Anti-racism campaign receives barrage of racist comments

A campaign aimed at raising awareness on the effects of racism has been flooded by thousands of racist comments on social media. 

End Racism MT is a campaign headed by the Human Rights Directorate within the Equality and Reforms Ministry and is partially funded by the EU. 

The campaign’s Facebook page uploads posts which discuss a wide range of issues related to racism and other forms of discrimination, including racial profiling, hate speech, and racial discrimination in the workplace. 

Despite the message of acceptance, a significant number of predominantly Maltese Facebook users flooded some of the posts’ comment sections with anti-foreigner comments. 

“You brought about racism yourself,” one woman wrote as she accused foreigners of doing as they please before saying foreigners brought about “too much filth.” 

“Racism exists all around the world,” another man commented, adding that, “when a Maltese person ridicules a foreigner it could be the case that the foreigner took his job and is frustrated by foreigners in his country.” 

Commenting on a video where three people living in Malta share their experience with racism, one man accused foreigners of taking over the country. “You’re the most selfish (tosti) people on earth, go back to where you came from because Malta is for the Maltese,” he wrote in horrible Maltese.  

MaltaToday reached out to the Directorate for Human Rights about the overwhelming negative reaction. “Such reactions to our campaign is very worrying and is an indication that racism is Malta is prevalent,” a spokesperson said. 

However, she also urged caution. No baseline study has yet been done on racism in Malta, the directorate’s spokesperson said, clarifying that such comments are not necessarily representative of the entire population’s belief. “However, comments on the campaign's posts or indeed many other stories do indicate that we need to do more educational campaigns and other awareness initiatives against racism, and to foster a multi-cultural society.” 

Given the fact that a large proportion of the comments mention Malta’s overpopulation, the spokesperson clarified that the campaign did not try to diminish the importance of concerns related to migration, population and integration. “However, there is a line which cannot be crossed. Racial hate speech is unacceptable. It is illegal and can lead to hate crime.” 

When asked about the necessary further action needed to address racism in Malta, the directorate spokesperson said: “Smart and effective awareness raising campaigns will continue to be implemented within the framework of the upcoming second National Action Plan against Racism.”