Joseph will stick to gays, because that’s where the votes are, and not because he means it
Not for the first time, our political parties – and the party leaders in particular – demonstrate a markedly different approach to racism, xenophobia, African refugees and black people in general.
On timesofmalta.com, this morning:
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi called on people to unite against racism and to stand up and react to events like the recent death of a Sudanese man who died in Paceville.
It’s as though nothing had happened when a man minding his own business in Paceville was attacked…
“It’s as though nothing had happened when a man minding his own business in Paceville was attacked, thrown to the ground and then died two days later,” he told a political meeting in Mellieħa yesterday.
Osama Al Shzliaoy, 27, was fatally injured when he was assaulted outside a nightclub a week ago, suffering serious head injuries. Two Romanian suspects are wanted by the police. One has already been interrogated and the other is expected to be sent to Malta after a European arrest warrant was issued against him.
Dr Gonzi said Mr Shzliaoy’s death was “shocking” and it was “worrying” that no one was concerned about his death, that people closed their eyes to the crime. He appealed to people to care and “to be shocked and come together when such things happen. Race and colour should not come between us. Malta should be a country where people feel safe.”
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Joseph Muscat has worked out that there are no votes to be had – and probably plenty of votes to be lost – in standing up for what is right on the matter of racism.
He’s sticking to ‘gejs’, and a couple of days ago he added us women to the list of minorities who really need to be patronised by his party.
Now let’s get to the liberal bit. The Labour Party’s official excuse for celebrating 31 March a full eight days early is that they usually celebrate it on the eve, and this year the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows falls on 30 March.
And this is the party which makes such a fuss about the separation of church and state.
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I get the feeling Joseph didn’t want to be seen anywhere near that pile of gagazza. We haven’t even been treated to a picture of the leader bearing a torch this year.
“Now let’s get to the liberal bit. The Labour Party’s official excuse for celebrating 31 March a full eight days early is that they usually celebrate it on the eve, and this year the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows falls on 30 March.”
How kind of them. How could they let Our Lady suffer alone the death of her Son, crucified on the Gholja tal-Golgotha, while they celebrate on the Gholja tal-Helsien how they died for nothing with retro music…
You just answered your own question. The PL wants a separation between the church and the state (although one msut say that such pressure is diminishing naturally, without any kind of pressure from the PL) not between the church and humanity. It is obvious that the majority of Maltese and Labour supporters are Christians and celebrating on a day which for Christians is considered as one of the days of doom, isn’t the most ideal thing a party could do, I guess.
[Daphne – I’ve never seen anyone celebrate on Freedom Day, still less the eve. Have you? So no separation of church and state, then. ]
Maybe I am missing the point over here, but isn’t anything to be remembered a form of celebration, let alone Freedom Day.
[Daphne – Not at all. Do you celebrate when you remember or mark a death? Also, you and the Labour Party confuse ‘celebration’ with ‘commemoration’. What happens on 30 (31st?) March is a commemoration, not a celebration. Celebrations include festivities, like parties and fancy meals and celebratory drinks. A walk up a monument to light a flame in a cauldron is not a celebration. It’s a commemoration. Our Lady of Sorrows and her servants will not be offended.]
I hesitate to go into the eve part, not even worth to discuss. By the way by celebration I understand a form of meeting where something which brings joy is to be remembered, not necessarily mass meetings, horns blowing and stuff. Hope I have the genuine definition. If not, please, throw at me your words of wisdom.
[Daphne – I have done so. And as a free gift, here’s more: it’s ‘worthy of discussion’ not ‘worth to discuss’, though I appreciate you must have thought hard about it and dropped the ‘it’.]
It’s not about being offended or not, the issue is all about the fact that whatever the celbration/commemoration whatever the word, would not be the most suitable manner to be celebrated/commemorated on that particular day. Apart from the fact that I personally, my family and I guess the majority of Labour party followers and officials would prefer to dedicate that day to their religious beliefs and if it was possible to celebrate Freedom day on another day, why not? At least that’s my opinion, I accept that you may disagree.
