argue with police in Balzan’.
Frans Sammut
Reasoning with these people is not easy. Given the circumstances their attitude may be comprehensible. Yet they should show a modicum of gratitude to the Maltese for their hospitality and refrain from acting tough with the Maltese police. The law is the law and they are expected to show respect for that and carry out the legitimate orders given them by the police. I hate saying this, but their behaviour would indicate that perhaps the heavy hand treatment accorded their compatriots at home may not in actual fact be disproportionate.
People with a basically desert mentality do not behave like urban or urbanized ones. Their concept of ordinary law and order is somewhat different. This opinion may not sound nice but it is more realistic than some of us, the undersigned included, would like reality to be.
———-
Frans Sammut is one of the key intellectuals in the Labour Party, which gives you some idea of the party’s desperate predicament. He is one of Alfred Sant’s closest friends and was appointed his consultant on cultural matters at the Auberge de Castille during Sant’s brief (but not brief enough) tenure as prime minister.
If this is the Labour Party’s idea of liberalism, what can I say? It looks more like racism, xenophobia, prejudice, bias and generally Akbar Zib thinking to me. I suppose we should be grateful that at least he didn’t suggest that ‘we’ Christians are superior to ‘them’ and their ‘vindication’, drawing Islamophobia into the mix as well, as Dalli did.
Well, what can you expect from a political party that corrals its homosexual supporters into a pen called LGBT Labour?
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And here’s a reply posted on timesofmalta.com by one of those ‘desert people’ (Frans Sammut’s term, not mine).
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110311/local/libyan-protesters-argue-with-police-at-balzan
A Mazek
I was reading these comments, which all seem to be against the Libyan people. As a Libyan opposing the Gaddafi regime, I can only say that Malta and the Maltese have a lot to lose when, God willing this current regime is toppled. Currently there are 360 Maltese companies in Libya and we cannot wait to see them all off and their business is handed over to us. It’s about time that foreigners, especially those who seem to be so much against us and our cause, go elsewhere to work. Seeing these nasty comments here, we will only be too happy to reciprocate these feelings. Also, I was so happy to read a few comments in Maltese which I can understand very well seeing that it’s a corrupt version of my Arabic, which I also know that many Maltese denigrate. Funny, come to think of it, to look down on a language which we Arabs gave you to communicate with!
He’s absolutely right. We’re gonna get what we deserve.
A.Mazek, what the hell do you mean” WE cannot wait to see them all off and their buisness is handed over to us” Do you really mean it? I thought the Libyan people are fighting for their Liberty and a better life, NOT TO LAY THEIR HANDS ON OUR BUSNESSES.
Do, you really expect our support after having said this? I think you owe us an apology. We allow you to live here, allow you to demonstrate, in Attard and Valletta, People like Mrs Daphne, Bondi, and even some o f our politicians join in your protest, and rightly so, because we always considered you as our friends..Why did you have to make that statment? APOLOGISE.
[Daphne – I don’t think he needs to apologise at all. I would have said the same in his place. I guess you just don’t have the imagination to put yourself in their shoes: living in terror day after day for four decades, watching people come and go sucking up to their oppressor, making money off their backs while they were unable to do anything much themselves unless they did what foreigners did and colluded with the regime. Then on top of that, being insulted and denigrated by the very people who did nothing about their plight and instead shored up the tyrant. And since when are they your businesses anyway? Or Malta’s businesses? They belong to the private individuals and companies who set them up and run them, and to the members of the Gaddafi family and others in the regime with whom they went into partnership. That’s what A. Mazek means, Silvio – that when the Gaddafis are toppled, any shareholding they have in businesses set up by foreigners, including Maltese, will obviously be nationalised. That’s exactly why certain business owners are so worried, and have no interest in seeing Gaddafi go.]
Mrs Daphne, is it possible that none of your usual contributors noticed this remark? Not even you ? Doesnt a remark like this hurt you?
[Daphne – No. I am not five years old, the possessor of a fragile ego, or Frans Sammut.]
I saw it and it didn’t hurt me, either.
A. Mazek’s post was evidently a knee-jerk response to the hideous sentiment of the other comments, including Frans Sammut’s.
” Buisinesses set up by foreigners, including Maltese, will obviously be nationalised”. Wasn’t that exactly what Gaddafi did 42 years ago? If that was not right then, why should it be now? Of course if Gaddafi is ousted. Dalli was right, after all, let them fight their own battles, if this is what they are after I am surely not supporting them, maybe I am not the only one.
Why is a. mazek generalizing? Not all Maltese and definitely not the majority of the Maltese agree with the comments on timesofmalta.com.
