Who taught Brian Gatt’s grandparents how to wash, queue and use a lavatory?
Lt Col Brian Gatt
I was really sickened by the contemptuous and patronising way in which Brian Gatt, the army officer who heads the detention centres,spoke about the way African immigrants are prepared for integration into Maltese society, when he was interviewed for TVM news yesterday night.
Did he speak about lessons in Maltese and English? About imparting information on their rights and labour laws and the minimum they should be paid? About systems of law and tax and national insurance and their rights and obligations as tenants, or how best to set about looking for a place to rent?
About schools and hospitals and the geography of the island and courses they might take to improve their skills, of Maltese attitudes to immigrants and how these may best be dealt with?
No. I froze as I listened. This is what he said:
We teach them basic things like how to wash themselves and how to wash their clothes, because they don’t know anything about that. We teach them about how to keep things clean, about hygiene, because they don’t know anything about that either. We teach them about queues, that’s it’s one person after another in a line, because they don’t know anything about that either. We teach them about the concept of using a lavataory rather than doing it on the ground.
That African immigrants don’t know how to keep themselves or their clothes clean is a quite obvious lie (besides being a horrendous generalisation). The most noticeable thing about all of those I see is how spick and span they are, how neatly put together, how well-ordered their clothes are, and how they make the Maltese walking past them look like dumpy scruffs. I suspect that this is part of the problem. As the person responsible for the laundry in our household, this is an observation I make routinely because I can’t help but wonder how difficult it must be to stay so neat and clean in what must be difficult conditions.
Queues – the queue is a British concept that was taken up in British-influenced parts of the world, and more latterly in parts of Europe, but which exists nowhere else. Everywhere else, you will get a push of people, vying with each other to get to the front. You will get this even in Malta, in places where queues are not heavily controlled by attendants and ropes (as in banks, post offices or government departments) because the concept of the queue is culturally alien to Malta, and the natural tendency of people is to shove to the front while elbowing others out of the way, as though they are fighting for the last place on the last lifeboat of a sinking ship.
Using a lavatory rather than doing it on the ground: a lavatory with a seat is a British/American concept that spread into Europe quite late in the 20th century. Holidays with my parents in Italy as a child in the 1970s were a feat of bladder control because I refused to use the lavatory between leaving the hotel and returning to it at night. All the lavatories we encountered in between, in restaurants, bars, cafes, public places and even the Vatican were literally holes in the (tiled) ground and were not only wholly impractical to use but completely disgusting.
Malta in the 1970s was not a place where people knew anything about personal hygiene or keeping their clothes clean. Lots of people didn’t have bathrooms (hence the fairly recent explosion of bathroom centres and the way we still think of bathrooms as something really special on which fortunes must be spent). Being in a crowd or on a public bus tested one’s ability to go for long periods without breathing, because of the pungent body odour and the fact that almost nobody knew what deodorant was, or washed more than once a week, if that. People didn’t wash their hair, either – everywhere you looked, there was dirty, greasy hair. The same clothes were worn repeatedly and washed at the end of the week, even in stinky summer.
As for hygiene in the home, oh please. How old is Brian Gatt? Or has he blanked out the reality of life in Malta when we were children? Back then, it was routine for several siblings to crowd into a single bed, and when the youngest soaked the mattress, if they were lucky enough to have one, it would simply be allowed to dry and then they would all sleep on the dried urine. People used buckets as lavatories and splashed their faces at the sink.
They cooked in yards on spirit-stoves and chopped their vegetables on the doorstep. Children tumbled about in the street and ate with their dirty hands (and it didn’t kill them). Adults slept on piles of straw in garages with their rabbit cages and their animals. Brian Gatt can’t possibly have been sheltered from all of that. Going by the rather large odds, he might even have experienced some of that directly through his family, or had parents who did.
But even if he didn’t, he should never have spoken that way. It was wrong, he is wrong, his prejudice was palpable, and his words, broadcast on the TVM news, only served to bolster up the belief of other ignorant people that immigrants are dirty and different. And yes, too many of those listening to him will have ignored or forgotten the way that their parents and grandparents lived, the way they might have lived, themselves, as children in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
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Queues? A couple of years ago I was an extra during the shooting of The Gladiator. After the shooting, extras where requested to queue so they could get their pay cheque for the day.
