Only love can drive out hate

It’s a funny old world the one we live in. Jews who have been oppressed and vilified throughout history now oppress Palestinians for being born on ‘their land’; a huge number of first- and second-generation settlers in the UK voted in favour of Brexit because ‘they didn’t want more foreigners coming’. And in Malta, we seem to be holding vile name-calling matches about people who came here to find a better life, much like half our nation’s grandfathers did when they went to Australia in the 20th century (a time when Maltese people weren’t even classified as white by the rest of the world). Everyone now has a clear-ish idea of what happened a few days ago at the open centre in Ħal Far which, yes, should by all means be condemned throughout the length and the breadth of the country. The people who were hit by the riot definitely didn’t deserve to be put in that situation. However, thanks to the curtain of filthy muck that has been seen on social media, it’s not too hard to see how this was an inevitable outcome to an in­creasingly dark situation. Just a few months ago, Ivorian national Lassana Cisse was killed for sport while walking home allegedly by two men whose sole role is to...