When the altruism of good people brings out the worst in those who are bad, nasty or just plain stupid

Published: July 24, 2011 at 1:18pm

Ashih Tekleab Hailie, the Eritrean refugee who worked at the Paradise Bay Hotel and died trying to rescue from drowning a pool-boy who worked with him, is to be formally honoured by the state in a gesture that I have no doubt was the express instruction of the prime minister, even though all the news stories said ‘the government’.

Lawrence Gonzi is the only Maltese politician who has never, not once, spoken about refugees and boat-people from Africa in terms of unwanted cargo.

One of his most forceful and inspiring speeches in parliament in recent times – and there has been a dearth of them – was when he responded to his opposite number’s disgraceful public statement that, when confronted with a boatload of immigrants, Malta should adopt the same intransigent stance as Berlusconi’s Italy and refuse to rescue them – with the consequence that they would drown.

This was where the presence or absence of conscience in action was beautifully illustrated but never mentioned. Instead, the true nature of conscience was debased and made ridiculous by the recent shenanigans of the divorce debate.

Joseph Muscat’s stance was the typically peasant utiliarian thinking. If the boat is technically just outside Malta’s maritime area of responsibility, and just inside Italy’s, then if Italy refuses to help Malta is within its rights to refuse to help too, so we can let 200 people drown and still go to sleep at night. He went further, suggested that Malta should transgress against its obligations under international law as a form of protest.

The prime minister’s eloquent response, which shamed Joseph Muscat the self-professed progressive liberal (and it is with these matters that you can guage a person’s politics) even more than he had shamed himself already all over the newspapers, was that if 200 people are drowning then you are obliged to save them if you can regardless of whether the law allows you to avoid doing so, and that where the law obliges you to do so, you cannot call yourself decent and fight to be relieved of your obligations, with the unavoidable consequence that people will die.

These are people, he repeated. They are people.

Yes, they are people – and that is precisely why other people, who think of themselves as liberal and progressive just like Joseph because they favour divorce legislation and speak of gay rights while privately thinking in terms of ‘pufti’, hate them.

They are different, which means they are threatening. The inability to deal with differences among human beings, still less accept them or disregard those differences, is the antithesis of liberal thinking.

The usual liberal suspects who crowd the internet to damn the prime minister because he is against divorce legislation were out in force, commenting beneath stories and reports about Ashih Tekleab Hailie.

May HIS god look after him.

Why doesn’t France take care of his widow instead of Malta, when he died because of a French person?

Why should we do anything for his widow? She should get a job (she has one – in housekeeping at the same hotel).

He’s not a hero. He drowned because he can’t swim.

Send his widow back to Eritrea. If he had stayed in Eritrea he wouldn’t have drowned.

A story like this is manna to Arlette Baldacchino, Norman Lowell’s main woman, who sued me for describing her as a racist and whose lawyer is none other than AD activist and ‘liberal’ newspaper columnist Claire Bonello, who is apparently quite content to argue that Norman Lowell’s girlfriend and key organiser of his Imperium Europa meetings is not a racist, as long as it is against Daphne.

I hasten to add that Ms Baldacchino was in the same class as I was in school, where she distinguished herself by the dullness of her mind. These things sometimes improve with age, but effort and insight are required. Here she is on Facebook yesterday, demonstrating that the last 33 years have made no difference at all, except for the fact that perhaps now she knows that Eritrea is somewhere in Africa:

Wayne Hewitt
Boating tomorrow in forecast 7 knot winds…
2 people like this.
Arlette Baldacchino
yayy bumpy waves :))
Like
Stephen Frendo
‎28 knots……force 7
Like
Rita Axisa
Try not to throw up lol
Like
Malcolm Seychell
lol ara tispiccax marsaskala ghand gonzi hahaha
Like
Arlette Baldacchino
Mals int gej miehi nghinu xi klandestini? Ahjar ta ghax forsi niehdu gieh ir-repubblika :s
Like
Malcolm Seychell
lollllllllllllllll hadu gaddafi ggih ir repubblika ma niehduhx ahna ehhehe
Like
Arlette Baldacchino
X’gaddafi! Iridu jtuh lil dak l-eritrejan li ghereq meta hatfithu mewga wkoll. Qalu li qabez biex jghin it-turisti. Ara hawnx afrikan jaf jghum! tkaxkar miskin … Kieku baqa l-eritrea kien ikun ghadu qawwi u shih :/
Like
Rita Axisa
Bil girja sejjer lolLike

I trust you will agree that this exchange is pathetic in tone, sentiment and choice of forum, but more so when you consider that all the people involved are middle-aged and not 12 years old.