[Daphne – If your family had religious beliefs and meant it, they wouldn’t have voted Labour in 1987 (I’ll reserve judgement on the previous general election). Religious beliefs are not divorced from practice in everyday life, nor are they about going through the motions of festi, mass and processions.]
Ah what fun, we’re going to end up with a whore for a prime minister, trying to satisfy everyone for a handful of votes
You mean ‘gejz’? Daphne?
Nope…. I think it’s pronounced GEY-CE (as in Grace)
[Daphne – Yes, as in gejs bluni jiccettjaw onlajn ma’ gejs ta’ barra. A brilliant Maltese sentence.]
Id-DEFNIL, 2025 edition:
Sheyzan kien ihobb wisq jiccetja onlajn ma’ Breydon. Il-Hadd filghodu kienu jmorru l-harga mas-Soup tal-Muzew f’xi parkink imwarrab, fejn kienu jghaddu saghtejn jirrejsjaw l-Escort bluna tal-kugin Delpiero. Xi kultant, Jetaime, oht Delpiero, li kien fiha daqqa sewwa u tridu, kienet taqbez taqbza sa hdejhom u flimkien kienu jghaddu siegha buzz al alla.
It seems that yesterday evening you missed out on Inkontri. The guest stars (!!) were il-Ministru tas-Sawt, Yana Mintoff and some other twerp whose name I didn’t quite catch. I watched the programme for 10 minutes, during which the following “perle di saggezza” were stated:
(I have to say this in Maltese because somehow translating it ruins the local flavour):-
1. Dal-Gvern (“Gvern” pronounced with venomous contempt) jaghti kas lin-nort, fil-fatt il-Valletta WaterFront (accent on “Front” with an “O”) ara kemm sebbahha u injora lis-Sawt ghax il-Birgu mitluq. (apparently the 13.4 m going to St. Angelo has not yet registered with this twerp, apart from the fact that he considers Valletta to be part of the so-called nort).
2. Silvio Parnis: Jiena nwieghed illi fis-sawt tonqos il-kongestjoni; (how, pray, is this miracle going to happen? Are we all being given helicopters instead of pills for free now?);
3. The biscuit-taker for the evening: The daughter of that paragon of human rights, Yana Mintoff, said (I have to say that I concluded that she said this because her Maltese is abysmal, to put it very mildly): Dal-gvern veru qieghed jahqar lill-haddiem u qieghed jahqar id-drittijiet umani tieghu. Da che pulpito!
Anyway, after this third pearl of wisdom, of course, I changed channels.
On a more serious topic and the subject of this blog-post, this is when Joseph and Gonzi show their true colours. Gonzi is the real politician who understands that the murder of “Sunshine” (I love his nickname – so in-keeping with what his friends said of him) bears witness to a serious problem in our country, that is, the problem of racism.
Only a true politician, that is, a politician who is worried about the future of his country, would talk about something like that. Indeed, the murder of a Sudanese is not vote-catching.
I would say that it might be off-putting to some extremists. And yet Gonzi had no qualms to speak about this hideous and horrendous event which has shocked those who believe in a civilised society.
On the other hand, Joseph, of course, as is wont of people of his ilk, jumped on the gay bandwagon and, with extreme gaiety, I have to say, spoke about being the party for the gejs. But are they the only minorities?
When something as poignant as what happened last week grabs the news headlines (second page, though, not first, of course, the priest being the victim of some Nigerian scam, of course, is more important), why is it not addressed by our future prime minister?
Why is it so difficult for Muscat to admit openly that the PL is for those people who lead lives to wretched that they risk their own life to seek a better life in promised lands?
This is where the decision lies. This is where, I believe, it is important for each and every one to stop and listen, and listen to what each politician is saying. Gonzi tell us not to judge his words but his actions.
No, we also judge you by your words because your words show not your wisdom and depth, you owe those to us, the people, but your words show the shallowness and poverty of your opponent, our alleged future prime minister.
This is, for me, where the decision lies.
Joseph will stick to anything so long as there are votes to be had.
How come he has not yet held a reception for Jehovah’s Witnesses, Scientologists, Pentecostals, Atheists, Born-Again Christians, Jews and Ahmadija Muslims so far?