African boat people

There is no way we can deny it. The 'illegal immigrants' crisis has unleashed a racist streak in Maltese society. This must have been present in an unnoticed undercurrent, but it certainly was there.

With our population reaching the 400,000 mark, there is no doubt that we are one of the most densely populated countries in the world - something that many have tended to ignore when they complain about environment issues or about our economic set-up. Yet our population density now crops up in every argument about the African boat people who are ending up in Malta, despite the fact that they never really intended to come here.

For the last decade or so, we have had an influx of foreigners passing through the normal travel channels, breaching their visa conditions, working illegally in Malta, and even marrying Maltese and having children. These have come from Eastern European countries that were part of the now-defunct Soviet empire, from the former Yugoslavia and from the Middle East.

Anyone visiting any significant building site where works are in progress will certainly find a number of workers who are recent immigrants from these countries - a few with working permits and many more without.

I reckon that the number of these people in Malta today is much higher than the number of people who have ended up here without a passport or identification documents after a Mediterranean crossing that went wrong. Yet no one has complained about these people. No one is afraid that Serb construction workers or Syrian plasterers or Bulgarian lap dancers pose a threat to Malta or to our national identity by being a part of a plot by foreigners conspiring to take over our country.

Yet as soon as a boatload of African people lands in Malta, the scaremongering resumes. Many resent those who did not want to come to Malta but ended up here accidentally, but do not mind those who purposely came to Malta to work and did so by buying an airline ticket and posing as tourists at Malta International Airport.

Why is there all this prejudice against the African boat people while other illegal immigrants are given a wink and a nod?

Why do people expect our Armed Forces to ignore the plight of these people when they are in danger of losing their life and expect the authorities to abandon them to the forces of nature, as if they were not human beings? What happened to our Christian beliefs?

The answer must be in the colour of their skin. The Africans are black, while the others come in all sorts of acceptable shades! I say this with deep regret, but I have come to this conclusion after hearing so many comments and opinions on this issue. And the more people I talk to about it, the more I reinforce my opinion.

It would be folly for all our politicians and political parties to ignore the racism that is obviously part of the belief of some misguided Maltese. The countries where this happened have seen an unprecedented rise in the popularity of extreme right-wing political parties who have used the race card to attract votes they don't deserve.

Let me be clear. I am not saying that we do not have a 'boat people' crisis. I am not saying that we do need to do anything about it or that Government should not get EU help for this problem or that it should not strive to send these people back to where they came from. I am not saying that this country can continue to take the influx of these people without severe problems.

It is easy to blame Government for not sending these people back to their homeland, wherever that is. Most of them are 'economic' migrants seeking a better life in Europe. To avoid being sent back home, they give false details about their origin and the circumstances that led them to Malta. People don't seem to appreciate these difficulties and expect the government to do the impossible.

In a letter to the press, former Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici has suggested that the government help these people reach the European mainland, their original destination in the first place. This is, of course, nonsense. European countries have a right to oblige Malta to take such people back, as already happened some time ago when, on Italy's insistence, Malta had to take back a boatload of people who had just stopped in our waters on their way north.

The head of the Emigrants' Commission, Mgr Philip Calleja, was recently quoted (The Times, July 25) as saying that in Malta there are some 54 cases involving refugee families seeking to be reunited. There were women whose husbands are in another European country and men in Malta with wives and children in the same situation.

Even in such cases, other countries are not accepting close relatives of people who are already settled in their societies and the Emigrants' Commission is proposing a scheme, together with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, for the reunification of such families in another land.

The problems Government is facing as a result of the 'boat people' phenomenon cannot be easily overcome. Yet, too many people are looking at this problem from a racist perspective. And this is wrong.

micfal@maltanet.net