The problem lies in fear and hatred, not detention

Published: April 5, 2009 at 10:45am
The bishop is right. This is horrible, but....

The bishop is right. This is horrible, but....

The Bishop of Gozo has woken up at last to the matter of immigration, speaking during events to commemorate Our Lady of Sorrows. Unfortunately, instead of reprimanding his Christian flock for their sins of hatred in thought, word and deed, he chose to attack the country’s detention policy.

While there is a great deal to criticise about that detention policy – that it is fundamentally immoral to keep people locked up without trial, that they are kept locked up for too long, that conditions are miserable and inhumane – even the most open-minded among us find it hard to see a clear way to an alternative.

The best I can come up with is an improved detention policy, with civilised conditions, humane treatment, and a speeding-up of the processing system.

The alternative to detention would be an open camp. You come in off a boat and you are allowed to go free. Aside from the fact that this is a recipe for madness in encouraging a greater influx of people (detention does not deter those who are truly suffering or determined, but freedom will encourage mere chancers), even without detention illegal immigrants will have to be housed and fed.

They cannot be let out onto the streets to go hungry and sleep rough. Without papers that give them temporary status at least, they cannot work except in the black economy where they are open to the grossest abuse. If detention is a problem, it’s a safe bet that having no detention is going to be a much bigger one.

There’s more to it that that, of course. The Bishop of Gozo is well within his remit in criticising government policy when he thinks it goes against Christian principles and respect for humanity. But he cannot possibly have overlooked a far greater problem which concerns him directly as a leader of the Catholic flock: the belief among that flock that African people are sub-human, and his flock’s absolute lack of embarrassment in saying so at every street corner, shop-counter, bar, café, dinner party, and gathering for drinks.

The detention policy is Caesar’s concern, but the fact that the Christian flock believes Africans to be a lesser species of humanity, to be talked about and treated like animals, is largely the concern of the representatives of God, or at least, of those who see themselves as such.

The Bishop of Gozo was correct when he pointed out to his flock that long-term detention as used in Malta causes mental breakdown among asylum-seekers and does not prepare them to regard Maltese society benevolently. He did have some words of chastisement for the good Christians of Malta: “What society are we building now and for future generations when, blinded by prejudice, we depict as enemies or threats to national security people who need protection?” But it was not enough.

I’m glad the bishop spoke, and I respect him for doing so even though it has been a long time coming. Yet I think he underestimates the extent of the problem. Very many Maltese people have reached the stage where they are thinking and speaking like redneck hicks from 1950s Alabama, a situation worsened by the absence of self-awareness.

The bishop of Gozo has only to look at the comments generated by the report of his speech on timesofmalta.com. The people who commended him to high heaven for ‘persecuting’ those who dressed as Christ and the apostles at the Nadur carnival are out in force, running him down for daring to stick up for the immigrants who are being detained.

That should give the bishop a pretty good idea of how his flock views Catholicism – as a sort of poor intellectual exercise and a badge of national and personal identity, rather than as a way of life following after the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Perhaps it is a good thing this happened. “I suggest the Gozo Curia utilises the empty Lourdes home which was used as a children’s home to take say a 100 or so of the illegal immigrants. I wonder how the Gozitan’s would then feel, better still let the bishop house them in the seminary,” wrote one man. “Considering Gozo’s lower population density as compared to Malta Mgr Grech’s comments should be welcome!” wrote another. “Perhaps one could start diverting migrants’ boats straight to Xlendi – where they can start making use of the planned cruise liner facilities.”

Being exposed to the fatuous remarks, vitriol and contempt of those who need the assurance of their religion that hating and fearing Africans is all right might help the bishop to understand the dramatic extent of the problem. That problem is not one of illegal immigration, but of the backwoods Billy mentality which is engulfing us.

Oh no, rubber johnnies again

I’m not surprised that voter turn-out at the student council elections was only 21 per cent, given the level of the final debate between those fighting for the student vote. Forget research, forget resources, and forget even accessibility to the latest texts at the university library. Top of the agenda were condom-vending machines on campus and a multi-storey car-park. At least they gave stipends a rest.

The candidate for Studenti Demokristjani, which won the day, said that his organisation would consider a condom-vending machine only after widespread consultation, permission from the government and from the student council’s ‘social policy’ committee. Similar processes are not followed for Coca-Cola machines, which amply demonstrates the thought processes at work here, and how condom-vending machines are seen as a religious statement and not a commercial enterprise.

The candidate for ACT, which represents several small student organisations, said that he agrees, personally, with having a condom machine on campus, but cannot agree in principle because he represents all students, who might think differently. He suggested having a full pharmacy close by instead.

I wanted to lay my head down on my desk in despair. It’s not a big deal if there’s no condom-vending machine on campus. Condoms are sold at every pharmacy and large supermarket, and presumably all students know this. The only reason they would need a vending-machine on campus is if they are thinking of having a quickie in the revolting lavatories and get caught without. Similarly, it is not a big deal if a condom-vending machine is set up on campus.

Who cares, for heaven’s sake? I rather suspect that no one does, but that those in charge are afraid of taking the decision just in case it is interpreted, in the year 2009, as some kind of big statement against the Catholic Church – not so much an encouragement to have sex outside marriage but a sanctioning of a piece of equipment that this church sees as a far greater evil than death through disease.

This article is published in The Malta Independent on Sunday today.




4 Comments Comment

  1. Leonard says:

    In today’s Times on-line edition, someone signing off as “L. Attard Bezzina” posted this comment below a news item titled, “VAT fraud runs into millions.”

    “Why not reintroduce capital punishment for serious crimes again in Malta?”

  2. Ken says:

    Who cares, for heaven’s sake? I rather suspect that no one does, but that those in charge are afraid of taking the decision just in case it is interpreted, in the year 2009, as some kind of big statement against the Catholic Church – not so much an encouragement to have sex outside marriage but a sanctioning of a piece of equipment that this church sees as a far greater evil than death through disease.

    Spot on.

  3. Steven Calascione says:

    Good point, Daphne. The problem lies in fear and hatred, not detention.

    While 84 per cent of us think immigration is a national problem, (so says a Malta Today survey), only 12 per cent think racism, as evidenced by ill treatment or negative attitudes towards immigrants in detention centres is prevalent, here in Malta.

    Illegal immigration has proved a boon to politicians seeking to revive their flagging popularity and fortunes. The downside is that 340,000 of us (if the MT survey is to believed), are being led down a very slippery slope.

    An improved detention policy, with more civilised conditions and amenities would certainly help; one would think that the Church would jump at the opportunity to work with people from other cultures.

  4. Judith Thomas says:

    Have you got space on your desk for my head, Daphne? Today’s Uni students’ brains seem to have slid down a few feet! For heavens’ sake, is this what you are dreaming about during lectures? No wonder our level of education is falling

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