The new era of the Maltese ponce
This was my column in The Malta Independent yesterday.
Malta has just been added to the United States of America’s ‘watch list’ on human trafficking, but though the EU Observer reported this on Tuesday night, the newspapers here seem overwhelmingly concerned instead with issues of national importance like parking spaces at the Sliema Ferries (counted and enumerated).
The EU Observer’s report is accompanied by an aerial photograph of Valletta and the caption: “Valletta, Malta – Women who cry out for help risk being punished by the police.”
I suppose the difficulties with operating in a country the size of a town is that national newspapers are also local, and sometimes even operate at the level of parish newsletters, hence the parking spaces given more coverage than the turmoil 200 miles away. If that’s what the market wants, it’s what the market gets, but I can’t help thinking that this sort of narrow focus actually encourages readers to be even more inward-looking and navel-gazing than they were to begin with.
If the national newspapers make parking space in Sliema a national issue, then individuals don’t feel so petty and stupid for talking about this as though the consequences for Malta are more serious than what is currently happening in Tripoli, which we first ignored and have now forgotten.
On Tuesday, three Maltese brothers and their friend, who were up in court charged with trafficking Chinese people, escaped conviction because the Attorney-General made a mistake in the bill of indictment. And last week, two couples each composed – what a surprise – of a middle-aged Maltese man and a Romanian woman in her 20s were hauled up before the courts charged with white slavery.
Two other young women, also Romanian, had told the police they were lured to Malta with promises of a waitressing job, then held captive and forced to lap-dance and worse.
But that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, isn’t it?
Just as there are people among us who were total ostriches about how attitudes towards divorce had changed (“we don’t need it or want it”), so society as a whole appears to be sticking its head in the sand about white-slave trafficking and just how sordid some of our church-goers and family men really are.
If they acknowledge the existence of forced prostitution at all, they take it for granted that the tourists are Protestants or atheists bla skrupli jew valuri u morali. If a woman wants to sell sex for money, that’s her pigeon. But buying and selling women, bullying, beating and imprisoning them for prostitution and its variants, is a crime under international law.
Cyprus and Estonia were added to the human trafficking watch-list at the same time as Malta was. The United States report said that “the absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or is significantly increasing” in Malta, Estonia and Cyprus, and that the governments of these three countries have failed “to provide evidence of increasing efforts” to fight the problem.
There were other EU member states on that watch-list already, and this is the company Malta keeps there, apart from Cyprus and Estonia: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Lavia and Romania.
I trust you can make out the common factors. The US report describes a situation in Cyprus that is remarkably similar to Malta’s: sex clubs, which use women trafficked from post-Soviet countries, frequented mostly by Cypriot and Greek men, and a government which does not tackle the problem of complicit officials.
One notorious establishment in Sliema, some years ago now, was run by a former policeman. When neighbours reported to the police that they had heard women calling for help and children crying, and that it was quite obvious the ex-hotel was being run as a brothel because of all the Maltese men coming and going, somebody within the force must have tipped off the owner before the police raided, because they found nothing.
The owner must also have been told who made the report, because the next morning she found all her car tyres shredded.
The ratings for all these countries, Malta included, are similar to those for Guatemala and Malawi. The rating is based not on the amount of human trafficking in these countries, but on the state’s commitment to fighting it.
Russia, Moldova, Turkey and Ukraine are also on the United States human trafficking watch-list, and with similarly low ratings.
Hilary Clinton, who spoke about the report on Monday (United States time) said that American diplomats will now take to task those who are on the list. I wasn’t surprised when Douglas Kmiec was relieved of his duties, but now I am even less so.
To believe that your duties, as US ambassador in this part of the Mediterranean, are primarily concerned with inter-religious dialogue is to be disconnected from reality.
“This week, US diplomats around the world will be meeting with their host-country governments to review action plans and provide recommendations when needed,” Mrs Clinton said. “Even in these tight economic times, we need to look for creative ways to do better.”
Malta is singled out in the report for trafficking for labour, too: “African migrants currently residing in Malta may be vulnerable to human trafficking in Malta’s informal labour market. There were anecdotal reports that Malta may be a transit country for African women subjected to sex trafficking to continental Europe.”
