Mark-Anthony Falzon
Dracula in charge of a blood bank
Many of us who remember the Malta of the 1980s will also recall the nasty things we used to think and say about Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
We thought of him as a buffoon at best; more likely a sinister dictator who certainly was not someone you wanted to see your elected leaders hobnobbing with.
The times, they have changed, and the Colonel he is now fully rehabilitated. He periodically tours European capitals and gives speeches at the UN, and is even known to indulge in a round or two of hand kissing.
The compliment is returned by many. Silvio Berlusconi seemed rather radiant in his presence in Rome on Monday, and on Wednesday our own elected leader was in Libya toasting some Great Revolution or other.
If for some in Malta this is the occasion for a smug ‘we told you so’, for me it’s rather like being on the road to Damascus in reverse gear.
We were right to despise Gaddafi in the 1980s and we were more than right to pour scorn on our toadying leaders. (The corollary, despising Libyans generally, was both stupid and unfair.) Nothing proves the point like his latest performance in Rome.
It was typical of Gaddafi’s trips, which have become a sort of ritualised mockery of his hosts (‘a circus that humiliates us’, La Repubblica put it). He discussed religion and politics with a very select group of women and told them to bring forth Muslim children only. For the Colonel it seems, any woman not in uniform is a pair of ears connected to a womb.
Let him wallow, one (not me) might think. But there was something Gaddafi said which we, citizens of Malta today, would be criminal to dismiss.
Presumably to get some of his money from the Lockerbie mise en scène back, he asked the EU for €5 billion a year to stop African migration through Libya. He also said that Europe “could turn into Africa” and warned us of an “influx of starving and ignorant Africans” and a “barbarian invasion”.
All rather rich coming from someone who has in the past styled himself a pan-African champion.
It is not, however, Gaddafi’s dented image that worries me. Rather, I find myself deeply troubled that we – and I mean here the EU generally and Italy and Malta in particular – can be so glib about sending boat migrants back to Libya – a country ruled by a pathologically chauvinistic dictator who speaks (heaven knows what he thinks) of groups of people, Africans in this case, as vermin to be controlled.
If that rings a bell, so it should. One would have thought we learnt the lesson 50 years ago. The 1951 Geneva Convention was in part intended to prevent history repeating itself. No longer would people on the move be forcibly returned to places where they would be downtrodden, tortured, and possibly killed.
Of course, the Colonel, who seems to have the leisure of swanning about Rome and ogling 500 women paid to be gnocche for the day, has no time for such trivia as international paperwork. Libya has never ratified the Geneva Convention. Gaddafi probably thinks the UNHCR is a hostess agency – the real thing he summarily and inexplicably expelled from Libya a few months ago.
Even if a number of economic migrants do manage to work and scrape together some savings in Libya, there can be no escaping the truth that for many sub-Saharans the country is a cleaner version of hell.
In 2009, JRS-Malta published a wonderful piece of investigative writing called Do They Know? It’s a testimonial to the lives of asylum seekers in Libya, painstakingly pieced together over a number of years with an emphasis on consistency and verifiable facts. (Those who think JRS are idealists, do-gooders, and liberal-hegemoniacs can enjoy their carping cave.)
The record is dismal indeed. Libya has absolutely no formal procedures for dealing with asylum seekers. In the absence of structures and policy, decision-making is completely arbitrary. International organisations are booted around or out, and asylum seekers have no rights and no access to recourse at law.
The result is an ongoing humanitarian disaster. Libya’s detention camps are known for their terrible conditions. This includes ‘model’ set-ups such as that at Zleitan where many forcibly-returned asylum seekers, presumably including the ones we turn back following ‘sorting’ at sea, end up.
I quote from the JRS booklet: “Among the guards’ preferred instruments of torture are electro-shock stun weapons, which cause severe pain and temporary incapacitation. The guards also indulge in brutal beatings, with sticks, with wires, with their fists, including hitting detainees on the soles of their feet”. The bitter cherry is, some detainees die.
These are the places we are sending people back to. I say ‘we’ because I am talking elected leaders, not dictators. EU, Italian, and local politicians have been remarkably cheery about the whole business. In their moments of highest morality, they seem to think of forcible return to Libya as a kind of necessary evil. Last June, BBC News reported that the EU’s response to the expulsion of UNHCR was that it was “regrettable but understandable”.
The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, for one, begs to differ. He has expressed his “disapproval of bilateral or multilateral agreements for the forced returns of irregular migrants with countries with long-standing, proven records of torture”.
But then I suppose the Commissioner is another idealist, do-gooder, and liberal hegemoniac. Whatever he might be, I know which version to believe. The evidence is hard to miss. It tours Europe with a retinue of absurdity and a trick box of depravity, sexism, and racism.
