Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1481871
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 OCTOBER 2022 9 INTERVIEW be 'more violence' about all the legal breaches – not to mention the sheer exploita- tion, and abuse – that Maltese landlords were guilty of, when they made all that money by il- legally housing them in such un- acceptable living conditions. What did the Minister choose to portray instead? 'Black peo- ple in handcuffs, being escorted by the police'… in what was de- liberately made out to look like a 'Clean Up Malta' campaign! That, in a nutshell, is the image the government has consciously chosen to project; and as such, the minister cannot so easily claim that what happened was 'unrelated', to his own govern- ment's policies and actions. As we all know, this raid was prompted by that recent viral video of a street brawl in Ham- run. This raises another per- spective on the issue: where- as, until recently, institutional racism was limited mostly to the Armed Forces – and even then, largely restricted to the confines of closed detention centres – today, the 'front line' seems to have shifted to the streets of Malta's multi-ethnic localities. Would you agree, then, that a problem that was previously 'contained', has now spread out into Maltese society as a whole? I see what you're saying; but there are reasons why we don't have the same problems with- in detention centres, as we did before. It's simply because the government has been very effective, in blocking asylum seekers from even reaching our shores at all. As a consequence, the centres are practically emp- ty; and the tensions there are obviously going to be very dif- ferent, today. But there are two things to bear in mind, here. One is that, even if the detention centres are far from overcrowded, it doesn't mean that there are no longer any problems. It was on- ly three years ago, for instance, that a man was killed in deten- tion… Which case are you referring to, specifically? It happened bang in the mid- dle of Covid – which might explain why it wasn't as widely reported, as any of the others – but in 2019, a man died in detention, allegedly as a result of 'falling off the fence, while trying to escape'. This also took place in the context of a riot; and we already know that there were other reports of violence, during the same incident. Now: we have our own suspi- cions, as to whether that man really did die 'just because of the fall'. But the reason I'm tell- ing you this, is that there were still tensions within those cen- tres, as recently as 2019: even if the number of detainees was nowhere near what it was 20 years ago… This brings me to the second point. The moment we go back to a situation where there ARE, once again, large numbers of people in detention – and that could very easily happen, next week – all the same problems will simply crop up again. Be- cause it is only the physical cir- cumstances that have changed; and not the underlying psyche. But otherwise, yes: Maltese communities are more mixed today, definitely. But I wouldn't say that that has led to an escala- tion of violence in the streets… Well: some might argue that the Hamrun street brawl, on its own, proves that there ac- tually IS more 'violence in the streets', today… Oh, OK: so maybe there is 'violence in the streets'. But I wouldn't single out Hamrun as being the main problem. It was only a few years ago, for instance, that car-bombs were regularly going off in the mid- dle of Malta's busiest roads – in what was suspected to be a turf-war between rival criminal gangs. So yes, there is a level of 'street-violence' that has always been there, really… … but firstly, it's not just mi- grants who are perpetrating this kind of violence; and secondly, even if we concede that Ham- run does have a problem, in this regard… it is not just the Mal- tese residents who will be feel- ing unsafe, as a consequence. Other migrants living in the ar- ea will also be affected; they will need protection, too. This is why our response to violence, cannot be 'more vi- olence.' If there is a problem with crime in certain neigh- bourhoods, for instance; it is naturally important to police those areas, and to implement measures to combat crime. But it is just as important to address the underlying social issues – which, in this context, also include the presence of 'disen- franchised communities': with all the associated issues of high unemployment; widespread substance abuse, and so on. These are all social problems: because crime, in itself, is a symptom of problems within the community. And you don't respond to social problems, only by mobilising your Police Force… This raises the question of what can (or should) be done, to ad- dress those problems. It's been two years, for instance, since the Equality Ministry published its action plan on integration: which included, among other things, 'anti-racism training' for the police. How much of that plan has been implement- ed, in the meantime? To be honest: quite a lot, actu- ally. Training sessions were, in fact, organised; there have been various community-support activities; the Integration Unit was set up - and I might add that we work very well with it - so all in all, I would say a lot of progress has been achieved, on that front. But what we flagged straight away to the authorities – even when, around a year ago, gov- ernment launched its 'Anti-Rac- ism Action Plan', as a follow-up – was that: it's great to have all these new policies; it's great to have an Integration Unit, and all the necessary structures in place… BUT… as long as the framework of the State remains 'anti-migrant', none of it is ac- tually going to work. You can 'train police officers' as much as you like – even un- til they collapse onto the floor in exhaustion - but if they con- tinue to feel empowered, by the minister's statements and ac- tions, to treat migrants as 'less- er human beings'… then all that training will be, quite frankly, useless. Onto a different (albeit distant- ly related) topic: today also marks the fifth anniversary of Daphne Caruana Galizia's mur- der in 2017. Aditus is among several NGOs to publicly cam- paign for justice in this case; and also, to criticise govern- ment for failing to implement all of the judicial inquiry's 'rule of law' recommendations (among other issues). So… how much progress would you say has really been made, in achieving 'Justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia'? Well, the short answer is very clearly 'not enough': and it's not just us saying that; everybody is saying it, both locally and in- ternationally. Because while a number of changes have been made - and government will no doubt flag the Constitutional amendments [concerning the appointment of the judiciary] - how were those amendments adopted, in practice? In secrecy with the Opposition; and with no public consultation whatso- ever. What one would expect in a democratic society, however, is that: when you have so many serious recommendations, by so many different actors, all telling you the exact same thing… the one thing you should do is: 'sit down, and draw up an action plan'. Basically, you need to identify: a) what needs to be changed; b) by when the changes must be made; and - most impor- tant of all - c) who is going to implement these changes. The OPM? The Justice Ministry? Who is going to be responsible for which deliverables; and by when are they going to be de- livered? And then, you start imple- menting the action plan. But it cannot just be a case of 'the government in cahoots with the Opposition; agreeing on certain things, either because it main- tains the status quo; or because it strengthens a future status quo…' No; it's very clear. In a democ- racy, you have to have consulta- tion with civil society; you have to have an independent media, and so on. These are the very fundamentals of democracy; and the fact that government evidently still hasn't understood this, five whole years later, is so worrying that… it's beyond words, how worried we actually are. And it says a lot about how the government is treating the whole issue: in reality, there is no real willingness, on its part, to do anything at all...