This is not Ellis Island
Keep your poor, your tired, your huddled masses…but give us your rich, your wealthy, your bundled monies. Words inscribed in the base of our very own colossus - The Fat Lady of Libaty, a marker of European Southern hospitality.
49 migrants, men, women and children, stuck for 19 days on board two NGO rescue vessels just a few kilometres off Malta’s southwestern coast.
All safe European ports remain closed to them. It's a bitter cold January in the Mediterranean.
The small world of Neville Gafà
'Government official Neville Gafà admitted he “bumped into” one of Tripoli’s most notorious militia leaders during his controversial Libya visit last month but played it down as “nothing serious”.'
-ToM
Business as usual
Akram Almshay, 26 year old male, of Libyan nationality, fell to his death at his place of work; a construction site in Sliema - a seaside metro-town on the Island in Malta; the smallest state in the southern most waters of the European Union.
News of his death, another bulletin blimp on the news feed - Migrant worker dies on construction site…
Then the video of Akram’s death began making the rounds in people’s pockets. The story gained media traction.
The debate morphed around whether media outlets should or shouldn’t share the video. Nothing about the companies involved in the Akram’s employment. Nothing about the conditions of Akram’s employment. Nothing about the malignant nature of our construction industry.
But that doesn’t matter because within a couple of hours most of the Island’s population already had the opportunity to watch it on a thread with friends.
It doesn’t matter because the Real Estate Agents probably already sold the properties on plan.
It doesn’t matter because the developers need to keep developing, to keep up in this high-speed economic game.
It doesn’t matter because other migrant construction workers cannot afford to stop working in these slave like conditions.
It doesn’t matter because the next day, the construction site where Akram Almshay fell to his death was back to business as usual. The dust from Akram’s fatal impact barely left to settle.
Anglu's power trip(up)
Published in The Times of Malta (26.11.18)
The ruling by Speaker Anglu Farrugia in Parliament last week, that theshiftnews.com should amend its story published last week following a complaint by Labour MP Glenn Bedingfield breaches the fundamental right to a fair hearing.