Gaddafi is the man our leaders have elected head porter to Europe’s hell gate. He should grow strong turning the key; we, on our part, will grow weak washing our hands of blood.
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CZARB
Sep 5th 2010, 20:36
Gheddafi had made it clear, that he will not tolerate this problem unless Europe gives him a hand. Lets face it, no country should carry the burden of millions of immigrants. Now we either close an eye, let the immigrants flood Europe and therefore increase the frustration of both immigrants (who do not have the skills to make a decent living in Europe) and locals (who are resorting to parties like Lega Nord to solve the problem) or else we go around the negotiating table with Gheddafi and come out with an effective and yet humane way to solve this problem. We won't be able to stop Gheddafi regime's alleged violence towards the immigrants unless we meet him around the negotiating table and we are keen to help him out with a problem which is too big for his nation to solve. Its ironic that the same people who are attacking Gheddafi tend to defend terrorist governed countries (like Palestine) and are in favor of the present rogue immigration system which puts money in the organized crime pockets and put immigrant's life at risk.
Joseph Ellul - Sydney
Sep 6th 2010, 01:23
gaddafi had 40 years to upgrade Libya. Instead he kicked out the US, sent his people into the desert in tents to rehabilitate them and burnt all western books. He wrote the green book, that become very popular with the goats.
From the 60's he housed all kinds of terrorist organisations including the mein hoff group, the IRA and all kind of PLO terrorists. He had his chance to help, but instead he decided to burn Europe and blow up planes. He killed thousands of Christians by default and direct help.
It was Clinton who put gaddafi in his place, when he showed him that we all have families and all live in one house.
Gaddafi is reaping the wind and now wants to share it. Let him keep it.
If he wants to do some good he should pitch his tent in the Sahara and gag on his green book. His son will be very eager to show Europe how he will handle Libya.
He might even buy Real Madrid soccer team. They need the money.
Raymond Camilleri
Sep 5th 2010, 16:25
In Malta we hear about torture only when a couple of Nationalist supporters were tortured by the police (most of them were promoted by a subsequent PN government!!)... so as long as you are not nationalist it seems it doesn't matter if you are tortured and killed does it? So much for 'values'.... a country of hypocrites
David Portelli
Sep 5th 2010, 12:40
Mark-Anthony Falzon is an idealist not a realist.
We want to hear reality,how many migrants Malta can take,We want an answer,No one from all the posers and opportunists representing the NGO's is able to give us.Maybe Mr.Callus from Graffitti can give us an answer but Gaddafi gave them the correct answer last week and now they're all silent cause they never guessed that there is a whole Mafia Plot behind the illegal immigration issue.They just thought 'people seeking a better life'.
Sean Grima
Sep 5th 2010, 16:25
the africans in malta have only had a negligible impact, except in the mind of paranoid xenophobes.
Charles Sammut
Sep 5th 2010, 18:05
@ Sean Grima And according to this newspaper's online poll, over 80% of respondents are paranoid xenophobes. We have a problem, Sean. 20% are still living in cloud-cukoo land.
Sean Grima
Sep 6th 2010, 16:03
80% of respondents means just that.
Joseph Ellul - Sydney
Sep 5th 2010, 11:53
Why should a western democracy feel guilty of torture when the act is done in another country ? Libya is using reverse human rights to influence Europe to integrate Africans. This is not the answer. Libya has to be made aware that as an African nation that preaches African union, it has the chance to show leadership by keeping these seekers of a better life and treat them as fellow Africans.
Libya is a rich country but has vast arid regions. There is a system that can be used to green up these semi desert areas. It is very labour intensive and with about 10000 labourers you can plant 10 acres a day with salt bush and cover the drifting sand with oil to stop the movement and keep the humidity in the ground.
Using this method Libya can show the west how green he is . This process will also help him from shifting his tents every month or so.
I am sure that Clinton will not send any more bombers.
Mark A. Sammut
Sep 5th 2010, 17:06
"Why should a western democracy feel guilty of torture when the act is done in another country?" This is a very interesting question. Should liberal democracies impose liberalism on non-democracies? Is it liberal to impose liberalism? One school of thought says that liberal democracies have a duty to export and even impose liberalism on countries which are not liberal democracies. The duty stems from the fact that human rights are universal and should therefore apply all over the world. Another school of thought argues that if non-democratic, non-liberal regimes are decent there is no such duty. The duty would exist only in the case of States which are not decent. The question revolves round notions of civilization. Is Western civilization the most morally valid? Are other civilizations as morally valid as the Western one? The Ancient Greeks believed that there are principles which are valid to all human beings. Possibly, Darwinian observers might argue that there are altruistic behaviours which are common to all animals, save for degree: in humans they are in the highest degree. But do all humans have the same degree of altruistic behaviour? One country might allow the killing of immigrants; others the killing of unborn members of their population. Which is the morally better?
