Tuesday, 24th March 2009
Waltzing Matilda and other shenanigans...part 1
With all the opinions and xenophobia coming out of everyone’s mouth, it’s quite obvious that some of us have a problem with anyone who so much as blows their nose in a different way than we do.
Let me take you back in time for a minute - between 1946 and 1996 over 30,000 Maltese left Malta for England, and many many more thousands went to Australia, Canada and the US. I can just imagine Katarin, it-tifla ta’ Censu l-pupletku, getting off the ship onto Elis island, her face discreetly hidden under a scarf, with a rosary bead in one hand and a ‘domna’ hanging from her neck. She’s followed closely by her husband Grezju ta’ Nuna, who is carrying more than his body weight in Hobz Biz-Zejt, and 6.5 noisy children in tow. And now, so many years later and in an ironic turn of events, thousands of immigrants are hitting our shores on a daily basis.
I do not want to go into the merits of how this is straining our already depleted economy, or on how it’s increasing the stress on our military forces and over stretching our health centres. I do not want to get into all this because low and behold there are enough people with enough inane opinions for all of us. The only thing that I would like to point out is that the world is made up of migrants! As far as we know, the human race emerged out of Africa, so theoretically it’s only the Africans who can claim their land by right. And yet, they are the ones who find the strongest opposition to move into other parts of the world because apparently it does not belong to them.
Those who come up with daft suggestions like letting them drown, or sending them back on their waves on their small rickety boats, might be talking out of ignorance, or out of fear of the unknown, but even politicians like Hilary Clinton come up with absurdities sometimes. If it were left up to good ol’ Hilary she’d build a ‘Smart Wall’ at the Mexican border. This would be a 2000 mile virtual wall equipped with infrared cameras, military airplanes and radar scanners that would catch all those trying to sneak into the US.
Like most, she does not care that the American race is made up of migrants and that the Mexicans have been on their continent for hundreds of years before the Anglos. All I can say about Hilary’s ‘Smart Wall’ is that this woman couldn’t even keep track of Bill in the White House let alone half a million migrants who make it through the border every year! But the alternative would be building a real concrete or brick wall, but even she knows that trying to build a 2000 miles long wall without the help of the Mexicans would be a farce!
Not a day goes by that I don’t hear people haranguing about how ‘these boat people will take over’ and how ‘they do not respect our laws and traditions’ and how ‘something needs to be done about them, not excluding letting them drown or sending them back to their countries’. But surprisingly, on the same ‘zuntier’ that I hear these arguments being drummed up, no one seems to be worried about the Russian pole dancers, the catalogue wives or the blonde prostitutes hailing from the North. Likewise, no one is worried about the many Asian restaurateurs who buy out Maltese businesses and only employ people from their country.
Clearly, the formula to become an accepted migrant is simple – less pigment and more cash. When these two elements are in your pocket you need not abide by anyone’s traditions to be accepted. This is the way of the world which is fine by me, but please, save me the bull, and simply admit that our problem with the migrants has nothing to do with anything else but money.
I know it’s hard to come to terms with because our Christian guilt drums up all other types of ‘acceptable’ reasons to resist the influx of immigrants, but it all boils down to cash really. We’re happy living in our villas and small palaces, eating three meals a day and not having to look over our shoulders because our country is at peace. We’re happy knowing that our children are safe at school and that their building is not at risk of being bombed.
We’re happy even though we know that others, who are equally entitled to a decent life, don’t even have a roof over their heads. As I said, this is the way of the world, this is human nature, and though I can’t say that there isn’t anything wrong with it, there’s something tediously worse with not admitting it!
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Comments
Never had I encountered such hatred and venom for people that are different from us.
What is Malta afraid of? a different colour of skin? a different language? a different religion? a different cuisine? why is a blue eyed blonde Russian female accepted and a veil wearing Muslim isn't?
Is this the best effort Catholic Malta can make to assist those in the human race that need help?
Malta right now is undergoing a financial crisis and is not in the same position of Ellis. Let us work on the issue in an open manner, putting ALL the cards on the table - be them xenophobic, humanitarian, social or political. Through viewing all the perspectives we can come up with a more humane solution. Everybody is right but everybody is wrong in such a threat.
Ignorance starts with those believing that their relatives arrived undetected and illegally to New York on a Boat. First of all the only boats crossing the Atlantic Ocean are Ocean liners and everybody on these ships had to be registered. Once that ship enters the Hudson River there is no other way of getting off except through customs.
I knew of a few Maltese men that jumped ship but these were mostly employed on Merchant ships and when they arrived in New York they took shore leave and never returned to the ship. Those that were caught after a few years were sent back to Malta or sometimes Canada. If they had led a clean life during their stay here, they were given a letter of recommendation to present to the US consul to let them enter the US legally.
