More prosy points
The Malta Independent carried the story yesterday that the number of racial offences reported in Malta is a record low in the European Union. I can’t help thinking that it’s got little to do with the absence of racial offences and plenty to do with lack of awareness about what constitutes a racial offence.
The figures given in the report show that the more developed the society, the higher the number of racial offences reported. And so Estonia has one report, Malta has three, and Sweden has 2,575. The United Kingdom, with its over-emphatic focus on racial discrimination and racial offences, and its near-obsessive regulation, has managed to ratchet up 60,407 racist incidents and 41,382 racially or religiously aggravated offences. There should be a happy medium somewhere between the UK and Malta or Estonia.
The figures were given in the annual report of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights. This praised the UK for its comprehensive reporting (but really, I think it’s too much over there), and criticised Malta for its lack of reporting (and yes, they’re right there). Another 15 member states got a ticking-off, too. Malta was singled out for “rather limited reporting on a few court cases”. Yes. The kind of racial reporting we get here is “Somali arrested for male rape” or “Libyan jailed for theft”, but strangely, never “Maltese gets life for murdering his wife”.
Anglu Farrugia says on his website that he is renowned for his ‘ferocious speeches’. Those are about the only two words on his portal that are spelled correctly, but never mind. He graduated magna cum laude in law from the University of Malta, as he keeps reminding us, so he must know how to spell simple English words and the website must have been written up by an elf. He’d better engage a proof-reader, pronto, lest his magna cum laude image be further eroded.
We are about to be treated to the first of what might yet be a long list of ferocious displays: about the privatisation of the shipyards. The news has been welcomed by everyone except the employees and the Labour Party, which faces the first test of Joseph Muscat’s “work together” mantra, and is about to fail it. Words are cheap – or as one might say in a bar, “bull**** walks”.
Magna cum laude Farrugia said in parliament that the opposition does not agree with this privatisation exercise because – get this – “it is being carried out by the government”. Well, excuse me, Inspector Clouseau, but who did you expect to get cracking on the privatisation of the shipyards, if not the government? And the answer is further down in a report of his ferocious speech: the opposition, in consultation with the government, in that order.
This is Joseph Muscat’s refrain, and he is going to repeat it in the time-honoured Sant style, until it sinks into the consciousness of a largely uncritical population: the government should do everything in consultation with the opposition, because it is a minority government.
The man, of course, is utterly ridiculous. But the public throes of enthusiasm for anything-is-better-than-Sant have blinded that largely uncritical population to this simple fact. It is not the prime minister who had a honeymoon, but the opposition leader who is having one now. At this stage, he can say and do anything, however farcical and infantile, and people will stand and stare with their drooling jaws hanging open. It’s quite amusing, like being one of the few sober people at a party where everyone else is either drunk or stoned.
The government governs. The opposition opposes where necessary. But the opposition does not govern, or share the reins of government, because it was not elected to the seat of government. Joseph Muscat and his accompanying Tweedledum and Tweedledee just have to put that in their pipes and smoke it.
Instead of trying to shove Muscat into a shared premiership role which cannot possibly exist, they should spend the next five years working on an electoral programme without misprints and major policy errors. And because recent history has shown that the new leader tends towards major errors of judgement about the most crucial matters (VAT, the EU), he had better be closely monitored on that score, too. We don’t want him popping up again in four years’ time and saying: “Ooops, I made a mistake!” An error of judgement of that magnitude should have discredited him permanently, but this is Malta, so he will become prime minister. That’s how we handle things here, which is why so many of us often feel we are living in a real life comedy sketch.
A study of Maltese schoolchildren aged 11, 13 and 15, sponsored by the World Health Organisation, reveals that 37 per cent of them live with just one of their natural parents. There’s been a bit of a kerfuffle about it, not necessarily because of concern for these children, but because it shatters once and for all the myth that Maltese family life is inviolable and the cornerstone on which our country is built.
Whenever I raise the subject of the large numbers of what used to be called, in my parents’ day, broken homes, I have statistics quoted at me by my elders and betters. The marital breakdown rate in Malta is actually quite low. Look, there are only this many separations compared to that many people who are still married: 6.8 per cent of married people are actually separated.
