Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1495665
23 Unity SUNDAY 26 MARCH 2023 Dr Maria Pisani Department of Youth and Community Studies IN 2013, under the premiership of Joseph Muscat, Malta adopt- ed new labour market policies and took the active decision to become a more global cosmo- politan country. The Government of Malta has solidly invested in market- ing Malta as an English-speak- ing Mediterranean island that encourages investment and needs labour, and thousands upon thousands of migrants from around the world have responded to this invitation. According to the Labour Force Survey conducted by the Na- tional Statistics office in 2021, one in every four persons (25.7 per cent) residing in Malta was born in another country, and more than one third of the la- bour force aged between 25-54 are foreign born. Such numbers represent a phenomenal shift in the make-up of the popula- tion in Malta. Day-to-day encounters are transnational, as the islands have evolved into a multi-cul- tural society, with people from around the world contributing to the day-to-day hum of work, care, rest and play. Inward migration has resulted in eco- nomic growth that exceeded expectations. Migrant workers are net con- tributors to the social system, supporting public finances through increased revenues from social security. Migrants are needed to support services vital to the wellbeing of the na- tion, including, but not limited to health, care and the hospi- tality industries. Their pres- ence is celebrated in the array of culinary delights brought to our door step on request and the cosmopolitan image we market and project around the world. But herein lies the limits of Maltese hospitality; migrants are invited to come and work, but their presence is purely utilitarian: needed but not wanted, invited but not welcome. They serve an eco- nomic purpose, a means to an end. A glance at recent history reminds us that at the heart of the Maltese nation, as a political project, was the en- franchisement of marginalised populations. Just 76 years ago, the vote in Malta was extended to every- one aged 21, regardless of prop- erty, education or literacy, the size of one's wallet or gender. The values driving Maltese civ- ic nationalism at that time were those of liberation and equality, and universal suffrage (extend- ing the vote) was recognised and celebrated as part of a pro- gressive movement, an eman- cipatory tool in the process of decolonisation, and critical in overcoming barriers related to social class, gender, race and ethnicity. More recently, par- liament voted to extend the vote to 16-year olds, recogniz- ing and endorsing a key feature of democratic society: no tax- ation without representation. Today, a sizeable segment of the population of Malta, who make up more than a third of the adult labour force, are sys- tematically disenfranchised, positioned within a racialised hierarchy marked by different degrees of precarity and ex- ploitation. As a post-colonial state, we should be reminded that the struggle for democracy embodies the hopes, struggles and rights of the oppressed. It is time to extend the vote again. Citizenship in Malta is noto- riously difficult to access. The vast majority of migrants and beneficiaries of protection liv- ing in Malta do not 'qualify' for Maltese citizenship, they face insurmountable economic and bureaucratic barriers, unless of course, they are very, very rich. As such, migrants living in Malta, are excluded from the democratic process. Disenfran- chised, they have no say in the electoral process or policies that directly impact their lives, they are denied the political representation that is neces- sary to fight for their basic human rights to be respected, and their presence to be appre- ciated rather than tolerated (at best). Far from the emancipatory value it may have served in the past, nowadays Maltese citizenship is being used as an exclusionary mechanism that reinforces inequalities and en- trenches economic, ethnic and racialised divisions between those deemed to be deserving, and those who are not, between those who can belong, and those who cannot. It is hardly surprising then, that the majority of migrants who come to Malta vote with their feet, and seek better con- ditions elsewhere. According to the National Employment Policy (2021- 2030), half of the migrants who come to Malta leave again within two years of their arriv- al. The low retention rate poses economic and service delivery challenges for employers, and also contributes to the frag- mentation of Maltese society: how can you build strong com- munities of trust when your neighbours change every cou- ple of months? Existing economic and social divisions within the Maltese citizenry demonstrate that en- franchisement on its own is not enough. It is more than evident that whilst the economy may have boomed, the bounty has not been shared equally. As noted in the National Employment Policy, wages in Malta remain relatively low and do not reflect the pace or extent of national economic growth. Soaring rent prices, homelessness, poverty and inequality delineate deep rifts within Maltese society. Meanwhile, the Government of Malta, and indeed also the opposition, have clung to a brand of ethno-nationalism that serves as a lackey for capi- talism, and is mobilised to fer- ment racism and xenophobia and apportion blame to the immigrant (racialised) out- sider. Their political rhetoric, economic and border policies instrumentalise and reinforce economic divisions, whilst disenfranchising thousands of workers and their families in Malta, thus simultaneously weakening the voice and po- litical power of all workers and perpetuating labour exploita- tion. It is clear that the Govern- ment of Malta's particular brand of neoliberal cosmopol- itanism cannot deliver on in- clusion, equity and wellbeing for all. A step in the right direction would be in removing the very real barriers to citizenship faced by a sizeable section of the Maltese population on who 'we' all depend, and with whom we share our lives. Ex- tending the vote and increasing and supporting pathways to citizenship is vital for the in- clusion of refugee and migrant communities in Malta, it is cru- cial for the representation and politicisation of all workers, and ultimately, critical to the wellbeing of Maltese society as a whole. Extend the vote: No taxation without representation