Taking the moral high ground

We Maltese have a saying that is in effect more apt than the English people in glass houses do not throw stones. It is min jitkaża, jaqa' fil-każa which categorically includes even those who do not live in glass houses to desist from taking the righteous moral high ground as only tomorrow it may be them who will find themselves to be the perpetrators of the same misdeed.

This is why I found the ramblings of one Enrico Gurioli, awarded this very same space in this paper on September 25 in an article entitled The Terrible Sea Of Europe bewilderingly irritating.

The ocean of insinuation and innuendo in Mr Gurioli's very long epistle to the Maltese made it appear as if each one of us was collectively responsible for the tragedies that have taken place in the Mediterranean not only now but for the last couple of millennia.

We are not saints but Mr Gurioli should know that neither are his compatriots. I am grimly satisfied that those three alleged Maltese human traffickers were caught only a week and a half ago after a chase that would have probably won an Oscar. To that I say, well done Guardia di Finanza and keep up the good work. However, and here lies the crunch, Mr Gurioli's article makes it appear that the masterminds of this terrible tragedy are here in Malta and that the sensationalism of the Italian press has finally had its dastardly effect on our reputation. I resent that.

Our MEPs have many times pointed out the precariousness of our position to the EU and, to date, we have had little or no response. As has been reported, other countries are extremely reluctant to take in our asylum seekers and, if one works out a ratio, Malta is far more inundated with immigrants than Italy. The only thing about Malta is that the greater part of these people simply do not want to stay here at all but go to Italy, the land of milk, honey and Barilla, dove c'è casa, to make what in their estimate is a fortune.

In this regard we Maltese find ourselves between a rock and a hard place. Our Christian background dictates that we should welcome asylum seekers with open arms.

This is how we have been brought up. Like Cordelia in Brideshead Revisited I have a number of Kenneths all aged between 30 and 40 somewhere in Africa who were baptised and educated under a special scheme that swallowed up a good portion of my pocket money. It was the thing to do: rather like giving up a good Christmas present to attend the Toy Tea at the Palace in January. Now that these Kenneths have left their homeland where life had become intolerable and knocked on our door to take them in we are all in a panic.

For decades we threw money at the African problem thinking it would go away. Today's impasse is the result. As John Attard Montalto pointed out in the same issue of The Times we Maltese need to establish a long-term solidarity with both Italy and Libya not to solve our problems, as they are impossible to solve, but to alleviate them and find a modus vivendi that would enable us to cope with the ongoing tragedy with the least possible fuss.

At present, the diplomatic wheeling and dealing by Silvio Berlusconi with Muammar Gaddafi that came out into the open when the Italian Premier presented the colonel with the Venus torso has reaped dividends in the sense that this summer we have had a dramatic decrease of boatloads of illegal immigrants as compared to previous summers. Yet, the Italian press seems out to get us putting tiny Malta between Scylla and Charybdis, which is far worse than being between a rock and hard place.

We have been portrayed as cynical purveyors to a criminal racket that is slowly but surely transforming the face of Europe as we speak. Just look at your own backyard in Puglia where the immigrant tomato pickers are paid a pittance for long terrible hours of back breaking work. For shame. Let us stop blaming each other's policies or governments and take a pragmatic and, above all, humane view of the situation. We all have to be ashamed about. We all have our fair share of criminals among us and those who cannot resist the temptation to make a small fortune by capitalising on the misfortunes of others. That is human nature. These people are found everywhere. This is why we have our code of law. This is why we have our army and police force.

Our Prime Minister has just outlined the illegal immigration problem yet again in the UN only last week in the wake of the ramblings of our dear neighbour, the colonel, who made up for his exclusion from the UN for the past four decades by taking up 96 long minutes instead of the allotted 15 and calling the US President "our son Obama". The Iranian maverick President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was not much better and has once again denied the holocaust, among other things. Therefore, Mr Gurioli and others like him should forget the small fry like us and take a long hard look at the international forces that threaten the security of our planet and shudder.

kzt@onvol.net