The report mentions by way of example the case of a Somali woman last summer who complained to police that she was press-ganged into prostitution, and instead of being helped, found herself prosecuted by those same police for having false documents. She was sentenced to six months imprisonment.
The refusal to see what is going on in Malta stems, I think, from the same root as the refusal to see that Malta needs divorce legislation: an inability to admit that people in Malta have sex with other people to whom they are not married, and more so, that some of them are particularly base about it.
This denial of reality was epitomised in the horrified reaction to Alex Vella Gera’s now infamous short story. It portrayed a totally accurate picture of how lots of Maltese men see women and sex, but he was accused of being an outrageous pornographer and prosecuted for his pains.
Exactly who do the outraged think traffics these women or pays for cheap sex with prisoners in Bugibba flats, or for women to debase themselves horribly at stag parties, after which they all go home to their wives and girlfriends?
For a true picture on sex in Malta, the ostriches had best speak to the people who run the state clinic for the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.
It is not as though this is anything new. The Maltese have a long and fabled association with the sex trade. It is this very association which gave us all such a rotten name in England in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, when it seemed that every Maltese man in London who wasn’t a student was a Soho ponce or white-slaver.
Imagine how much more convenient it is for the new generation who now don’t even have to leave home to do it.
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They may be hypocrites, but they’re my kind of hypocrite.
Well, hats off to the Americans for this report. However, latest news from New York would indicate that, before a woman lodges a report that she’s been raped, she should check the identity of her assailant first. If he’s rich, powerful and connected, she better forget it. Because its SHE who’ll be on trial. So really, be it in Malta, the US, the EU or Libya, or wherever,the world is just the same: tightly in the hands of the rich and mighty. Some say that,well,this is how it should be anyway. it’ the natural order of things, isn’t it. It’s a sad day today.
I think we both agree that the PL as it is now is not the sort of alternative that we want for Gonzi and pals. But then what are we to do when I am disgusted by Gonzi and the men (and one woman) that he has surrounded himself with?
While at the time I agreed with you that for people like us, voting yes for divorce would have let off steam I find that I am even more unhappy with PN leadrship now.
[Daphne – Yes, because the PN is really screwing up the aftermath. It had the perfect opportunity to say, right, people want divorce, so let’s deal with it and move on. Instead it became a circus of consciences.]
So tell me what you think the alternative for people like me is please!
[Daphne – Funny how I find myself repeating the same thing. The choice is what it always was: between government X and government Y, prime minister X and prime minister Y. If you don’t choose, you choose by default and you still get a government and prime minister, so you might as well have a say in the matter. On polling day, you do what I do and ask yourself the question: would I rather have a Labour government or a Nationalist government? Would I rather have Lawrence Gonzi or Sant/Muscat as prime minister? It takes me about two seconds to decide, but then I make choices and take decisions very quickly in everything.]
Incidentantally I do not share your thoughts when you speak about what the Maltese media choose to report. I have had the (dis)pleasure of having to deal with the ‘free’ health service in Malta this week – something I had not done since my early childhood and I was so appalled that I understand that people don’t care about Romanian prostitutes but are more concerned with bills etc.
[Daphne – If you understand, then watch out, because you are falling prey to the same mindset. If you want to become small-minded, go ahead. But you should know that it is possible to worry about your bills AND take an interest in Maltese white-slavery, just as it is possible for the media here to report on both. The two are not mutually exclusive.]
My problem is that I’d opt for PN normally, but the hierarchical structure as it is now is a sham. Giovanna, the Tonios, the PM himself, Edwin … they need to go and fast. The only reason why I fancy PL winning next election is because it’s the only way the PN will be forced to sort itself out.
As I see it:
PL wins next election: rubbish government, and after some REAL soul searching, an electable opposition
PN wins next election: rubbish government, rubbish opposition
This search for liberal candidates by PN right now is a sham. OK maybe they’ll get Cyrus Engerer and the like to contest the elections, but what next?
When it comes to dealing with social matters it will be a case of ‘Thanks for your opinion, hon, and for being one of the colours of our beautiful rainbow, but we’re still doing it our way.’
“…the colours of our beautiful rainbow…”
Nispera li Tonio Fenech ma johrogx b’xi Budget tal-QawsAlla, ghax jahseb li ser joghgob lill-Madonna.
