Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/911593
maltatoday SUNDAY 3 DECEMBER 2017 16 TEODOR RELJIC A recent report from an EU-wide body has found a sizeable rift be- tween xenophobic and homopho- bic attitudes in Malta, with the predominantly pre-active preju- dice being dished out to foreigners and the instances of hate-speech directed towards LGBTIQ people showing a decrease in recent years. The EU-backed study, by Stavros Assimakopoulos and Rebecca Vella Muskat from the Institute of Lin- guistics at the University of Malta looked into how certain groups experience more prejudice than others in the sphere of both online discourse and the press. The most glaring 'take away' from the endeavour is the finding that, while xenophobic discourse con- tinues to be prevalent in the local sphere, instances of homophobia appear to have calmed down some- what over the years, with the study even concluding – based on a com- parative assessment of the rest of the EU countries considered by the CONTACT UM research umbrella – that Malta is the only EU country to have registered a tangible de- crease in homophobic hate-speech over the past few years. With LGBTIQ-sympathetic leg- islation recently putting Malta on the map in a positive light, it's not that hard to see why this distinction would in fact come about. But the details as to just how and why this happens are also worth exploring. The Muslim blinkers Initially exploring the lay of the digital land through their own parsing of the online discourse which evokes xenophobic and homophobic sentiment in Malta, the authors then asked a sample of people – either Maltese, or living in Malta and in both online and focus group settings – to assess the "ac- ceptability" of certain comments which target migrants or members of the LGBTIQ community. An interesting pattern of meta- phors emerged when the authors began to classify the various types of discriminatory discourse against the relevant minorities online. Pre- dominantly, migrant communities were singled out and 'Othered' on religious grounds, with plenty of commentators simply assuming that the bulk of them come from Muslim countries and that this, in and of itself, constitutes a problem to be rooted out of Maltese society. Concerns about "these Muslims... changing Malta" were rife online, and were sometimes tied – im- plicitly or explicitly – to the fear of either organised crime or disease (AIDS and Ebola were mentioned in particular). The metaphor of in- vasion therefore becomes a power- ful way of distinguishing between the Maltese 'in-group' and the mi- grant 'out-group'. However, when it came to nega- tive online comments targeting members of the LGBTIQ com- munity, a more detailed religious streak was observable. While the fear of Muslims that dominated the anti-migrant sentiment spoke to a 'geopolitical' conception of re- ligious difference, the study found that in the case of homophobic at- tacks, this turned into an apparent- ly more detailed recourse to scrip- ture – with metaphors of 'doom' dominating the responses. "Sodom and Gomorrah are alive and well in Malta", one comment reads, while another claims that the recent developments in LGB- TIQ legislation on the island have led us to a "hell on earth" kind of situation. Fittingly enough, this also dovetails into more abstract religious concerns, such as the idea that "same sex unions are dis- approved by God" and that non- heteronormative individuals have "given up on divine truth". The rift manifests Then, through a questionnaire, the research team sought to gauge responses from its sample – which totalled 209 respondents across various age groups – about the degree of "acceptability" of cer- tain cherry-picked xenophobic and homophobic comments taken from comments sections of local newspapers. There, the gulf between xenopho- bia and homophobia becomes even more readily apparent, with re- sponses clearly betraying far more lenience with comments targeting migrants than the LGBTIQ com- munity. Two particular examples shine through. One comment which lashes out at multiculturalism – describing it as an attempt to "[put] the starter, main course and dessert in a liquid- iser and eating everything togeth- er" – received a more or less equal rating on the scale of 'Acceptable – Somewhat Acceptable – Less Ac- ceptable – Not Acceptable', while a comment stating that, "These ho- mosexuals are embarrassing us be- cause they want the UNNATURAL be made NATURAL and they want it recognised as such," was deemed to be 'Not Acceptable' by 72% of the respondents. The horror of variety The focus group sessions held by the research team allowed for some more in-depth discussion of the rift that characterises the study. What emerged at the forefront of the ses- sions, according to the researchers, was a nervousness to "defend opin- ions that are taken to be protective of Maltese culture". "Multiculturalism might not be negative by virtue of what it stands for; what makes it particularly neg- ative is its ability to push the Mal- tese culture as the dominant and visible culture of the island aside." As one participant put it, while giv- ing an opinion about the low ac- ceptability rating received by one of the comments, "In the other one he's attacking directly the people rather than just analysing the situ- ation from an 'I want to protect my culture' point of view." So, "It may be considered less ac- ceptable to directly attack a person on the basis of a minority identity, but if one is trying to defend and protect one's culture, it is more ac- ceptable to use such rhetoric." Another aspect of the discussion considered how homophobia is likely to be less acceptable because the individuals in question tend to be Maltese – and therefore part of the island's 'in-group' already – while they're also perceived to have a "unified" goal that's largely non- threatening to most (the acquisi- tion of equal rights). This is con- trasted against the phenomenon of multiculturalism, which proposes the arrival of people from a variety of countries, whose ultimate goals and priorities may not be so readily apparent. News National Development and Social Fund Agency The National Development and Social Fund (NDSF) Agency is a government agency established for the purpose of managing and administering 70% of the contributions received from the Individual Investor Programme of the Republic of Malta. NDSF is seeking to recruit: Head (Finance) (Jobsplus Permit No 641/2017) Head (Operations) (Jobsplus Permit No 642/2017) Manager (Corporate Services) (Jobsplus Permit No 640/2017) Further details of this call for applications are available from the Government Gazette published on Friday, 1st December 2017 through the following link: https://www.gov.mt/en/Government/Government%20Gazette/P ages/Gazzette-Repository.aspx . Applications, supported by the necessary documentation as detailed in the afore-mentioned edition of the Government Gazette are to reach the CEO, National Development and Social Fund Agency, 46, West Street, Valletta, VLT 1531 by not later than noon of Tuesday, 19th December 2017. Office of the Prime Minister NDSF Tel: 22957381 email: raymond- andrew.ellul@gov.mt Foreigners still a problem Homophobia is increasingly frowned upon in Maltese society. The same cannot be said for its xenophobic counterpart, an EU- backed report shows