Care-less

As explained elsewhere, since I was a kid I quickly realised how toothless and ineffective the police force and the entire justice system is. Sure they have dismal work conditions and resources are in a sorry state, but not even trying to be helpful is too regular and has been going on for too long to be the reason behind such gormlessness, as is evidenced by this nonsense about “regulars”. The fact that there ARE regulars that nothing is being done about them is a big red flag to begin with.

I often wonder why most reported attacks are centered around the same two areas – Sliema/St. Julians and Hamrun. I don’t recall reading any elsewhere, really. What is different here than other places? There ARE foreign nationals residing elsewhere. All over the country actually. Why are the attacks so specific? It’s not like they are not busy areas. What emboldens people to behave in such ways there? If there where attacks elsewhere, why were these only sporadically – if ever – reported upon? What is there to gain in doing so?

Let us not make the mistake of seeing race as a monolith again, to attribute behavior exclusively to race. Yes, cultures are different and yes it is not easy to coexist, let alone when some are re-adjusting to a context that is vastly different from one s own. Yes, this behavior is deeply reprehensible. But let us remember that there is such a thing as microculture and cultures that are deeper than one s own race. Let alone our tendency to spray deodorant over our own stink, figuratively speaking.

I did some research of my own, for instance. Foreign nationals from Sudan (33%), Bangladesh (15%), Somalia (11%), Eritrea (7%) and Cote D’Ivoire (7%) are the most prevalent claimants for refugee status according to most recent statistics, with some from Syria and Nigeria in the mix. These alone are made of a myriad of different cultures. What alarms me here is two things; one, how is the logistical placement of refugees taken into account? One cannot expect those with national contentions to magically forget them when in a different country. It does not really work like that.  Two: how much are we knowledgeable of the situations back home?

These are all countries that, like Malta, are in a post-colonial state; only that, unlike Malta, they were left in shambles, drained of all their resources, completely disorganized, and forced together in ways that were not allowed to progress in time.

The most worrying of these is Somalia, a country which was made by artificially forcing clans together by English and Italian forces then left governed by an expansionist regime and is now in the throes of separatist movements and rather dubious presence of any form of law-making, let alone keeping. This does not mean all of its citizens are dangerous; but there is virtually nothing maintaining structure as the country falls apart especially since it has little to no resources to keep a functional economy, leading to illicit means – by our standards, that is – such as piracy, human trafficking and so forth to keep anything going.

And nothing is being done about it. Probably because they do not trust outside intervention and rightfully so, I must add. But it can contextualize why a lot of reports have been filed around Somali enactors.

Please note this is a VERY superficial and pedestrian explanation as it is far more complex than I even know how to explain.

Does this mean we ought to clamp down on Somalis?

Of course not.

But it would mean that having the forces of order take a little more care where large presences of people with dubious backgrounds, such as this case, would probably help trim down the list of, er, “regulars”. Both local and foreign.

It would mean that not taking care of the system you are meant to be responsible of would have very unfortunate consequences indeed.