Sadly, I think you will find that the majority of Maltese do agree with racist comments like those of Frans Sammut and others.
@A Mazek, rest assured that not all Maltese share those sentiments. It would be a pity if we were to suffer because of people writing such hateful comments. As you are fed up with the Gaddafi regime, I can assure you that the majority of the Maltese are too, as we have been conditioned by previous political arrangements by politicians who were eager to tie Malta’s hands with those of the regime.
I don’t know how long you have been living in Malta, if you live here that is, but am sure that you could have realised the support the Maltese people gave and are giving to the downfall of Gaddafi. Let’s just hope that this happens soon and that your sentiments against the Maltese people will not come true. Sahha habib.
“I hate saying this, but their behaviour would indicate that perhaps the heavy hand treatment accorded their compatriots at home may not in actual fact be disproportionate.”
How can anyone write this? Nobody deserves any heavy handed treatment.
Frans Sammut is crazy to have made this statement. It is very hurtful to Libyans in Malta who have friends and relatives at home.
I disagree with Mazek’s reaction. It seems the hurt has made him react in this manner.
@ Maryanne
There are people who attend social functions with knives hidden in their socks. There are also people who try to board planes with hidden guns.
[Daphne – Funny you should mention it, because I was just thinking of that myself. Frans Sammut has a nerve talking about ‘desert people’. Honestly. Ahjar idur dawra miehgu stess.]
Frans Sammut can and did.
Labour are a certain kind of socialists, they are mostly national socialists. Look it up!
This opinion does not sound nice at all. It is abhorrent.
It is the opinion of a xenophobic imbecile.
He is worse than Dalli. At least Dalli was possibly milking money out of these tyrants.
This charlatan feels that the heavy hand(ed) treatment is not disproportionate.
Libyans who are not urban or urbanised deserve to be murdered if they do not show respect for Gaddafi’s law and do not carry out the legitimate orders of his police. This is the moral of his story.
And here we are mucking about discussing the murder of redundant frozen embryos.
Does it put him in the class of Norman Lowell?
Slightly unrelated: It has just occurred to me that the despotic and cruel occupation of Libya has lasted about as long as Communist despotism over Russia and half of Europe. I am making this comment because to me Communist dictatorial rule in Europe seemed to have been there forever (because it was there before most of us were born) and this makes me realise that Gaddafi has been a despot for an extremely long time.
‘Acting tough with the Maltese police’! I am sure the Malta police how to deal with people ‘acting tough’ with them.
I am sure Daphne can tell you more about this from first hand experience.
Frans Sammut has a superiority complex since he comes from the Maltese ‘super-race’.
Libyans are some of most gentle and kind people I have ever come across in my life. In Libya I have never been ripped off by shops or taxi drivers unlike what some of the Maltese do to tourists.
Frans Sammut has an inferiority complex.
Daphne, is this the same Frans Sammut who had alleged the following:
“Given your command of English I would expect you could adequately specify what you mean, exactly, when you declare that citizens who vote Labour are sub-literate morons.”?
He had threatened you with legal action on the basis of his above allegation.
Had he actually started that legal action, or could it be perhaps, that his lawyer may have advised that it would be “moronic” to sue on an allegation like that?
I am morally convinced that citizens who vote Labour are not necessarily sub-literate morons, but it helps.
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2010/09/27/only-working-class-people-are-paid-wages-my-dear-leader/
I know Frans Sammut has a passion for the French Revolution. He even wrote a book about it.
I wonder what he thinks of this Jasmine Revolution.
So reading through what Frans Sammut said was basically people from Libya have a basic desert mentality and they are “those people” that are not easy to reason with?
Meaning that he thinks that the entire Libyan people are just peasants?
I don’t know if the books behind him are all green or if he is the most unfeeling inhumane or the most annoying w**ker on the planet besides Dalli and Muscat, but he sounds like he is saying that it’s the Libyans’ fault for what is happening in their country.
Is this another dinosaur that should go back to the Ice Age?
Has Sammut read any of those books surrounding him as shown on the photograph?
The most unfortunate remarks by Frans Sammut have been matched by an equally unfortunate response by A Mazek.
Frans Sammut, by no means represents Malta’s attitude towards Libyans and his remarks resemble more like some peasant’s attempt at backward reasoning.
On the other hand, and especially if A Mazek is a local resident, he should also realize that Sammut’s rant is no more than a feeble attempt at appeasing an absolute minority whose defective reasoning is somewhat similar to Mr. Sammut’s.
