Far-right freakonomics

The emergence of two far-right fringes in Malta comes as no surprise to me. Such a dark political phenomenon has surfaced in most European societies. It normally takes root whenever a particular vulnerable ethnic group becomes the easy scapegoat for ruthless political opportunists who attempt, through hate propaganda and half-truths, to convince a sector of the population that all their woes and ills can be explained by the mere presence of a foreign group within their society.

In Hitler's Germany it was the Jews, it was the Bosnians in Milosevic's Serbia and the Kurds in Hussein's Iraq. Race-based politics has always been particularly effective in mobilising the politically disillusioned into adopting the convenient blame game - if you can't get a job, it must be because Sub-Saharan Africans are taking it away from you - right?

The far-right fringes have attempted to create the impression that all local political groupings not on the far right (i.e. Socialists, Christian Democrats and Greens) are not at all worried about irregular immigration. While claiming a monopoly on the panic, they declare that the other political forces ignore the issue. What nonsense!

The truth is that there is not one honest soul in this country who isn't worried about irregular immigration. A lot of us however, are far more worried about racism; with good reason may I add. Who, after all, was the real danger in Germany - the tiny Jewish minority or the larger Nazi minority? The differences between democratic political forces and the far right is that while those on the side of civilisation and reason are working on short and medium-term initiatives to deal with this global phenomenon, the far-right groups spend all their time and energy instilling fear and fomenting prejudice.

While the Maltese Socialists, Nationalists and Greens are working within their respective groups in the European Parliament to lobby for EU assistance, the Maltese far-right groups have nobody to turn to. That is why they have to resort to street parading and midnight barbecues!

By deploring the spread of multiculturalism, what the right is suggesting is that Malta is somehow mono-cultural. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact while the far right groups in Malta boast a fascist culture, I and many others claim a liberal democratic one. Despite our cultural differences, we can still co-exist if (of course) they genuinely adopt democracy as their political platform, and profess respect for human rights. Nothing else will do.

Malta is already multicultural, even in the religious sense. A good number of Maltese are staunch Catholics, many are moderate Catholics, but others have converted to other religions, while some are atheist, others agnostic, a small number even pantheist. So what? What should we do, separate? Malta is already multi-cultural - the problem is that the folks on the far right haven't yet realised it. Despite our multiculturalism, we manage to survive relatively stably on this island, because the vast majority of us adhere to the basic tenets of democracy.

The racism the far right is igniting threatens to rock that stability. I suspect, however, that multiculturalism is not really what bothers the far right. What really bothers them is the prospect of living in a multi-ethnic society. What they really have a problem with is differences of skin colour. Again, I must disappoint them. We are already a multi-ethnic society. Look around you, look at yourselves! One of the leaders of the far right would be indistinguishable from the local population if he were in Tel Aviv; the other could pass for a local in Damascus. I wonder - have these guys ever taken a good look at themselves in the mirror? The Maltese are already an ethnic melting pot. Wake up!

As expected, the far-right groups have also put forward a standard short-list of economic "threats" (supposedly emanating from immigration), in order to foment hatred against anyone they don't deem to be purely Maltese (whatever that may mean). My job here is to challenge their arguments.

Their first argument is that the immigrants are taking your job! This argument stems from a political mindset that foolishly assumes that every job in this country is available to every one of us 400,000 Maltese. Complete rubbish! If an immigrant (having arrived regularly or not) is legally offered a job, say as a structural engineer, that job cannot be on offer to every Maltese citizen - only to those with the right qualifications. What should we do in case of scarcity in the labour market? Should we leave jobs vacant to appease the far right? That would surely benefit our economy, wouldn't it?

The cranky idea of immigrants taking your job also assumes that every Maltese is, in the first place, desirous of taking up every vacant job, irrespective of conditions and remuneration. It is a fact that there are several jobs (many of which are low-skilled and/or labour-intensive) that Maltese will simply not apply for. Construction is undoubtedly the best example. Are the far right fringes going to chide the Maltese for not wanting to work 50 hours a week in the scorching sun? What are they going to propose - a military guarded labour corps, perhaps?

Should we not fill such jobs simply out of spite? Is that their solution? Of course they can always convince their members to abandon their current employment and move into the construction industry, to push out the immigrants, can't they? Such an act of bravery would be worthy of these Maltese patriots, wouldn't it? Go for it, boys!

The idea of a foreigner "taking" your job conveniently ignores the fact that this has already happened, is still happening and will continue to happen irrespective of illegal immigration. Let me give an example. Last November 800 local workers lost their job in a jeans factory. They lost their job to an equivalent number of workers in Tunisia, to where the company moved its operations. It's the same thing, isn't it? Haven't Maltese workers had their jobs "taken away" from them by foreigners? Shouldn't the far right re-direct their June protest to the Tunisian embassy where they can complain that Tunisians are taking the work of the Maltese? Obviously they will not. Their mission is not to guard local jobs but to kick-start racial unrest.