Meanwhile, the French ambassador has said that he will cooperate with the Jesuit Refugee Service to help Ashih Tekleab Hailie’s family in Malta and Eritrea (he sent money to his mother and siblings there). Other Eritreans in Malta are working with the Jesuit Refugee Service to raise money to this end.

You might wish to help too by writing out a cheque to ‘Jesuit Refugee Service – Ashih Tekleab Fund’ and sending it to JRS Malta, 50 Triq ix-Xorrox, Birkirkara BKR 1631.

Or you could transfer your donation to Bank of Valletta account number 400 2008 3708 or HSBC account number 0161 1605 5056.




41 Comments Comment

  1. Neil Dent says:

    Thank you Daphne – this piece should be on every front page, every portal and every FB wall.

  2. Hot Mama says:

    Thank you for putting up the Acct No

  3. vaux says:

    Seeing the photo of Dr Muscat in today’s local paper ‘The Times’ I suddenly recalled Leon Tolstoy’s description of Prince Hippolyte ‘le charmant’, in his monumental work “War and Peace”

    “His countenance was dulled by asininity and an expression of sullen self confidence…his eyes, nose and mouth all seemed puckered into a vacant wearied grimace…he spoke with such self confidence that his hearers could not be sure whether he was very witty or very stupid.”

  4. mark v says:

    I wonder why there exists at all any type of racism in Malta. Just sit on a bench on a crowded street one day and look at the faces of Maltese people. Some are very fair, some are almost black, most of us look and talk like Arabs or Jews, and yet some of us have the philosophy of some Aryan stalwart.

    It is so obvious that quite a high percentage of Maltese people have African genes and yet some still distinguish between African and the rest of humanity. What a pity.

  5. Paul Bonnici says:

    Ashih Tekleab Hailie is definitely a hero and his family should be rewarded for his ultimate bravery.

    However, let’s not forget the massacre in Norway which is the result of the unchecked influx of immigrants from Muslim countries who refuse to integrate and prefer to live in the Middle Ages.

    [Daphne – Your thinking is confused. The massacre in Norway is not the result of Muslim immigrants who refuse to integrate and prefer to live in the Middle Ages (did they have summer camps for teenagers in Norway in the Middle Ages?). It is the result of racism and religious bigotry in a criminal sociopath.]

    • Joseph A Borg says:

      Paul, violence is mostly done by bullies who happen to have low self esteem and cannot live with people who are different then them.

      In this case it was a far right looney with unhealthy attachments to white-christian myth of superiority. Understandable in an open society with a left-wing government. This was a Timothy McVeigh.

      The only antidote against these idiots is an open society that accepts differences and shun anybody who takes offence when others criticises his/her cherished ideals or makes fun of them.

    • David Buttigieg says:

      Did I miss something?

      Wasn’t the person responsible for the Norwegian tragedy a blue eyed blonde Christian?

      He seems typical of those who follow Norman Lowell’s bunch of baboons except that like most “aryan” racists he would not be seen dead with someone as semitic looking as Lowell, who would not survive a ride on Moscow’s subway!

    • David Buttigieg says:

      “immigrants from Muslim countries who refuse to integrate and prefer to live in the Middle Ages.”

      Being racist is a typically mediaeval attitude.

      • Paul Bonnici says:

        Since when is Islam a race?

        Islam is a bastardised form of Christianity and Judaism, a movement masquerading as a religion of peace.

        The atrocity committed in Norway is a form of protest by an extremist against the Norwegian government for allowing too many Muslims in Norway who refuse to integrate.