It turned out to be one of the most horrific experiences in my teen life. Women and children pushed aside, shouting and swearing. All because no one respected the line and no one gave a hoot about each other.
I am convinced that similar situations occure everywhere in Malta but no one dares to mention them. Who is teaching immigrants about queuing exactly?
People ask me ‘how is life in Malta’?
I say it’s fantastic, so long as I avoid anywhere that involves being in a crowd of Maltese. By crowd, I mean any group of over 10 people.
I think ‘queuing’ in Malta is horrible…try going to McDonald’s to try it. Even the cashiers do not respect the queue.
No wonder – Brian Gatt wants to please his master – even at the cost of making a fool of himself.
Late yesterday a relative of mine was recounting to me what Lt. Col. Gatt said on PBS. My first reaction was that this is surely part of the propaganda of the regime. So I was not the only one to think so.
It-Twila (Lt. Col. Gatt’s nickname in his secondary school) should know better.
I am not ancient (38) but I do remember being washed in a ‘banju taz-zingu’. I also remember Strada Rjali in Valletta full of shit and piss, with men especially pissing under every arcade existing. As a child I was appalled by the lack of dignity.
Remember the stairs up from the Yellow Garage in Valletta? And the floors in every public toilet, even today?
And the stairs exactly next to Burger King that used to lead up to near the Central Bank?
I’m only 30 and I remember the smell and sight of urine and worse quite vividly.
Lt Col Gatt, my brother-in-law is from Ghana and I can assure you that he can surely teach you a thing or two about hygiene, cleanliness and politeness.
This is the first time i’ve ever heard that in the 70s and before people did not have toilets and barely showered or washed their hair. But then again that is before my time.
[Daphne – Well, you see, Chris, that’s why it’s important to be informed. And Malta wasn’t alone in that. The situation was commonplace throughout Europe. Lots of houses still had outside lavatories in Britain, and Jackie magazine, Britain’s biggest magazine for teenage girls, which I read when I was 12 to 14 (that would be in the late 1970s) was full of tips on how to wash your hair and why deodorant is important. Yes, as basic as that. It was standard to bathe just once a week. Hair was washed once a week, if that, and lots of people didn’t bother with shampoo but used ordinary soap, hence the poor condition of hair in general. And yes, many people used buckets for lavatories and washed at the kitchen sink.]
I’m sorry but immigrants DO need to know these things. For starters holes in the ground to be used as toilets do not exist in Malta or much of Europe. In Muslim countries especially ones that do not attract westerners the toilets are mostly holes in the ground. Places like Somalia, Eritrea, Mali etc. are definitely not countries which attract westerners therefore the immigrants NEED to know these things.
[Daphne – Don’t be so ruddy patronising. How long does it take to learn how to use a lavatory with a seat? Approximately five seconds. You use what you find.]
With regards to queues, nobody likes queuing especially me and if anybody had to try and skip me in a queue all hell would break loose so yes these are also things they need to know.
[Daphne – You will notice that wherever a queue exists, people will stand in line and not barge to the front. Where there are no queues, as at the bar at a large party, people will barge to the front, whether those people are Maltese or African. Kindly get a grip. You speak as though you are somehow superior when, by dint of doing something as stupid and irrational as voting for Normal Lowell, you are most definitely not superior in any way.]
I do agree with you though that they also need to know lots of other things such as the ones you mentioned but remember that you need to learn how to walk before you can run. First the basics and then all the other stuff.
[Daphne – I agree, which is why I find you so irritating. You know little and speak as though standing on a great height of knowledge.]
Chris, in the 1970s I used to live with my parents in a government flat. The ‘bathroom’ was no more than 4.5′ by 4.5′ with a toilet and a small sink – that’s right, no shower or bath.
We used to wash in a tub ‘taz-zingu’ which we filled with a mix of boiling and cold water. These were the very flats built as social housing by the Mintoffian socialist regime, too.
[Daphne – I agree, which is why I find you so irritating. You know little and speak as though standing on a great height of knowledge.]
No great height of knowledge I can assure you but I do like reading about subjects that I find interesting.
