Refugee reverie
Last Friday the Jesuit Faith and Justice Centre launched a book called Opening Up a Path beyond Fear. It includes a significant contribution by President Emeritus Eddie Fenech Adami on the Detention Centre substituting the Customs House as the image of the Frontier dividing "us" from "them". What were the thoughts stimulated in you?
There was one tantalising number that stuck in my memory, although it came midstream in a torrent of warnings that the topic concerned flesh-and-blood human beings, and not statistics. In Malta today, the immigrants are very assorted, and certainly not just in pigment of skin. They come, I learnt, at present from no less than a wondrous 126 different countries.
Maybe, the fault lies with my classical education, but with that number there swam into my memory the splendid image of the stark naked Neptune in the courtyard of the Presidential Palace in Valletta. (The statue was possibly a portrait of the Genoese Admiral Doria, a dear friend of De Valette and compatriot of Renzo Piano, as was once suggested by European Court of Human Rights Judge Giovanni Bonello, tipped as Curator of the Palace when it is turned into a repository of our heritage treasures once Parliament moves to the Renzo Piano building).
The Roman Empire's god of the sea reincarnated Homer's Poseidon, evil agent of Ulysses on Gozo, deemed by Church Fathers, such as Tertullian of north Africa, an embodiment of Satan. In my reverie at the book launch at Tal-Qroqq I suspected him also being responsible for the continued shipwrecking on our shores of uninvited guests.
At the same time, another image flashed into my mind. It was that of Mario de Marco. He is living, convincing proof that 'lateral thinking' was not born in Malta by sheer co-incidence. On his capacious plate, fake silver but still avidly coveted by a squad of wannabe colleagues, our Most Eminent Prince, Lawrence Gonzi, has placed alongside the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, a hotter potato than was ever cooked by Mistra's slow-food champion chef Claude Camilleri, a lot of not quite fresh but still raw meat. The second wedding of culture with tourism is potentially very fertile.
Surely, that 126 figure provides the Prime Minister's Parliamentary Secretary with a chance to turn the tables on the pagan Neptune, if he uses it in the renewed branding of Malta abroad. This sea-locked Switzerland rejoices in a Gaddafi-financed mosque, complete with a minaret that cuts an almost dainty figure against our Mediterranean blue sky. (In another meeting that I attended last Friday morning organised by the Anna Lindh Foundation at Dar l-Ewropa, Adrian Grima denounced such phrases, together with Kinnie, as neo-colonial stereo-type impositions, symptoms of a 'Mediterraneanism' similar in nature to the 'Orientalism' denounced by my late dear friend, Edward Said. But that is another matter). Malta equally rejoices in Fenech Adami attending the Jewish seder.
So, our island can be projected not only as a paragon of cultural hybridity, but also as host country for outcasts, like Ulysses and St Paul, from over 126 countries cast upon our more rocky than sandy shores. A transcript of the contribution at the book launch by a Nigerian who said that he did not even know about Malta when he escaped from poverty and war in his still beloved native land but found on our island where he mysteriously and providentially landed the longed-for haven of peace would be ideal for this purpose.
Does the 'Path Beyond Fear' outlined in the book involve the integration of such immigrants into Maltese culture?
A friend of mine was very sceptical about this project. She told me that she did not believe that our guest-workers were all that badly off. She had seen a number of them moving from bicycles to motorcycles and, realising that these means of mobility did not in fact give them the required freedom in terms of the jobs they had found, they now had cars. Moreover, they were always boisterously laughing.
Since I am convinced that personal encounters are the best way to overcome prejudice, I got the lady to put the question to a group of immigrants gathered around a leading joker. "I have a lot of time on my hands and a captive audience". The answer raised a gale of laughter from his companions, but my lady friend remained poker faced. So I asked the wit to tell the lady a funny story.
"We were three brothers. The eldest went to England many years ago, with nothing but his tattered garments. He was adopted by a Catholic aristocratic family and we knew from what he sent us that he was doing extremely well. So, after some 10 years the middle brother went to join him. He met him at a West End club, he was wearing a bespoke tailored suit, spoke with an Oxford accent tinkled the ice cubes in his glass of whisky... but when he glanced at the newspaper, he shed a tear. His newly arrived brother asked him what made him sad. He replied: "The Empire is totally lost". There was another gale of laughter. But the lady still remained poker faced.
