Tenor Joseph Calleja has praised the way how the new Maltese feature film Simshar has highlighted the ongoing tragedy of thousands of migrants' lives swallowed by the Mediterranean by intertwining it with the tragedy of the loss of a Maltese fishing boat with all its crew, save for one.
Writing in his blog, he praised the film and said the plight of the migrants could be likened to thousands of “Simshars” lost at sea.
"In this case the lives of those who perish(ed) will not be documented in any movies and very few people on our side of the “fence” will mourn them or even give their plight and tragedy a second thought. It is shocking that we treat mass “drownings” as business as usual. The immigrants who risk life and limb to cross are not doing so as a sort of “lets see how this thing goes…
”The vast majority are escaping persecution, famine, disease and (in the worst cases) annihilation from all three. There is no other way of dealing with the situation, once the boats have left the shores of Libya, other than going out at sea to offer help when and whenever necessary. Anything short of the latter would be cruel and inhumane," he wrote.
He adds:
"But what about us Maltese; can the island take and absorb wave after wave of immigrants indefinitely? Are we getting enough help from our neighbouring countries? The answer to the latter is in a constantly changing grey area.
"A leap forward would be more stability (or stability at all!) around the North African coast and in the countries further south but that is not going to happen anytime soon.
"In the meantime we have to retain and live up to our reputation of a good hearted and welcoming nation and give the best possible aid to those who need it most. Unfortunately our best is not always enough and leaps and bounds of improvements are still to be made in the conditions we keep these immigrants till they are integrated or repatriated.
"In this area our politicians must appeal, in the strongest way possible, for more physical and financial aid from our bigger and stronger neighbours. Malta can not face this problem alone and lets not forget that our population density is one of the highest anywhere."
Mr Callja said anger and frustration might lead to the temptation of displaying racist or xenophobic behaviour, especially when confronted with the unknown.
"To those who may be inclined to entertain such thoughts I ask one question; what if it were you in that overcrowded boat clinging to its failing structure for dear life? Would you want help then? If it were your kin out there on the boats or floating aimlessly on the high seas, would you go help then?
http://josephcalleja.com/2014/03/31/simshar-and-the-ongoing-tragedy-of-the-mediterranean/