Joseph Ellul - Sydney
Sep 6th 2010, 01:07
@M.A.Sammut. Now , do not go all philosofical on me. I suggest you have a word with Plato, Pytagoras and Socrates......Hold on...they are all dead. There is still Gaddafi. Tell him about your reasoning. I am sure that he will record your utterances and include them in his little green book.
Robert Callus
Sep 5th 2010, 11:39
Libya's recent history on the Bulgarian affair proves Mark-Anthony Falzon completely right:
http://robertcallus.wordpress.com/2010/09/03/gaddafi-extortion-and-the-bulgarian%E2%80%99s-nightmare/
Charles Sammut
Sep 5th 2010, 11:19
Mark-Anthony Falzon is an idealist not a realist. A tree is judged by its fruit and this pedagogue has been churning out Graffitti types like there's no tomorrow.
What is going to be the situation in Europe when indigenous Europeans (the bad white man) becomes a minority in his own land? As an 'antropologist', this gentleman should know that the leopard cannot change its spots and an African in Europe will do exactly like an African in Africa. No amount of political correctness is going to change that.
But what I find amusing is that he bases most of his arguments on what the JRS says. Now that is a true case of Bernie Madoff in charge of your savings! The JRS's very existence depends on a steady influx of illegal immigrants. They get EU funds for it and an exemption from income tax to boot. Now, you don't have to be an accountant to imagine how 'creative accounting' flourishes wherever there is an income tax exemption. How funds from one taxable pocket are moved to the other non taxable pocket and back again.
The real University is not at Tal-Qroqq but in Main Street.
Sean Grima
Sep 5th 2010, 16:23
perhaps you can back your allegation of JRS getting eu funds? the university in main street? now that is idealism!
Charles Sammut
Sep 5th 2010, 17:52
European Refugees Fund (ERF) Community Actions 2004: In addition, Maltese organisations participated in the following projects which benefitted from EU funds: 4 JAI/2004/ERF/072 - ECRE United Kingdom (UK) Partner: JRS Malta EU co-financing: €231,168.70 The main purpose of this project was to record the experiences of refugees and asylum seekers who have sought protection in the European Union in order to highlight how people's lives are affected by asylum policies and laws. 5 JAI/2004/ERF/074 , JRS Belgium (BE) Partner: JRS Malta EU co-financing: €53,860.00 The aim of this project is to train and educate persons involved in attending to the needs of asylum seekers and refugees in international, regional and national refugee and human rights law and standards, intercultural and inter-religious issues, and in the identification and response to psycho-social concerns of this vulnerable population. 6 JAI/2004/ERF/083 - IOM BE Partner: Emigrants' Commission, Valletta EU co-financing: €302,662.25 The project aims at contributing to the joint efforts in the enlarged EU in facilitating sustainable return of asylum seekers through an integrated approach to voluntary return with particular emphasis on unaccompanied minors.
Sean Grima
Sep 6th 2010, 13:53
I am sure JRS will continue to help migrants irrespective of EU funding.
Mark A. Sammut
Sep 5th 2010, 10:27
Fine.Granted. But what is to be done?
Economic sanctions against "countries with long-standing, proven records of torture"?
The imposition of quotas on the sale of weapons to such countries?
UN intervention to resolve the Water Wars?
Self-imposed abstention by certain European countries from secret meddling in the internal politics of former African colonies?
Increased European investment in Africa which would allow Africans to grow an own capital base, set of entrepreneurial skills and ultimately fully-fledged industry? Wouldn't that help create a new China - i.e., a vast territory with millions of people ready to work for very low wages?
As things stand, however, it seems Europe is not creating a new China but pushing Africa into the open arms of the real China. China is obliging by investing heavily in the continent.
On the one hand, China's economic involvement could be beneficial, as it might create the economic conditions and political stability required to truncate emigration. On the other hand, Europe might wish to think twice about her African policies, as a Chinese presence to the south might not be in Europe's best interests.
The African question is tricky. Allowing indiscriminate African emigration to Europe is only a stopgap solution.
Louise Vella
Sep 5th 2010, 09:38
3.
For the sake of completeness, I quote below from ANSA (31 August) which gives the following passages of Gaddafi’s speech:
''Attualmente subiamo una immigrazione dall'Africa verso l'Europa ma in questo momento si tratta di una cosa molto pericolosa: non sappiamo che cosa succedera', quale sara' la reazione degli europei bianchi e cristiani di fronte a questo movimento di africani affamati e non istruiti''.
