Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1533839
11 OPINION maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 MARCH 2025 ON 24 March parliament wit- nessed another match between the Prime Minister and the Opposition leader, from whose barbs one could only infer that they were making sure their tribal audiences were kept well satisfied by what they had to say, especially on Ukraine, the Middle East, and that age-old favourite – migrants and ref- ugees. With the subject of migra- tion there seems to be no end to the righteousness by which our dear politicians have come to love to express them- selves. At this stage, they are telling us that we need to find a way of processing migrants elsewhere, and not on Mal- tese soil. It's called 'offshore pro- cessing', and there are prec- edents, most of which were not as successful as their champions claim to be, start- ing with Australia's Labour government's 2012 resolve to send asylum seekers to Nauru in the Pacific Ocean; Giorgia Meloni's detention centres in Albania; the Tories' at- tempt to pay Rwanda to take Britain's asylum seekers; and only last week, the US send- ing migrants to El Salvador whose notorious jails are now outsourced to the tune of mil- lions of dollars. So, what is Prime Minister Robert Abela going on about this time? The PM seems to be making legal history by telling us that human rights "must be merited". 'Baciamo le mani' Repubblika came out crying foul. The Nationalist Opposi- tion – not exactly a political foe when it comes to Italy's leadership – tried to appear surprised and show dissent. While the PN are meant to offer an alternative to the PL, on this one, they don't have a leg to stand on. One could hear them think: "Rather you than us!" It was easy for Ab- ela to corner Grech: "When you're in government", he said, "if you want to open the doors to everyone – whether merited or not – do as you want." Some of us will never for- get how the late Muammar Gaddafi's hand was amply and regularly kissed by many powerful lips, starting with Tony Blair's, while others lined up to the Colonel's tent. Former Maltese and Italian Prime Ministers of all shades have done their pilgrimage to the Libyan desert. Before the Colonel was deposed by his rival tribes, deals were made over just about everything; from oil to investment, curry- ing favour, and holding back migrants in Libya. Nor should we forget how in that legendary Valletta Sum- mit back in 2015, both Joseph Muscat and Simon Busuttil lauded what was then sup- posed to be a "solution" to migration; finding a way of keeping migrants and refu- gees from coming to Europe, while not exactly telling us how those unsavoury regimes with which Europeans love playing cat and mouse, will have a role in the sordid af- fair. 'Meriting' one's rights As expected, the Prime Min- ister and Opposition leader's latest tryst was well covered by the press. The day be- fore, MaltaToday got every- one wondering what the PM meant by his suggestion that the Human Rights Conven- tion needed some adjust- ment to fall in tune "with the times". The Times of Malta cited the PM's now famil- iar legalese, reminding the House how "Malta would re- main at the forefront of fight- ing for human rights, as long as they were 'merited'. So how does one 'merit' a human right? Are rights now measured on a meritocratic scale? Weren't human rights supposedly preserved and en- shrined in a convention based on universal norms? We have long become used to talk of an 'invasion', a nar- rative by which politicians of all hues claim to prove their strong leadership and win elections. The bogeyman, which in the past used to be the devil, the infidel, the com- munist, is now the migrant who could well be a criminal intent on taking advantage of our "wokeness", stealing our social services, raping our women and children, while destroying our identity, reli- gion, and democracy. Apart from the crass am- biguity by which such a nar- rative is presented, there are indeed cases of migrants who are criminals, just as there are criminals amongst any popu- lation, including Malta's. But while one could never say that all Maltese are criminals because some Maltese have indeed committed crimes, the idea that all refugees and mi- grants are all potential crim- inals is now stated with hor- rendous ease. Given this flawed logic, we are now told that "these people" don't merit human rights. This is because human rights must be "earned". By implication, according to this doctrine, human rights need qualification, and it is thereby acceptable to make them rel- ative, and for their universal value to be contested. When "they" are "us" If the polity is a world of bread and circuses – panem et circenses – as the Romans used to say, then we are be- ing entertained to death. It has become clear that certain politicians are choosing to sing from a hymn sheet that changes according to the cir- cumstances that suits them and their vested ideological interests. Universal human rights do not only stand to be seriously compromised, but their va- lidity is being questioned and dismissed. To make matters worse, this is claimed on be- half of the "national interest". What was once founded on an understanding between peoples across nations, is now deemed as passé and therefore in need of change because, we are told, these universal prin- ciples have "loopholes". Listening to the arguments put across, one wonders what happens if nations agree to go down the route that is being suggested. In a strange twist, we also hear strong leaders across several democracies telling us how the law should not stop the will of the peo- ple. Now, you'd think that this is an argument for de- mocracy. But actually, the context of such talk turns out to be against the tenets of lib- eral democracy, whose rule of law is meant to be sustained by a balance of powers. Such a balance of powers is intrin- sic to democracy itself, and it was designed to withstand external changes dictated by interest or circumstance. One hopes against all hopes that Maltese politicians have not come to that stage yet. Unfortunately, public opin- ion in Malta is looking more and more sympathetic to what one hears from popu- list politicians who seem to believe that democracy must simply heed to the strong. It has become normal for many in Maltese society to openly express their hatred towards anything and everything that looks different from "us", even when "we" actually come as diverse as one can ever imagine. This culture of ressenti- ment also sustains the illib- eral turns by which rights are now becoming qualified and deemed to be "earned". This is justified by the logic of selective generalisation, es- pecially when it comes to mi- grants, immaterial what their status might well be. If in Malta, we now want to "pass" as anything but di- verse, and it has become ac- ceptable to regard anyone looking or sounding different as potential criminals who by implication can only "earn" their human rights through some outsourced system of vetting, then we are heading to a very dangerous place which eventually will be used and will apply the same crite- ria of "merited" and qualified rights to us. Perish the thought that Mal- tese politicians ever want to foment such a situation. But if they are not careful, their rhetoric could easily lead to that. What many Maltese pol- iticians don't seem to realise is that when we speak of "us" and "them", in other circum- stances "they" are exactly like "us". In fact, "they" ARE "us" and once we start qualifying how others "merit" their hu- man rights, that same qual- ification for our own human rights will be turned onto us. Bread, circuses and human rights John Baldacchino John Baldacchino is an academic based in the United States What is Prime Minister Robert Abela going on about this time? The PM seems to be making legal history by telling us that human rights "must be merited".