Smajt li l-LGBT Labout qed jaghmlu lobbying ghal budget tal-qawsalla.
I’ll get me coat.
Thanks as always for your clear answers. But Daphne,I know that what I am going to say will sound like I want to cut off my nose to spite my face but I am sorely tempted to get rid once and for all of Gonzi and his “the duluri is sad” posse.
I am afraid that the only way to purge the PN of such people is for them to lose an election. If they win again (highly imnprobable) the will feel that what they are doing is right. If they lose there is the chance that we will get a leader like Mario Demarco.
[Daphne – Not so simple. Devastation at the polls doesn’t mean a quick fix via a change of leadership. There is also the risk of disintegration into infighting and recrimination, followed by years in the wilderness. Ranier Fsadni is good on the subject: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110616/opinion/History-has-no-right-side.370850%5D
Our electoral system offers you the opportunity to choose your candidate – so it should be very easy to eliminate candidates.
On the other hand, 5 years of bad governance e.g. PL, would result in 10-15 years of economic problems. After all, with all the nonsensical attitudes of a number PN ministers and MPs, we should be grateful that our economic situation is strong when compared to the majority of European and other countries – and there is no other reason for this except excellent work by consecutive PN governments.
I have never had any issues with the major economic policies of the PN in the last 3 decades. My issues lie elsewhere.
If I remember correctly, in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, physical well-being comes well before other aspects of one’s life such as concern for the well-being of total strangers. It is natural to first worry about bills and then later… about white slavery that does not involve oneself.
Also: Just because I understand something does not mean that I agree with it
What one wonders is that this situation does not seem to sit on the consciences of certain prominent people who objected, on conscientious grounds, to divorce: people like Lawrence Gonzi, Tonio Fenech, Austin Gatt, Tonio Borg and that Coleiro woman.
Where does Tonio Fenech’s Madonna stand on this issue?
And why are ecclesiastics not speaking out?
Isn’t this on the conscience of the bishops – where does the Bishop of Gozo stand on this issue?
Doesn’t the Catholic Church have a budget to help the victims?
We have created a disgraceful and dysfunctional society and country, and we now have to live with the consequences or leave our shores.
Don’t forget it’s all about the floating voters.
They want the ‘pimp’ vote now.
Every little helps.
Ecclesiastics do speak about such issues. Here’s just a small example: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20070619/local/human-trafficking-a-grave-sin.14056
‘We have created a disgraceful and dysfunctional society and country’
When in our history was our society and country not disgraceful and dysfunctional in matters of victims of prostitution? Let’s not mythicize our past.
True. Read the diaries and letters of some knights in 17th- and 18th-century Malta. It’s all there. The Malti qalbieni would regularly pimp his wife or daughter.
We haven’t changed one bit. Injoranti, mahmugin, ipokriti u haxxejja konna, u hekk bqajna.
Fast forward to 2011. You do realise that ex-policeman implies ex-colleagues, some of whom now move in more exalted circles, right? I’ll say no more because 1) it’s common knowledge and 2) they’ll sue me.
The Police versus H.P. Baxxter. Can you imagine that?
I’d take my chances in a final showdown on the roof of Portomaso Tower. Suicide by cop. Then I can sit back in hell and watch the liars say what a great guy I was, and such a promising career, and how the nation has lost a rare talent, wouldn’t you know.
We seem to have two kinds of morality in Malta. However we deal with it either by turning a blind eye and letting things go on, but if it is something to do with religion then we go all out.
Maybe one should report also that three quarters of the prostitution in London is now run by albanians,the heroin trade by the turks,the cannabis trade by the vietnamese,and the pakistanis are after 14 year old white girls to satisfy their lust so what else is new?
The americans should look near home for their statistics!
Check the turmoil circa 340km away http://feb17.info/
Your article about the subject above is very much appreciated – I had little awareness of the extent of Malta’s involvement in the business of human trafficking. You manage to articulate the subject matter in liberal and contemporary language.
Above all, I admire you for consistently stealing the initiative on social matters from those who call themselves progressives and moderates – especially on matters relating to the rights of women. So much for their talking about the flame of feminism.
Isn’t the Attorney General accountable for such mistakes?