I can take the argument a bit further. Every time any one of us purchases an imported product, we are sending money out of Malta and putting it in the pockets of foreign workers. We are choosing, perhaps inadvertently, to provide more employment to foreign workers rather than spending our money on products and services made locally. What will the right propose, a ban on all importation?

Indeed, one of the leaders of a far-right group may be unpleasantly surprised to learn (although I suspect he is smart enough to realise it) that every time the Maltese go on holiday they are taking money outside Malta and spending it elsewhere. Isn't that an activity that provides employment to foreign workers to the detriment of the Maltese? What are they going to propose to the Maltese? Are they going to suggest that we should only be allowed to travel between Malta and Gozo, to ensure that only Maltese and Gozitan workers enjoy our money? Perhaps they may want to propose the shutting down of every outgoing travel agency, since such 'unpatriotic' businesses promote the welfare of foreign workers, rather than that of Maltese workers.

In order to spread intolerance and xenophobia, the far right groups also refer to the "unbearable" cost incurred by the Maltese government to assist, feed and house immigrants. For many months they attempted to establish that cost at Lm11 million per annum - a figure drawn from their wildest fantasies. It would equate to a daily cost of Lm30 per immigrant. At that expense it would, ironically of course, be possible to keep immigrants in hotel accommodation.

Eventually when the government declared (in the last Budget speech) that the real cost was Lm1.5 million, their reply was that it was still a lot. Taken out of context of course, Lm1.5 million could sound like an awfully large sum. The far right could cover Malta with their billboards with that kind of money, couldn't they? Let's get real - on a national level this money equates to one cent a day for each and every one of us. One miserable cent - to provide subsistence to people who have escaped realities that are not too dissimilar from what most of you watched in Schindler's List, and a good number of you saw in Hotel Rwanda.

For the intolerant, any sum of money would be too much. It is interesting to note that both far right groups have even attempted to give their audiences the impression that these Lm1.5 million are being sent overseas to be "enjoyed" by someone else. Wrong again! A big portion of that money is spent on food, drink and clothing bought in Malta, from Maltese businessmen. Most of the balance gets paid in salaries, overtime and other allowances to our soldiers, whose welfare the far right professes to be so concerned about. Most of these million and a half liri circulate in Malta. The far right would have some difficulty admitting that this money is actually an addition to our GDP, wouldn't they?

A particular economic argument of one of the two far right groups would be hilarious if it weren't so disdainful of human rights. The leader of this group has declared, time and again, that the cost of maintaining irregular immigrants (Lm1.5 million a year) is simply unaffordable. In the interest of following the rest of his reasoning, I even pretended to agree with him.

However, a minute later, the man blew his own argument to high heaven. He declared, without giving the matter any serious thought, that the solution to the problem (yes, the liberals do acknowledge that this is a problem) is to keep the immigrants in detention for as long as is necessary - "even for up to ten years" he declared on local TV. Prosit tassew! That this man has such contempt for human rights is no surprise.

What I still can't fathom however is how his ingenious solution, that would necessitate the building of a prison far bigger than that at Corradino needed to house thousands of immigrants for a decade or more, is going to lower the cost of immigration to government. Is he going to foot the bill himself? Will he be making a collection at the next rally? Conveniently, the rival far right group doesn't have to deal with this issue - their leader has thought of a more cost-effective solution. He has proposed shooting the immigrants at sea, should they refuse to turn back!

There isn't one person in this country, barring those on the far right, who doesn't wish for all of Africa to enjoy the democracy and well-being we have got so accustomed to. Wouldn't it be nice to snap one's fingers and have all the misery, poverty and destruction in our neighbouring continent disappear? Wouldn't it be great to have Africans come on holiday here and spend their money, rather than witnessing them float in our waters risking their lives in makeshift vessels? Wouldn't it be marvellous to be able to take holidays in a continent as astonishingly beautiful as Africa, without the fear of finding yourself in the middle of a brutal civil war?

The reality is unfortunately not such, and doesn't promise to change radically any time soon - certainly not without a long-overdue "Marshall Plan" for Africa. However, those who are willing, can do their bit to bring about change in this continent.

I am proud to be part of the European Greens, a political group that is courageously and consistently fighting for global economic and social justice, particularly in the poorest countries of Asia and Africa. Sadly, the Maltese far right is a political monster that can only feed on the misery of others. The very existence of poverty and deprivation in Africa is crucial to their purpose. Think! If a number of immigrants from the tens of thousands who attempt to cross over to Europe (escaping exploitation and torture) do not end up here, the far right would have no political agenda left - there would no longer be a group to target. To whom would they then turn?

Edward P. Fenech is Alternattiva Demokratika's spokesman on finance and the economy - eddiefenech@hotmail.com