Since A Mazek (Mr.,Mrs. or Ms.?) mentioned Maltese businesses in Libya which he cannot wait the day they are ‘handed over’ to Libyans, I would like to remind him that the businesses he talks about are of mutual benefit to both Maltese and Libyans and employ both nationalities. I am convinced that if Libyans could do without ‘foreign owned’ businesses, they would not be there at all.
A Mazek may have been hurt by Sammut’s remarks but certainly they do not give A Mazek LICENCE to be equally crass and to insult the majority of Maltese simply in retaliation of some inappropriate remarks by one individual.
With regards to our language, A Mazek, you know that the similarity to the Arabic language came about by centuries of domination by the Arabs, a period which may not be dissimilar to the situation the Libyans face under almost half a century under the thumbs of a dictator like Gaddafi. Our language has evolved, it continues to thrive spoken by one of the smallest nations and quite distinct from the Arabic language you speak.
I feel disgusted and insulted by both Sammut and Mazek’s remarks.
I totally agree with the above except for the language part. If Mazek yearns for the day when Libyans take over Maltese businesses, then he has a very weak understanding of business and private property – reminds of Mintoff and most of his supporters.
[Daphne – See my response to Silvio. You are very wrong. This Mazek, if it is a real name, has a very proper understanding of business, private property and justice. The most prominent and lucrative businesses in Tripoli have a significant shareholding by members of the Gaddafi family and others in the regime. This is the only reason they are allowed to operate. They acquire permission to set up shop, and protection in operations, in return for including those individuals in the business. When the Gaddafis are toppled – or perhaps I should say if, given the international pussyfooting about – that shareholding will be seized and nationalised. This is not because of lack of respect for private property but precisely the opposite. ]
Why dont you try and find out how many Maltese have shares in Companies operating in Libya? Are all these insulting and dengrating the Liyan people? Of course they are there to make a profit, that is what buisness is all about, but in the meantime they are creating work , for the ones who Want to work, of course.
Angus, Frans Sammut may not quite represent the prevailing Maltese attitude towards Arabs but he comes very close. On the other hand I can sympathise with Mazek’s emotive reaction when faced with such hostility.
Sounds reasonable. A racist cretin is a Labour ‘Liberal Intellectual’.
Its actually probably going to be all over in a few days. A massive rebel retreat has just been announced. Everybody has fled Ras Lanouf, and the loyalists are moving towards Benghazi.
It’s over.
” Reasoning with these people is not easy”. Did Mr. Sammut make a study of this? If not, this is a prejudiced comment is there ever was one.
Probably, if I were to say that reasoning with Mr. Sammut is definitely not easy I would be closer to the truth even though some may construe my comment as prejudiced.
It is very sad that this type of comment is made by a supposedly educated Labor man and an intellectual to boot. I would hate to think what non-highly educated and non-intellectuals would write. But, wait a minute, I know. I just have to go read some of the commentators on Malta Today and Timesofmalta.com and bingo they all pop up.
I would hazard to say that those who are usually penned into Labour Party thinking express the same comments as our Frans Sammut.
One cannot be in the Labour Party and think beyond the box. As Daphne says, they are all “corraled” in and not just their LGBT supporters.
I will not defend anyone or the indefensible.
But don’t you think, C-R-A, even for a single moment, that there was stability in North Africa because of strongmen?
I repeat I do not want to defend anyone, but Gaddafi wrote in his Green Book that before passing to Western-style democracy, there must be a period of tyranny. (Perhaps he didn’t use this wording, but the sense was this.)
Wasn’t it, after all, this the process which Europe went through? Peasants were ruled with an iron fist, under an emerging bourgeoisie gave birth to liberal democracy.
Daphne argued elsewhere that the Libyans do not want to wait to catch up with Europe. In other words, she is avowing the antithesis to Gaddafi’s thesis.
(This is where it gets very intellectually thrilling: when two theses are compared and contrasted.)
Daphne is arguing that the Libyans should get liberal democracy now.
Gaddafi argued that the Libyans need a transitional period of tyranny before arriving to democracy.
(Let us reluctantly give Gaddafi the benefit of the doubt, let us consider him a philosopher-king, and closed an eye to the accumulated riches of his family. I know, the whole argument is marred by the corruption of his family, but let us for argument’s sake consider only his ideas. If you find this unacceptable, I understand, and the discussion stops here.)
But why should Daphne’s thesis be superior to the Green Book?
Why – in historical terms – should the Libyans take the fast track to democracy, instead of waiting for Evolution which usually takes generations?
One answer I may submit to the discussion is that if you wait for Evolution to take place, individuals in the here and now suffer (the liberal school of thought). Therefore, a REvolution is much better.