Daphne: “of Maltese attitudes to immigrants and how these may best be dealt with” – Exactly. And without trying to sound patronizing they NEED to know basic things about queues amongst other things.
Picture the this scene, An African woman (or man) in the super market skips (not purposely) a hamalla (excuse the term used) loud woman, do you think that she might not think twice about shouting racist abuse at the immigrant ?
[Daphne – I’m sorry, but I don’t follow your reasoning. The queues in supermarkets are obvious, and you can’t skip them unless you’re a Maltese person holding a carton of milk and a loaf of bread who goes straight to the head of the queue and says, “Jimporta, ghax dawn biss ghandi.” Whether somebody might not think twice about shouting racist abuse is hardly the point. Whether they should is another matter. Queue-barging is wrong. Shouting racist abuse is even more wrong.]
Yes to you and I these things seem very basic but to some of the immigrants (again not all of them) who grew up in a totally different culture they might not be so basic.
[Daphne – They are not basic to many Maltese people, either. Malta is not a single culture. That is the mistake you repeatedly make.]
When visiting Muslim countries for example, people are usually told (by the tour guides) about what is and what is not acceptable. Things that are very basic to residents (Muslim and non Muslim) residents.
[Daphne – Yes, and it is unfortunate that they have to be told at that late stage, and that they didn’t know them to start with.]
For the U.A.E people with old visas from Israel on their passports are advised (by travel agents) to ‘lose’ their passports and get new ones before travelling.
[Daphne – I can’t see how that has anything to do with the matter under discussion.]
Aaahh I see your ‘logic’. The migrants need to be taught about queues, to protect against assault, verbal or otherwise, by bigoted, sub-human Maltese ignoramuses? Because if they don’t learn then hey – they’re just asking for it.
My whole point is patronizing or not, everybody has to be aware of the culture and customs of the country they are in.
Going by this I should feel patronized whenever I catch a flight and have to listen to the safety procedure after hearing it a thousand times before. I should feel patronized when people wherever anyone goes keep stating things which I find very obvious.
When you go to any country in the world especially ones that are not tourist destinations and have different cultures people are told about the laws, customs and how not to offend anybody. What is so wrong with that?
[Daphne – I imagine you would be deeply upset if you went anywhere and were told how to wash yourself, on the assumption that you had no idea how to do so.]
I’d hate to be in a country, institution or somebody else’s house and unknowingly be offending them because nobody told me.
[Daphne – The solution to that is to be aware before you go. That’s what manners are for. They don’t differ hugely between one culture and another.]
If you are eating at a Muslim’s house for example, you should never refuse anything they offer you (unless allergic) and you should never finish ALL the food on your plate as it would make them feel they did not provide enough food.
[Daphne – Not really, no. It has absolutely nothing to do with Islam. And believe it or not, plenty of Muslim women eat at table with the men. What IS offensive is to assume that they don’t.]
I appreciate being told the non-obvious things so i would not offend. Good to know.
I never said that Muslim men and women do not eat at the same table and I have absolutely no issue with their customs and traditions and even if did, whilst in their country I would not dare show any disrespect.
That is why I make it a point to make sure I am well informed about certain customs and cultures whenever I go somewhere where I am not familiar.
Respecting other peoples cultures and customs wherever I go is something I find very important and obviously I expect the same in return.
101 How to behave like a Maltese person
Don’t stand in a queue unless you’re forced to do so.
Don’t wash your hands when you use the toilet, especially not in a restaurant.
See this? It’s called deodorant. Don’t use it. It’s for sissies.
Pick your nose.
Swear.
Don’t say good morning, good evening, please or thank you, especially if you enter a shop or work in one.
If you want to attract someone’s attention, say “hawn, hi.” Repeat it louder the second and third time.
Give directions by pointing and saying “hemmhekk. Mela ghami?” Make sure to make no eye contact at any time.
Let the door slam in the next person’s face.
Don’t read. It’s a waste of time.
Shout. The person next to you is doing the same so you need to make yourself heard.
Get drunk in Paceville when you’re past 35.
My God, Chris, you are unbelievable.
Daphne is stating a FACT, here. In the 1970s my grandparents lived on a farm, and one of my aunts, who had a large family, in an old house – both had neither bathrooms, nor lavatories.
