Ebony and Ivory

Noel Tanti at Nigredo's Scrapbook responds to Sharon Spiteri's post on the plight of irregular immigrants in Malta:

..Every day I catch the 06:45am bus to work. This would be full of people, black and white, going to work. I never see anyone segregated to the back of the bus, or black people on one side of the bus and the rest on the other. I have seen Maltese people helping immigrants with bulky bags get on the bus; and others taking care of the young black kids till their mother paid the fare.

I am not saying that Sharon's points are rubbish. Far from it. I still remember that woman who refused to get on the bus because there were only black people on it; or that other mother who tried to discipline her son by telling him that if he does not behave himself the big black man on the other side of the road will come and get him. However I suspect that the whole furore about illegal immigration was fruit of that customary Maltese reaction to anything 'big' that happens in the country, aka the taking-sides malaise. Just as there is Valletta vs Birkirkara, Ta' l-Ajkla vs Tac-Cintura, l-Ahmar vs il-Blu, Vodafone vs Go Mobile, there was the iswed vs l-abjad. It seems that the Maltese mind blossoms in (or can just take) dualities and jumps at the opportunity of nurturing a new one. But after some time the enthusiasm dwindles and is put aside for the next two big things to come