You’ve got it wrong, Aaron. The rest of Malta is a no-go zone for THEM.

Published: January 29, 2015 at 8:13pm

aaron farrugia

The chairman of Malta Freeport, who also happens to be the chairman of the Labour Party’s ‘tink-tenk’ IDEAT, told the party general conference today that parts of Malta like Marsa and Safi are “no-go zones” for Maltese people because of all the African immigrants there.

No-go zones, eh? He must have been listening to that American chap who spoke about Birmingham in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo slaughter. It taught him a new term.

No-go zones, Aaron, are when it is too dangerous to venture in, when you can’t go there, and not when you simply don’t want to because you don’t like Africans and would much rather they were dispersed.

By the same token, I could say that there are some parts of Malta which are no-go zones for me, because when I walk past, the uneducated masses and some people who should know better stare and goggle as though they have just seen an apparition. Then they spin round and stare some more with their mouth open. Maybe they thought I don’t really exist, that the Labour Party conjured me up.

Those people are never black, they are never African; they are always Maltese. I ignore them, and think how sad it must be to have had such a poor education that they have ended up like native islanders gawping at Captain Cook. Maybe the native islanders kept their mouth closed.

Why do Aaron Farrugia’s people think of neighbourhood with a predominantly black African population as ‘no-go zones’? Because they feel outnumbered and that they stick out because they’re not black too. Well, that should give them some insight into how black Africans feel in the rest of Malta – but then for insight you need intelligence.

This morning I parked my car outside Manuel Mallia’s house in Valletta and two African immigrants wearing high-visibility jackets were standing there fixing something in the street. I said hello and they responded civilly and cheerfully. Whenever I do that with Maltese workmen, they stare at me as if I have lost my marbles, they go blank because they don’t know they’re meant to respond, or they glare at me sullenly like I’ve just nicked their hobza.

It’s not skin colour or even country of origin that separates people. It’s manners and general behaviour. And that’s why certain chunks of Malta feel like no-go zones to me: they’re full of certain Maltese.




40 Comments Comment

  1. H.P. Baxxter says:

    Reaching out to Norman Lowell & followers. Have they switched sides?

  2. Maradona says:

    you are always welcome here Daphne.

    [Daphne – I should ruddy well hope so, given that I own the place. But thanks.]

  3. canon says:

    Zejtun was a no-go area for the Nationalists during the time of Dom Mintoff and Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici.

    • A. Charles says:

      I have worked in Zejtun for the past 38+ years and I still remember the “troubles” and they were real. However, the nastiness of a few Labour hooligans was compensated by the kindness and support shown by the great majority of the Zwieten.

  4. Mark says:

    Well said, Daphne. ‘No-go areas’ are places where there are more black people than racists like Aaron Farrugia can bear.

  5. Pete says:

    No go zones in Malta? Has this chap ever heard of the pre 1987 republic of Zejtun, whose citizens bravely defended their territory against overwhelming odds at the battle of tal-Barrani in November 1986? That was a real no go zone.

  6. bob-a-job says:

    ‘parts of Malta like Marsa are “no-go zones” for Maltese’

    Now why hadn’t someone warned Charlon Gouder about that?

  7. fm says:

    Dan wiehed mill jaffaxxinani fl-injoranza tieghu.

    Ara vera kulhadd jilhaq mal-Labour. Kif jghidu huma jahdmu ma’ kulhadd.

  8. Makjavel says:

    I bet Aaron’s office is a No Go area.

  9. Bang head here says:

    Hal Safi a no-go for Maltese people?

    Seriously, Aaron? The most peaceful village, with the least number of criminal cases per-capita in Malta (excluding Gozo)?

  10. Mila says:

    The effects of too much FOX viewing are clearly showing.

    • ciccio says:

      Maybe Aaron is expecting Judge Jeanine of Fox News to ask him for a live interview. One in which he will start by telling her how qualified he is, and that he has 5 degrees, and a number of ‘meritocracy’ appointments.

  11. anthony says:

    Is this imbecile a chairman of something or other?

    Mr Chairman please go back to school and learn what a no-go zone really is before you dare open your stupid trap.

    Dan x’cuc hu?

    Tink Tenk, ‘ Fossa Tal-Hara’ in the vernacular.

  12. ciccio says:

    On the next issue of Charlie Hebdo: a cartoon of a Maltese No-to-spring-hunting campaigner with this message on a placard:

    “The Go-Zo countryside is a No-Go-Zo-ne during the spring hunting season. Let us push the hunters back.”

  13. Optimist says:

    Fox news is being sued by Paris for their claim about no-go zones there.

    The people spreading these lies are becoming like sheep who believe everything they read. It is embarrassing.

  14. Optimist says:

    By the way Daphne I think you mean “stare and ogle” not google.

    [Daphne – I meant exactly what I wrote: stare and goggle. You might find this helpful: https://www.google.com/search?q=meaning+of+goggle&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 ]

  15. Antoine Vella says:

    What Aaron Farrugia said is stupid and insidious. It is alarmist and suggests that Maltese should be afraid of Africans.

    Stupidity, ignorance and fear are the ingredients of racism.

    On the one hand the PL in government speaks of an immigration policy and on the other it depicts Africans as dangerous, “where there are Africans the Maltese cannot go”.

  16. Gahan says:

    The dockyard was a no-go zone for the prime minister, Eddie Fenech Adami.

    The first time he went there was when the Um El Faroud blew up.