I was never convinced of this. Among my own extended network of friends, acquaintances and people I know through work, the figure seems rather closer to 40 per cent. Another difficulty is that the numbers are not broken down to reflect the truth: that the marriages of those aged 25 to 50 are hitting the rocks at an alarming rate, but the marriages of those aged 50+ are not. I know this because I can see what’s happening around me.
I fished out a party guest list from 1996 the other day, and to my amazement, I realised that at least half the number of couples on it are no longer married to each other, and most have formed unions with others. Nor are the figures broken down according to socio-economic group. I would say that the highest rate of breakdown is at the opposite ends of the social scale, but what I want is the hard and fast numbers. What I want? It’s what Malta needs, if the government – and the opposition in its policy-making – are to plan properly.
This article is published in The Malta Independent today.
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Full marks to Pierre Portelli for his programme on Tuesdaywhen he interviewed DoctorJosephMuscat. However, although the bidu, sorry, rebbiegha, sorry, stagun gdid leader was cornered and pressed for the labour party’s position for a solution and best way forward for the Dockyard, as usual we were left none the wiser. Pierre put it to him that this was a test case for the ‘No’ party but it seems that the MLP will never change its ways. Let us not be fooled.
Looks like Pierre Portelli hasn’t fallen in love, then. That’s more than can be said for some others – unless, of course, they are trying to keep their options open.
I am a firm believer that Joseph is playing the ‘laghaqi’ game. He wants to be seen with everyone and wants to work with everyone. He loves the old labour guys and wants also to endorse the new ones or the bad sheep (UP TO SOME TIME AGO)!!
‘Laghaqi’ tfisser ukoll li tkun servili u li jhobb jindehes ma’ min hu huwa ikbar minnu.
It seems that we enjoy it when the statistics show that in Malta we have an increase in seperations. Can you imagine what the children go through and their relatives when they see the couple separate. Well I have another idea, why can’t the couple be responsible before they get married and if a problem crops up they seek help. It seems that we are too busy to care about keeping a family stable for our happiness and our kids. Keeping a family is as hard as building the house and pay a loan but still you work 40 hours a week to do that, but how many hours do you work to keep the family happy?????
Well deserved full marks to pierre for his programme – just makes us even prouder than ever to have such a leader
I suppose its the same the world over. In the UK the headline wouldn’t run “British gets life for murdering his wife” unless the crime happened elsewhere, but the Somali and Libyan headline will be the same. I don’t see this as a racism issue.
…or rather Briton I should have said
joseph mainly insisted that the shipyards should not be sold as they where sold mid med bank and sea malta .
i think none of you can twist this but it looks that is going to happen again .
another thing that joseph stated is that if the docks are sold are they going to have the land also ? do not forget that that area historically is potentially high .
i think none of you can twist this but it looks that is going to happen
another thing that gonzi said is the phrase Flimkien Kollox Possibli . So why gonzi instead of waking up in the morning and decided on his own , he did not consult with any other interested parts ?
i think none of you can twist this but it looks that this is going to happen
always keep in mind that we are playing with people s lifes but it looks that dr gonzi is seeing only numbers whilst few months ago he was not stating so
Apart from “broken families” ,there are what we call single parents also.We cannot expect an 18 year old single parent to marry a person with whom s/he had a one night stand, can we?
I know people who have children out of wedlock and declare that they are single parents.
Of coarse that there are also ” broken families”
There is a rampant form of racism that is widespread in Malta, this is the racism against “tal-pepe” who are often referred to in despicable terms, even in state television, such as by Emy Bezzina in the last edition of Xarabank. This type of racism against fellow maltese is prevalent in Government departments, in politics and in most institutions and has become so common that it is almost taken for granted in Malta, just like discrimination against black people was taken for granted in South Africa. Yet some people believe that such a form of racism is not only acceptable but is also funny, even when uttered by members of parliament. Peppi Azzopardi is one of a few TV personalities who has dared raise this issue as a form of racism, hopefully he will discuss this topic in more depth in one of his programmed so that he can bring awareness to this issue which has marginalised about 5% of the maltese population.
