Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1493026
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 FEBRUARY 2023 OPINION 11 Daniel Desira Migration: walls are not Christian DAVID Casa and Manfred Weber's recent statement on migration, should raise eyebrows and make one question the values that Christian Democrat- ic parties are supposed to have. Apart from the dehumanising language, refer- ring to refugees as illegal immigrants, the two conservative MEPs want to ap- pease the racist sentiments across the continent with harsher policies. There is barely anything Christian in that. The reason for this kind of discourse is of course political, as key EPP fig- ures approach far right Italian prime minister Georgia Meloni, the conserv- atives might be seeking more common ground in order to secure control of the top posts following the upcoming European Parliament elections. In na- tional contexts, some social democrat- ic parties like those in Denmark and Austria have also taken a more popu- list approach to mi- gration in order to compete with rising right-wing parties. In Malta, on the oth- er hand, Labour has often taken a more nationalistic stance than the National- ist Party. Although, under Delia's leader- ship, PN has become openly xenophobic. First of all, the con- ditions which cause people to flee their home country in Africa or Syria to reach Europe, are various. Some leave because of war in their country, while others do so because of the discrimination they face due to their religion or sexual ori- entation. Moreover, let's not forget the lack of economic opportunities on land suffering harsher droughts due to cli- mate change. Taking a look at European history should also teach us that most of Africa was once colonised by the likes of Britain, France and Belgium. On top of that, some companies from the global north are still exploiting the resources of developing countries. One should also acknowledge that around 90% of Afri- can migration happens within Africa itself. As the saying goes "Nobody puts their children on a boat unless the water is safer than the land." The lack of a legal and safe passage, forces migrants into paying exorbitant fees to cross the continent and ultimate- ly smuggled through the Mediterranean, through unsafe and inhumane mediums. Moreover, it is well documented that the situation in the Libyan detention centres is far from happy, with reports of sexual assault and murder between migrants, not to mention the possibility of ending up auctioned at slave markets. Render- ing this passage more difficult through deals with Libya, not only fails to better these conditions but results in further exploitation of vulnerable groups. Last but not least, 2062 migrants are believed to have died in the Mediterranean last year alone. Casa and Weber's press release also targets NGOs performing Search and Rescue in the Mediterranean, pro- posing criminalisation. Saving lives is not a crime and should in no way be equated to human trafficking. Rather than continuing with policy, existing charges for these acts, such as with the case of the El Hib- lu three, should be dropped. Of course, the Dublin Convention should be reformed so that all EU mem- ber states share re- sponsibility in the intake of refugees, rather than southern countries taking all the brunt. Moreover, decent and affordable housing needs to be available, while cater- ing for integration of migrants in socie- ty, as well as the labour market. In the end, refugees should be wel- come no matter whether they are black or white, Christian or Muslim, European or African. Everyone de- serves a decent life, no matter their background or what they have been through. Immigration policy should first and foremost have human rights at its core. If anything, European pol- icy makers should be addressing re- al-life ills, such as poor wages and in- flated energy bills, rather than opting to look for scapegoats. I expect progressive forces, as well as conservatives with a shred of con- science, to unite for a humane and wel- coming EU. I would also like to invite opposition leader Bernard Grech to do the right thing and condemn this kind of rhetoric coming from a Nationalist MEP, although I am not holding my breath. ous, all the way back from when it first came into existence, back in January 2021 (Almost as long, in fact, as news- papers like this one have been flagging it to the attention of the Prime Min- ister: which sort of makes you won- der why Robert Abela still finds it so difficult to 'see', what everybody else has been pointing him towards for two whole years now...) All the same, however: I do concede that Robert Abela may have a small point, when he argues that 'what hap- pened' did indeed constitute a cru- cial factor, in both Schembri Grech's resignation, and (separately) in his own choice of successor for that role. For even if Schembri Grech's own 'tenability', as BA chairman, had very little to do with the physical collapse of parts of the former Go Exchange site, onto Psaila Street – in the sense that she was every bit as 'unsuitable' for the role BEFORE that occurrence, as after it – the fact that it even hap- pened at all (and so dramatically, too!), almost certainly DID hasten her exit, just a little bit, in the end. There is, after all, a limit to popular patience: and if people even needed any further 'proof', that developers such as Joseph Portelli really DO get to 'pull all the strings', at all levels within the Planning Sector: well, what better way to illustrate that fact… than by having Portelli himself actually hire the BCA chairman, no less, as his own private architect; and then, on top of that, for one of his own projects itself to liter- ally – as in, 'physically' (look: this shit really happened, OK?) – COLLAPSE, for crying out loud?! (Presumably, un- der the sheer weight of its own, unreg- ulated… PRIVILEGE?) No, indeed. If 'what happened' proved to be such a tipping point (ahem) for Schembri Grech, as BCA chairman… it was not because of the actual physical 'collapse of a building', as such; it was more because the event itself was such a perfect illustration of 'everything else that is wrong, within the planning sector today'. As such, it only served to magnify the sheer untenability, of an already blatantly untenable situation that had simply been allowed to carry on festering for years… regardless how many accidents might actually ensue, as a direct consequence. But what got demolished, in the pro- cess, was more than just the 'old Go Exchange Building, in Birkirkara' – or even Schembri Grech's own public ca- reer, for that matter. No, it was also what little may have remained of the Planning Sector's own credibility, in the eyes of the public at large; after lit- erally decades of other, similar… Oh, let's be kind, and just call them 'ca- tastrophes'. And while appointing a brand new (and apparently 'conflict of inter- est-free', this time) BCA chairman is certainly a very good first step, on the part of the Prime Minister… some- thing tells me it is going to take a LOT more than just that, to rebuild all the public trust that now lies shattered among the wreckage of Psaila Street… Daniel Desira is an environmental activist Refugees should be welcome no matter whether they are black or white, Christian or Muslim, European or African BCA chairperson Maria Schembri Grima resigned after a stop notice was issued for a project she is architect of