More refugees resettled in the US

Mr Joe Xuereb

Jun 10th 2011, 11:24

First of all, good! Take more please.
I don't want to put a damper on this, I really don't. I am talking about the proposed 'integration and assimilation' of these Ethiopans, Eritreans and Somalis into American society, within two years.
I am a son of the British Empire and appreciated royal visits (early 50s) when still a schoolboy. I come from a (British) military family and part of my education even before I was ten was in the UK. To all intents and purposes, I had an 'English'children even when in Malta. My reading matter as a boy was English fodder and some cathechism of course.
I flew the nest 'appena qfilt qalzieti' (as soon as I was able). Prior to that, I was teaching English (among the rest) at primary schools for three year. I came to UK where I've been for fifty years this year (how time flies, my country behind me and embracing the Mother Country, and freedom). I worked non stop, professionally, until I retired (via a Queen's Garden Party invite or two). And of course Guardamangia and where 'she that must be obeyed' stayed with hubby to be were all lore familiar to me. I assmimilated? Do I feel integrated? Difficult to say? London is in UK but the UK it ain't. The England I came to fifty years ago - thick smog and Sundays a day for worship and Tube fares @ threepence a go plus bedsitters 2.50 a week, half one's way (not much change there) - is not the England now.
The British are reasonable people (that is why they had a huge Empire), not given to petty intimacies (which means they are practically impossible to get to really know). In a crowd I feel 'integrated' - whatever that means - but that has more to do with me being confident with myself and that shines through whether I'm in Tottenham or Turkey at the back of beyond. Maybe had it been the USA rather than UK that I went to, it might have been a different outcome. I am not complaining.
For sure, one can be prevented from integrating and assimilation. But as much as anything else, it depends on the person who wants to be integrated and assimilated. NOT FORGETTING THAT PEOPLE EVERYWHERE ARE NATURALLY DRAWN TO SOME BUT NOT TO OTHERS. Meaning - being Maltese does not mean one would automatically embrace anybody who is Maltese. We pick and choose. Chemistry? Disposition? They all come into play. There needs to be something of a commonality for people to gel. Failing that, I guess there is the 'acceptance of an alien' based on christian values. But even then, the proof of the pudding....... one can fool oneself in playing the game, 'let's enjoy and explore our different ways'. Fun for a while but wears thin eventually. Integration and assimilation are but two words but they are much more complex when put under the microscope. Come on! don't tell me you didn't know this?!
* Are we to presume that these lucky people are people genuinely deserving of political asylum? Personally, I think the real solution is for people to stay put in their country of origin, now rehabilitated. The stumbling block is that countries can only be helped to improve their status but the biggest chunk of work has to be undertaken by the country itself. Certainly it is futile to put the responsibility of a countries ruinous state on, say, British colonialism. As my boss Bernard D. told me fifty years ago, how long can Malta use the colonised card to come knocking asking for help.
Malta did very well after independence thank you very much where much bigger and richer
countries, foundered. See what I mean when I say that ex-colonised countries have to pull their socks up and do something positive. We were lucky. We inherited British know-how and that saved us. Until this migration nightmare started to take over.
PS I understand that USA only gets 1% of its oil from Libya. It has plenty of its own but concerned about oil-rich countries that are also rogue regimes. They would go nuclear if they could. Failing that, invasion by stealth - and, most lethal of all in the long term, control by threatening, and carrying out, terrorism - is a viable option.

Jesmond Micallef

Jun 9th 2011, 18:34

Once again, thank you to the People of the United States of America for this jesture of solidarity with these people but also with Malta. One expects that such words of gratitude do not only come from the public but also from democratically elected Maltese MP's, who are representatives of the Maltese people at the end of the day. The USA is proving that just like Malta being a bridge between europe and non european Africa in this cause, it is also a bridge beween the different regions in the world, ie: Africa and the EU.

Greetings to the people of the United States of America.

Ms Louise Vella

Jun 9th 2011, 16:46

Thank you US. But I'm more interested to know how many remain.

Ms Maria Vassallo

Jun 9th 2011, 15:58

Thank you, US.
Keep it up.
May God bless America.