Malta may be more multicultural than it was some years back but there is still plenty of “room for improvement”, according to Parliamentary Secretary Jason Azzopardi.
Speaking at a round table discussion marking the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the US, Dr Azzopardi said Malta was not multicultural enough.
Fellow panellist and Labour party education spokesman Evarist Bartolo echoed the sentiment, saying “multiculturalism is still not part of Maltese heritage”.
Malta, he said, was still gripped by a “monocultural mindset” that it had to overcome and the island was not doing enough to create a multicultural society.
Last month, two separate studies by SOS Malta and the UN refugee agency noted the absence of integration between Maltese citizens and the immigrant community.
Dr Azzopardi used the example of his hometown, Paola, as an example of a community which had learned to embrace diversity. Paola hosts Malta’s only mosque, an Islamic cultural centre and the Mariam Al Batool school. He suggested expanding the existing concept of town twinning to towns in different continents, for residents in both towns to better understand each other’s way of life, values and concerns.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, who delivered the discussion’s concluding remarks, also touched on the multicultural theme.
Diversity, he argued, could be a source of strength rather than weakness. Multiculturalism did not mean assimilating everyone into one fixed culture. It was society, Dr Gonzi said, which had to adapt to multiculturalism.
Dr Gonzi also mentioned ongoing events following the Arab Spring and said the opportunity for north-south cooperation with the new administrations in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya was “too valuable an opportunity to be missed”.
Imam Mohammed Elsadi said he was “embarrassed” by the perpetrators of September 11, who claimed to be acting in the name of Islam. In the long run, he said, Islam emerged as the greatest victim of these acts.
“Wherever we [Muslims] go, we are seen as terrorists or terrorists-to-be,” he said.
In a veiled criticism of the US, Imam Elsadi reminded the audience that some countries had billions to spend on wars but not that much to spend on peace or education. It was only through education, he continued, that intolerance and extremism could be overcome.
“The clash of civilisations is a clash of ignorance.”
Tayyibah Taylor, editor-in-chief of Azizah magazine and one of the panellists, reminded the audience that “violent extremism does not occur in a vacuum”.
Policies had to be driven by a sense of reconciliation and resolution rather than revenge if they were to succeed in healing wounds and bringing people together.
Speaking from the floor, Dutch Ambassador Robbert Gabriëlse said integration and multiculturalism in general had been a success.
The problem, he argued, was the gap between the public’s perception of events and what was actually happening in reality.
The round table discussion was organised by the US Embassy in collaboration with the Australian High Commission, and chaired by social anthropologist Ranier Fsadni. The panel included US chargè d’affairs Richard Mills, Chief Rabbi of Malta Admor HaCohen, Australian High Commissioner Anne Quinane and Dr Jacqueline Azzopardi, a lecturer in criminology at the University of Malta.