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Kurt Sansone
A handful of soldiers dressed in civilian clothes were among a 200-strong crowd who yesterday attended a racist rally in Safi addressed by far-right exponent Norman Lowell.
In the wake of the incidents that occurred last week at the Safi barracks when soldiers beat up a group of asylum seekers who were protesting peacefully, an acerbic Lowell slurred irregular migrants and attacked Maltese politicians for betraying their country.
Using racist slurs such as “black ink” and “black coal” to describe asylum seekers, Lowell praised the Armed Forces and described the crowd in front of him as Malta’s “new iron soldiers.”
Ignoring centuries of mixed breeding between Maltese nationals and foreigners, Lowell described the Maltese nation as Europe’s purest. In the process he denigrated EU Commissioner Franco Frattini for proposing that Malta should have its own refugee camp. “I will poke him in the eye when I meet him,” Lowell said.
The gathering in Safi’s main village square was attended mostly by youngsters dressed in black, some sporting the Maltese flag on their shoulder. Among the crowd a group of Armed Forces personnel dressed in civilian clothes up to their ears to hide their identity. Relatives of soldiers were also present. Also in attendance; Labour Valletta candidate Joseph Meli. PN Safi Vice Mayor Alexis Callus watched from a distance, who told MaltaToday that he was just observing proceedings in his locality.
The event was reported on PBS but ignored in the news reports on Super One and Net TV.
Lowell acolytes circulated a petition to collect signatures in support of the soldiers involved in the incidents at the Safi barracks.
Ironically, the electricity supply to Lowell’s public address system came from the band club dedicated to St Paul – Malta’s foremost ‘illegal’ immigrant.
Warning against Malta being turned into the Haiti of the Mediterranean, Lowell described yesterday’s meeting as a national show of solidarity with the soldiers. He insisted the Armed Forces Brigadier should not resign, a comment that drew strong applause from the soldiers present.
In a speech peppered with xenophobic remarks and full of exaggerations aimed at stoking the flames of fear, Lowell warned that the “enemy is not only at the gate but manning it” – enemy being the word used to describe asylum seekers escaping atrocities back home in the hope of starting a decent life in the West.
“Our house is burning and we continue bringing in more black coal,” Lowell charged. His solution to the immigrant problem: “stop them 14 miles away.”
In a crescendo tone, Lowell insisted the military should stop them once, twice and three times, “it takes what it takes”… his words were lost in a loud cheer by those present, including the civilian soldiers.
Describing the upcoming national conference on illegal immigration as a farce, Lowell poked fun at the people who are expected to address the conference. Denigrating Tonio Borg and Gavin Gulia, the crowd booed when Lowell called out the Green Party chairman’s name: “Harry of the Greens”. Fr Pierre Grech Marguerat of the Jesuit Refugee Service was described by Lowell as “Pizza Margerita”. Not even Minister Dolores Cristina was spared from Lowell’s diatribes.
Without sourcing his claims Lowell then spelt out what he described as a secret plan being concocted by the country’s leaders to grant asylum seekers visas and the right of self-employment.
“Where is the GRTU?” Lowell asked, pouring scorn on a black man who is regularly present at City Gate to polish shoes.
Times columnist Andrew Borg Cardona and maltarightnow.com editor Karl Stagno Navarra (described as ‘Il-Karlin Safi ta’ l-Internet) were also in Lowell’s line of fire for writing against the heavy-handedness of the army, even if Borg Cardona writing in The Times yesterday suggested the army may well have been right to act the way it did, but at the same time attacked Lowell for his “despicable doctrines.”
Closing off the meeting with a Hitler-style salute and shouting the fascist greeting “Ave”, Lowell walked into the band club followed by his supporters.
kurt@newsworksltd.com
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