What is the point of your telling me this story?
Of course, if the same kind of joke was enjoyed, then true cultural integration would already have occurred. The lady had not understood that an attempt had been made to explain to her that, although our interlocutor had already got a good smattering of Maltese, cultural integration did not mean it becoming impossible to differentiate him from native Maltese. For the integration to be mutually enriching, he still had to remain different and bring yet another element to the eclectic texture that constitutes our Maltese cultural identity, into which another strand was being introduced.
Fr Peter Serracino Inglott was speaking to Miriam Vincenti.
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Joe Xuereb
Mar 16th 2010, 10:13
And some put themselves in the firing line something terrible - veritable sitting ducks, hungry for punishment it seems.
In an half-intelligent debate, non sequiturs are symptomatic. When the non sequitur is so out of context that, in its isolation, it is entirely meaningless, then it can only be symptomatic of the slippery slope, a long time coming. Sorry Grima. No, I'll rephrased that. No, I'm not sorry. Grown-ups need to take responsibility for all they do. And running to 'influential friends' certainly won't do (in any case, when push comes to shove our intellectual friends will only be concerned with saving their skins). So your search for more intellectuals has only just began. And even then........it's pointless. Ideas have to be of our own making, with true convictions, rise or fall.
sean grima
Mar 6th 2010, 13:52
what do joe xuereb's last reveries have to do with the subject of refugees?
Joe Xuereb
Mar 5th 2010, 15:37
3) In this link, The Raft of the Medusa, symbolic in its time and now, too. We're on a raft, barely floating. Along comes a swimmer, wanting to get on to save his/her skin. I know that with one extra person the raft will sink and we'll all perish. So this person must not come on. Unless of course I have been indoctrinated into believing that if I die doing a good deed - do-gooder - I would be doing it for Christ and he would embrace me as soon as I expired. Well, I am not a Christ. I do not die for other people and promise them eternal life. And most certainly I do not aspire to sainthood even if it would give me to opportunity to ask Alan Turing - how DID you break the code?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raft_of_the_Medusa
Joe Xuereb
Mar 5th 2010, 15:32
2) I wonder if he lingered long over the guy's homosexuality. Or was it, because of piety, a mere footnote? Or indeed, nothing at all. Now, as a working-class individual I do not normally read theses and other intellectual stuff. But as a homosexual male whose self-esteem is expected to be so low as to be underground, I made it my business to seek out the genius, often, that emanates from homosexuality. Alan Turing, Wittgenstein, Alexander of Macedonia, et al. At least my spoutings are my own. I do not lean against 'intellectual pillars' who may abandon me at any moment, leaving me bereft of any identity.
cont./
Joe Xuereb
Mar 5th 2010, 15:24
1) Pull one out of a hat and spout ignoring any valid points (I am assuming here this little rant was meant for me).
Thanks Trevor Lorenzo for the Serracino Wikipedia link. I noted that the good man's thesis was on Wittgenstein. Like any homosexual worth his mettle I knew the Austrian was of the brotherhood. BuI checked, to make doubly sure. And there it was: 'he (Herr W.) worked with the architect, Paul Engelmann, who had become his lover during the war, when they spent a lot of time in each other's company in the trenches, and the two designed a spare modernist house after...... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein I mean, one does not want to end up with egg on one's face when in the company of the 'strong by obduracy' like our Grima, he with friends in high places. Interesting that Serracino chose Wittgenstein for his theses. I wonder if he lingered long over the guy's homosexuality. Or was it, because of piety, a mere footnote? Or indeed, nothing at all.
cont./
sean grima
Mar 5th 2010, 13:10
you just throw about this statement on the erosion of maltese nation and culture, without specifying exactly which parts of those will be threatened? after all, Catholic principles and morality are central to Maltese cultural identity - consequently, you are extraneous to this, given your persistent attacks on the Church and "do-gooders"!
Trevor Lorenzo Mizzi
Mar 4th 2010, 17:45
@ sean grima,
What makes you think that siding with so called "intellectuals" makes you more correct than others? your "intellectuals" could be as warped and jaded as anyone else, and a sell out to boot.