I do not recall my parents teaching any of them how to use a toilet or a bath when they used to spend time at our house, for heaven’s sake.
What does Brian Gatt think he is?
Bloody hell if you are right on this one, Mrs. Caruana Galizia! As a kid I was shocked at the conditions in which many people lived. But as regards to Turkish toilets, Mr. Mifsud would be surprised to find that a large number of public toilets in many parts of Europe, especially the Balkans, are still the hole-in-the-ground type.
He’s probably watched Borat this week and can’t distinguish between such disgusting fiction and his real job. He looks a tad like Borat too.
Queues? here in Malta? Dont be funny Lt Col Gatt, we dont know what queues are here in Malta, some people don’t even know how to spell the word let alone use queues.
I personally think he is a bit right in this aspect daphne because these people first they need to learn the basic things of the European culture before we start tollerating them. Would you hire one of them at your company or office and when you approach him to work or discuss an issue you will not stand the stincky smell of this person? with all due respect.
[Daphne – I think you need to read my post again. It’s the Maltese who have BO problems because so many insist on wearing manmade fibres and no deodorant. The problem is not as bad as it was until a few years ago, but for a long time you couldn’t get on a public bus in the summer without struggling not to breath. And only six years ago or so, I had to cut a work meeting short – after taking two or three breaks to go to the lavatory and gasp for air out of the window (they must have thought I had a bladder problem) – because one of the men there (Maltese) had probably worn his polyester shirt four days in a row without anti-perspirant.]
Daphne, it would be charitable to warn you that Joe Mizzi, minister for Transport, has declared that he will go incognito when using public buses so as to assess the quality of service.
Best to crack a window if you use a bus from now on. Expect more synthetic fibres and deodorant free zones on buses.
And how will he do that, wear a miniskirt?
An Elve.
They still haven’t learned how to spell tolerant with a single l.
“before we start tollerating them”
So many things wrong in 5 groups of letters, not least of which is the mindset it exposes.
Torret, the people with really bad BO that I come across are all Maltese, and they invariably wear a suit. How does that fit in with your us and them attitude?
“before we start tolerating them” … why do you bother to reply to these people?
TORRETS
‘they need to learn the basic things of the European culture’. I think it should be the other way round in Malta. They need to teach the Maltese some manners.
Having lived in Senegal, I felt ashamed of how uncouth the Maltese are compared to the Senegalese.
Lt Col Gatt hasn’t been on a bus stop recently.
Try a university lecture room. I had this particular guy sitting next to me this year who I’m sure never heard of deodorant.
Even in winter he used to smell really bad.
I secretly wished I’d pick his name in the secret Santa so I could give him one without him knowing it was from me.
I totally agree. I could not believe how anyone in such a position of responsibility could even think of uttering such rubbish. I was astounded that he lacked any basic sensitivity in saying such things on national TV.
When are we going to have people with responsibility who stop for a bit and think a bit more before they speak out?
Does not the officer understand that whatever he says influences the less educated people in Malta who are much less educated than the detainees?
Education is much more than aiming at the centre in a lavatory.
Queues in Malta? Ha!
Just look at any moderately crowded bus stop when people try to get on.
Or anywhere anything is being handed out for free. A complimentary packet of peanuts is enough to turn perfectly normal people into starving imbeciles.
When I was a lowly university student I did a stint at (the then) Telemalta as a summer job and there was a punch-card system where you had to punch in in the morning and punch out in the evening. The mornings weren’t so bad because people tended to trickle in, but the evening was something else entirely.
First time I had to punch out I was traumatized. It was a stampede reminiscent of the great wildebeest migrations across the African savanah. I resolved never to get caught in that madness ever again and I used to punch out late in order to avoid the crush.
If they can’t piss in a bowl, how come most of them speak at least three languages?
If they can’t stand in a queue where do they get their team spirit wherever they’re employed?
And I’ve yet to see one in a stained undervest, chewing on a cigar stub with a cage under his armpit, uttering blasphemities every other sentence.
This place’s becoming interesting, what was it the PN’s planning about reflecting society at its best?
It’s always been interesting, Jozef. I always tell my visitors to expect a laugh a day.