So your relatives must have been pulling your leg when they told you about arriving on a boat and entering New York undetected. It never happened
And if you think that making sarcastic remarks about the daughter of a man who was stricken with a stroke is funny, that is your problem not mine
I happen to be in a position to work closely with the 'boat people' coming to Malta. I can assure you that most of them could not get a medical test if they were dying.... they are persecuted and living in danger of starvation.... you are mixing fools with horses Mr.Scicluna...you moved to the US for a better standard of living, had you stayed in Malta I doubt you would have been shot in the head or died of hunger.
Ignorance starts with people presuming that their particular case is that of the majority or even worse of everyone. You might have been one of the lucky privileged ones with someone to do good for you in the US, a clean health case etc... so many more like my grand parents and their brothers and sisters did not have these things so YES they entered the US illegally. The actually entered on a boat too...albiet slightly bigger than the ones hitting Malta's shores at late. So please, don't assume that just because you had a particular experience everyone is in your same bucket. And if Ms. Bezzina is referring to people like my grand parents when she calls them those funny names...it's ok by me....cause I get her point....they came to the US bringing their culture and their burdens with them....
I entered the US legally in1950. First of all I deeded a US citizen to sponsor me by an affidavit
stating personal facts, such as total income and savings and size of the family he supports.
This was to prove he can support me until I settle down so I will not become a burden on the US govt. Then I had to go to the Floriana Hospital for a physical exam, To Attard for a mental exam and Dr. Prezziosi for an eye exam. Then to to be fingerprinted at the Malta police station. DOES THIS COMPARE TO THOSE ENTERING MALTA TODAY?
So if you like to advertise your ignorance by labelling the emigrants of those days with stupid nicknames, you are proving nothing except that you are xenophobic about the people of your own Country.
People from outer space are aliens to us not just because they are extraterrestrials but because they are unfamiliar, unknown and foreign. Alien is not a disparaging phrase.
Your ID number is followed by the letter ‘M’ which denotes your nationality-Maltese. My grandson is not an extraterrestrial, he’s six feet tall, blue eyes with blond hair yet his ID card was marked with the letter ‘A’ to describe him as an ‘Alien’because he is a British Citizen.
The people that “ taz-zuntier” are up against and you are protecting, do not qualify for the letter M or A as besides being unfamiliar, unknown and foreign, they are also invaders and a danger to our society. Nobody is denying the fact that Africa is in a bad state and its inhabitants are suffering, but does the world expect our small country to save the African race?
re waltzing matilda - yep, i knew that one, though i dont recall it as as aboriginal. lyrics were by a white man named peterson or something. in fact i must have about 5 different versions of that song at home. still, i find Joan Baez' live version on 'ring them bells' as the most haunting. Most recommended.
as regards history, well, no, it's not that familiar,
I dont think that the illegal maltese(rs) were falsely claiming to be fleeing a civil war or saying that thery were from France or Germany or America instead of Malta.
Furthermore, nowadays, with human rights, UN, the media, BBC worldwide, Amnesty International, NATO, and all that, it is quite a different story from that time. We have media, we are informed and people have more power to protest if they want to make things better and bring change.
Lastly, between 1911 and 1948 both Australia and Malta were part of the same empire - so what was so wrong with crossing the (rather ill-defined) border of that time?
....Waltzing Matilda is a bush ballad...(aborignies anthem) which over time became Australia's migrant's national anthem.
AS FOR YOUR CLAIM THAT ALL IMMIGRANTS WERE LEGAL....YOU'RE WRONG!!
According to the 1911 census there were 248 Maltese in Australia. The number increased considerably in the years to follow. Then in 1912 the Australian Government excluded Maltese immigrants from the assisted passage. In the same year the Government legislated the new policy of White Australia called the 1901 Immigration Restriction Act.
The bans remained in force until 1948. Yet, between 1911 and 1919 over 2000 Maltese migrated to Australia. They encountered some opposition and most of them had to find work in remote areas such as the Mt Lyell copper mines in Tasmania, at Broken Hill mines and on the Pine Creek to Katherine railway in the Northern Territory.
Sounds familiar ?
@ BJ Schranz, John Schembri,Aaron Sammut - well said.
though I do not fail to admire ms bezzina's humorous attempt, it still needs to be true to history.
by the way, ms. bezzina - irony apart - do you hold any grudges against people called Katarin, it-tifla ta’ Censu l-pupletku or Grezju ta’ Nuna? or against hobz biz-zejt?
Or perhaps that's not xenophobia?
I moved house a few years back, and for some reason certain members of the same street (i'd have called them neighbours, but they don't deserve the title) seem unable to accept my presense - i still don't know whether the reason is political, geographical (i moved from one end to another of the island) or the colour of my tie.
It hurt for the first few weeks, but now I simply learnt to ignore them and live my life.