Daphne you put into words my thoughts exactly –
`because recent history has shown that the new leader tends towards major errors of judgement about the most crucial matters (VAT, the EU), he had better be closely monitored on that score, too. We don’t want him popping up again in four years’ time and saying: “Ooops, I made a mistake!” An error of judgement of that magnitude should have discredited him permanently`
The cheek of Anglu and Joseph just stating that they had made a mistake on the EU as if they were talking about what tie they had chosen.
After all, I presume they studied the subject and went into it in detail and still came up with the wrong answer.
“The United Kingdom, with its over-emphatic focus on racial discrimination and racial offences, and its near-obsessive regulation, has managed to ratchet up 60,407 racist incidents”
It’s exactly because it IS over-emphatic on racial discrimination that it managed to report 60k+ incidents of this type!
Did you know that nowadays you cannot order ‘black’ coffee in London anymore? But you can order coffee without milk!! milk is white…and you’re allowed to say that!
you cannot say illegal immigrant anymore – it is irregular immigrant. well, if i enter into another country without the necessary documents, i entered illegally…so why shouldn’t it apply to the thousands of people from Africa as well? It has nothing to do with race.
this thing is getting ridiculous…
Abroad, it is a known fact that when non-white men refer to any man as “you Arab!” , they are uttering a racist slur.There are plenty of known cases where Maltese men , including those in the forces of law and order have been at the receiving end, and in public too.
I was in London only a few days ago and had innumerable black coffees. No body objected.
Damn – there I go again. “nobody” not “no body”.
Lino Cert is another one who should get a good dictionary and look up the meaning of the words “racism” and “discrimination” and the differences between them.
Lino Cert: ‘Tal-pepe” is not a race.
Tal-pepe is something we Maltese have invented – Thinking on it why is it ‘tal-pepe’ – from where did the idiom originate – Italian influnce? why not some other word – does someone know how it came about? Has it got to do with being peppery? being cheeky? or what
Father Joseph M was caught out. Again well done Pierre. It seems that JM’s personal interest is simply to claim the prize and tell the world as he has done with the reduction in mobile roaming charges. Wow. As the suggested privatisation of the drydocks was put forward by the PN then JM they simply has to oppose it until the MLP/GWU can claim some credit somewhere in the negotiations. On the other hand JM has personally taken the first step to favour the introduction of divorce. It simply is a miserable attempt in vote catching politics by the MLP. PN please govern.
Regarding illegal immigration
May I know when parliament is going to discuss seriously the problem of illegal immigration. We have a right to know what is happening at parliament level so we can give our views not necessarily for or against government. This is a national issue – we cannot rely on Frontex to solve our problems. We have to put up a national front and show that at least on this issue too there is consensus between government and opposition. What are we waiting for the problem to escalate to higher proportions ? This is of concern I am sure to the majority of the population. I agree that we should be christians and help but the security of our island is more important – can anyone just come in at any time ??? I expect action now and not just words
Ganni Borg – maybe you did not have a coloured/black/not white barmaid
Pls understand that Black, White and yellow r not just colors. Illegal immigration MUST be stopped at all costs. POOR Malta.
[Moderator – Xpat is Peter Muscat.]
As the “invasion” (word chosen by Dr Gonzi)continues unabated, the actual land mass of Malta remains the same and the goverment financial deficit increases.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080627/local/government-financial-deficit-grows
And what would those acceptable costs include Xpat?
@Mod: Thanks for the heads up
Isa, I always understood that it was first applied to people who started to say “papà” instead of “missier”. But I cannot quote any reference.
@Isa
The following is how the term “tal-pepe” has originated, according to what Narcy Calamatta once said on TV.
During the french occupation, the resident of Sliema were considered to belong to the “petite bourgeoisie” social class. This was abbreviated to PB (in Maltese pronounced as Pe Be) and later corrupted into “pepe”.
I don’t know if this is true or not, but to date it’s the most sensible explanation I’ve heard of.
@Moderator: oh, I thought he must be busy preparing in his defence in the David Agius blackmail case.