Unfortunately, over the last three months, they are quickly diminishing. (the laughs, visitors later)
Lt Col Gatt and many Maltese should go to some parts of Africa to learn about good manners and hygiene.
I have been to several African countries, and I spent quite a lot of time in Senegal. The Senegalese are the cleanest people I have ever met. They wear very clean and well-pressed clothes. My Senegalese friend calls me dirty because I do not shower as often as they do. They shower at least twice a day, sometimes three times.
The Senegalese have a lot of dignity and respect. If Senegal had the same facilities and comfort as European countries, I would definitely retire there.
Compared to the Senegalese, the Maltese are dirty, loud, rude, ill-mannered, inconsiderate, selfish savages. And I am Maltese, though I only spent a third of my life in Malta.
Is this man for real?
Can he please explain how they can keep personal hygiene with the facilities provided to them?
In Lyster Barracks for example they have to share a small sink between fifteen people or so and lets not mention the attitude of some soldiers.
On a community visit there as part of my work, a kind man kindly offered to act as interpreter for me but asked me to ask the soldier for permission.
As I did so the soldier turned to the man patted his head like he was two-year-old and said to him, Bravu taf min jikkmanda hawn.
When I complained about the state of the barracks (they used to keep newborns there at the time) they stopped us going to the cells but at least nowadays mum and babies are kept elsewhere.
Since when is it acceptable to wear a scrim scarf as a cravat with barrack dress?
I noticed that – it is in breach of dress regulations. A combat scarf is definitely not worn by British Army officers. Maybe he is trying to copy the French and Italians who tend to wear scarfs more than the British.
Never! The equivalent of barrack dress in the French army is issue combat dress (the tight, uncomfortable cammies) worn with issue boots (the ancient black model which falls apart and gives you blisters).
Scarves, chèches and shemaghs are of course worn by everyone – in combat dress.
Daphne, as you have said the migrants are spotlessly clean because sometimes I give them lifts from my home to the nearest town. They never smell, unlike some Maltese people who are allergic to soap and water.
I have also noticed that one rarely sees obese migrants and I have still to see one wearing prescription glasses.
The Senegalese are this, and ze Germans are that, and Muslims do this, and the Maltese do that. Slavs are ignorant husband-stealing bimbos and Africans can speak three languages.
It’s raining stereotypes here. I think all that anyone can say about anyone is that some things are annoying. I hate body odour. I hate jostling and shouting. It could be a Senegalese or a Maltese, and I’d be equally annoyed. It could be my own family members, and I’d be even more annoyed, because to discomfort would be added embarrassment.
The trouble with racism is that you have to watch your own standards very carefully indeed before you start faulting others. This is where Maltese white supremacists, or even racialists, fail spectacularly. Some of them can’t even shave properly, or string words together to form a coherent sentence. They are an insult to European civilisation. If you cherish your own race then you should strive to be an Übermensch.
On the other hand, I don’t think it is fair to say that all cultures or forms of civilisation are equally admissible. If that were the case, we – we European Union citizens – wouldn’t be in the Great Lakes region trying to keep rival African tribes from carrying out their traditional forms of warfare.
What we call universal human rights are a largely Western concept. The Maltese knew nothing of democracy, or freedom of thought and expression, or using a knife and fork, before these things were imposed upon them by a more Enlightened people. As soon as they cut off their link with their former European mentors, they reverted to type.
Then you get this sort of foolishness http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-23284898
That was painful reading.
I remember my father telling me about when bras first appeared on the monti. They had to be explained, as many women had no idea of their purpose.
‘ricipetti ricipetti – biex izzom iz-zejziet’ the man would shout at passers-by.
And what does Lt. Col. Gatt have to say about the Maltese who jump the queue or disobey security instructions with such threats as “Don’t you know who I am?”
If he needs more illumination, maybe he should discuss this with his Ministry.
Ghal-ewwel x’hin smajt lil dal bravu jitkellem hekk fuq it T.V. hsiebtu xi riklam tat-tindief.
Jiddispjacini pero kemm lil Col. Brian Gatt kif ukoll lil min lahqu f’din il kariga….it-tnejn inkeccijom. Missu jisthi jitkellem hekk. Mela ma jghamiliex mal-Maltin dan.
