Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1382687
13 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 JUNE 2021 notions of belonging and identity" – asy- lum seekers however? No – their claims for security cannot escape their bounda- ries of poverty and persecution. In short, there is something zesty and sexy in the term digital nomad, which it- self does not even reflect the real-life job conditions of working inside the digital world, where freelances are deprived of basic rights like sick and vacation leave. Some nomad workers end up working long hours in different jobs, simply to pay rent and make ends meet. Go back to your country In stark contrast, the asylum seeker is immobilized by the State at the borders, in detention centres and in our prisons. The message sent to this category is to go back to their country, even after of- fering some cheap labour. The onus is always either trying to control the asy- lum seekers or expelling them. "Far from liberated, their lives are marked by restrictions, and denied the right to work, they are forced to be outlaws. Paradoxically, asylum seekers serve as the marker of difference, de- marcating the 'other' in an effort to keep up the premise (or illusion) of belonging and control, and mythical notions of a fixed identity," Pisani says. Possibly the asylum seeker provides a counterweight for the digital nomad, a reassurance that government is still excluding these 'others' to protect the natives from a conjured invasion, when in reality it is the Maltese government which is opening the floodgates – to high-net-worth individuals, to nomadic digital gurus, to minimum wage work- ers from outside the EU to work on con- struction sites. But Labour in government has cho- sen to play the bully with the weak in an attempt to forestall a populist revolt against its own brand of cosmopolitan- ism. How pushbacks complement cosmo- politanism This unequal treatment of different categories of migrants has been the hallmark of Labour's government mi- gration policy, way back to 2013 when just months after being stopped by the courts from effecting an illegal pushback of migrants from Libya, the Muscat gov- ernment embarked on the citizenship by investment scheme which effectively sold citizenship to the global rich. "Malta does distinguish between mi- grants on the basis of their perceived value to us. The treatment received by passport buyers, who in most cases have absolutely no genuine interest in the country's well-being, is a different uni- verse to the way Malta treats migrants who have dedicated their entire time here trying to making Malta home," says Neil Falzon, director of the Aditus Foundation. A recent court judgement slamming the decision to keep six men locked up months after their detention was – on paper – lifted, "is yet another example of how the nation has stopped viewing some migrants as actual human beings". Yet despite these differences, catego- ries remain elusive with one common theme running through all interactions with migrant; possibly, everyone is who not Maltese and including EU nationals. "They are not people with lives, fam- ilies, friends, dreams, disappointment, joys and pains. They are commodities put to our disposal to do and undo, use and abuse according to our whims," Falzon says, "There is no gratitude, no respect, no dignity once we've drained them of their energies and humanity. Our approach is markedly selfish and self-centred, pos- sibly fuelled by an inferiority complex that leads us to carve out our own su- periority and worth by suppressing the migrant." One of the first images that fits 'digital nomad' inside the Google image search: in most cases, the stereotype is that of a white migrant that has security of visa travel across most countries who combines the ease of working remotely with an itinerant lifestyle Open the borders... to 'nomads' and high-net- worth elites but make life harder for asylum seekers. A different view of migration from parliamentary secretary Alex Muscat (left) and home affairs minister Byron Camilleri