Standing up to everyday racism

Paul of Tarsus found the Maltese hospitable and welcoming – his being shipwrecked here in AD60, and the reception he got, are well recorded in the Bible, no less.

But it would seem there are traits in the Maltese character that are not so wholesome. Ask Jack Daboma.

Jack, a black Hungarian student reading for a Master’s in Engineering, was trying to bring order to disorderly queues of bus commuters in Valletta a fortnight or so ago. His reward? – a woman accosting him, screaming ‘go back to your country’, and a slap followed by being spat on.

And adding insult to injury, police called on the scene wrongly detained and handcuffed him.

However, irrespective of the multiple apologies by the police officials, and by government ministers, a slew of blog posts and articles have ensued about the local attitude towards people of a different race or ethnicity. 

“Migration and racism are not new phenomena in Malta or in the world, yet they change constantly,” said Christine Cassar, director of The People for Change Foundation.

“Our foundation launched Report Racism Malta (reportracism-malta.org) at the end of 2014 to monitor the local situation… since its inception, it has received a number of reports, ranging from Facebook posts to cases of racially motivated physical violence.

“In order to achieve behavioural changes in Maltese society, there needs to be a deeper understanding of, and tolerance towards the underlying issues concerning migrant populations,” Cassar said.

“One thing that’s important to note is that racism doesn’t only affect migrants – it also affects Maltese people who are of a different ethnicity. That is, racism isn’t based on a person’s citizenship or residence status but on the colour of the individual’s skin,” she added.

“We must make sure that incidents like this (Jack Daboma’s) are independently investigated, and that the result of the investigation is not only the penalisation of individuals by the relevant institution or national justice system for specific wrongdoings, but also wide and proactive sensitisation and awareness raising.”

Asked to weigh in on the matter, the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality agreed that one of the ways to avoid such incidents, was to raise more awareness.

“It is important that cases of discrimination are reported to the respective authorities,” the NCPE said, encouraging persons who feel discriminated against on the grounds of their race to bring their case to the attention of the NCPE for further investigation.

Cassar pointed out that reporting incidences of racism remains a big issue despite the existing structures which can handle such reports.

“Incidents of racism occurring in Malta are higher than the numbers published in official statistics,” she said.

“The reasons for not reporting range from fear of being targeted again to uncertainty as to where to take the complaint and the belief that the complaint will not be heard.”

Maria Pisani, director of the Integra Foundation also commented on the issue of under-reporting, stating that aside from fear and not having faith in the system, a lack of awareness about related procedures was also a deterrent for victims of racist attacks.

“This is particularly the case for African asylum seekers, who are also often dealing with poverty, insecurity and so on... We need to recognise how ‘race’ intersects with nationality, gender, age, socio-economic status as the experience is unique to the multifaceted individual,” she said.

“For example a black European, or a black Maltese person, who has been a victim of racist violence, may have more resources at hand (financial, contacts, support system among others,) to speak up and seek justice.”

To this end, the People for Change Foundation is currently in the process of translating the service offered by Report Racism Malta into more languages with the aim of increasing accessibility.

The way forward

Although recent events may have painted a negative image of Maltese society, it is essential to point out that not everyone in the country condones racist behaviour. Indeed Cassar said that a significant number of the reports received did not come from victims of racism themselves, but from concerned citizens who find the actions and words of others to be disrespectful and deplorable. 

However irked as some of us are by the less-than-exemplary racist attitudes of some, individuals are scarcely equipped to confront aggressors, and indeed doing so is rarely advisable.

According to Cassar there were three types of reported incidents that stood out so far:

“The first is racist comments on social media particularly on Facebook, the second is racist behaviour or verbal abuse in public places, and the third is the challenge of accessing services.”

These three aspects are in fact three of the scenarios tackled by an anti-racism campaign run down under by Australia’s Human Rights association. 

If it feels safe to do so, the campaign suggests that simply talking calmly to the aggressors might help defuse things a little. It adds however, that if the situation doesn’t seem safe, then alerting someone in charge, such as a bus driver, or the police, could be useful. The campaign also suggests actions like “going and sitting or standing next to them and checking if they’re well.” 

The website also recommends informing victims of the right places where to seek help in cases such as these, and in the case of online racism, the campaign recommends flagging comments or reporting them to the website in question. 

On an individual level, these simple tips could truly make a difference, but as Pisani points out, there also needs to be more awareness “of the insidious nature of racism and how many of us – perhaps unintentionally, reinforce and  perpetuate it in our daily conversations and in the language we use.” 

Admitting that this was a somewhat complex thing to do, Pisani said that it would be useful to start with the language that is used in everyday life. 

“In Malta, racist discourse feeds in to racialised policies (for example the detention policy) and practices that perpetuate this viscious cycle of abuse.

“Politicians, the media, educators, service providers, the judiciary and others are in a very powerful position and in general have done very little to address this issue. Even where racist discourse is blatant and brazen, heads don’t roll, no one is held accountable, there seems to be a culture of impunity,” she said.

Indeed, the case involving Jack Daboma has also brought into question the attitude of the police officers in question, and whether they used excessive force on Jack merely because of his skin colour. 

As investigations into the individual case are ongoing, the Police informed this newspaper that police training to recruits already includes modules related to policing diversities.

 “In the last two years, the Internal Affairs Unit did not receive any reports of racial abuse perpetrated by officers,” they added. “However, whenever such a case is reported to the Police, the Internal Affairs Unit launches an investigation, and depending on the outcome of the investigation, internal disciplinary action and /or criminal action is taken accordingly.”

Aditus director Neil Falzon pointed out that it was sometimes difficult to define attacks as ‘racial hate crimes’, but that the key was often the whole scenario surrounding a particular event. 

“The investigation would look into things like the moments before, during and after the actual incident, statements made by the perpetrator during the violent incident, among others,” he said. 

He added that clear messages of condemnation needed to be made by key entities, stressing a zero tolerance approach to any form of violence and racism. 

“Training police recruits to identify racial hatred and to treat hate crimes as such would also go a long way to ensuring a more effective justice system.”

On a more general level, Falzon says that potential victims need to be made aware of their rights, and ensured protection during and after proceedings.