Shall I call them xenophobes?
The influx of Maltese to Australia and USA was legal, so there is no comparison;
The people that went to the new continents went ther to help build a nation into what it is today;
Contrary to what Ms. Bezzina is saying, and to what many think, there was indeed a streaming/filtering on who is chosen to go to Austrialia;
The obese, frail looking and those above a certain age had no chance of even making it to the quay, let alone to Australia. Likewise, those possessing particular skills were also preferred.
Literacy did not matter much, while basic knowledge of english was an advantage
Had Ms. Bezzina even cared to carefully watch a couple of documentaries aired on PBS, she'd have a proper idea as to what really happened at that time.
What is also different is that whereas the maltese immigrants were paid low wages, if we pay these immigrants less than what maltese earn, we'll be accused of discrimination and god knows what else.
When you're stealing it's much more riskier than doing things properly.
With all said...this is part 1 on the present situation... I hope part 2 consists of definite answers/solutions that will overcome our increasing problem...
Admittedly they must have brought their own cultures to these countries too but responsibly respected the cultures and traditions of the host country. Some of them did honour to their homeland by serving the host country politically as well.
On the contrary these immigrants come here uninvited and are dumped upon us despite the fact that both we and they do not desire it. We offer our care and hospitality but they rebel when our legal system keeps them under control as should be.
This is NOT about money. It's about respecting our motherland for which our forefathers fought dearly such that we can enjoy it freely today, unencumbered and in the same traditions and cultures and to consign it to our children tomorrow.
It depends which way you look at it really.... people are claiming that when (ALL) the Maltese emigrated they did so legally - clearly they don't have their facts straight. They also assume that they never caused any trouble when they went to another country - has no one ever read the SOHO story? they also think that they were all skilled and wanted in the new country... so many lived in hiding before getting lost in the system...so many left Malta pregnant to be able to give birth there and gain automatic legal rights to stay. We did the same, and our problems here were not even close to what these immigrants are facing!!! At the time it was all economic...we had no jobs... and in a different way it's still pretty much about the same thing today!
We are dealing with Illegal uncontrolled immigration, can anyone tell us how big the next boatload is going to be?
Katarin and Grezzju with their 6.5 children , asked and were accepted to go to the US where the economy was thriving, The same cannot be said to the present situation in Malta.
I prefer a plain load of chosen families ( like Germany did) to come to Malta rather than this uncontrolled influx of young men.
This is a complete different situation to when Australia, the UK, Canada and the US opened it's doors for immigrants that were to travel LEGALLY and I repeat it LEGALLY to accommodate the needs of these countries. In fact those who travelled without permit were rightly sent back.
I hope we're not promoting a lawless world, where one can pretend to enter whichever country he likes ILLEGALLY and find sympathy from people like you. This is very dangerous indeed!!
We can be sympathetic with asylum seekers that run away from war or oppression in their counties to seek refuge, but no sympathy with those who work for a couple of years to save a fw thousand EUROS to make an illegal trip to whichever country they like. These should be kept in detention until repatriated.
your comment is a good reflection of the instant culture.
You read aliens, my name, and hey presto you place me on the zuntier.
Now if you had time to read you would have noticed:
a. that aliens had the following " mark on either side meaning that it was being used in a historic /cultural context refering to how human nature reads anyone who comes from without...some called them gentiles, some called them barbarians etc.
You therefore missed the point completly which is:
True It is human nature to migrate
But it is also true that human nature fears the (unknown) arrivals
It is culture that will help us accept these arrivals and rationalise our fears.
yet our instant society has no time or place to develop such a culture...discuss and debate.
So rather than having the time to understand think and develop an opinion, we just shoot from the hip as you have done.
Alien invasion? you just prove the writer right...they're humans not aliens!! Clearly you're one of those people on that zuntier!
Has it never occurred to you that a culture does not have to survive diversity...it thrives on it!!
quote 'this is human nature, and though I can’t say that there isn’t anything wrong with it, there’s something tediously worse with not admitting it!'
If you bring up the issue of human nature, you must accept human nature's natural reaction to an 'alien invasion'. That is human nature too.
What should lift humanity above its 'animal' charachteristics is culture.
Yet we unfortunately do not have the time, inclination or desire to apply effort to develop our culture. The instant society has become a cliche' and has no real value with the popolin in search of a latest acquisition.
If we are to survive as a nation, we need to work on our culture, we need to analyse, discuss, evaluate and decide on values.
Yet it seems to me that all we want to do is play at the propoganda game that leads to power, and two fingers at the responsibility that was once demanded of said power.
Look at the final sentence of today's editorial...with its amazing 'its not the government stupid'...
Now with all power concentrated in the hands of government, who, my I ask carries the responsibilities of a nation's culture?