Another answer might be, but in the long run Evolution will be more beneficial to the community as a whole (the conservative school of thought).
Ironically, the Brotherly Leader of the Revolution (or whatever his official title was) turned out to be a classic typical conservative.
Europe had to discover democracy, hence the Middle Ages and the painful transition it implied.
Libyans can and do look at the outside world. Why should they re-invent the wheel?
When the conditions are right, evolution can be surprisingly quick.
I’m wary of dialectic, Weber. It risks us losing sight of reality whilst arguing philosophical points.
On the other Joe, a sound philosophical basis gives you the opportunity to take the right decisions.
LOOOL you really think you can twist arguments this way and get people to believe you, Daphne?
Or would people believe more honest and really impartial news they get from other sources?
Honestly I pity you.
Qisek bniedem waqa l-bahar, imma mhux jinduna li qed jeghreq. Tibqa tifrah li qeda il bahar u qas tinduna li qed tiddistruggi ruhek fl-istess hin.
[Daphne – Your nick is most appropriate. I strongly suggest you reserve your pity for Dr Charmaine Galea LLD (not the judicial assistant, let’s make this clear – though you know that already given the nature of your relationship), who clearly needs help and treatment, given that she posts this kind of thing under the nick MeepTits (even giving out her email address to invite sexual overtures) http://www.freaksafari.com/forum/showthread.php?p=22405#post22405 . What is she – middle-aged and with a child, and behaving like this? Now that she’s stopped popping in here, you’ve started instead. B**ger off. I’m sure Charmaine would be happy to explain in great detail what that means, possibly also including a photographic description, given how happy she was to post pictures of her naked private parts on freaksafari.com. Look for them yourself. I’m not going to oblige.]
What on Earth is freaksafari?
[Daphne – It’s an American forum. Freaky as the name implies.]
From the little I read, it seems like the notorious “Something Awful” forum with a slightly higher average age. Basically a bunch of people trying to validate themselves through supposedly shocking and witty posts – aka a circle jerk.
This picture might appease Azzop and clarify things for Mr Sammut … http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2010/04/13/maltas-akbar-zib-makes-the-bbc-news-no-not-saviour-balzan/
A simple search for Meep Tits (originally named MadDazdemona, Maddaz for short) on http://www.freaksafari.com
and see the threads of Meep Tits ! or
http://freaksafari.com/forum/member.php?u=163 and follow the threads.
Din x’inhi ghid ?
These are a few comments after the display of “boobie and booty” and she was banned (for several reasons) from the ‘freak forum’:
“If she wants to come back, rather than doing it like an attention whore this way.”
“Keep her. With the demand that she not post any more full body photo’s or anything with that blue fupa sling she posted before she left.”
“Let her back on one condition. She is never and I mean NEVER EVER allowed to post her tits or any part of her in her freaky underwear thingamajigger on any thread. We DO NOT want to see that shit.”
“So, Maddaz… As long as you’re leaving, could you please explain this article of clothing: I just don’t understand… Is it a swimsuit? Lingerie? Some sort of doily? Gunt harness?”
And her parting words:
“Strangely I have just some 5 posts over two days on ‘another’ forum. And yet more strangely I got always positive feedback. The only negative feedback was from people there who are members here. Why??? If I’m so stupid here in my posts, and so ugly there in my boobie and booty posts WHY THE DISCREPANCY between both forums???”
“Hugs to all who liked me, and to all of you who didn’t, I still can’t fathom what made you hate me, other than someone being way too closetedly gay and probably hating seeing good boobie and booty posts and being frustrated in the same way that I was at not being able to view good male nudity here.
MadDazdemona.”
[Daphne – And she’s a lawyer, would you believe: Charmaine Galea, aged around 36, has a child called Larisa, born in 2002, with somebody called Antoine Azzopardi. And I rush to add that she is NOT the Charmaine Galea, also a lawyer, who used to work for Toni Abela and is a part-time judicial assistant. This one’s family had a business called Galea Seat Covers opposite Bond’s on the main road just past the Attard Industrial Estate. She posts photographs of her naked bits, writes pornographic descriptions of how she gives blow-jobs and has sex, then gives them her email and pretends to get offended when she gets messages asking for even more graphic images of her private parts. I think she needs to be carted off across the road to the mental hospital. Oh, and she’s also one of those avidly posting slanderous comments about me and my sons and my family on tasteyourownmedicine, which is exactly how and why my inhouse cyber crime unit tracked her down. I’ve always thought there is a disproportionately high number of crazy people on this island. It must be the inbreeding and general repression. ]
Ivan Attard on timesofmalta.com beneath the article about Gaddafi’s forces taking Zawiya.