        Anyone who wants to know the reason for this atrocity should read this book: ‘While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within’ by Bruce Bawer, followed by a tour in the suburbs of Paris and Brussels and Tower Hamlets London!

      • David Buttigieg says:

        “Since when is Islam a race?”

        Well, as you know very well, no racist would have any problems with Islam if most Muslims didn’t happen to look like most Maltese :)

        “The atrocity committed in Norway is a form of protest by an extremist against the Norwegian government for allowing too many Muslims in Norway who refuse to integrate.”

        Unfortunately, people with mental problems, (covers all those who read books like ‘While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within’ with anything but disdain) would see it that way!

        “Anyone who wants to know the reason for this atrocity should read this book:”

        Iva ruhi, just ordered it!

    • jae says:

      “However, let’s not forget the massacre in Norway which is the result of the unchecked influx of immigrants from Muslim countries who refuse to integrate and prefer to live in the Middle Ages”

      This statement from Paul Bonnici is shocking and disgusting. The massacre was NOT the result of the influx of immigrants. It was the result of the action of a criminal. Full stop.

      No amount of compromising with one’s conscience can ever justify the murder of another person, let alone of so many young lives.

    • Kenneth Cassar says:

      The massacre in Norway is the result of Nazi scum, and not of any immigration.

  6. “I trust you will agree that this exchange is pathetic in tone, sentiment and choice of forum, but more so when you consider that all the people involved are middle-aged and not 12 years old.”

    I disagree. I find the exchange, and the thought processes that inform it, disgusting. If it were my 12 year old speaking in this fashion – and I say this at the risk of being reported to 179 right away – I’d have slapped his/her face into another nationality.

    The fact that this sort of thinking enjoys the support of the Leader of the Opposition (not only does he get away with talking like that without attracting opprobrium, but he’s actually publicly praised for it!) does not augur for a sensible future government.

    What on earth was Cyrus thinking? Honestly.

  7. Joseph A Borg says:

    whose lawyer is none other than AD activist and ‘liberal’ newspaper columnist Claire Bonello

    really?! I understand a lawyer always acts in a professional manner and takes a job on financial merit. If on the other hand the lawyer happens to be a columnist with a such an impeccable public conscience, then there’s a big misjudgement somewhere…

    • David Buttigieg says:

      “really?! I understand a lawyer always acts in a professional manner and takes a job on financial merit.”

      That is the bullshit excuse certain lawyers use to justify defending known criminals accused of attempting to murder their father’s boss’s personal assistant.

      … or to accept to be the notary in a ‘patt mal-poplu’.

  8. Bob says:

    I heard on the news that it was the French oyes who actually were trying to save him… has this been denied?

    [Daphne – Which news?]

    • sap says:

      ONE news I think. i heard it too. Their journalist said that the boys have told the police that it’s them that tried to save him and they will find no problem to repeat it to the French Ambassador.

      [Daphne – One News. So reliable.]

  9. Lilla says:

    The Maltese mentality concerning refugees and migrants is characterised by fear and the anxiety that our ‘beloved’ island is being invaded by ‘inferior’ beings just because they have a different colour skin tone or religion.

    I wonder how many of us ‘superior’ beings would have been brave enough to do as this man did?

    The Maltese seem to have forgotten how thousands of Maltese immigrated to make a better life for themelves and their families not too long ago, but this was justified because
    it was done legally.

    If we were in the same position as these people, we would do the same – legally or otherwise.

  10. ciccio2011 says:

    Daphne, Thanks for this post and the account details.

    This hero has taught us a lesson.

    His sacrifice should not be forgotten.

  11. Matthew Vella says:

    Woah, that Facebook convo is cringing.

  12. Ian says:

    Facebook is the perfect tool for exposing the worst in Maltese society, it would seem. People who haven’t grown up in the internet age are clearly not familiar with it, and thus think it’s just like being on the phone with Cetta from down the road, indulging in village gossip and the inevitable racist sentiments.

    Too bad on that on Facebook, the whole world can see. My god, this convo is really, really the pits. Peasants exchanging peasant sentiments.

