The Bishop of Gozo’s comments to youngsters on the general attitude of Maltese to the recent irregular immigrant deaths at sea appear at first glance to be flippant.
Mgr Mario Grech said in language that is far plainer than that used by our bishops when they pronounce themselves on subjects like divorce, that many of us would have made far more fuss if a few birds had been illegally killed than we did when some 250 migrants drowned on our doorstep last week.
The remark was, in fact, anything but flippant. Without cheapening the fate faced by many supposedly protected birds when they migrate (presumably without passports in hand), the bishop criticised the indifference and silence that has been deafening.
The sad truth is many believe – and it is one of the downsides of freedom of speech that some feel comfortable enough to express this publicly – that better 250 immigrants perish than bother us and burden our economy.
Leaving aside the fallacy of this line – since we are not yet over-run and there are economic benefits to be gained from migrant workers – it is an abdication of our responsibility as human beings. The bishop’s analogy with Pilate, therefore, could not have been more apt, or, just days before Easter, better timed.
Why there are those of us who react in this way is mystifying and a cause for concern. The Maltese are a caring people and many took pride when the country served as a safe haven for thousands of expatriate workers who fled Libya as soon as it was clear that Muammar Gaddafi was killing his own people.
Yet their attitude is different when either Libyan nationals or other Africans attempt to do the same thing. They travel not in the relative safety of large ferries and military transporter aircraft, but crammed like sardines on rickety boats. If anything, our sympathy and solidarity with them should be even greater.
None of this means, of course, that we should roll over in the diplomatic sense for the Italians who as a government have acted shamefully with regard to immigrants ever since signing a despicable push-back agreement with Mr Gaddafi two years ago.
Instead of attempting to deal with the issue in a sustainable and humane manner, the Berlusconi government pushed it under the carpet. What we are all reaping now is to a large extent the poisonous seed they planted back then.
What our government must not do – and is not doing to be fair bar for some rather cringe-making scenes of over-friendliness when some of its representatives meet their Italian counterparts – is allow a right winger like Roberto Maroni to shirk his country’s responsibilities by making outlandish accusations against the Maltese.
While Mr Maroni did his bit of macho posturing, playing to the gallery of his party no doubt, innocent humans who could have been saved died the most awful death off the coast of Lampedusa.
What he should have been doing was directing his rant towards the EU, which has been ludicrously limp in the face of this crisis.
It is sad to note, though not wholly unexpected given past performance, that there are also a number of Brussels bureaucrats who are more concerned with saving the lives of birds than those of immigrants.