Migrants need to be seen and heard too

It is good news indeed that we have seen the birth of the Migrants’ Network for Equality. This should enrich Maltese civil society as it gives a voice to immigrant communities.

Up to now some immigrants were heard in relation to human-interest media stories that focus on the drama of their personal accounts. However, they still remained absent and voiceless in broader debates that affect their fate. On many occasions they fell into a spiral of silence or else were analysed as voiceless ‘others’.

I witnessed this absence two summers ago when the Local Councils’ Association organised a discussion on migration. The marquee was set up in a southern seaside village, where the arrival of boatpeople was often captured by cameras. On this occasion all the key speakers where Maltese and public response was highly charged. Many took hold of the roaming microphone and employed a discourse that was bursting with 'them' and 'us' distinctions: either that our burden is far too great or that we have a Christian mission to support them. At the back of the crowd sat a group of immigrants, whom I knew through my work.

While we were discussing them, their silence spoke volumes. Their restraint only evaporated in June 2009 when immigrants, supported by Maltese sympathisers, marched against racism in Paceville. Their action was provoked by the death of Suleiman Abubaker after he sustained head injuries by a bouncer outside a bar. Until this march, public debates on immigration and ethnocentricism had lacked the coordinated view of the immigrant community. The plight of immigrants was voiced by some Maltese NGOs and international organisations. Our civil society will now hopefully gain from the insights of an eclectic immigrant organisation that represents these communities.

The 80-something segment

While immigrants do not yet have political rights and do not influence party structures, political parties heed to the sentiment of their constituents. Polls keep showing us that four out of five Maltese people are not at all sympathetic with immigrant issues.

This week the timesonline poll asked: “Should migrants rescued in international quarters be sent back to Libya or should they be taken to the nearest harbour?” 80 percent replied they should be taken to Libya, a country that is not signatory to the Geneva Convention, which protects the rights of asylum seekers.

Similarly, in 2009, a Eurobarometer survey revealed that 87% of the Maltese respondents considered immigration as their top security concern above the global economic recession and terrorism. An earlier study by sociologist Mario Vassallo found that 75% would not give shelter to persons who were trying to escape their native land because of political persecution, war or civil war, hunger or mass poverty. 80-something percent did not want immigrants living in their neighbourhood. Vassallo’s respondents claimed Malta is far too small to receive migrants, no matter what their troubles are.

Public fears penetrate media texts. Most journalists cannot afford to ignore the sentiment and anxieties of their audience, even if they are personally very sympathetic with immigrants’ rights. Moreover, audience-generated content, such as the letters to the editor, online commentaries and phone-ins tend to be xenophobic. An undergraduate dissertation even found a correlation between the number of immigrant arrivals and the number of letters received by the press.

An Immigrants’ Network has an important role to play. A pluralistic society demands a variety of viewpoints. Maltese public opinion needs to be informed and so the Network needs to establish two-way communication with the Maltese public and avoid the trap of cornering itself into a ghetto. This would greatly limit its impact.

Heroes or villains?

I guess we could have decided to jump in the Fontana dei Trevi to cool down from the heat wave that engulfed Rome during our holiday last week. Yet, to avoid the scorching sun, we took the nerd option to visit even more museums than we had planned.

Housed in the Vittoriano Complex is the National Museum of Italian Emigration. It documents migration since the Italian unification that led millions of hungry southerners to move to the northern regions. The museum looks at patterns of emigration between the two World Wars and post-World War II. It also houses precious audiovisual materials from the RAI archives. Moreover, it serves as a store for the memories of individuals who were pushed abroad by harsh realities and pulled towards better prospects overseas by Hope.

Malta is also set to have its own “Museum for Migration and Visitors’ Centre” as announced by the Emigrants’ Commission last February. Monsignor Philip Calleja, who has been in charge of highly commendable pioneering work with emigrants and immigrants alike, stated that the museum will tell stories of men who had to leave their wives and children behind to settle overseas.

I sincerely hope that it will also tell the story of women and children, especially in the light of the huge scandal of child migrants that has led key state leaders like Kevin Rudd and Gordon Brown to make public apologies. The migrants’ stories need to be recorded fast before the first generation of emigrants dies out.

The Emigrant’s Commission is seeking newspapers and perhaps even radio programmes produced by Maltese emigrants. It is collecting records of organisations that were set up for Maltese families overseas. May our PBS dig into its archives to find footage that documents the destiny of those who left Malta in the mass emigration efforts of the 1950s and 60s.

May the inside stories and the struggles of these individuals be recorded before they are lost forever. Their accounts are indeed an opportunity for us to reflect on our history. May we also become more aware of the significant gap in our media narrative on migration. Whereas emigrants are often portrayed as heroes and achievers (as in the Waltzing Matilda and Baqghu Maltin series), immigrants are merely depicted as a huge problem and an undesirable burden.