“The buck is coming round at those who insisted Malta should condemn and demonize Gaddafi. I wonder were are all the Libyan ‘freedom fighters’ who had assembled in front of the Libyan embassy in Attard shouting obscenities and threats at Gaddafi! They have gone as far as being published on the Times with their full photos accompanying their rants of reprisal. Bet they will be in hiding for a long time if Gaddafi survives – again. How right KMB was!”
http://www.l-orizzont.com/news.asp?newsitemid=70901
Gejtu fi kliem Dr Joseph Muscat!
Kif qal Ivan Attard , Karmenu se nigu fi kliemu.
U li qal Frans Sammut fil-fond ta’ qalbek anke int taqbel mieghu.
Mela tkellem Joseph Muscat?
Bikers speak for truth!!!
EVEN if censord one time after the other time we always speak for truth, Us bikers are united
[Daphne – Yes, I know you’re a biker. You’re listed as one of the Facebook friends of Charmaine Galea’s eight-year-old daughter, Larisa. This is not because you’re a paedophile. It’s because you’re probably her father Antoine Azzopardi’s brother. You know exactly which Charmaine Galea I mean and it’s not your lawyer, or the lawyer who used to work with Toni Abela. Is everyone crazy in the extended family, or what?]
I am not sure what Akbar Zib means. Anyway at least this Frans chap would have have had a half decent argument had he stopped half way through. Daphne, what you made me realise is how unfortunate it would have been had we had Dalli as PM. I was not sure in the past but during this crisis he has put his foot in his mouth so deep that it has become clear to everyone what sort of person he is.
I’m not sure how many times Frans Sammut has visited Libya. As least John Dalli can claim that he knows the place and the people.
I don’t know how Sammut came up with the “desert mentality” when the vast majority of the population lives in cities.
Whenever I was there I couldn’t help thinking how families enjoying themselves on a day off looked exactly like Maltese families enjoying the weekend. The one difference is that the Libyans are more easy going and extremely laidback with an attitude of “No problem if it can’t be done today, there’s always the next.” And the next. And the next. When I look back on the fallout from a workaholic way of life, I wonder whether this is actually the smarter attitude.
Completely off topic but an article relevant to the local scene where libel suits are flying around our ears: http://www.badscience.net/2010/04/libel-litigants-get-what-they-deserve-and-so-do-the-public/
Daphne, you’re insulting the real Akbar Zib by comparing Frans Sammut to him. He’s actually a ‘well respected, high ranking Pakistani official’ and not a labour ‘intellectual’!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/08/akbar-zib-pakistani-diplo_n_451640.html
Il-problema qieghda fid-delivery (il-mod kif qalha) u mhux fis-sustanza ghax fil-verita Frans Sammut ghandu ragun biex ibiegh. Hu kien missu qalha hekk:
“il-metodi occidentali ta’ medjazzjoni pacifika, dissidenza non-vjolenti mhux dejjem jinfthiemu f’kulturi ohra. Ma nistghux nippretendu li kategoriji mentali accettati fl-occident se jinfthiemu fil-pajjizi gharab.”
Kieku qal hekk kien johrog ta buli. Imma Frans Sammut kretin bhall-mexxej tieghu u meta jiftah halqu jghid il-paprati.
The problem is not in the “delivery” (you mean wording); it’s in his warped thinking.
Il-problema qieghda wkoll li bl-internet ilsienha sar hafif. Giet moda illum li biex nigbdu l-attenzjoni nghidu affarijiet xokkanti ghax inkella hadd ma jhares lejn kitbitna. Din jaghmluha hafna bhal per ezempju Mario Azzopardi.
Frans Sammut irid jaghzel. Hawnhekk mhux it-teatru fejn hu koncess tkun xokkanti. Jekk irid iwassal image ta intelletwali mdawwar bil-kotba jrid joqghod attent.
Mata nara Laburisti bhal dawn nikkonkludi li nofs il-kampanja elettorali tan-Nazzjonalisti lesta. Ghax l-ikbar ghedewwa tal-labour huma huma stess.
Could be that A Mazek’s contribution was written in desperation: who wouldn’t, seeing all those cretinous and hate-filled comments on timesofmalta.com? It might even not be entirely unreasonable for the new Libya administration to favour individuals or organisations that voiced their support for them during the insurrection.
That was their hour of need, the time they need support the most, be it moral (at least) or in kind.
It is true that Mazek’s contribution might sound as retributary, but have not the ordinary Libyans suffered enough and have had enough of international collusion with their hated regime? At this stage I wonder where is the voice of the Maltese business community who have interests in Libya. So silent! I guess everyone has his own priorities in life and the silence of this community has shown where their priorities lie.
