This might come as a bit of a surprise, but from my perspective Joseph Muscat and Michael Falzon are right: Malta has to take a stand against M. Sarkozy’s proposals about illegal immigration and make it clear to the EU that we will not sit idly by and be expected to take more of a burden than we can carry.
AD are also right when they propose that this should be the case.
To be clear, it is not the Immigration Pact itself that has drawn this fire, but the fact that the EU, led by the smugger nations (a.k.a. the more prosperous ones and the ones who are less immediately at the forefront of the wave of immigrants that heads North every summer) is fine with rhetoric but not so forthcoming when actually doing something is concerned. Frontex, which always gave the impression of being something put together in the “Yes, Minister” mould (“we need to do something, this is something, let’s do it”) didn’t exactly set the world on fire, though the fact that Libya acted as it was expected to didn’t exactly help.
Now that I’ve surprised everyone by agreeing with the MLP and the AD, I will go a step further and acknowledge that the MLP has shown signs of political maturity by not making overt political capital out of what is, at the end of the day, something of a crisis for the country, though nowhere near as hysterically critical as the revoltingly rabid racists who infest the comments and letters sections of the media wish to have us believe.
This political maturity only goes a certain distance, of course.
The pro-MLP media, with L-Orizzont and It-Torca taking the lead here, has always had a very strong sub-text about immigration being bad in and of itself, with the fault lying fairly and squarely at the door of the Government, for all the world as if the Cabinet should take up station at the Southern edge of the SAR Zone to repel boarders. Tones ill-disguised disapproval of the immigrants themselves, tones which ignore their humanity, are never far from the surface, either.
Racist tones come clearly into sharper relief when you read the comments and letters that are published daily. Here, though, xenophobia and bigotry cross party and cultural lines. Lil’Elves, PN-huggers, Bible-bashers and God-botherers, to say nothing of the puliti and the chattering classes, all have their representatives amongst the covert, and not-so-covert, racist.
Perhaps it’s because I’ve become over-sensitive to racism that I find myself suffering from that which I’ve often accused others of having, a sense of humour bypass, but even remarks made in jest about immigrants, blacks and what have you make me uncomfortable, even though I love cynical humour.
In my own defence, I have to say that people like Norman Lowell and their ideas are so un-funny, for all that so many otherwise sensible people seem to think he’s a fit subject to laugh at, that any wise-crack made at the expense of other races and cultures gets tarnished by association, even if some of the jokes are actually pretty darn good.
Incidentally, Lowell seems to have crawled back under his rock this summer, which is all to the good. Maybe I only think this is the case because I don’t look at vivamalta site any more, wanting to avoid being depressed at the vileness of human nature, at least insofar as it is expressed by the admirers of Lowell and his (excuse me while I fall about laughing) “philosophies”.
It is not only Lowell, who is doing sterling work in these lines as the embodiment of all that is unacceptable about our national psyche, who deserves clear and unequivocal condemnation by the more decent amongst us.
Sadly, though, this condemnation has not been forthcoming from the nation’s political, social and religious leaders, who, to my mind, should have come out with a clear position: racism and bigotry, in all their forms, are anathema to a civilised country.
Why said leaders haven’t come out with this is not clear to me: I hope it is simply the fact that since they themselves aren’t racist xenophobic or bigoted, they simply don’t see the need to make what is, actually, a statement of the bleedin’ obvious.
The alternative, that they are scared to alienate many of their supporters, is not a nice thought to have.
Why hasn’t there been a Curia directive, for instance, that during every sermon on Sunday, on one particular Sunday, a clear and unequivocal statement against racism is made? Are the Church authorities worried about members of their flock voting with their feet if they hear this or something? If there are people like this and the Curia is worried about them, then, hey, to reverse Marx, I’d rather not be a member of a club that accepts them, even tacitly.
To come back to the starting point, though, and the surprise you might have felt when you read that I was agreeing with Drs Muscat, Falzon and Cassola, read on.
My agreement with their position is not to be taken as an approval of the way they have timed their jump onto the Government’s bandwagon.
On the same day their high-sounding statements came out, it was announced that the position they were advocating was pretty much the position the Government was taking. I know that the cut-and-thrust of politics requires that sometimes (all the time?) you have to suggest that your opponents do what they’re already doing: that way, your own supporters, when the news filters into their heads, will get a warm and fuzzy feeling, sometimes without even knowing why.
My agreement is also not in any way, shape or form to be taken as any agreement with, or approval of, any sort of isolationism or other policies that do not give immigrants, legal, illegal, irregular or whatever, full respect as human beings. If I hear any more sanctimonious claptrap about these people being law-breakers, I’ll quite possibly throw up.
Yes, sure, they’ve broken the law, now could all the warm and comfy amongst you please get over yourselves and suck it up? These are human beings and they’re washing up on our shores: we have to deal with it and hysteria and platitudes will help not one jot.
There you have it: now read on below and see all the bigots and racists leap to the attack.