Mike's Beat

Michael Briguglio is a sociologist, drummer of Dripht and was elected on a Green ticket on the Sliema Local Council. He has finally decided to join the Maltese blogosphere and will be sharing his views on music, politics and life at Mike's Beat. In this post he expresses solidarity with victims of racist violence:

Yet another car has been burned in what may be another possible case of arson. Whether this is linked to the attempted intimidation of persons who speak up for the rights of immigrants has to be seen. I cannot but express my solidarity to all those who have been victims of intimidation during the past weeks. I've seen for myself the damage done to one of the victims in my hometown Sliema. Walking past a burned car and facade brought me a deep feeling of sadness..

I am in deep disagreement with the Far Right. I absolutely cannot agree with ideologies that promote exclusion, inequality and division. However, I think that far right groups have the right to participate in a democracy. In a democracy, everyone should have the right to present one’s version of the truth. Yes, I would fight for the right of my political adversaries to speak..

If exponents of the Maltese Far Right truly want to disaccoiate themselves from the possible arsonists, they should disallow any writings which encourage hatred, violence or terrorism from their fora, even if such writings are ‘private’ or anonymous. Alternatively, the state should observe the law and take appropriate action..

I have no problem with debating with exponents of the far right. Indeed, when Zminijietna organised a seminar on racism a few months ago, this did take place. Various exponents of the left and right sat together and debated. True, there were some noisy interruptions, but hey, this takes place in Xarabank too!...