What do you expect from “the busness community who have interest in Libya” to do. Throw away , say a couple of million euros, each, and take sides? That’s very unbuisness like.
[Daphne – No, it isn’t. Business is always uncertain and carries risks, but those risks have to be assessed. A business that relies on the illusory stability of a murderous dictatorship is a very risky one, hence the high gains. It is far better to have relatively lower gains but also lower long-term risk. Nobody expects them to take sides – and a few have indeed taken sides, because a couple of them were at the protest march in Valletta – but then nobody expects them to try to shore up the Gaddafi regime to go back to doing business as they were before, either.]
Frans Sammut is what I call an intellectual idiot.
“I hate saying this, but their behaviour would indicate that perhaps the heavy hand treatment accorded their compatriots at home may not in actual fact be disproportionate. ”
Oh boy, he had to spit it out that he is pro-Gaddafi and that the Benghazi rebels are getting all they deserve.
PS. Is he related to the pistol-toting legal beagle stopped at MIA?
[Daphne – Yes, that’s his son. And this is his other son http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRHJKaHejjg . Unbelievable.]
Malta’s own Addams Family.
It makes sense that the leader of ‘Alleanza Liberali Demokratika Malta’ is for dixxiplina tan-nisa.
Hence the art deco look, complete with nudist parties where bare-arsed nisa are disciplined, forming part of the liberal democratic way of facing the crisis arising from too many rights granted to nisa, with kollox jidher, biz-zokra barra u x’naf jien.
When you consider the circumstances, it all makes sense.
KMB – was, is and never wll be right.
Frans Sammut has taken offence, posting this comment on timesofmalta.com:
“It’s rather funny that writing in your comments board elicits immediate response in another blog that has (or should have) no connection to this. After posting an opinion on this board which is my democratic right to do I find myself being dubbed “Akbar Zib”. Now, being in possession of a degree in Arabic I thought I should know the meaning of this graciously bestowed moniker, but try as I might I could find no meaning at all. I would be very grateful should somebody kindly enlighten me on this terminology, it is never too late to learn. Incidentally my lawyer too is very much interested to know the meaning of this term.”
Ma, the big bad wolf is gonna get you; head for the hills.
[Daphne – Would the lawyer be his son who tried to board a plane carrying a gun? Oh sorry, he’s a notary.]
He doesn’t know what Akbar Zip means so he consults a lawyer.
Actually it is a compliment… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPGb4STRfKw
Ahjar jghid mea culpa u jiskuza ruhu tac-cucati li kiteb.
L-aghar fosthom hija din: “I hate saying this, but their behaviour would indicate that perhaps the heavy hand treatment accorded their compatriots at home may not in actual fact be disproportionate.”
If I were in his position, I would have consulted a lawyer to seek defence about his comments that can be interpreted by the public as discriminatory and that he has incited racial hatred – hatred against the Libyan people of the desert, who, unlike this intellectual, are not urban or urbanised, and on whom, according to his comment, a heavy hand may not be disproportionate.
I do not believe he had the democratic right to make a statement like that at all.
However, he has also admitted in public that the term Akbar Zib has no meaning, and that he found no meaning in the dictionary, so I can imagine the judge’s face when the accusation is read.
Incidentally, Akbar Zib is not defined as yet in the Urban Dictionary – so I think he is right. Once his case is decided, I think the definition can be posted there.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=akbar+zib
More charitable Christians:
“Fr leonard M.Testa OFMConv
Islamic democracy is an oxymoron.
Moslems know well that democracy is not taught in the Qur’an. The Qur’an’s law (sharia) sharia is above all other law, international or otherwise. Moslems know well that they submit to other laws when in a minority and do so out of convenience and not because they are committed to the laws of the countries they had taken refuge in. Once Moslems are a majority in the country they had taken refuge in, then they demand under the guise of multiculturalism that the sharia be imposed to maintain their culture.
The Qur’an says clearly not to make friends with Christians ( See Qur’an, Sura Al-Maida, verses 51-52). Christians and Jews are called a ‘disease race” Al-Maida 52 . Even the so-called secular republic of Turkey, it’s so-called democracy is maintained by the military.”
Now correct me if I’m wrong Daphne, but democracy is not taught in the Bible either. Democracy is a Humanist thought.
Depending on which democracy you are referring to.
Multipartite democracy? One-party democracy? People’s Democracy? Jamahariya? Communist democracy (like the defunct GDR)?
Democracy is the Rule of the Demos, the people.
