Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1403840
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 AUGUST 2021 INTERVIEW Racism is ignorance. And there's Racism is a global phenome- non; but different countries are underpinned by their own unique socio-demographic his- tories; and Malta is presumably no exception. As an activist involved in combatting local racism, at grassroots level… how would you yourself define racism, in the Maltese context? I think the main problem we have, in Malta, is that we don't really understand what racism is. What is the definition of rac- ism? Generally, it boils down to the belief that the humanity is divided into a number of differ- ent races, depending on what we look like; and that certain 'races' have different rights and privileg- es, compared to others. It is an idea that has been per- petuated throughout history, for political reasons. For instance, the 'scramble for Africa'. There was a drive to reduce all people of dark skin colour to the status of 'negroids': people who are phys- ically strong, but who have 'low IQ'. There was even a pseudo-sci- ence, involving measurements of the human skull, to 'prove' this theory. But it was all politically motivated. Today, any anthro- pologist will tell you that - while very minimal differences do exist, between people of different eth- nicities - they do not exceed the threshold of what scientifically constitutes a 'sub-species'. Looking at it from a purely evo- lutionary angle: how are sub-spe- cies created? It usually requires the geographical separation of a species; and over thousands of years, the two groups acquire ge- netic traits that are distinct from each other. But when you apply that to humans, you will find that the minor variations that do ex- ist – from one side of the planet, to the other – do not even come close to the difference that is re- quired to form a sub-species. So the theory that humanity is divided into 'different races', sim- ply isn't true. The reality is that we are all members of the same species – homo sapiens – but we have adapted to different envi- ronments. Someone from Ethio- pia, for example, has a very dark skin colour: because Ethiopia is close to the equator; and the hu- man body needed to produce a higher amount of melanin. But when people started emigrating further north – where the sun is no longer as powerful – the amount of melanin began to de- crease over time. Why are peo- ple in Sweden 'as white as snow', with blond hair and blue eyes? Because they are much further away from the equator, than peo- ple in Ethiopia… These are all scientific facts. I'm not making any of this up. And yet… it's not something we are ever taught at school. I myself am 29 – almost 30 – but I am only learning about all this now: for the first time, on my own… None of this is taught anywhere in our educational system. And this is why – to answer your question more directly – I feel that Maltese society is, in fact, racist, in the way we act, and the way we talk… but I still think that it's not society's fault. I would say that it's because… we don't know enough. Part of your activism involves social work and communi- ty-building efforts; but also engaging directly with people who post racist comments on- line. Do you feel that – on both those levels – activists such as yourself are stepping in, to ad- dress an issue that is otherwise being ignored? Apart from being a social work- er, I also feel that I am an 'educa- tor'. The job of an educator is to engage with people, and try and lift them out of ignorance. And in today's world – with the Inter- net at our fingertips – I really feel that there is no excuse for igno- rance, anymore. With the excep- tion of the very, very few who are perhaps illiterate… or who don't have online access … the vast majority has simply no excuse to persist in such ignorance. Yet in the way we act and talk – both generally in society, and al- so on social media – we are, very often, behaving in a racist man- ner. To give just one random ex- ample: someone who complains about immigrants applying for social housing. [Imitating angry voice]: 'What do you mean, social housing for immigrants? Social housing is for the Maltese. The Maltese come first…' And right there – just by saying 'the Maltese come first' – we are already categorizing people; we are already assuming that there are different 'types' of people; and that some of those people have some kind of 'divine rights', when compared to others… But let's face it: the only dif- ference between someone from Malta, and someone from Nige- ria, is the luck with which they were born. I myself could very easily have been born in, say, North Korea… Your last point – i.e., the pre- sumed 'difference' between Maltese people, and other eth- nicities – is the basic theme of MaltaToday's online series, 'Maltin Bhalek'. But there seems to be resistance to that concept, locally. It is as though there are certain 'boxes' that need to be 'ticked off', in order to qualify as being 'Maltese'. Would you agree with that statement? Yes. There is a tendency to 'pro- file' people along precisely those lines: and I think it is very dan- gerous. Why? Because this is not a 'new' phenomenon. It is, in fact, the same tactic that was used by terrorist dictators such as Adolf Hitler: who likewise decided on a 'category' – which also had boxes of its own: you had to be white, Aryan, and so on - and said: 'These are my people'. But… what happened to all the people who didn't fit into those boxes? It didn't start immediately with concentration camps. Hit- ler first started by isolating those people; by demonizing them, and telling them that they didn't have the same rights as others. Then, he started putting them in [the equivalent of] 'Hal Far'. Then he started shooting them. But when he realized that bullets cost a lot of money… he moved onto a more efficient system. And we all know what that was… So yes: I feel that it is very dan- gerous, to start going down that path. Because we can never really say that we are 'Holocaust-free'. Is Malta a racist country? According to anti-racism activist OMAR RABABAH, the short answer is 'yes'; but it is a racism built on ignorance, and sustained by a policy of national exclusion. And on both those fronts, it can be countered Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt JAMES BIANCHI