Malta tal-Maltin

MALTA TAL-MALTIN!

KICK OUT ANY INTRUDERS!

KICK OUT ANY IMMIGRANTS!

Shall we start kicking out all those immigrants? Shall we start taking out boat by boat, plane by plane all those who came to this island.

Wait wait, does that mean Joe from down the road who came from America needs to leave as well? Or what about Francesco, the Italian who opened that pastry shop ten years ago? One minute, don't I have some ancestor who comes from Syria, or England.

What makes a Maltese a Maltese? Think about it for a second?

Let's start with our history, Malta's entire history is built on trade, a center of trade in the Mediterranean. That meant sailors, merchants, slaves and all kinds of 'immigration' happened. Creating one of the most culturally diverse places possible in the Mediterranean occurring.

That means, we, the Maltese are actually a conglomeration of centuries of immigration, legal, illegal, forced or other wise. Our genetic code itself is a patch work made up of all possible combinations. This is what happens when one lives at the cross roads of the world.

One of our most famous irregular immigrants. Find a wonderful article about the story of St Paul on Think Magazine.

Now we are yet again the cross roads once more, we are between Africa and Europe. That means wave after wave of irregular immigrants are coming trying to escape the chaos, poverty and war being ravaged in the south. Apart from this, Europe itself is suffering from a gigantic influx of immigrates from the east, with people escaping the war in Syria, and more importantly escaping ISIS.

So, do you really want to keep Malta for the Maltese?

Then tell me, what defines a Maltese person?

Someone who looks and talks in a particularly trashy way. Someone who acts or dresses in a specific manner. Why do I keep periodically see some really close friends and some people I highly respect being trashed on social media?

Why do they get trashed? They get trashed because they have a different skin colour, or belief. They get trashed because they are humans who are different from the norm, but are not scared of being so. Maltese citizens though and though, never had to integrate with our culture but this is their culture. They grew up in Malta, and they know nothing else, they do not have an other culture which they have to integrate into ours, because our culture is theirs.

So please next time that you see someone who slightly divergest from the norm, think twice before telling them to go back home, because it could be right next door to yours.

A fellow citizen of Malta, like you and me.