It appeared originally in Greece. The Humanists – who believe in a return to the values of the (pre-Christian) Classical World – took up the idea, but it took very long to achieve universal suffrage, before which there were other models of democracy.
You will find that Micallef’s Commentaries on the Statute of the Order of St. John – the quintessential Ancien Regime institution – claimed that the three types of government – Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Democracy – were reflected in the Constitution of the Order.
Such statements jar our modern ears. And yet, Professor Antonio Micallef stated his belief in the democratic government of the Order in his late 18th-century lectures.
In the Middle Ages, the Church too saw its government to be democratic. There were constant tensions between “absolutist” Popes and “democratic” Bishop Councils.
It is funny how the meaning of the same word shifts with time.
Adrian, why are you asking Daphne? You should have asked him directly on the site where his comment appeared originally.
It looks as if you’re afraid or something. Challenge his statement on timesofmalta.com, not here.
John, The Times website is not the best place to carry out a discussion. Some comments are never uploaded while others are uploaded many hours after being submitted.
Antoine, I think he can always try replying instead of telling us here.
There are problems in having an Islamic democracy. Our model of democracy does not seem to be compatible with Islam especially Shariya law.
Our notions of equality between men and women as well as freedom to change one’s religious belief are incompatible with Islam. One can also read on this subject http://www.meforum.org/1680/can-there-be-an-islamic-democracy
[Daphne – 1. Sharia law is as incompatible with democracy as Catholic law is. That does not mean that Catholic countries do not have democracy. It is only a tiny minority of Muslim countries which have sharia law. 2. Catholic countries which are run according to Catholic law are undemocratic. We should know, because we lived in one.]
I think you are not exact. More than 15 countries apply Sharia law either totally or partially in thier legal system http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_countries_use_Sharia_Law.
I do not understand your vague notion of Catholic law. As far as I know no country has ever applied so called Catholic law in recent times. Our legal system is as largely compatible with Catholic principles.
[Daphne – Yes it does: marriage.]
There is no Catholic criminal or civil law but only Canon law. Canon law was never itself part of Maltese civil or criminal law, at least in recent history. It does not regulate civil matters but ecclesiastical matters.
When was Malta not a democracy beacuse of so called undemocratic Catholic law? I think you need to brush up your knowledge on the Maltese legal system and history.
[Daphne – It’s actually pretty good. The trouble is that you are one of those people who interpret democracy as parliamentary democracy, but it goes way beyond that. The irony is that you argue this way even as we go through a protracted and pointless debate about divorce.]
I have written about it before as a comment on this blog but I can still remember the Saudi Foreign minister in a BBC/Doha debate saying that Islam and democracy are incompatible.
The House of Saud made a pact with the devil (Wahhab) to get their land. They exported fundamentalist intolerance and bigotry around the world ever since. They ruined Pakistan and India with their missionaries more than a 100 years ago.
Remember that before Wahhabism entered the Indian subcontinent, the Mughals held court to all religions and encouraged debate, intelligent enquiry and religious tolerance.
What do you expect from a blinkered intellectual still living in the glorious Golden Days of Labour?
“I never in my whole life posed as an intellectual and I don’t intend to do so now.”
Frans Sammut, 1.16am today
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110311/local/libyan-protesters-argue-with-police-at-balzan
One poses not when one is.
Sounds like all the excuses used by ‘morally good’ and ‘upstanding’ WASPs to keep the convenience of segregation and the Jim Crow laws [1] or arguments against women’s suffrage less than a hundred years ago.
Pseudo-intellectuals rile me up no end, especially when they turn a simple subject of discrimination into an intellectual Gordian knot. Lately it became starker. Instead of riling simply at the various skin colours, these bigots are using economics to justify their illicit hold on the wealth pie. Which is what they’re interested in anyway.
Tim Wise says it well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3Xe1kX7Wsc
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws#Racism_in_the_United_States_and_defenses_of_Jim_Crow
Does the Ignatian education imparted to Muscat somehow affect his public persona?
The Jesuits publish books such as Heroic Living, etc… SJ educators system seems to inculcate in their subjects that they (the subjects) are special, a sort of Messianism.
http://www.loyolapress.com/heroic-living-by-chris-lowney.htm
Many persons in public life, as you may know, have had a Jesuit education. I remember distinctly that Jesuits taught us to be “a man for others”.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110312/local/commotion-outside-libyan-embassy
“CEllul
While I understand the Libyan protesters frustration one must also understand the situation we live in. Malta is a small island with little military resources and which is very close to Libya. Its currently lead by a man who had already took military action against us in the past. For our good sake (I presume that these guys live, raise their family and work in Malta just like all of us) its better to work with caution in this current situation.”
