Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1240944
9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 APRIL 2020 INTERVIEW that some people are seriously concerned about the safety of their family and of their peo- ple. I think they honestly believe that welcoming asylum seek- ers into our country will some- how cause damage, discomfort or danger to themselves, and this causes people to act out in the name of 'their country' and in the name of their families and communities. In fact, evolutionary psycholo- gists would postulate that it was actually beneficial for early human beings to deprive oth- er groups of resources, because we were all in competition and fighting for the fittest to survive. It would have done our an- cestors no good to be com- passionate, generous, altruis- tic – and to allow outsiders to share their resources, which may have decreased their own chances of survival… But surely, even if there are psychological and/or evolu- tionary explanations to account for it, the phenomenon you just described – e.g., hostility or ha- tred towards ethnic 'outsiders' – still qualifies as 'racism'…? I think it would be a mistake to reduce the issue simply to rac- ism. It is far more complex than that. A true and pure racist is some- one who would discriminate based solely on ethnicity, race or colour. In this case, I think it is so much more. We have elements of patriotism, terri- torialism, a perceived 'fight for resources', and a strong element of fear. I think we need to ask ourselves if people would have reacted as strongly to the intention of an American cruise-liner needing to dock in Maltese waters. In fact, research has shown that when people are given remind- ers of their own mortality – as is the case with this COVID-19 pandemic – they feel a sense of anxiety and insecurity, which they in turn respond to by be- coming more prone to prejudice and aggression. They are then more likely to conform to culturally accepted attitudes and to identify with their national or ethnic groups, while feeling a compulsion to ex- clude and reject anything which poses a threat to their perceived sense of safety – and ultimately in their attempt to protect them- selves and their families from the perceived threat of mortality. The power one group has over another transforms prejudice into racism, and links individu- al prejudice with broader social practices. Accusations of racism are in- deed often countered by prag- matic arguments… e.g., it isn't 'racist' to object to more immi- grant arrivals, given the limita- tions of Malta's resources, the COVID-19 pandemic, etc. How does one draw a line, therefore, between acceptable concerns, and outright racism? Ultimately, these concerns are motivated by fear. People's sense of insecurity can lead them to develop a stronger sense of 'pat- riotism' – an 'us versus them' mentality ensues, because in order to further strengthen their sense of identity, members of a group may develop hostile feel- ings toward other groups and the group becomes more co- hesive and defined by having a common 'enemy'. This in turn causes the 'in- group' to cultivate more empa- thy and compassion towards its own people, while developing harsh, uncaring, even ugly senti- ments and attitudes towards the 'out-group'… as is surely the case when people are left to drown, and these deaths are somehow 'excused' and 'justified' with ar- guments of needing to look after their own people first and fore- most' . This also explains the disso- nance between the Christian val- ues clashing with the atrocities that happened on Easter Sunday. In those moments, people fail to see the 'out-group' as individu- als with their own struggles: as a young man named Idris, a preg- nant woman named Fatima, a young girl named Amira – and causes a phenomenon by which they are wrongly perceived as 'a group of outsiders posing a threat'. This is the point at which we lose our humanity... The Chamber of Psychologists has in fact argued that the COV- ID-19 pandemic was no excuse "for losing our humanity". Do you share the implicit concern that the COVID-19 pandemic is being exploited to justify meas- ures – e.g., closing ports to mi- grant vessels – that run counter to our legal and moral respon- sibilities? To be honest: I don't know. I'd hate to think this to be true. I'd rather believe it isn't. But my general opinion is that the authorities did not do enough. They were too passive. Those people should not have drowned. Full-stop. But again, this is where educa- tion comes in. The reality is that asylum seekers are no more a danger to us than French tour- ists; but scare-mongering has cultivated a culture of people who feel under siege or threat by asylum seekers, who are ulti- mately themselves fleeing from terror and danger. It is a tragic situation, when we are forced to choose between our own 'perceived safety' and another people's safety, and hu- mankind should never be posed with that dilemma. So our leaders need to step up as models in these moments, for the preservation of human rights, to calm the people, to pacify fears and to educate. Lastly, racism is often figura- tively described in terms of a 'disease' or 'pathology'. From a psychological perspective, is there any truth to that meta- phor? Racism is a pernicious, perva- sive and persistent social prob- lem. However, ultimately racism is also a symptom of psycholog- ical immaturity. It is a sign of poor psychological integration, a lack of inner security and a lack of personal power. Psychologically, healthy peo- ple with a stable sense of self and strong inner security are not racist, because they have no need to demean others or to de- ny others their rights, in order to build up their own sense of self through group identity. They have no need to develop an 'us vs them' 'black vs white' approach to life, or to see things in simplistic dichotomies… be- cause they have more refined coping mechanisms which allow them to stay healthy without jeopardising the health and safe- ty of others. It is therefore possible to move beyond reductionist categori- sations to inclusive and repre- sentative forms of social identi- ty. If anything, COVID-19 has taught us fundamentally, that there are no races — just one hu- man race, equally as vulnerable, equally as beautiful. Cher Laurenti Engerer is a managing Psychologist and the founder of Polaris Consultancy; an interdisciplinary wellbeing service humanity? The reality is that asylum seekers are no more a danger to us than French tourists; but scare-mongering has cultivated a culture of people who feel under siege by asylum seekers