“Another 90 came in”
A friend has just told me how she was in a working-men’s bar on the Valletta wharves this morning, the only place in the area where she could wait out the 15 minutes up ahead of a business meeting.
There was one table at which five men sat, clearly unemployed. “Another 90 came in yesterday,” one said to the others, in Maltese. My friend, just like the other men, knew exactly what he meant. The phrase has become a cypher: you know, and are expected to know, that it’s about asylum seekers coming in on boats.
They immediately set to some hostile discussion about the problems of being invaded by Africans.
She left the bar, and right outside, trenches were being dug in the road by…African workers. The irony, she thought: they’re doing the dirty work in the sun while the Maltese men sat inside snacking and drinking and running them down.
Are the Maltese men unemployed because the African refugees have ‘taken their jobs’, or are they unemployed because they couldn’t be fagged to take a job digging trenches in all weathers?
And if it’s the latter, exactly why are they grumbling about the people who do the jobs they don’t want to do, and without whom the jobs wouldn’t get done?
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This is a similar malaise that afflicts those who complain that everything is made in China and then proceed to buying Chinese goods because they are cheaper.
The legal confusion with regard to ‘made in’ being ambiguous also adds to this confusion and general ambivalence.
A product can be made in China and labelled ‘Made in Germany’ because one small part was added at the end in germany for example.
This disillusions buyers like myself who are frustrated by these practices.
There have been moves to legislate at EU level but the northern countries that have perfected this practice – particularly The UK and Germany continue to oppose it. Portugal, Spain, Italy, France are in favour of legislation obliging the manufacturer to be transparent when labelling ‘made in’ mostly because they are the countries that still have a manufacturing sector particularly in textiles.
Or to make things even worse made in Europe by Chinese ‘slaves’.
Well said, Daphne
It is not the fear of losing jobs that upsets these people; it is skin colour.
Way back in 1993, when I came to Malta to scout out investment opportunities, then living in Switzerland, one of my best friends was a black American.
I asked him if he would like to accompany me to Malta for a week or two. A nice holiday. He politely declined, saying that he had been warned that blacks were not welcome. That’s over 20 years ago. Plus ca change.
one swallow doesn’t make a summer
Whether it is 90 or 9000 it really doesn’t make a difference at this point. The question still remains: Where and what policy does the EU want to form regarding the Southern immigrants? And if so should a policy be formed on the Eastern immigrants? Not taking a solid position at some point will continue to make this border illegality profitable to some and detrimental to the general social policy.
I hope that these poor souls will realise that it is going to be very difficult for them to proceed legally to other EU countries (if they so desire) from Malta. In the meantime, good luck to them.
I think the vast majority of ignorant Maltese (not for lack of expenditure in education) simply cannot connect the dots.
You see it all the time with churchgoers who act all holy in church and unchristian outside.
Switchers who vote Labour but don’t quite realise they are ‘getting Labour’.
Strina donors that can be quite generous in their donations but walk outside the door and act like no one else exists.
Drivers who are polite outside the car but act selfishly when in a car.
The list goes on. We think we are a charitable population but in fact most do charity for show and not because they can relate to those less better off than them. How else do you explain the election result? We are a totally unconnected people in reality.
Two thousand and sixty immigrants entered Italy this week, and another ninety entered Malta. This makes a total of two thousand six hundred and ninety. If burden sharing is strictly adhered to, each country should take ninety six migrants. It means Malta has to take another six.
It is definitely the skin colour and not job loss . Bet you those sitting there were on benefits , goverment employees skiving off work and good for nothing bums.
I have first hand experience working with immigrants, duly registered with ETC, Inland Revenue, paying taxes not like so many Maltese bumpkins living on dole while earning good money working a week`s worth. I was and am still edified by their loyalty to their employer, the friendliness with their Maltese workers and dedicated fathers to exemplary families. They dedicate their weekend to their family and Sunday to the church of their faith. In return they give a FULL day`s work and volunteer to do overtime. Some others might not have so lucky and some others still might not be as exemplary as expected of them But then we are talking about human beings. This is a nation that loves animals so much, This is a nation that prides itself in hospitality. Why should this nation then antagonise other human beings without first getting acquainted with the subject of their spite and resentment ? It is because they are plain simple twits. They are not conversant with demography and sociology. They will never come to terms with the fact that in the 60s and 70s had it not been for Pakistani, Jamaican and Caribbean immigrants in England, the country would have come to a grinding halt for Englishmen found it not worth it driving buses and trains. For the immigrants that was a blessing in disguise. We are now living a similar reality and find it hard to gobble up because Labour has been instigating the people against immigration without explaining, as it is duty bound to do, the different kinds of immigrants (asylum seekers, refugees) that reach our shores.
Every day (and twice on Tuesday) the garbage truck passes through our street usually with two refugees clinging to the back of the truck. Usually one of them trots up ahead of the truck gathering garbage bags in piles whilst the other throws them in the back of the truck. I do not know how much they are paid but it is backbreaking and tiring work; do any Maltese unemployed able-bodied men want to replace them under the same conditions?