Illegal and legal immigration is providing a steady flow of poorly paid workers with local “entrepreneurs” ; one finds Indian plumbers, Pakistani welders ,Slovenian “electricians” , Bulgarian “contractors’ , Syrian Plasterers , Chinese ‘caterers” , Sicilian “pizzaiolos” ( just because they happen to be Italian) , Somali handymen in Hotels , Polish students working as Chambermaids , Libyan dishwashers,Eritreans working in the construction industry. Some of these people are at the mercy of their ’employers’ for the renewal of their working permit while others are toying with the idea of bringing their family here.
Just an observation , I think that Mater Dei hospital provided employment to around 30% of the workers who worked there.Same will happen in Smart City.
We are already in a situation where we have to communicate in a language other than Maltese on front desks and where these people deliver their services.
@ Moderator : I don’t care who Xpat is. How would you know wether someone in his home is using his computer with his permission ? The important thing is what is written not who wrote it. Peter Muscat did not even contribute in this thread.
I fully agree with what Xpat wrote , we have to be good but not too good.
Ethel: Who are you talking to?
@ SB
How many residents did Sliema have when Napoleon was here?
During the French occupation, Tas-Sliema (there is no such place as “Sliema”) consisted only of a few (and that meams VERY few) holiday villas (villeġġjatura).
JM might try to disown the roaming policy if proves to be a failure, even though it currently sounds attractive. (even through he tries hard to take credit of someboday’s else work and unfortunately in Malta people beleive his BS)
Today’s edition of the Guardian (close to British Labour Party) carried an article saying that the new roaming charges, might push off 100 million Europeans out of the mobile service. Remeber thatroaming charges are generally paid by people travelling to different countries on business, suing company mobile phones and hence can afford to pay.
On the other hand the mobile companies need to substitute lost roaming charges with higher monthly service fees, and less perks such as free mobile phone. This will push out the lower end of the market off mobile telephony. It would be interesting to know how many of the European 500 million persons (or Malta’s population for that matter)actually incur frequent and significant roaming charges.
it’s not suing but….using company mobile phones
@ A Camilleri
The specific reference to one’s nationality only in the case of foreigners, especially in the headline, increases people’s prejudice against foreigners without being of sufficient importance to the story. In the UK, most commonly one finds this trend in a particular sector of the press that is well known for its phobia of foreigners such as The Daily Mail, but it is not completely absent from broadsheet papers that should know better.
Daphne is right on the number of racial offences. Racial prejudice is so widespread on the islands that it crosses all social strata.
Sliema mushroomed during the British period , during the French occupation the only residents in Sliema were common folk. Herbert Ganado in his book “Rajt Malta Tinbidel” explains how the first “petite bourgeoisie” settled in Sliema during the mid 1800’s.
Photos of Balluta in the late 1800s show a few houses in
High Street Sliema in the background, surrounded by fields.
As I said earlier, what I wrote is only what I’ve heard. This explanation may be wrong after all…and so I am back to square one…not knowing from where “tal-pepe” has originated. Has Daphne got an idea?
It’s PBO the new PN general sec
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080627/local/paul-borg-olivier-is-new-pn-general-secretary
Pepe is not a race. It’s a sub-culture / class. Likewise the hamalli are a sub-culture / class. Both sub-cultures are sometimes sidelined by the majority.
Regarding the opposition’s role…if govt. wants to reach consensus, it has to involve all players, including the opposition. Otherwise it can just rule by its one-seat majority gained by a 0.4% relative majortiy. GonziPN can’t have the cake and eat it too.
I think it’s high time that this country starts being governed by consensus and by reaching a common ground among the various actors/interests rather than by imposition.
hmmm the time’s article on PBO’s election also includes a comment by Frans Sammut about, ‘a she-opinion-maker’. I wonder who he means? :)
Photos of the 1840’s onwards of Tas-Sliema are possible, but not of the French period .
” Yes. The kind of racial reporting we get here is “Somali arrested for male rape” or “Libyan jailed for theft”, but strangely, never “Maltese gets life for murdering his wife”.”
Putting up with a wayward misbehaving relative in the family home is a family obligation. Having to put up with bad or ungrateful behaviour from an invited guest or a total stranger (who invited himself in your family home to stay in the first place), may prove slightly more difficult to accept.
I m all against racism but this influx of illegal immigrants is way out of hands.
