‘Disgusting’, ‘disappointing’ and ‘infuriating’ were among the strong words used by Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri in reaction to the arraignment of three young police constables charged with abducting and assaulting migrants.
We hope the vast majority of Maltese will agree with those sentiments.
Regrettably, more and more of the Maltese are becoming increasingly intolerant of foreigners, especially refugees and asylum seekers, deeming them undeserving of even the minimum of respect. Some treat their pets better.
This intolerance is not caused by tension and difficulties, of which there will always be instances, as Pope Francis himself reminded migrants when he visited them at the Peace Lab in Ħal Far last April. This is a case of the fish rotting from the head.
A long list of episodes, declarations and comments involving or emanating from the corridors of power has, over the years, nurtured the sort of populism that allows racism to grow.
That point was stressed by Integra’s Maria Pisani last June during a final farewell to Lassana Cisse, 42, from the Ivory Coast, who was gunned down in the most cowardly fashion in Ħal Far as he walked home in 2019.
“We are here because, to our shame, Lassana’s life was brought to an abrupt end because of a deadly virus that was allowed to take root and fester: racism,” she said.
It is an indictment of the Maltese but, more so, of the powers that be for repeatedly resorting to empty rhetoric and shedding crocodile tears when serious cases of racism come to the fore.
There have been many examples, including the multitude of instances when migrants on sinking boats were abandoned with tragic consequences. The young Loujin Ahmed Nasif, left to die of thirst at the tender age of four, readily comes to mind.
Yes, indeed, Camilleri was correct when he said it was unfair to blame the Armed Forces of Malta for her death. His reasoning was that she and the other migrants were in other countries’ search and rescue zone before entering into Malta’s and that our armed forces took immediate action.
The Maltese security forces are following instructions that come from above. Their members being mere humans, they too are influenced, indoctrinated perhaps, by the messages often conveyed by populist politicians and senior government officials.
Instead of individuals and communities who realise that migration is a sign of the times, where civility itself is in play, as the pope noted at the Peace Lab, this state of affairs gives rise to intolerance, bullying, brutality and death.
The manner in which migrants are treated in detention centres has often been bitterly criticised by the courts, including the European Court of Human Rights.
Politicians continue to defend their decisions not to rescue migrants in distress and threatening severe legal action against those that dare to.
Three years after Cisse’s fatal shooting, two soldiers accused of his murder and the attempted murder of another two men and a hit-and-run incident – all four were black – have yet to be tried.
Can anybody blame Pisani when she insisted that justice for Cisse will certainly not be served by court delays? Is this the fate that also awaits those who were allegedly abducted and beaten by three police officers?
It takes a lot more than an angry, disgusted and disappointed home affairs minister and a police commissioner, content at the speed the accused were arraigned, to ensure populism no longer translates into brutality.