When foreigners are involved in fights like the recent free-for-all in Ħamrun, the first reaction from many is to call for disproportionate punishment way beyond the nature of the crime.
It is the usual knee-jerk, short-term retort to a problem that is often far deeper than meets the eye.
Sadly, xenophobic discourse has been normalised in Malta over the past 20 years or so, but it was disgraceful to see the Nationalist Party jump on the populist bandwagon within a day of the Ħamrun fight.
In a statement signed by home affairs spokesperson Joe Giglio and Gozo spokesperson Alex Borg, the PN said foreigners who break the law should be immediately deported and should not be allowed to re-enter Malta.
It went on to claim that the army should have a more active role to play in law enforcement, clearly in an attempt to give the impression that Malta is facing a state of emergency, thus playing right into the hands of fascists clamouring to see boots on the ground to take down those ‘pesky’ foreigners.
Prime Minister Robert Abela, no alien to right-wing statements, was somewhat more diplomatic in his response. He said Malta was in need of foreign labour but said any foreigner that broke the law was not worthy of living in Malta.
One question comes to mind: where do we send them? Possibly to a war-torn country or one where certain torture or death awaits them? Should countries like Australia, the UK and Canada, which host thousands of Maltese migrants, return the ‘favour’ by exiling the troublemakers back to Malta?
Of course, anybody violating the law should be taken to court and, if convicted, punished. Still, as the prime minister correctly observed, “disgusting and unacceptable” behaviour is not only the reserve of foreigners living in this country.
The appeal made by the NGO Syrian Solidarity in Malta must be heeded.
Condemning all forms of violence, it rightly cautioned against “generalisations about the whole [Syrian] community because of the actions of a few individuals”.
While Malta is certainly facing more pressures as a result of overpopulation, many problems stemming from refugees and asylum seekers are a result of our resistance to develop an effective, robust and fair integration policy.
The country continues to ignore or deny many of their most basic needs in areas such as documentation, employment, health and education, a recent report by the Jesuit Refugee Service and Aditus Foundation said.
Most disturbing of all is the view that the difficulties and realities they face are often underpinned by the sentiment that refugees are undeserving of humane and just treatment, and that they should live in ghettos.
We have an economic model that imports third-country nationals [not refugees] like cattle and treats them as such. There is no attempt to even provide them with basic dignity, let alone workers’ rights.
Of course, foreign nationals must fully respect the host country’s laws and traditions, while retaining their own culture.
So, rather than provoking a chorus of calls to ‘hang them high’, instances like the latest brawl should serve as a clarion call to lose no further time in drawing up and implementing a strategy based on the principle that everyone is deserving of humane and just treatment.
Politicians are conspicuous by their silence when brawls and other criminal acts involve Maltese nationals. All they need to do is head to Paceville every weekend. But, then again, we all know that the Maltese troublemakers have a right to vote and many foreigners do not.
And if the PN thinks it can rally support by shifting to the right and talking tough on migration, then it is risks alienating a significant number of supporters who, thankfully, still cherish human rights.