We cannot be “colour blind” on this issue. We pretend not to notice because race is such a sensitive subject, denial is not going to solve our national problem. We can blame Frontex that it’s not doing its utmost, same, this will not solve anything. We can also sit and wait for EU countries or the US to be generous and take some of the immigrants to their country, these measures are not enough. We need to step our foot down and say- its enough our country cannot afford to host anymore immigrants.
We need to send a clear message that we are going to increase prison term for Illegal immigrants and before we pull their boats to our shores we will make it crystal clear that they will end up in prison.
You know what bothers me most on this subject, no one is doing anything, everybody is afraid of being accused racist.
Some high school students in the US decided to make a club for only the white students because the other ethnicities had them. They all got sent to court for being racist but the African-American, Latino, and Asia clubs were not even questioned. It will be a long time before we can ignore the race issue, we need to handle it much better than we are handling it now. Norman Lowell’s case is a good example of how sensitive this subject is. Was he denied freedom of speech?
What about PBO being elected as a general secretary? Any article?
thanks in advance
“Tal-pepè” and “ħamalli” are not sub cultures/classes. They are simply pejorative terms used by some people against those whom they see as different from themselves.
As for the rest Chris Borg is, of course, perfectly right
In the 1850’s Tas-Sliema & San Giljan had a population of around 850 , one has to keep in mind that San Giljan was ‘established’ before Tas-Sliema. (Rajt Malta Tinbidel Chapter XX)
whether the discrimination against “tal-pepe” is a pure form of racism or not , this is immaterial.
The facts remain that “tal-pepe” is a sub-class of maltese citizens that are targetted by the government , police and media and victimised. So the result is no different to the more “purer” forms of racism, that are based on skin color alone. There are such forms of racism seen in other european countries, for example against the “romas” in the Balkan states. Whatever one calls this form of racism it is alive and kicing, pushing “tal-pepe” into small communities on the island, alienated from the rest of the country, deprived of their rights as maltese citizens and subject to ridicule on national TV. They are targetted by wardens and police who see them as “soft targets”, and subjected to humiliation by government officials and by TV personalities.
According to my aunt, the expression ‘tal-pepe” refers to the few ‘per bene’ families who owned property (i.e. a nice house/home) around Annunciation Square in Sliema. It got corrupted into ‘tal-pepe’.
@ Lino Cert
What are you talking about? “Tal-Pepe discriminated against” What hogwash. Tal-pepe are the elitist class that has always lokked down on the farmers, manual workers, house maids, and their families as inferiour beings. They are the “puliti” class some of them up to their ears in debt who relished being called sinjur and sinjura by these people they considered their vassalls or inferior beings. Throughout the years tal-pepe or il-pultiti were the core of the Nationalist Party electorate. They had their sons and daughters priviledged in University and fast tracked for government jobs “ic-civil” until Labour was re-elected in 1971. And now Lino Cert comes along to complain about discrimination. Why don’t you write to Amnesty International?
Ganni Borg: I’ve no more heard anyone call their father ‘missier’ than I have heard anyone call their father ‘father’. In village culture it’s ‘pa’ or ‘de’ and elsewhere it’s ‘papa’ or ‘daddy’.
@SB: it’s not a good move to quote Narcy Calamatta on matters of history. There were no such things as ‘residents of Sliema’ during the French occupation of Malta, because Sliema didn’t exist. It would have been insanity to build your house right on the water’s edge unless you were protected by bastions, as with Valletta. Malta’s exposed coast was open to piratical attack right up until the early 19th century. It was only the early presence of the British navy that put an end to that, and it took some time. That’s why there are no houses in Sliema that predate the late 19th century. Sliema is a Victorian town. The oldest core is around Stella Maris parish, where I grew up, and the oldest houses there were late Victorian, Edwardian and 1920s.
@ Leonard Ellul Bonici
“We need to send a clear message…we will maken it chrystal
clear that they will end up in prison.”
Call yourself a Christian? Maybe you don’t.
Do you know how many university graduates and students there
are amongst the irregular immigrants? Do you think these
people would give up their careers, families, homes, etc
just for fun. They cross deserts, suffer from dehydration,
risk drowning etc. because they have no choice. As for
the poor women and children…
It is a huge problem which has to be solved, I know not
how, by world powers. Meanwhile stop being a racist.
