He’s the Che Guevara wannabe with the silly hat, who pretends to be a Marxist revolutionary while living like the petit bourgeois that he is.

Etienne Calleja: And I thought it was the increase in court and legal fees which did away with petty litigation.

Was Jean-Paul Mifsud the guy who “scooped” Massimo Giletti?

“The Italian terrorists’ ‘religion’ was communism”

Thank you, I’ve been saying that religion is an ideology. I do not see much difference other than the fact that religion tends to have a god and secular ideologies don’t

“You are making the fundamental error of thinking – even without realising it – that Arab/Muslims are biologically different to ‘us’.”

Oh please, there is no such thing as a biological Arab or Muslim. No I am not, had I been brought up in similar circumstances I would have been more likely to do the same thing myself.

“If Europe were to be subjected to the particular stresses that the ‘Arab world’ has been going through for the last few years, we would see the re-emergence of widespread terrorism by Europeans. ”

Such as killing members of particular national groups in far way countries like Argentina, as what Hezb’allah did in 1994? Or murdering old people in their homes to liberate a country?

“is chickenfeed compared to the 1970s. ”

You must take into account that the likes of the IRA were far better organised and trained than Al Qaeda, which is really an umbrella of cells.

“Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and Mao Tse Tung – could hardly be described as motivated by religion.”

They most certainly were. Instead of the conventional religions they were motivated by their ideologies, which they adhered to with religious conviction. They were all ideologues. Do you understand my point now?

Oh but many do object. And prominent opinion-makers too. Vide that clown Jean-Paul Mifsud (aka ‘Franco. Is-secret agent hej) and ‘it-tim ta’ Xarabank’ mounting a sting operation against a poor innocent Ukrainian prostitute, and stalking her all the way to the airport.

Their frisson of pleasure in showing their anti-racist third-worldism by persecuting blonde, blue-eyed Slavic illegal immigrants was palpable.

You may not be uppity, but the generalisation “most Russian girls are prostitutes” is equally as disgusting as “most blacks are rapists”. And it’s been ingrained into the Maltese brain.

“Maltese children are indoctrinated in exactly the same way. But perhaps you don’t know that. ”

Oh really? I went to a Catholic school where I also received religious education, but no one ever taught me that non Catholics are going to burn in hell, as my Egyptian friend was taught about her Coptic class mates, for one. I wasn’t constantly reminded that the Jews are the slayers of prophets and deceivers either.

[Daphne – That’s because you’re 23. I am 46, and that’s exactly what my generation was taught: those very same words. The nice ones might have gone to ‘Limbo’, the others went to hell. This is because the teachers – and the faith itself – didn’t have an answer to the question of what happened to those who were not Catholic, if you had to be a good Catholic to get into heaven. It marked the beginning of my difference of opinion with the Catholic Church, aged around nine. Catholics and Muslims both think that The Other is going to burn in hell. You should know that.]

“It is not to blow themselves up”

They are not taught to blow themselves up, but to put the creed above everything else. That kind of thinking makes it easier for the more motivated to blow themselves up. Others do other things.

[Daphne – All believers, whatever the religion, are taught to put their religion first. All of them. Including Roman Catholics in Malta. Whether you accept the teaching or not is up to you, your need for faith and your level of intelligence.]

“Daphne – Does that make them better or worse? I think it makes them worse: prepared to kill others but not prepared to die with them. Again, you’re not looking at religion there, but at social culture: the ego versus the group”

Well, any negotiator would disagree with you. One may at least compromise and save lives with those who do not want to die. These people simply wish to be martyrs and wage war.

[Daphne – The ones who die are not the ones who will be negotiating. They are the tools. Again, you should know that.]

More brooding from the usual self flagellators. Their Catholic upbringing really comes out at times. There were some adopted children from Zimbabwe too in my village. I grew up with two of them and I don’t recall them being marginalised at all. On the contrary, they were quite popular and good at sports. I’m still friends with them.

Don’t waffle about racists when you generalise about your own as much they generalise about people from other backgrounds.

@Zorro
Most tourists find Maltese bus drivers quirky and therefore amusing.
Although I understand that the Maltese just find them brazen.
It’s like in Bavaria, where I live: Tourists usually love the Bavarians and their obdurate and mulish behaviour.
I can’t stand it!

“If it’s not Islam used as an excuse, it will be something else. People don’t kill because of religion or politics. They kill because they want to do so. ”

Are you saying that it is impossible for normal people to become radicalised?

[Daphne – Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. Mentally and psychologically healthy people by definition cannot be radicalised, because they are ‘normal’. That means no pathologies and no dysfunctional personality, no breeding ground for radicalism, religious fixations and the rest (and I’m not talking only about Islam or religion in general here – the Italian terrorists’ ‘religion’ was communism). For a ‘normal’ person to behave abnormally, he or she would first have to undergo some traumatic life event that leads to psychological collapse – in other words, become ‘not normal’.

Today’s ‘terrorism’ – with the salient exception of the Twin Towers – is chickenfeed compared to the 1970s. Believe me when I say that. But you don’t have to believe me – it’s all there in the newspapers of the day.]

People do kill because they want to do so, but religion and politics make it much easier too, for the simple reason that they give the killer the impression that he is on the right side and doing it for a just cause. When you believe that someone is against god or your political cause it becomes much easier to overcome any inhibitions about taking his/her life as you are doing it for a just cause.

[Daphne – You don’t need religion for a just cause. See my reference to the Brigate Rosse. Look at the IRA. The most murderous sociopaths in history – Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and Mao Tse Tung – could hardly be described as motivated by religion.]

“Blaming it on religion is facile. The point I made is that sociopathic young people will find an outlet for their rage, and sometimes it happens to be religion, sometimes not. In the case of Islamic suicide bombers it was religion. In the case of the IRA it was an end to British rule. ”

I didn’t blame it all on religion, but when you are taught from childhood about the glories of martyrdom, about how god and his ‘deen’ are the most precious thing in your life and you spend long hours reading about how he will punish unbelievers it doesn’t help.

[Daphne – Maltese children are indoctrinated in exactly the same way. But perhaps you don’t know that. I agree with you that it is damaging, and that it shapes young minds in a negative way. But the end result is generally bigotry, and the inability to think clearly and to question things. It is not to blow themselves up.]

It is inevitable that some would take it further than that. It’s just like saying that the antics of the Roman Catholic Church did not help foster virulent antisemitism in Europe.

[Daphne – Anti-Semitism is a lot more complicated than that.]

I could bet that the thugs of the IRA would not have been prepared to hijack a plane and die for the cause as willingly as the youth inspired by Islamism did.

[Daphne – Does that make them better or worse? I think it makes them worse: prepared to kill others but not prepared to die with them. Again, you’re not looking at religion there, but at social culture: the ego versus the group.]