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Martin Degiorgio, the head honcho of the Republican National Alliance (ANR) has a car number plate which contains the words DVX. He says that this does not mean that he has a Mussolini fetish. “DVX” is Latin for “Duce” of course and not an acronym for “Devastatingly Upbeat Xenophobe” as some people might have thought. Degiorgio thinks that it is nothing out of the ordinary to drive around sporting the initials of a fascist dictator on his front and rear bumper.
In his book, it’s pretty much the same thing as tootling around with a number plate proclaiming the legend “JOE 007” or “IXL”, or “RIP” if you’re a Maltese hearse-owner. According to him no special significance should be attached to his running around in a vehicle bearing the nickname of Hitler’s sad sidekick.
This is of course, either very disingenuous or very hypocritical on Degiorgio’s part. His number plate might not mean that he wants to hop on to the next charter plane and invade Ethiopia, killing a lot of unarmed natives in the process, as his idol did many years ago. But it does bear some significance, as all badges do. Any item that we choose to buy, wear or display, says something about us. Our clothes, our style, our cars betray far more about us then we consciously choose to reveal. They are more indicative of our nature than our self-descriptions are. They are also very truthful – we do not usually wear clothes which denote slogans or images which we do not feel comfortable with.
It is highly unlikely that the joker who thinks up the acronym “PTO 469” is a strait-laced Mormon. Similarly I can’t think of any Manchester United supporters who would shell out Lm30 to buy plates with “JUV (E)” written on them. It is very hard to believe that someone who is as allergic to the fascist doctrine as Degiorgio claims to be, would so carelessly turn his car into a Mussolini-mobile. There is a mismatch between what he says and what he really believes in.
This makes him, and his organisation, all the more worrying. While posing as a popular, non-wacky rightist movement which is mainly concerned with the effects of irregular immigrants pouring into the country, the ANR is nothing but a fascist sheep masquerading in moderate clothing. Its fiery emblem is a dead ringer for that used by the infamous Movimento Sociale Italiano and its radical splinter group the Movimento Sociale Fiamma Tricolore, both notoriously fascist organisations. The doctrine it adheres to is a fascist one, and if you thought that’s only a concentrated version of the Nationalist Party, think again. Fascism cannot co-exist with democracy. It is a political ideology which is based on the denial of equality to a specific segment of the population, and the persecution of people who are considered to be different. In other words, its main tenet is the oppression of some people by others, which is only achieved with the denial of civil liberties and fostering a culture of racial hatred. Just because one of its Maltese exponents is a soft-spoken, successful businessman who doesn’t brandish a walking stick and growl about stringing people from lampposts, it doesn’t make fascism any more acceptable. In this case the medium should not be the message.
There is a mismatch between the ANR’s strong condemnation of the arson attacks on the homes of columnists, and the way it quickly organised a press conference to announce its plans for a demonstration in June. In the current climate of tension, with a good many people on edge, having people march through the streets of Valletta protesting against illegal immigration (for which read “nasty foreigners stealing our jobs”) is not the most responsible option one might think. Do Martin Degiorgio & Co. imagine that it’s going to be a silent march? Or a peaceful affair with some light chanting (“Don’t give illegal immigrants a chance”)? No. Maybe Degiorgio and his henchmen will not whip up the crowd into a frenzy with racist rhetoric, and we are told that placards with offensive messages will not be allowed to join in. But what will happen if they do? Will Martin Degiorgio jackboot them out of the cosy gathering of peaceful marchers? He won’t, because he won’t be able to. After going on about how we’re being eaten out of house and home by illegal immigrants, after warning the crowd about the threats to their jobs, after fostering an environment of resentment against irregular immigrants, how will he be able to turn around and calm the same people he has egged on? He and his companions have started something which is bigger than them – in a bad way. After stoking the fires of unrest for so long, they will not be able to quell it easily. It would be like Jim Morrison adding a little coda about turning on the fire extinguisher to The Doors classic “Light My Fire”. Better not to start singing in the first place.
I can’t understand the point of ANR’s demonstration. It’s billed as being a protest against illegal immigration and an attempt to put pressure on the government to get its act together and to lean on other wealthier countries and to zip the immigrants back to where they came from. Degiorgio was quoted as saying that he believed more pressure needed to be piled on the EU, which had let Malta down in this regard. He added, “Past prime ministers would have made much more noise about the crisis the country was facing on the international front.”
Well, I hate to burst Martin Degiorgio’s bubble, but it’s highly unlikely that any other EU State is going to step in to bear our burden – they have migration problems of their own. Britain houses some 430,000 illegal immigrants, France has over 300,000. It’s not like our couple of thousands are going to be their top priority.
And our government can be as noisy as it can when requesting EU aid on this issue but we don’t have much bargaining power do we? What exactly can Lawrence Gonzi do if the EU ignores his requests? March off in a monumental strop and threaten to send in the troops (the troops consisting entirely of Richard Cachia Caruana in a foul mood)? As a small state which is short on natural resources, we don’t have many bargaining chips to throw on the table. Situated slap bang in the middle of the most often used migration routes from Africa, it is inevitable that a good many of them will be stranded on our shores. Contrarily to what Martin Degiorgio thinks, even those people who could be classified as “loony liberals” do not advocate a free-for-all where anybody who sets foot on our shores is automatically granted residence rights.
Nobody is opposing repatriation to safe places of origin. However sensible people who are not Mussolini-mad have come to terms with the fact that with the meagre administrative and human resources at our disposal, the problem is not going to disappear overnight. Rather then getting all fired up in the June sun protesting against a phenomenon which is beyond the government’s control and lamenting the lack of a noisy prime minister, we should realize that this is an opportunity to rise above our race and nationality differences, and not to let ourselves be consumed by hatred or fear of outsiders.
cl.bon@nextgen.net.mt
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