In urban or urbanized societies, it is permitted to carry a gun in a briefcase, even through airport security, and this cannot be punished under aviation terrorism laws. I think it is written in the Green Book.
If I am not mistaken, nobody in Malta was convicted in this sense.
Why, did I say so?
I thought you implied so. It seems Daphne is implying so, too.
So F Sammut thinks that killing innocent men women and children is not a ”disproportionate reaction” by Gaddafi. Incredible. The guy’s a moron, make that a f–king asshole. Historian and intellectual? Yeah right. He’s so obviously Labour.
Napalm, my friend. Napalm.
From wikipedia:
The US Air Force and US Navy used napalm with great effect against all kinds of targets to include troops, tanks, buildings and even railroad tunnels. The effect was not always purely physical as napalm had tangible psychological effects on the enemy as well.
More recent uses include: by France during the First Indochina War (1946–1954), the Algerian War (1954–1962), the Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1974) and the Western Sahara War (1975–1991), in Nigeria (1969), India & Pakistan (1965 & 1971), Turkey used napalm bombs to depopulate entire towns and villages which were converted to military bases in Cyprus (1964, 1974), by Morocco during the Western Sahara War (1975–1991), Iran (1980–88), Israel (1967, 1982), Brazil (1972), Egypt (1973), Iraq (1980–88, 1991, 2003–present), 1993 Angola, by Argentina during the Falklands War.
International lawInternational law does not prohibit the use of napalm or other incendiaries against military targets, but use against civilian populations was banned by the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) in 1980. Protocol III of the CCW restricts the use of all incendiary weapons, but a number of states have not acceded to all of the protocols of the CCW. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), states are considered a party to the convention, which entered into force as international law in December 1983, if they ratify at least two of the five protocols. The United States, for example, is a party to the CCW but did not sign protocol III.
Good old napalm. Did you know you can make a close relative of napalm by dissolving polystyrene in petrol? It gives you a thick gooey liquid. Add aluminium powder and it’ll burn like the pits of hell. Oh happy days in the abandoned hotel above Ghadira.
The only way out for Frans Sammut is to fall on his samurai sword.
Epic comment!
When I read the title Ahbar Zib and saw Frans Sammut’s picture and know who his sons are, I decided that if one had to change the ”i” in the Zib to an ”o”, then it would have been a better title.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F67JhKT5bxU&NR=1
If the protesters react as A Mazek says and privatise all businesses and investments in Libya then we will have another Gaddhafi under a different name…we will have a Zob Akbar dear Daphne
[Daphne – You’re a little confused.]
I’ll safely assume you meant to say “nationalise”. Is your logical fallacy pertinent to Mintoff as well?
Well they make a trio don’t they, Mr “Brilliant author and consultant on culture”, Mr “I am so macho I can carry guns around” and Mr “It is vital to have a nudist colony on Comino”.
Quick, close the door. Gaddafi’s coming – from timesofmalta.com
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110312/local/commotion-outside-libyan-embassy
P Galea
We MUST ensure that our maritime borders as well as our points of entry (sea and air terminals) are as tightly guarded as possible and IMMEDIATELY turn back any illegal entry attempts. This is of paramount importance.
Otherwise we may end up with the same kind of violence as in Libya right now.
“Frans Sammut, one of the Labour Party’s liberal intellectuals, seen here surrounded by books to convey the appropriate impression to peasants and Libyans”
Is that the Yellow Pages, added on top of the other books to impress?
@ A. Mazeb
…For one swallow does not a summer make… (Aristotle)
No more to add my dear friend.
[Daphne – This is actually it “One swallow does not make a summer, neither does one fine day; similarly one day or brief time of happiness does not make a person entirely happy.”]
Brian, I’ve said this in other comments but it bears repeating: Frans Sammut is not just one swallow. He represents a whole blinkin’ flock of ignorant racist swallows.
Mazek’s reaction is perfectly justified and it’s frustrating that The Times website seems to upload comments haphazardly. I’ve submitted responses both to Mazek and to another Libyan on the same page and neither of my comments has been published yet. Even if they’re published tomorrow it will be too late.
Unfortunately for the Libyan Freedom Fighters, the situation does not look so good. I believe that the Arab League should act immediately and that they impose a No-Fly Zone, rather then wait for a U.N. resolution (which I believe shall never materialise).
The Arab League can only call for a no-fly zone. It cannot impose one as it lacks the means to do so.
Actually I believe that, from a purely military point of view, the combined air forces of Egypt and Saudi Arabia would be more than a match for Gaddafi’s few planes.
The ability to work together as a team and the political determination are more problematic, however.