They are human after all and are not gods. What is clear is the destruction of the maltese nation and culture, no matter how you want to disguise it and say it is not so because Mr Famous says so. Mr. Famous could be in someone's pocket.BTW,Even wikipedia has the common knowledge information on Fr. Serracino Inglott and the connection to this politician : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Serracino_Inglott
sean grima
Mar 4th 2010, 13:24
i have been called shameful by a handful of people, whose opinion I do not care about. rather, My opinions are in line with those taken by eminent intellectuals. yours, on the other hand, are only shared by an irrelevant minority.
Joe Xuereb
Mar 4th 2010, 11:48
And one Sean does not a whole Maltese population make, right?! Right!! Thank goodness for small mercies.
I know where your merit are Sur Grima, you keep repeating it but fail to back it up citing only tooth-fairy based back ups, parroting their presumed support (presumed because I'd hardly expect these two intellectuals 'say' anything other then what you say they 'say' - given political correctness being what it is. You on the other hand have decided my merit lies in suprematist racism - quite an accu sation - considering I have no hidden agendas. Stick to a mantra, ignore the facts as stated by me because they are just to deep for you to handle, and you will get far. Like not. You've been called 'shameful'. I could add a few more to that but I am of a kindly disposition today.
sean grima
Mar 4th 2010, 09:27
The simple point I am trying to make is that one cannot make stereo typed, sweeping, generalized statements about people based on race, ethnic origin, gender, sexual identity, politcal or religious belief. people should be judged on their individual merit.
Joe Xuereb
Mar 3rd 2010, 16:40
2) And their stomach ulcers and their self-doubt is their concern, not mine.
The word intellectual has been levelled at me on these very pages. Not very nice if well-meant. I just laughed it off. That said, anybody who uses others' intellect when they have none of their own and by way of propping up their spoutings; they could do worse than dip into Paul Johnson's Intellectuals: http://www.amazon.com/Intellectuals-Marx-Tolstoy-Sartre-Chomsky/dp/0061253170 On a more personal note, what behoves it a man to have seventeen PhDs and one in the over if he persists in believing in tooth-fairies.
And one swallow does indeed not make a Summer. But it's a hard pill to swallow when, in pain and vulnerable, you are told to be strong. She'll never make it. Or anything. Not with an attitude like that. Cultural or not.
cont./
Joe Xuereb
Mar 3rd 2010, 16:33
1) The usual shallow retort I'm afraid. If a black person was comfortable with themself, or a white person for that matter, or a fat, too thin person, experiencing a perceived or true insult, they would never resort to victimhood, 'you're saying/doing this because I'm.....'. Never. Time was when my homosexuality made me a victim. I went to the bother of raising my self-estteem if nothing else (mark my words) by default, but looking around me an seeing the human debris that is so-called heterosexuality. Of course the ignorant, like the poor, are always with us. Attacking me on whatever front gets rarer and rarer (the victim also looks a victim and invites victimisation). Those who attack me on whatever front, however subtly or blatantly, had better watch out if they don't want to be demolished at a stroke. Some sense this, preferring to confront a wet rag. So they will feel strong. At my expense. That was then. Now is now. And their stomach ulcers and their self-doubt is their concern, not mine.
cont./
sean grima
Mar 3rd 2010, 11:51
@TL MIzzi: I think you should weigh your words more carefully before making comments which you cannot back up with concrete proof.
sean grima
Mar 3rd 2010, 09:19
of course, it is possible for sectors of the population which might be discriminated against, to use that as a defensive tool in all circumstances. for example, a gay person may defend himself against any accustation by saying that he is being criticised because he is gay, when, in effect the criticism would have been justified irrespective of sexual identity. however, when the criticism of a black person comes from someone who believes that african culture is a bad influence on a superior european one, it is difficult to believe that the person doing the criticism is not racially prejudiced.
Joe Xuereb
Mar 3rd 2010, 01:11
Predictable, very predictable props coming out of the woodwork now, are they? I wait for the disclosure of the rest. No, not with bated breath. With total indiffernce more like. Still, they're good for raising a wry smile and a 'Frankie Howerd' titter.
Trevor Lorenzo Mizzi
Mar 2nd 2010, 21:58
@sean grima,
"tl mizzi:it seems that a number of eminent intellectuals, such as fr peter and malta's former PM and President share my views. makes any reasonable person wonder who is playing the ostrich."
