editorial


Toon Today:

When atrocities are committed, it is only natural that the wronged want to hunt down the wrong-doers.

In a similar way, in times of crisis, people with problems are eager to find scapegoats.

Witness the ongoing backlash in the UK against the Kurdish refugees. There is growing resentment among the population that the refugees are jumping hospital queues and social housing lists. When the living is easy, ethnic groups live alongside peacefully, but when the going gets tough, tension rises and breeds resentment and hatred.

Instead of telling their government to address the real problems – not enough hospital beds/doctors/social housing/school places - people are getting caught up in a whirlwind of xenophobic diatribes, jumping on a venomous bandwagon of ignorance and malice.

And the latest atrocities in the US have now proven to be a perfect breeding ground for a new wave of racial attacks against Muslim communities. Be they triggered by a wave of patriotism or the chance to vent previously suppressed anti-Muslim feelings, they are inexcusable. And the US government should take its share of the blame for inciting these feelings among its own people and, through international media, across the seas.

A hastily arranged PR job in which Bush met some nice, moderate Muslims, was not enough. Most of us with an ounce of intelligence were already well aware that the vast majority of the Muslim world joined us all in abhorring the terrorist attacks on the US.

And the damage was already done; we are now witnessing random attacks in both the US and the UK against innocent individuals and the Muslim community in general. And now reports have reached us that Arabs in Malta are being victimised for atrocities that they almost certainly view as horrendous.

Malta has a history of discriminating against the Arab community, although the powers that be will always deny this. We tolerate some, but we choose carefully. Others suffer worse conditions in prison than their Maltese counterparts, are refused permission to bars and nightclubs and some are not allowed into Malta at all.

Xenophobia is a frightening thing. Let us be careful that in condemning one vile act of terrorism, we don’t play a part in inciting another.

The road to nowhere

Any sign that Malta’s roads are being improved or re-done is always welcome.

But if ever there was an award for an ‘all or nothing’ achievement, the current roads project must surely be a candidate for first place, especially for those beleaguered people who live towards the north of the island.

Finding a route home for these people now resembles participating in a military exercise in a desert. These unfortunate drivers have to dodge ditches, manoeuvre around trucks heading for Maghtab and skirt around trenches waiting for pipes to be laid.

These roadworks would be welcome, if it were not for the fact that they have all got off the ground (or under it) simultaneously.

There are now more road deviation signs than RTO logos against the rubble walls, and that’s saying something.

The roads will hopefully look wonderful when they’re completed, but perhaps a slightly more staged plan would have meant smoother journeys (metaphorically speaking, we know that to ask for anything more would be unrealistic) for us in the meantime.