Hero or villain? (1)

I was highly impressed by the article on Raymond Bugeja's heroic stand in the face of the arrogance and sheer intransigence exhibited by the authorities for "reasons of state" (Fisherman Defies AFM Orders To Return Migrants To Libya, June 30). The journalist ably encapsulated the shameful predicament Mr Bugeja found himself in: stuck between his civil duties and his conscience. In brief Mr Bugeja summed up the situation thus: "I am duty bound to obey the instructions handed out by the civil authorities and send these hapless human beings back to another country; my conscience dictates that my first duty is to save their lives, I therefore decide to defy the civil authorities and follow my conscience."

Bravo, well done, is the only reaction that could emanate from all honest persons around. And the same warm words can be said regarding the reasoning Mr Bugeja spelled out to the journalist: "I believe the Maltese are becoming increasingly racist. We're prepared to send donations abroad but we don't want to provide assistance to someone in distress outside our ports." Unfortunately Mr Bugeja reflected the disgraceful truth about the change in Maltese ethics. Understandable as such a change might be - what with the problems the presence of these Ethiopians may cause to an already fragile economic situation - it is up to the authorities to tackle the problem they could have seen coming before opting to become the outermost "station" of the EU. It is not for the conscientious individual person finding him/herself in Mr Bugeja's position.

To our authorities' shame, Mr Bugeja was placed in this dramatic situation: "When I told the army about my intentions, I was threatened with arrest. They even threatened the captain with arrest and told him to go back to Libya." Which made him wonder, in very concrete, down to earth terms: "Are they crazy? Do they want to give these poor people a slow death?" Hemingway's old man conversing with the sea would not have reached a different conclusion. Mr Bugeja rightly chose to defy arrest and go ahead and do his first duty towards humanity: save the lives of fellow human beings.

I feel quite certain that such a quintessential situation would have caught Chomsky's attention, perhaps even deserving to feature among his articles carrying reflections on the role of force in international affairs, civil disobedience and so forth, which appeared in his book of the early 1970s, For Reasons of State revealing his uncanny ability to join abstract philosophical considerations with the concrete political realities of his time.

Mr Bugeja's reasoning was simple, if not primordial. There are situations in life which do not need a deep academic knowledge of philosophical thought.

It should be obvious to all sensible persons that migration, transhumance, call it whatever you like, has been a feature of humanity since prehistoric times. Before settling in what Napoleon called a mole-hill - otherwise known as Europe - the Aryans came from Northern India, they subsequently went on to America as pilgrims fleeing from their stiflingly obscurantist brethren, Abraham and his followers came from Ur, the Turks came from the Steppes of Asia, everybody came from somewhere else. That is the pattern. Mr Bugeja rightly questions the fuss about the movement of these Ethiopians leaving their country of origin seeking greener pastures abroad because of the scarcity of opportunities at home: Do they deserve to die while trying?

May I seize the opportunity to propose that Mr Bugeja be bestowed the MOM at the earliest occasion. I am sure he deserves it at least as much as (not to say more than) some of those who have been thus honoured. Mr Bugeja is the real McCoy.