Yeah, Great examples, a politician and his advisor priest employed by Rome. Both represent the establishment, and are working on implementing the Eilte agenda that no one voted for.
sean grima
Mar 2nd 2010, 19:53
@joe xuereb: one swallow does not make a summer
@tl mizzi:it seems that a number of eminent intellectuals, such as fr peter and malta's former PM and President share my views. makes any reasonable person wonder who is playing the ostrich.
Joe Xuereb
Mar 2nd 2010, 15:54
Any patient will say that part of their treatment is their relationship with their doctor/nurse. What's the 'doctor's bedside-manner. If this is lacking, if every half-sentence by the carer is interjected by, 'I beg your pardon, etc.' because the accent is so thick - this creates a mutually embarrassing atmosphere. And that's just the verbal breakdown. It can happen with a red-headed, freckled Scottish doctor with a thick Glaswegian accent. So racism doesn't come into it. Certainly no supremacy stupid nonsense. Unless there's a concealed agenda in which case any accusation is possible. And when one has more black friends, acquaintances, colleagues, etc. than one can count, including very intimate contacts, such hidden agendas still won't relent. And that's when racism starts to boomerang somewhat.
If a white nurse told an upset patient after surgery to grow up and behave like a man, that nurse would be reported to the Ward Sister (hypothetical, situation wouldn't arise). If the nurse happened to be Ghanaian/whatever, one would hesitate reporting. The likely retort being,
' you're doing this because I'm black'. And reported to the Ward-Sister, all I actually got was, 'it's cultural....but we need them'. I'll stop here. One anecdote is enough.
Trevor Lorenzo Mizzi
Mar 2nd 2010, 15:45
@sean grima,
The only one living in a surreal world of their own imagination is you sean and as one blogger succinctly put it "not everyone chooses to behave like an ostrich and stick their heads in the sand, with their hind quarters up for the taking! ". A very apt observation on your way of behaving sean.
sean grima
Mar 2nd 2010, 12:38
1. as long as the service I receive is good, it would make no difference to me whether the nurse is English, Maltese, Zamibawean or Somali.
2. "Different culture. Contributing little if anything. Totally alien in aspiration, totally out of place. And very fecund." Not racist? A typical white supremacist, colonial attitude. If immigrants are filling up the posts which locals do not want, and supplementing the working population with their fecundity, they would already be giving a valid contribution.
sean grima
Mar 2nd 2010, 10:22
louise vella, louis gialanze and TL Mizzi seem to leave in a surreal world of their own imagination
Joe Xuereb
Mar 1st 2010, 23:32
2) Time was when nursing was an honourable profession, badly paid. Not any more it seems. A nurse now is more likely to be from Zimbabwe (bless their white cotton-socks), etc. with an impenetrable accent. English school-leavers seem not to be overly interested in nursing etc. They are very good at being single-mothers on Council estates. There is a population deficit. This I reckon is a problem. I do not know what the solution is. However, I do not think that a population dificit is resolved by a profusion of Somali progeny with the only positive being that stock in perambulators are very strong (mostly bought by Govt.-issued vouchers, I should add). And before anyone shoots the messenger, that has nothing to do with racism; of that one can rest assured.
Reveries are all very well. But a luxury only for teenagers in love I'm afraid. Coffee anyone?!
Joe Xuereb
Mar 1st 2010, 23:29
1) Malta is tiny and I do not know how this immigration business is mappping out at street level (ie visibly). Malta has always(?) had immigrants, incoming and outgoing (I am one). But when immigration becomes top heavy.....different matter. In tiny Malta.
Many here have clamoured that multi-culturalism - in UK, say - works perfectly. But does it? I have first-hand experience over a very long period. Until recently, immigrants were largely West Indians, Pakistanis, Indians, ex-colonised, Christians, English speaking. With Western-style values and aspirations. They have access to everything, seamlessly. The less 'lucky' among them live in ghettoes. More recently, we have had huge numbers, legals, illegals, asylum seekers, you name it. Different culture. Contributing little if anything. Totally alien in aspiration, totally out of place. And very fecund. Which is worrying because the indigenous population is not. As it is not in Europe generally. This is how I see and experience it. Of course everything looks fine on the surface, just (excluding the shootings and so on). On the whole, that is.
