Lecturer Norbert Bugeja discusses migration and ‘political memory’ with Kim Dalli, ahead of an international symposium entitled Mediterranean Fractures: Contested Pasts, Unrealised Futures, organised by the University of Malta’s Mediterranean Institute.
The point of such a symposium is to create a form of “informed empathy” and there is a lack of this in Malta, organiser Norbert Bugeja explains.
Following Facebook and newspapers’ comments boards, Dr Bugeja describes two parallel but coexisting realities: on the one hand, people who have absolute, unquestioned empathy and, on the other, others who are very well informed but who use knowledge in a way which is not necessarily in good faith.
Then there are the crossovers: those who are very well informed but who have a profound sense of empathy. These people, however, only amount to a handful and more effort is needed to bridge the two and provide the right kind of knowledge within the right kind of ethical context.
Migrants are ultimately people with a cause – an economic and a political cause.
In an ideal world, one would find unconditional hospitality but, in the real world, there are also economic pressures and logistical issues which need to be balanced out, he acknowledges.
“There must be a logistical and economic arrangement that is prepared to give ground to the ethics of hospitality. That cannot change because we are commonly human. But the argument in Malta is bigoted because some of the most proficient statements that are being dished around are not intended in good faith.”
The fundamental point of migration across the Mediterranean is that the phenomenon will stay with us and will not go away. It is a phenomenon which must be dealt with ethically and catered for logistically.
I expect Malta to fulfil its role as a peace broker in the Mediterranean
The buck ultimately stops with the EU, Dr Bugeja argues. The Syrian refugee crisis is an example of a last minute, quick fix solution. Yet it is in the EU’s interest to see that there is peace and tranquillity on its immediate neighbouring estates. If there are buffer zones against the jihadist threat to Europe, then these are countries like Tunisia, Libya and Syria.
“The European Commission has been dragging its feet – there has not been a strong diplomatic effort. There needs to be more bilateral dialogue and a peacekeeping mission spearheaded by the Commission.”
The fact that the EU summit on migration and CHOGM were being held in Malta was positive as there are very important debates which need to happen now.
“I expect Malta to fulfil its role as a peace broker in the Mediterranean, which is a role it has occupied with distinction for decades.”
The EU, for instance, should intervene diplomatically to stop Gulf States from using Palestine as a pawn. Libya, meanwhile, has been left to founder into yet another terrible civil war. The country has emerged from 40 years of dictatorial rule preceded by the corrupt Senussi monarchy. A longstanding, political memory of successful social and political arrangements is the reason why Tunisia has a democratic arrangement and Libya doesn’t.
The symposium will, in fact, be focusing on how the political situation of countries and their literature interact to find ways of remembering the past.
“The way we remember the past helps us take forward our political ideals. Memory can be a burden. If you consider memory as extra luggage, it becomes a problem of retaining some form of hope in a better future. One very salient aspect is precisely the problem of how to keep believing in the ideals of progress, secularism, democracy, peace and modernisation. These are failing paradigms.”