"Alla Mejjet!"

Mur gibu Nietzsche kien Musulman! Kieku zgur li xi ayatollah hareg xi fatwa kontrih! Din hi l-impressjoni li bhal donnu jridu jghaddu l-gazzetti 'ta-Punent' kontra l-mentalita ta' 'dawk il-Musulmani'.

Izda huwa minnu li l-Punent huwa dar tal-liberta' (niftakar fil-Casa Delle Liberta' ta' Silvio Berlusconi li wasslet biss ghal hijack ta' l-istazzjonijiet televizivi Taljani tul dawn l-ahhar jiem) filwaqt li l-Izlam huwa l-inkarnazzjoni ta' kull mentalita' aliberali li qatt tista' ssehh?

It-twegiba ma tantx hi cara. U dan jidher mill-ahhar front li nfetah f'dik li l-qarreja avidi ta' l-Apokalissi skond San Gwann isejhu, l-'gwerra bejn ic-civiltajiet'.

Tnax-il karikatura tal-Profeta Muhammed qalghu kontroversja bejn zewg dinjiet li bhal donnu qed isibuha dejjem aktar difficli jikkoabitaw flimkien.

Il-Jyllands-Posten ippubblikat serje ta' tnax-il karikatura f'Settembru li ghadda li fihom inghatat stampa ta' kif jahsbu li Muhammed, meqjus bhala l-ikbar profeta mir-religjon Izlamika, kien jidher. Dawn il-karikaturi qanqlu kontroversja bejn il-Musulmani, li jhosshom urtati b'dak li jqisu bhala daghwa kontra l-Profeta, u esponenti ta' l-istat sekolari fil-Punent fejn isostnu li ghandhom kull dritt jippubblikaw karikaturi bhal down. Fost dawn l-esponenti kien hemm l-editur tal-gazzetta Franciza Le Soir li spicca tkecca mis-sid Egizzjan wara li ppubblika dawn il-karikaturi b'sinjal ta' simpatija ma' l-gazzetta Daniza (li ghamlet apologija ghall-fatt).

Dan il-kaz qieghed ta' kuljum jiehu proporzjonijiet ta' gwerra bejn zewg civiltajiet li bhal donnu qeghdin dejjem jifhmu anqas lil xulxin. Kaz simili diga sehh. Dan kien meta l-awtur Salman Rushdie kien ippubblika l-ktieb, 'Satanic Verses'. Dak iz-zmien id-differenzi bejn iz-zewg mentalitajiet kienu hargu fid-dieher ukoll.

Fil-mument li wasalt biex nikteb din il-bloggata kienu diga' nharqu ghexieren ta' bnadar Danizi, kien hemm dimostrazzjoni quddiem ir-rapprezentanza ta' l-Unjoni Ewropea fit-territorju Palestinjan u polemika ferventi fl-Ewropa dwar il-liberta' ta' l-espressjoni. L-ahhat suggett huwa dak li lili l-aktar li jinteressani.

Huwa minnu li l-liberta' ta' l-espressjoni tfisser carte blanche li tghid li trid? Ghandu jkun hemm limitu ghal dak li jinghad?

Nemmen li, ghalkemm il-protesti f'xi inhawi qeghdin jigu strumentalizzati ghal skopijiet politici (vide r-rwol tal-Fatah - partit li tielef l-elezzjonijiet tal-Palestina - f'din il-kontroversja), huwa mminnu li l-identita' ta' l-Izlam setghet giet attakkata u urtat xi nies.

Izda, nistaqsi wkoll, hemm ghalfejn din ir-reazzjoni kollha? Bhal donnu li, kif inhi s-soltu prattika ta' l-integralizmu, gej minn liem naha gej, il-karikaturi nqalghu mill-kuntest u qeghdin jintuzaw bhala strument f'idejn min irid jaghmel kapital politiku mis-sitwazzjoni.

Infakkar li fl-Ewropa hawn ma' l-ghaxar miljun Musulman u ma nstema' bl-ebda kaz ta' bojkott sistematiku kontra prodotti Danizi ghalkemm kien hemm rapportu li ntbaghtu twissijiet ta' attakki terroristici.

L-istrumentalizzazzjoni politika tkompli tikber ukoll meta ninnutaw kif il-karikaturi gew ippubblikati f'Settembru u l-protesti nqalghu fi Frar. Fuq kollox il-komunita' Musulmana fid-Danimarka qatt ma hassha urtata bil-fatt u ma marritx tahraq bnadar f'nofs it-triq.

Min-naha l-ohra izda nahseb li l-istampa Ewropea setghet kienet aktar sensittiva ghall-identita' Izlamika specjalment meta regghet ippubblikat il-karikaturi u ghamlithom standardi tal-liberta' ta' l-espressjoni. Niftakar kif il-liberta' ta' l-espressjoni intuzat fiz-zmien bhala arma qawwija f' idejn il-movimenti antiklerikali u lajci u nfexxet hi nnifisha f'dogmatizmu li jippriedka l-eliminazzjoni ta' dak kollu li hu sagru mill-identita' tal-komunita taghna.

Nemmen dejjem aktar li l-liberta' ta' vera, dik il-liberta' li ggieled ghaliha il-poplu Franciz fl-1789 tigi biss meta kulhadd jinghata cans jesprimi l-opinjoni tieghu f'ambjent toleranti ghal kull sfond politiku u religjuz sakemm dan jirrispetta id-drittijiet fundamentali tal-bniedem u mhux f'ambjent li dejjem mohhu biex jiccensura bnedmin, opinjonijiet jew twemmin.

The Language Question

Hi There!

After an absence of a couple of months (the last time I blogged was in September) I decided to start blogging once again. I must excuse myself with all those who used to come on the web site and find that it wasn't being updated. Really sorry for that. I will try to keep the blog updated as much as possible with commentary on the latest news coming from my community, that is, Malta and the rest of the world with a special attention for Europe.

Not blogging doesn't mean not following. In fact, I have been following closely during these last couple of months Robert Micallef's blog Wired Temples, which, I must say has seen some steady improvement since last summer. I reccommend the blog for anyone who is looking up some info on Malta and the Maltese - I think that it resembles more of a blog portal as it always contains some interesting and thought provoking abstracts taken from Maltese blogs. A particularly interesting point which I could observe when reading the blog was the coverage given to what we may call 'the language question'. I have been following - though not very closely I must admit - the rise of the Maltese language on the itnernet. It seems to me that blogs written in Maltese are rising in importance and effectiveness. Well done to all those who worked for such a result! Thanks to their efforts Maltese now has a solid place on the ' bloggosfera'.

This situation has led me to reconsider my position. I have always been blogging in English. It seems to that it is somehow internet's language. But, I feel rather enthusiastic at the idea of experiencing blogging in Maltese. Thus I decided to turn Malta Daily into a bilingual blog as much as possible.

So let the experiment commence...