''Non sappiamo se l'Europa restera' un continente avanzato e coeso o se si distruggera' come avvenne con le invasioni barbariche''.
''Dobbiamo immaginare che questo possa succedere e prima che succeda dobbiamo lavorare insieme, fermare l'immigrazione sulle frontiere libiche''
Louise Vella
Sep 5th 2010, 09:37
2.
The agreement between Italy and Libya is the best thing that happened to Malta since we joined the EU. Some time ago www.maltarightnow.com had an online poll. Out of 5721 respondents, most of them probably PN voters, 90% said it was a good thing that Italy was sending the boatfuls of immigrants back to Libya. Only 7% said it was bad and 3% had no opinion.
X’taħseb dwar il-fatt li l-Italja qed tibgħat lura lejn il-Libja d-dgħajjes bl-immigranti?
Voti: 5721
Tajjeb 90 %
Ħażin 7 %
Ma nafx 3 %
M. Aloisio
Sep 5th 2010, 15:30
No one who want to make a serious argument would do so based on-line polls. Now feel free to pull the other leg as well.
Raymond Camilleri
Sep 5th 2010, 16:27
whatever they are...if they really are PN voters they are still hypocrites who support a party which constantly speaks of 'values'...but only when it suits them.... are you a PN voter Louise Vella?
Romeo Busuttil
Sep 12th 2010, 11:35
Would they all still vote in the same way after watching that video? (http://espresso.repubblica.it/dettaglio/morire-nel-deserto/2119367). So many people do not see beyond their noses. Did all the people who voted 'Tajjeb' bother to stop and ask themselves what is happening to these people or are they convinced that Gaddafi is putting them all on pleasure cruises going round Africa and everyone stops back at his country? The EU and especially the Italian and our government tal-valuri should make sure they are well informed by facts about what is happening, otherwise we really all have blood on our hands, including you and me. Yes, immigration is a huge problem for us but if we are solving it by abandoning people to die I will be the first to say I am ashamed of my country.
Louise Vella
Sep 5th 2010, 09:36
1.
In a very well-written article, Dr Mark-Anthony Falzon has still not answered the key questions:
How many Africans (call them refugees, asylum seekers, illegal immigrants or whatever) would Dr Falzon let in into Malta? 1000? 10 000? 100 000?
We are told there are two million of them in Libya waiting to set sail for Europe. We know Africa’s population is 1 billion or 1000 million. How many millions should Europe take?
Aldo Gatt
Sep 5th 2010, 11:34
Please stop treating people as numbers. When you are tempted to make this sort of comment, just substitute the names of the people you know and love for the numbers, and think again. If, even then, you're still of the same opinion, I beg you to humour me and watch the video on http://espresso.repubblica.it/dettaglio/morire-nel-deserto/2119367
Charles Sammut
Sep 5th 2010, 12:49
@ Aldo Gatt
But it is a question of numbers.
Once you exceed the 'critical mass' there is no going back. Self-destruction is assured.
Yes it is sad that these people are unable or unwilling to manage the vast wealth of their continent in a constructive manner. Yes it is sad that they are enticed to Europe by dreams of gold paved streets and bottomless welfare budgets. The problem cannot be solved by shifting it to Europe. On the contrary, doing that will only create a bigger nightmare.
No sir, Africanising Europe will not solve Africa's problems. It will only duplicate Africa's nightmarish problems in Europe. And you want that? Seems like it.
What people like the author if this piece should be asking is how can Africans be incentivised to stop acting as the world's beggars. Why does it have to be us to go there and install a water pipe to carry water to their villages and fields? It's hardly rocket science. There is obviously something lacking there.
Evelyn Cassar
Sep 5th 2010, 13:05
Aldo Gatt, they have a whole continent to roam about and they are not wanted in Malta. Do you expect us to take all the millions of Africans because you can rest assured that all of them will say that they are refugees? Get a life and stop your stance against Malta and the Maltese people.
Sean Grima
Sep 5th 2010, 16:21
the concept of a country or continent being exclusive to a race is stupid. people have travelled and mixed since the dawn of man.
Charles Sammut
Sep 5th 2010, 17:49
@ Sean Grima Your comments betray your nebulous thought processes. Had man travelled and mixed since the dawn of time, we would by now be all of a murky caffe-latte skin colour. Dream on Sean.
Mark A. Sammut
Sep 5th 2010, 17:57
@ Sean Grima
Whenever men travelled to settle in new lands, it was always a violent process.
Sean Grima
Sep 6th 2010, 12:33
charles sammut: i see no problem is being a murky caffe latte, since i have no problem with skin colour. indeed, people of mixed race can be found all over the world.