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I feel frustrated and exhausted when I bump into bright, educated folk who choose to refer to blacks as the scum of the earth. I am distraught to meet unintelligent and uneducated Maltese and Gozitans who call themselves Labourites but who think that blacks are minions. Indeed, I have discovered more racists at ground level in the Labour Party than anywhere else.
I am sad to note that some members of parliament, mostly backbenchers, embrace xenophobia, to say the least. I am shocked to have worked in a private TV station that found no problems fanning programmes for racists.
This small island of ours is home to one small organisation that wastes valuable time creating silly sculptures to remind us all of their crusade against abortion, when abortion is not on anyone’s agenda and is illegal. And more so when everyone, and I mean everyone, is scared stiff to discuss the subject.
But I have yet to meet an organisation using up precious energy to erect a monument to the thousands that have lost their life crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Malta.
And like Don Quixote we continue to battle with windmills and invisible enemies. I refuse to be civil when I snoop on conversations that are xenophobic and it is high time that one replies to these xenophobes with a snappy one-liner: “Shut up and go away, you racist!”
The preoccupation of some Maltese over black boat people is revolting. It is based on a false premise, an incorrect assumption that they are taking our jobs. It is a fat lie. The unchristian outlook by Christian Malta is so bad it cannot be real. The fact that we are islanders makes it worse. The fact that we purport to be believers, religious and churchgoers makes it more confused.
It is uncalled for that the Maltese state in private that they find the opinions and tantrums of people like Norman Lowell palatable. It is silly to see that mature men flock to his gathering just for the buzz. We cannot accept that people dabble in Nazi or Mussolini talk and get away with it. Lowell’s crabbiness is not funny: it is sordid and unacceptable.
The others who are more acceptable, refined and not abrasive should also be halted. This pigmentation phobia cannot be tolerated any longer. Black people are not taking our jobs: it is our paranoia and phobias which are making us believe that they are.
Anyone should be reminded that there are a hundred and one jobs Maltese and Gozitans are unwilling to take up, apart from the cosy jobs in Italian parliaments, in Brussels and EU delegations of course. Black immigrants, when they do get a job, are simply doing the dirty work that Maltese workers refuse to take up.
And why shouldn’t a skilled and educated black man and woman find the opportunity to work in a Maltese workplace? There is little doubt in my mind that they would be more dedicated and have a much higher degree of work ethic than many salaried Maltese workers.
There is something else that has to be added and I am sure most readers will agree. Has anyone ever tried to employ the services of a Maltese or Gozitan plasterer, a painter, a plumber, a tiler, a mason or an electrician who is willing to provide a VAT receipt? They simply are non-existent.
“Sinjur, bil-VAT il-prezz jigi differenti!” (Sinjur, with VAT, the price is different). Different being more expensive.
The Tax Compliance Unit obviously has never walked through Maltese and Gozitan roads to view the hundreds, if not thousands, who work without declaring their true income. The number of single self-employed who produce receipts are few in number. They evade tax and they contribute next to nothing to Lawrence Gonzi’s coffers.
On the other hand salaried people and upright self-employed contribute to the great economic revival nauseatingly pointed out to us by the two big banks who would like us to believe that Malta is heaven on earth.
I am told that when the Prime Minister carried out some works at his private residence it was a daunting task for him to sign up people who would be willing to work and provide a VAT receipt. The stark truth is that if we had hundreds of migrants working for decent remuneration in plastering, tiling and bricklaying and paying tax and national insurance, our public coffers would far better off. And we would be far more tranquil knowing that we are not the only ones paying taxes and national insurance.
The moral in this short observation is to argue for people who have escaped internecine wars, the Sahara and the Mediterranean Sea to be appreciated for who they are: human beings deserving of the utmost dignity and respect. And to finally realise that integrating them into our society will not be our downfall. It will be our success.
I cannot understand why journalists have to be dragged off to view road projects. As happened this week. Even more odd is why any Maltese europarliamentarian feels compelled to appear at a project just because it is partly funded by the EU. Is this one way of making road projects more appetising to the public?
After 18 years of waiting, nothing in hell is going to impress the Maltese motorist, not after all those godforsaken trips in hell. And I cannot understand why a minister chooses to reply to a reporter with the answer about the longevity of the roads built by Italian protocol by saying that he does not design roads. If I were the journalist I would have snapped back and retorted:
“Well you might not bloody well design the roads, but who is overseeing the firms (including a firm that was co-owned at some time or perhaps still is by the said Minister) who carry out the bloody road planning?”
It is okay to have ministers pose for the paparazzi when the plaques are still fresh off the block from a marble works factory, but every minister faces a dilemma and gets all iffy when asked to answer a question. Do they just expect them to stare at the ministers and nod like Mr Bean?
The Italian protocol will come to an end in a few months’ time, but let us not imagine for a minute that roads alone will change people’s feelings about ministers. The Italian protocol has been with us since the 70s, kilometres of road have been constructed with Italian money but little to show for them apart from the potholes, craters and rolling hills of soft and eroded tarmac.
After 18 years of Nationalist government and 16 in a Mintoffian circus, the politicians expect the motorist to be grateful. Why Italian protocol roads have not withstood the test of time beats me. But it had to do with the not-very-serious way the roads were built and monitored by the roads and transport ministers Malta has had over the ages.
Before the last goccia of Italian money comes our way, we await with some trepidation the arrival of the Italian parliamentarian Profs Cassola to make that unexpected press appearance on behalf of po-faced Prodi.
I am sure he will find a way of representing the Italian government on official visits to Malta.
Needless to say he will share some of his wisdom about how a Maltese who turns out to be Italian can serve both Italy and Malta at the same time.
From now on instead of stale press releases from Brussels we will be treated to irrelevant bollettini stampa from Montecitorio.
So!
To many it is great news to know that he is taking full advantage as an Italian MP on EUR11,000 euros or Lm4,700 a month, or Lm56,400 a year to make it possible for him to stand in 2009 as a europarliamentarian, this time as a Maltese candidate.
I guess they call this kind of behaviour, planning for the future.
Others describe it as downright selfish.
Next time round in the European elections the local greens should make it a point not to select a Maltese candidate whose grandpa was reportedly not a Syracusan contadino.
Of course it is entirely up to them, if they opt for someone who hails from the Island, works on the Island, lives on the Island, suffers with the rest of the Islanders and is Maltese true and proper.
“WELL UNDERWAY” came the incredulous bold header of one of Malta’s daily English-language newspapers. I could not believe my eyes: the story referred to the work at the Mgarr terminal in Gozo, years in the offing, never coming to an end, delays upon delays… no wonder less people choose to read this particular government gazette during the week.
Who in the seven heavens could have come up with such a title?
This is yet another of those Mater Dei projects that has contributed to reconfirm the sluggishness and incompetence that are the hallmarks of Maltese infrastructural projects.
Now, if anyone wishes to accuse me of being overly negative, why not turn to the Gozitans and Maltese who have had to suffer the goings and comings of this Lm14.5 million Mgarr project which will be renamed Mater Delayed.
sbalzan@mediatoday.com.mt
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