The Labour Party’s insensitive statement on irregular immigration just hours after yet another tragedy at sea is symptomatic of a party that will do anything for its populist targets.
The PL’s spokesman for Home Affairs, Michael Falzon, merely echoed what practically the entire country, including the government, has long known – that the problem of irregular migration “continues to persist”.
What Labour fails to realise is that resorting to cheap populist statements will do nothing to resolve the problem. On the contrary, such statements by politicians who should know better merely fuels antagonism towards the victims – the asylum seekers themselves.
For all its talk about being a progressive movement, the Labour Party continues talking about the African migration issue merely in terms of numbers, capitalising on often uninformed popular sentiment.
What was even worse was the ill-timing of the statement. Just hours earlier, six asylum seekers had died in the most horrific circumstances while the remaining 158 exhausted and dehydrated men and women were brought to Malta thanks in part to the heroic efforts of Maltese soldiers. Anybody with a heart who read the moving story of the survivors in The Sunday Times can testify to that.
Dr Falzon said Malta had to observe its international obligations and yet he failed to explain how a Labour government intended to stem the problem.
Would it stop our army from answering calls of distress? Would it resort to pushing boat people back to base?
He is right in stressing the importance of international lobbying but Malta will not build any diplomatic muscle by threatening to veto proceedings at EU level, as the Labour Party had implied in 2009 – once again for populist means.
Dr Falzon even referred to unspecified “studies” to show the Maltese were the most concerned people about immigration in the EU. Is he implying that a Labour government would merely react to popular public sentiment? Does Labour realise that a government more often than not has to take tough decisions which would only dent its electoral hopes? The Prime Minister could easily have resorted to rhetoric on the issue of African migration, but he wisely chose not to.
As Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Michael Briguglio pointed out, it is through integration, social inclusion and collaboration at an international level that we should deal with the immigration issue.
He appealed to Labour to change its immigration policy and to focus on social justice and compassion rather than attempting to score electoral points. This will of course be unlikely before at least the next election.
A real progressive party would insist on the need to treat all people with dignity and in respect of their human rights. A real progressive party should insist on the need for a semblance of integration and decent reception centres.
To a large extent, all the EU has done to deal with the southern migration issue is to throw money at the problem. In reality, nobody has come up with a concrete solution because the only real solution is by eradicating poverty and persecution in Africa and in forcing Libya to recognise refugee rights. Sadly, that seems a distant dream.
Making comments – as vague as they may be – about a very vulnerable section of the population will do no more than fuel anger against migrants.
Political opportunism should never be accepted when dealing with the lives and dignity of human beings.