After all no-one is asking you to give up your spare room
for them!
@various: I have no idea how the tal-pepe nickname originated. If anyone knows, please post it here.
@Ray Borg: actually, the really tal-pepe people supported Lord Strickland’s Constitutional Party, which is one reason why it had relatively few supporters (there weren’t that many tal-pepe people). Some tal-pepe families supported the Nationalist Party, because their pro-Italian and anti-British sentiment over-rode other factors including class loyalty. The Nationalist Party was never anything other than a mass party.
Ray Borg is right. If anything tal-pepe are priviliged.
@Ray Borg
“They had their sons and daughters priviledged in University and fast tracked for government jobs “ic-civil” until Labour was re-elected in 1971. And now Lino Cert comes along to complain about discrimination”
No, i’m not one of them, but i married one of them and my daughter is also one of them, and it sickens me to witness, almost daily, overt discrimination against “tal-pepe”
its true that in the 60s this class abused their influence, but for them to be paying a price today, forty years later, is atrocious.
It is typical for most maltese to minimise such abusive behavious. This is clearly evident on the last edition of xarabank , where one of the girls, evidently “tal-pepe” is victimised by other members of a group of maltese, when they go together onto a cruise in a type of “big-brother” cruise, even professionals such as Emy Bezzina join in , in this “pepe-bashing” until eventually they come to realise that this girl is no monster and no different to themselves , and they come to accept her and also to like her. This program is a real window on what is happening in Malta in real life.
And this discrimination is not only evident in the generla public, just look at what happens in road-blocks, police tend to selectively pick on “tal-pepe” , usually women,since they are seen the weakset in a group, and selectively victimise such people, surely you have been in such road-blocks and witnessed such behaviour , since I have seen this time and time again, my wife once attacked by such a policeman, we wrote to the plice commissioner and eventually got a half-apology.
If “talpepe” ruled the government services in the 60s, today the converse is true, the “anti-pepe” have now infiltrated the public service, just try and get a service from a government entity in a “tal-pepe” accent, you are likely to be at best ignored, at worst ridiculed in public.
This has nothing to do with the maltese language Vs the english language, it is only the “tal-pepe” accent that is discriminated against, the maltese-australian accent is acceted, as is any english speaking foreigner, therefore this form of racism is directed specifically against a sub-class of maltese society , who are largely blameless and no less maltese then the rest of the population.
@Cikki
“Do you know how many university graduates and students there are amongst the irregular immigrants? Do you think these people would give up their careers, families, homes, etc just for fun. They cross deserts, suffer from dehydration,risk drowning etc. because they have no choice. As for the poor women and children…”
According to you then , we are helping those among them that need the least help whilst depriving Africa of the professionals and skilled workers it so desperately needs.
Is this how you plan to go about solving the problems in Africa?
What about the really poor and destitute of Africa with no education, skills, career, money, expensive satellite phone
or connections to make their way through to Europe without valid legal documentation?
How do you plan to help those? By Evacuating a whole continent? Do you think that a huge old problem can be solved by creating millions of new little ones instead?
Sybil: That’s a little over the top, don’t you think? Helping people who arrive here is an obligation not an option. It matters little how many university degrees you hold when you’re dehydrated and exhausted. Water and rest are things we all need, as are a roof over our heads, however flimsy, and food to eat, however poor.
@ Sybil
What I am saying is that these people did not leave their
countries just because they felt like starting a new life
somewhere else, but because they were suffering in their
own countries. The university students and graduates I was
writing about are Eritrean. They were not able to practice
their professions but forced into military service and
if they refused, sent to prison. I dread to think what
prison in Eritrea is like!
No I’m not suggesting evacuating a whole continent. The
problems of the continent have to be solved so that
people will no longer be forced to leave. In the meantime
us supposed friendly Maltese needn’t treat the ones
who end up here like the scum of the earth.
Daphne wrote that the low Maltese shore was exposed to piracy. From where did Count Roger attacked and settled in Malta?
