Unpublished Letter

This was sent to the editor three weeks ago. I think I'm correct in assuming that he won't be publishing it...

Inconsistancies Galore!

The Independent reported that in a press conference, dealing with irregular immigration, an ANR spokesperson said that “Some of these people are truly persecuted but others are simply victims of circumstance”. If, as this statement implies, the ANR views circumstances as totally irrelevant, then why does this organisation embrace a whole ideology whose main principle is founded in accidental circumstance? Has anybody, anywhere ever had any sort of say in deciding their own place of birth? Is it to the ANR’s merit that their members were presumably born on Maltese soil to Maltese parents rather than somewhere else? No it is not. But of course, like any extreme rightist organisation - irrespective of what pompous euphemism they use to project themselves in an acceptable light - the ANR would probably dish out some cheap ‘forefathers rhetoric’ to justify maltreatment of others and assert their privilege. This, however, does not solve their contradictions and inconsistencies.

Not only does the ANR hold inconsistent views as to when circumstances are or are not important, they are also highly selective in their acceptance of Catholic dogma. For example, this organisation is attempting to mobilize the local population against the foreign babaw. How this is reconciled with their supposedly catholic values is truly mind boggling. Maybe their version of the Bible has some sort of secret footnote that specifies that ‘loving your neighbour’ only applies if they are of the same nationality, skin colour or culture as yourself.

Furthermore, in a cheap attempt at selling shameless xenophobia the ANR point at countries like the UK, Germany and Holland. Their vision suddenly shifts from the national to the international. What the ANR fail to address is how their fear of foreigners, rooted in their twisted ideology, can ever help avoid racial hatred and create harmony and integration between cultures. How is extreme nationalism helping to avoid clashes between different nationalities and cultures? These self-declared bearers of ‘common sense’ seem to conveniently ignore what history repeatedly teaches us. Hate keeps generating more hate and justice is a necessary precondition for peace. There is no justice where human rights are not respected. The concepts of dignity, solidarity and justice transcend man-made national borders and so do human rights. Hysterical patriotism, paranoid politics and talk of a bogus ‘national interest’ are threats to the afore-mentioned concepts. After all, as George Bernard Shaw aptly put it ‘Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it’.