I am over 50, and from Rabat, but to be fair, it is either that we were sheltered or the fact that I grew up in a staunchly Striklandjani family with strict British standards, but we had a bed each, washed at least once a day in decent bathroom with running hot water, relatively clean roads and cooking was done in either a kerosene cooker and later gas. And we were taught to stay in a line. Just for your information my father worked as a clerk with the British forces and we were 5 children
Having said all this, I agree that the what Col Gatt described is just appalling.
Charles Sammut’s comment on “Daqshekk ghall-Immigranti llegali f’Malta” facebook page:
“Fl-aħbarijiet tat-tmienja fuq PBS Lt. Col. Brian Gatt, li hu responsabbli miċ-ċentri ta’ detenzjoni, spjega kif iridu jgħallmu lill-klandestini biex jinħaslu u jżommu ħwejjiġhom indaf u biex ma jkakkux fl-art. Kos, il-Ġiżwiti kienu jgħidu li dawk professjonisti, tobba, inġiniera, periti, għalliema u x’naf kien! U lanqas jaħraw ma jafu! U għad hawn min jemmen il-Ġiżwiti!!!”
https://www.facebook.com/?sk=welcome#!/groups/377595985622234/
Ma, kemm huma injoranti. Hu u dawk li qeghdin jaqblu mieghu, fosthom Arlette Baldacchino
Lt. Col. Gatt (no relation) – Before attempting to teach manners to others, kindly teach your soldiers that before boarding a yacht to ‘search’ it, they are expected to take off their filthy boots. This is the least one expects.
And while we are talking of good manners, kindly inform your Minister that when somebody sends an email asking for information about the rights at law of a yachtsman who has his boat searched by the army, it is very bad manners not to reply.
I do hope that you have time to trace my email and get one of your men to be so kind as to answer.
Why are you surprised?
Look at this exchange of comments.
https://www.facebook.com/PLcutAlltiesWithJoeDemicoli/posts/361965410599615?comment_id=1811166&offset=0&total_comments=9¬if_t=feed_comment
Marianne Pace is a teacher. How can we move forward if we have teachers with this kind of mentality pushing it on our kids?
Daphne : Why didn’t you publish the comment I’ve sent you regarding the above article ? Is it because I did not agree with you ? Or is it because you had no adequate answer to give me ? As far as I’m concerned I’ve viewed my opinion from my personal experience. If you think that the comments I send you are not up to standard, just let me know and I won’t spend my valuable time sending them. This is not the first time that you ignored them and never published them.
[Daphne – No, it’s not because you don’t agree with me. As you can see, there are comments here which don’t agree with mine. It’s because the tone and content were completely unacceptable. This is a post about how completely unacceptable it is to talk about African immigrants in a certain way. So obviously, I am not going to upload comments which are in the same vein.]
By not publishing my comment, you made your readers think that I’m a racist. Nothing to worry about.
[Daphne – No, Tracy, nobody knows who you are, because this is not your name. So it doesn’t matter. And I don’t think you’re a racist or that other people would have imagined that. I just think people in Malta really need to know what is socially acceptable speech and what is not. This is all new to us, and lots of people are saying the wrong thing. Because we take it for granted that we can speak like us among our own, we imagine that everyone speaks the same way and some really embarrassing situations are created. Not so long ago, while on a work-related trip to Italy, I desperately tried to change the subject or modify it while my Maltese companion, on a roll against “these people” failed to notice that our Italian hosts were literally frozen in embarrassment at the things he was saying and tactfully tried to put in their different view. I could mention other such incidents, but I’m sure you get the picture.]
But I can assure you that a REAL christian is one who loves his neighbour as himself, and by ‘neighbour’ I don’t mean people whom you don’t know (Africans), because it is very easy to love someone whom you have never met, but very close people who differ in opinions, likes and attitudes.
[Daphne – I know, Tracy, but I don’t think of it in terms of Christianity at all, because that’s one of the worst ways of condescending to those who are not Christian. It is a way of saying that civilised behaviour and altruism are perquisites only of Christianity. They are most definitely not. Most of the Christians I know who are kind and civilised would probably have been that way even without religion. Their behaviour and outlook come from another place. Christianity is just the icing on the cake, really.]