@Sybil: I’ve noticed that the most overtly religious, Catholic and bible-bashing among us are also the harshest in their attitude towards the suffering of illegal immigrants. I suppose right-wing thinking on religion goes hand-in-hand with right-wing thinking about foreigners.
@all
While we are at the subject of “tal-pepe”, can someone please enlighten me what makes a person auhentically “tal-pepe”?
I happen to know quite a few persons from all over the island (but particularly from the northern harbour and the Naxxar/Balzan areas) who tend to switch languages in a single sentence. These usually come from middle-class families but who cannot be considered as the elite of the society.
Am I wrong in considering these as “pseudo-tal-pepe”?
@ Daphne
I couldn’t agree more! I am constantly being surprised and
shocked by the type of person who is attacks these poor
people..elderly women who listen to every word the Pope
utters on Vatican Radio to give an example. It really
makes my blood boil!
@ DCG. Pirate attacks had become much less frequent. In fact buildings such as the Auberge de Castille which were originally more utilitarian from a military point of view had their facades re-built in a more aesthetic way. The re-population of the North was also a sign that pirate attacks had become less frequent.
@ DCG. Most supporters of the Constitutional Party, such as my grand parents, joined Labour in the 1940s. So Labour is a pepe Party? *giggles* The Constitutionals were not that unpopular, Strickland was elected PM (with Labour’s support) ;)
@ Michael Debono. According to tradition Count Roger anchored next to some cliffs, forgot the name. He must have had wings ;)
Sybil Saturday, 28 June 1708hrs
“What about the really poor and destitute of Africa with no education, skills, career, money, expensive satellite phone
or connections to make their way through to Europe without valid legal documentation?
How do you plan to help those? By Evacuating a whole continent? Do you think that a huge old problem can be solved by creating millions of new little ones instead?”
Interesting questions on a very serious problem, and worthy of serious answers not vapid flippant comments.
Pinkerton: “Interesting questions on a very serious problem, and worthy of serious answers not vapid flippant comments.”
It is the questions themselves and the spirit in which they were made that are vapid and flippant. They are less concerned with solving problems than with justifying an emotional position – and a rather unattractive one at that.
If there was any doubt as to the rampant racism in Malta, todays news item on TVM definitely dispelled such doubts,
the new bulletin on Malta’s national TV described several incidents involving Malta’s police and immigrants , with obvious bias against the immigrants, using terms such as “immigrant was clearly drunk and abusive” , “immigrant spat towards police officer”, “immigrant went berserk when police arried on scene and attacked police” etc etc,
shame to maltese national TV, biased and racist in the extreme !
“It is the questions themselves and the spirit in which they were made that are vapid and flippant. They are less concerned with solving problems than with justifying an emotional position – and a rather unattractive one at that.”
Unneccesary name- calling is equally flippant and vapid and counter productive if one really wants to discuss in a serious and honest fashion ways and means of helping in a meaningful fashion the real needy.
Instead of having the media blatently accusing Libja and the Libjans of just how badly they treat refugees and how it does not honour human rights, it should , first of all, tell Europe to help Libja police its frontiers to be in a better position to control the millions currently swarming into it and causing problems within Libja itself. Continual bad mouthing of Libja and its leader by the local media and certain ngos not only is insulting to our neighbours but it can also endanger the well-being of Maltese people earning a decent living there.
@cIKKI,
Thank you for your kind reply. When I was referring to “evacuating a whole continent” I had in mind what I told by people I know who travel extensively to Africa on business and even on offical delegations. Goverment officials of certain African countries are starting to blame Europe now for enticing out of Africa their best brains and talent, and in so doing ,are making things worse , not better for Africa. Helping a man to support his family for the rest of his life by teaching him how to fish and presenting him with a good fishing rod is a lot more helpful and practical long term, then providing him with the occasional bag of fish fingers or worse still, poison the sea he fishes in .
@ Sybil
You are generalising and talking about a whole continent.
I am talking about our immigrants. There will always be
brain drains – Maltese doctors to the U.K. British
doctors to the U.S. etc.
I assure you that the Eritreans I spoke to long to get
back to their country if and when it is free and they
can practice their profession.