cont./
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Trevor Lorenzo Mizzi
Mar 1st 2010, 18:49
@ louise vella, This unelected and un-voted for social engineering plan of the elite and their clerics is to be found anywhere white christian people are in the west. They plan to destroy homogeneous european cultures. Read the article from the UK Daily Mail from Feb. 24 2010 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1253295/MELANIE-PHILLIPS-At-know-truth-Labour-despises-loves-Britain-values-history.html#ixzz0ga9MmD5G
Trevor Lorenzo Mizzi
Mar 1st 2010, 13:59
Francis Bellizzi
Mar 1st 2010, 09:28
The church in Malta would do well to look after their brethren in Malta. As someone has already said attendances have dropped dramatically. The young generation who are better educated and who have access to live news from around the globe have no respect whatever for the church and it`s representatives.The church has no mystery they fear anymore. Politicians should look after the people who elected them and find solutions to solve the immigration / refugee crisis, not use it to look good on their beanos in Europe. Illegal immigration is the perfect excuse the far right in Europe is benefitting from.
Louis Gialanze
Feb 28th 2010, 18:49
The church is fighting a lost battle in it's attempt to ram illegal immigration down our gullets. If anything the issue is backfiring on them. The number of church goers is on the decrease and no amount of coercion will reverse the trend. We are all aware that illegal immigrants take our jobs and a drain on our economy. The absolute majority of Maltese see illegal immigrants as a threat to our security and an economic liability rather than an opportunity - unlike what the Jesuits would want us to believe. Moreover, the writing is on the wall for the political parties as the far right continue to make inroads on the local scenario, much like the the rest of Europe. PNPL ignore at your own peril!
Andrew Battenti
Feb 28th 2010, 17:32
Ms. Vella,
Once again your comments give cause for concern. These are not so much matters for debate than quiet contemplation and affirmative action.
In a 1966 essay, Abraham Joshua Heschel, one of the most beloved Rabbis of the 20th century, writes: "Interdependence of political and economic conditions all over the world is a basic fact of our situation. Disorder in a small obscure country in any part of the world evokes anxiety in people all over the world."
The representatives of 126 countries who now live in Malta represent untold wealth. We are all inevitably thrust into the same world, but now the "horizons are wider, (and the) dangers are greater...no religion is an island" to quote AJH.
John Azzopardi
Feb 28th 2010, 13:27
I think that the Maltese religious and political leaders would do well to conduct studies as to the impact of hugh number of illegal immigrants that no one wants both in europe and Malta to remain here in Malta. Immigration, controlled where only a number is allowed in is ok if needed. However, thousands upon thousands of illegal immigrants arriving in just 5-6 years will create chaos. Look at what is happening in Ireland, Spain, Portugal and France as well as the EU. Also, more than half of the illegal immigrants do not share our western cutlure and value and this alone poses problems in the FUTURE. Only a fool doesn't realize this. We maltese have enough illegals to last us a lifetime. Can you imagine if they keep coming in their thousands during the next 20/30/40/50 years. And we are all fooling ourselves. Europe is not what it was once. Today, Europe is dwindling and the future emerging or emerged economies are China, Brazil, India etc. Those counties have a large populations to drive their growth at very cheap labor, especially manufacturing. Western societies - US, Europe, Japan - of course including little Malta are already at a disadvantage.
louise vella
Feb 28th 2010, 11:28
I was present last Friday at the book launch by the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice. After the speakers had their say, I immediately rose to ask a question. I was told there was no time because coffee was ready. Again I asked to put a question and again I was told there was no time because coffee was ready. Obviously the organizers belong to the school of preachers who avoid debate.
My greatest surprise was to hear Dr Fenech Adami say the arrival of illegal immigrants was an opportunity. He compared the fear of illegal immigrants to the fear in the Maltese before Independence (1964) and joining the EU (2004). He of all people should know that Independence and the EU were subjects of intense national debates. For both the decision was taken after a referendum. Can Dr Fenech Adami say the same about illegal immigrants? Did he or his successor as Prime Minister ever launch a national debate on illegal immigrants? Did they ever propose a referendum on illegal immigrants? Is he in favour of a referendum on illegal immigrants like the one he launched (and luckily won) on Malta’s accession to the EU?