  13. Psaila says:

    What a laugh! Grow up, Baldacchino. Or rather Get a Nice Life. You have never changed. Stop wasting time on idiotic conversations on Facebook. First we saw you on VivaMalta, then il-Pjazza.com. Now promoting homophobia and racism on Facebook? I’m ashamed to say I am Maltese like you. That conversation is DISGUSTING and the people participating in it with you are just as DISGUSTING.

  14. Psaila says:

    And Ian you are so damn right. A bunch of peasants exchanging peasant sentiments. Don’t these people have anything better to do?

  15. Psaila says:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UdTWbbNeD0
    To be fair with Baldakkina, here’s the other ‘promoter’ of homophobia, the Maltese man on the right. He used to be seen in Norman and Arlette’s anti-Muslim gatherings. Haven’t the authorities got control over these people?

    [Daphne – Two sad jerks who really look like they need a girlfriend but won’t be getting one anytime soon.]

  16. Psaila says:

    I was just about to forget to say, Daphne, that my fifteen-year-old son sympathises with you having spent time in class with this type of people. Note he’s only fifteen.

  17. gorg says:

    The young campers at Utoya were everything Mr Breivik disliked, politically and racially. The New York Times reported that many victims were the children of immigrants from Africa and Asia who had begun to stake out a greater role in Norwegian society.

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/calculated-attack-on-future-of-nations-left-wing-20110724-1hvh2.html#ixzz1SuByOafB

  18. Bob says:

    Please look into what One News said, it was very clearly stated.

    [Daphne – The day I take One News’ clear statements seriously is the day I get my head checked.]

  19. Psaila says:

    [Daphne – Two sad jerks who really look like they need a girlfriend but won’t be getting one anytime soon.]

    That’s right. They just look so pitiful. There is nothing more pitiful than advertising yourself on youtube to promote homophobia and racism. X’illl l-ostra jahsbu li lahqu? L’Alla jew? Insomma, one can’t expect better from Arlette Baldacchino and her friends. A pitiful lot. Ara ha mmur nitlob.

  20. Psaila says:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAvpMb7Z_Ek&feature=related

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UdTWbbNeD0&feature=related

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GrG2DPuA7k&feature=related

    Can’t these jerks get involved in some voluntary work rather than annoying us on youtube with their videos? Perhaps Minister Gatt could send the one on the right side to help Manu Maltes. Say to give him a lift to Razzett.

  21. Psaila says:

    Looks like he’s the one David. One of Lou’s best shows ever.

  22. TinaB says:

    A good piece. Well done Daphne.

    How someone can spew so much venom and have such hatred for another human being is beyond me. It utterly disgusts me. If one happens to scroll down on that same page/fb wall there’s more venom posted by the same person.

  23. Ray Camilleri says:

    the Nationalist Party under the leadership of Lawrence Gonzi ALSO (like Labour) based its EP campaign on scaremongering of immigrant ‘invasions’ with spots with dramatic music and warning of the danger of an invasion …. so Gonzi and his party pandered to ignorant racists too…

  24. dery says:

    I can sometimes almost put up with cruelty that arises out of ignorance. However when cruelty comes from the mouths or keyboards of intelligent people I find it despicable beyond words.

    I don’t know Wayne Hewitt but the little I’ve seen of him makes me despise his self assured Rolex-flashing self. He fits into the second category – people whose cruel comments do not arise out of ignorance.

    If there is one thing I admire about Lawrence Gonzi it is the way he has handled the refugee crisis and his assurance that he will never willingly allow anybody to die a cruel death at sea. Dr. Gonzi, people who have both a mind and a heart are behind you on this and certainly not behind Dr. Muscat.

  25. david says:

    My heart goes out to Hailie and his family. My middle finger goes out to those pea brains who wrote such sick comments.

    Most Eritreans and Ethiopians I know would have done what Hailie did.

    We are very far from the developed sense of community and sharing that they have. It’s in their social culture, but not in ours in Malta, where ‘the family’ is all. But of course, who cares! They take our jobs (which jobs?).

  26. Psaila says:

    Disgusting!

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