    Zejtun was a no-go zone for the Nationalist Party, not only when Labour was in government, but even afterwards, when the prime minister and deputy prime minister (Fenech Adami and Demarco) were invited to a wedding there and were shot at.

  17. Edward says:

    Pretty much every Maltese bar is a no-go zone for anyone who doesn’t speak Maltese.

    I grew up knowing that if I ever ordered in English I was going to be given the wrong change, or told the wrong price, by the Maltese barmen who walk around with some sort of chip on their shoulder.

    In fact, I know many people who, when they go to those places for a laugh or just to hang out with friends, always ask the more Maltese looking/sounding member of the group to order for them because they know their accent will give them away and they would have to deal with the reactions from the barmen and other patrons.

  18. H.P. Baxxter says:

    Do we still have a Labour party?

  19. Dott Abjad says:

    The area in Marsa, referred to by the character in question is probably that space in front of the ex-New Tiger Bar.

    This was actually a no-go zone more than 10 years ago, when the place was teeming with all kinds of unsavoury characters and low-life criminals – pimps, scoundrels and thieves.

    Mr. Aaron only fears such a place now because of his highly discriminatory tendencies and inability to relate to other cultures, quite diverse to his own. So much for being a young face of a ‘progressive & liberal’ labour party.

    The problem is that they aren’t even aware of their own hypocrisy. And still more, neither do most of the natives. (I say this because I have had to stop considering myself as one, I can’t relate to this crap anymore.)

    Sad indeed!

    • H.P. Baxxter says:

      Tomorrow’s headline in Kullhadd:

      CHARLON GOUDER IGIDDEB LIL AARON FARRUGIA.

    • Painter says:

      “I say this because I have had to stop considering myself as one, I can’t relate to this crap anymore.”

      Same here. That is the reason I refer to the Maltese as ‘them’ and not ‘us’.

  20. gn says:

    L-ufficju ta’ Joe Debono Grech huwa no-go zone ghal dawk li ma jivvutawx Labour.

  21. tinnat says:

    I remember walking down Melita Street in Valletta some 24 years ago with a non-Maltese friend, and we were speaking English.

    There was a woman leaning out of her balcony with rollers in her hair who screamed at me “Tkellem bil-Malti jekk taf! Jew ma tafx?”

    At that point it felt like parts of Valletta were a no-go area to me.

  22. Painter says:

    Marsa has been a no-go zone for a long time. Aaron Farrugia should know that Marsa has been a place of crime and prostitution long before African immigrants came here.

    It still is, but mostly because of the Maltese criminals and the Maltese ‘imbarazz’.

    Sure, there were those two immigrants who stole a man’s bag lately, but that doesn’t justify putting all the immigrants in the same ‘keffa’.

    I might as well say that all people ‘tas-South’ are uneducated hamalli with no table manners (or any manners whatsoever) because those are the kind of people I see where I live.

  23. Painter says:

    http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20150130/local/bigotry-to-not-integrate-migrants-jose-herrera.553896

    This is all well and good but this is what bothers me about the article:

    “I am sure that if we teach migrants about Maltese culture – what it means to be Maltese, who our forefathers were, what a festa is, how our political system works and so on – we will bridge the gap that is stopping many migrants from integrating,” he said.

    Is this guy being serious or what?

    Maltese culture – Is there even such a thing? It is 2015 which means a country of over 400,000 people is not homogeneous, even thought is it very small. If it means eating pastizzi and all that crap, then God help the immigrants.

    What it means to be Maltese – In my book, it is to have a Maltese passport, whether you were born here or purchased one for €650,000, and not to speak the language or to go to a marċ tal-banda.

    Who our forefathers were – Oh great, here comes the Great Siege drivel and ‘Mietna għal barrani’ crap. What next, that we are the descendants of those who welcomed St.Paul on our shores? Vera tal-biki.

    What a festa is – Oh come on, is it really necessary now? I cannot stand the blatant hypocrisy; people make a fuss when they learn about Muslims here in Malta, but have no problem with this in-your-face attitude about the festas and Christianity in general. Besides, I’m sure many immigrants here realized what festas are considering how some Maltese are loud about them and are probably freaked out about it too.

    How our political system works – It is better not to comment on this one. Not even the Maltese themselves know how it works because all then know how to do is to attend those ghastly mass meetings and vote every five years and in the occasional referendum.

  24. Mila says:

    It is unbelievable how some point out to people’s skin colour and think ghettoisation but then fail to recognize poor design which is the product of poor choice and judgement.

    In the trashification of Valletta I cannot help but be reminded of shanty towns. The site hurts one’s eyes even if one sees them for free. Would tourists pay to see such garishness? Would the stalls look any better with multi-coloured undergarments fluttering in the wind hanging from the black, beige and red monstrosities?

    Next time the PM visits with his European counterparts he should exploit the opportunity to sell the patent for similar erections in front of the Britain’s Houses of Parliament or in the Avenue des Champs-Élysées.

    We shall then see how that money making venture goes because as long as we make a buck…..

    http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20150130/local/vallettas-new-monti-stalls-and-location-come-under-fire.554024

  25. Liberal says:

    You can’t blame him, Painter. That’s the only “culture” he knows. And apparently the same can be said of the majority of our sorry population.

  26. Carrie Erbag says:

    Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

    Martin Luther King Jr. 1929-1968

  27. Talking Through His Hat says:

    According to his reasoning then Malta Freeport Corporation is No-Go Zone, for me, at least.

    The level of stupidity is so immense, I’d feel an alien in that place.

  28. Josef says:

    He must have read some notes on Thomas Hobbes before his ‘diskors’.

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