Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1496177
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 APRIL 2023 9 INTERVIEW drown er there were any possible signs of life; or any chance that the child could still be resuscitated. I checked his pulse; and because he was so small, I picked him up and held his body close to my ear. Nothing. Then I looked into his eyes - which were still open – intense- ly, to see if there was even the minimum trace of vitality left... and now, I wish I never did that. Because to this very day, I still dream of that little boy on most nights. And in those dreams, he grabs me by the hair, and repri- mands me for 'not having saved his life'... In your book, you describe sim- ilar examples of 'survivor guilt': such as when your friend Do- menico, a fisherman, 'cried like a baby', because he could 'only save 47' out of several hundred castaways. First of all: do you yourself feel guilty, about all the lives you didn't manage to save? I do, yes. Isn't that a bit ironic, though? After all, people like Domenico and yourself actually tried to save those lives; and just a sec- ond ago, you were arguing that the truly 'guilty' parties, are the ones whose 'negligence' and 'superficiality' actually caused the tragedy to happen, in the first place... I see what you mean; but I still feel guilty all the same, and I'll tell you why. The fact that 'I was there', and 'I saw what I saw' – not just on October 3 2013, by the way; but from the very be- ginning. I have practically lived at Molo Favarolo, these past years: assisting to every single boat-arrival, day and night... even because it's my profession- al responsibility; it's part of the oath I took, as a doctor, to assist people in any way I can... But it also brings with it a 're- sponsibility' of a different kind. It means that I KNOW what is really happening, on the ground: I've seen it, with my own two eyes. And people out there do NOT know what is happening. So they do not know who is tell- ing them the truth... and who is lying. So I feel a great responsibili- ty to tell my story, to whoever will listen. This is why I have written books; I've appeared in films.. and let's face it: it was never on my agenda, to become an 'author'; and even less, to 'go to Hollywood', and become an 'actor'. These are things I did out of necessity. Basically, I ended up having to turn to the world of culture, to help me get the message across. Because I have suffered solitude; because I was 'shouting out'... but no one was listening. And this 'message' that I was shouting out, and that nobody was listening to, was: "It's not true! Everything they tell you, about these tragedies; about these people; about the refugee crisis... it's all a pack of lies." At this level, your experience mirrors that of other countries (including Malta), where peo- ple who 'shout out' in favour of equality, or against racism – or who in any way project a 'sym- pathetic' portrait of immigrants – are often met with open hos- tility (sometimes, extending to death threats). How do you ac- count for those reactions, your- self? It's true that some people's re- actions are hostile... but do you know why? It's not their fault. It's not because those people are 'evil'. It's because they have been lied to. They have been influ- enced... misled... deceived... by people who have an interest in creating this 'culture of hatred', for their own political reasons. So we have been told that these people are 'invading us'... which is not true. We were told that they are 'carrying diseases'... which is not true. That they come here to 'steal our jobs'... which is certain- ly untrue, because there is work for everybody. And all the other things we are told about these people - that they are 'terrorists'; 'prostitutes'; 'criminals', etc. – not a single word of it is true. It's all lies. But on the strength of having been 'bombarded' by these false messages, for so long... people end up actually believing all those lies. And this is why I feel that I have a duty, to set the re- cord straight. Because those people, who believe all those lies they're being fed... they're not the 'evil' ones. However, there are indications that these 'lies' are no longer be- ing propagated only by the Far Right. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen herself seems to gravitating towards the position of Italy's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni; and there have been media reports that the European People's Party is now keen on courting 'Fratelli D'Italia', to bolster its own political strength. Do you agree with that assessment? If so, how do you respond to it? Yes, I certainly agree. Un- fortunately, Europe is veering towards the policies of those countries which are governed by nationalistic, right-wing parties: Poland, Hungary, Austria... and now, Italy. There are many such countries, today; and between them, they are trying to turn Eu- rope into a 'fortress'... in order to 'defend our borders'. Because that's the terminology they are using. They are talking in terms of an 'invasion': from which we need to be 'defended'. But my answer to that is: while it is obviously important to 'secure' our borders'... 'defence' is anoth- er thing entirely. You 'defend' your borders, only when they're 'under attack'. Only when your country is at war with another country, for instance. But... we're not at war with anyone, right now. Least of all, with all those men, women and children, who are dying in their efforts to reach Europe. Those people are not our 'enemies'. They are just people who, unfor- tunately, don't have any alterna- tive, but to risk their lives to es- cape from war, poverty, and – in many of the cases that I myself have treated – torture. And Europe is doing everything in its power, to just 'block them'... But do you know what the truly strange thing is, about all this? I myself am Italian; and I'm also the S&D's shadow rapporteur on the RAM dossier: which is part of the 'new asylum pact', dealing with asylum and immigration. Now: by an interesting coinci- dence, all the other shadow rap- porteurs representing the other European parties – including ECR and ID [which comprise 'Fratelli D'Italia' and 'Lega Nord', respectively] – are all also Italian. Strangely, it seems that all the major European parties are rep- resented, on this one issue, by Italians. And Italy – along with Malta, Greece, Cyprus, Spain – is one of the countries of 'first-entry': at the very forefront, of the entire immigration phe- nomenon. Therefore, it should really be up to us – as the people on the front line – to stand up and say: "Listen, this is a European prob- lem. It's not a problem just for Italy, or Malta, or Greece, or Spain. It's a problem facing Eu- rope, as a whole.' Therefore, it is Europe that has to provide the answers. And the answers that Europe has to provide, must be 'political'... but also, 'European'. This is why we have a unique opportunity, at the moment, to make a dif- ference. Because, seeing as how ALL the rapporteurs working on the new asylum pact happen to be Italian – i.e., from one of the countries bearing the full brunt of this problem – it is now up to us, to insist on a fair and eq- uitable European distribution system, among ALL European countries. In other words: if, for argu- ment's sake, '100 people' land on Malta... one of them would re- main in Malta; Italy would take 5; France, 10; and so on – each according to its capacity, and its own exigencies. THAT is what we should be working towards. Above all, however, Europe has to understand, once and for all, that immigration is not a phe- nomenon that can be countered by 'walls', and 'barbed wire'. Be- cause that is how Europe has consistently responded to this crisis, for the past 30 years. We have erected walls, and barri- cades; we have deported immi- grants, or thrown them in jail... we have tried to push those peo- ple away, in whatever way we could.. and what do we have to actually show for those policies, all these years later? Not only is immigration itself still happening – and will al- ways keep happening, no matter how many 'barbed-wire fences' we build - but we are still talk- ing about 'more tragedies', and 'more deaths', to this day. And the sea around Lampe- dusa, and Malta, and Greece – OUR sea; the sea that has nur- tured us, and nourished us; the sea that has given us everything; that has made us what we are to- day – has become... a cemetery. That, ultimately, is what I want to change. What I want is to see our once-beautiful Mediterra- nean Sea, return to being what it was always was for us, in the past. A sea of 'life'... not 'death'.