But surely you are missing the point. These people after
a horrendous journey have landed on our shores. I repeat
they did not leave their country on a whim, so whether the
western powers should do more or we should be kinder to
the Libyans, the fact remains that as human beings we
should give them food, water and clothing. We are all so
good at sending blankets, tinned food, money, etc. to
disaster areas but then for too many of us its a case
of “not in my backyard”. That I cannot agree with.
Sybil: The bad-mouthing you refer to is, I understand, the criticism levelled at Libya for its non-observance of human rights and its inadequate attempts to police its own borders. “The media” as you collectively term anyone who levels such criticism, do not need to “tell Europe” anything of the sort. “Europe”, by which I assume you mean the European Commission, can be only too aware of what is happening. “Having the media” do as you suggest is, thankfully, not possible in countries that respect the fundamental right to freedom of expression a right, incidentally, that is not protected in Libya.
It is fatuous to suggest, on the one hand, that people should desist from criticising Libya for fear of ‘offending our neighbours’ while saying, on the other hand, that to do so endangers the lives of Maltese people who live there. If people’s lives are in danger in Libya, it is because of Libya’s regime and not because of what people here and elsewhere say about it.
@Sybil – Africa is a big place and its not homogenous. It even includes the Libya you’re so keen on.
@Lino Cert – the words ‘ragel’ and ‘mara’ cease to exist in the Maltese language where immigrants are concerned. The same goes for ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in the English language newspapers. ‘Man spat at police officer’ is the correct way of putting it, but of course, it has to be ‘Immigrant spat at police officer’ (could be a man, could be a woman…).
I have yet to see a similar way of putting a story in one of the London broadsheets – even the xenophobic The Sunday Telegraph. You have to read right into the story to find out that the man/woman is Nigerian/Somali etc, and sometimes you don’t find out at all, but just have to work it out from the name.
Hallo “Sybil”. I wonder what you’ve got to say about this:
http://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080630/local/migrant-beaten-by-police
If that’s the sort of thing that happens here, could you just imagine what happens in the places ‘these people’ escape from?
@Cikki
I believe in Father Christmas, do you have a problem with that? My argument was not about religion, my argument was about people like you suffering from paranoia, whatever happens to or said about a coloured skin its racism
Does it really make a difference what colour a skin is or their religion, or the accent that you speak? Yes, it does. But only to those who are small minded and ignorant. What I said was that we need to address this problem of Illegal Immigrants and also said :
“You know what bothers me most on this subject, no one is doing anything, everybody is afraid of being accused racist.” And Mr Cikki pronto accused me of being racist.
Yes Cikki I REPEAT ,we need to send a clear message, we also need to increase prison term for Illegal immigrants and before we pull their boats to our shores we will make it crystal clear that they will end up in prison.
The message should be loud and clear, we cannot handle more immigrants for the simple reason that economically we cannot afford, also because our society is not accustomed to coloured skin we need to handle it much better than we are handling it now. Would it not be better to include the cultures of race into a school curriculum?
Yes, helping people who arrive here is an obligation, but we cannot solve the continents problem , population of 900 million. By continuing accepting whoever comes ashore, it will make the matter worse for us Maltese and also for them, cause yes there is a saturation point! It will be hard for them to start a community here in Malta and in who s backyard? We need to put our sleeve up and start working to educate people on such sensitive issue or else we are going to end up having a lot of Cikkis who cannot understand the difference between Racism and Illegal Immigrants.
Cause ,yes unfortunately we are not all “Colour blind”
@ DCg: “@Sybil – Africa is a big place and its not homogenous. It even includes the Libya you’re so keen on.”….dear Daphne, you should have written it’s not its. Do you wanna share my dictionary? :)
@ Leonard Ellul Bonici
I stand by what I said, if that makes me a person who,
in your opinion, suffers from paranoia and is smallminded
and ignorant, so be it.
I decided a while back that it is a waste of time arguing
with someone who is on a completely different wavelength.
Leonard Ellul Bonici: “By continuing accepting whoever comes ashore, it will make the matter worse for us Maltese and also for them”.
What are you proposing exactly? Letting people drown rather than rescuing them?
Leonard Ellul Bonnici, I thought you live in New York City? Or did I get that wrong?