Politicians concerned by the ‘little learnt’ from Holocaust atrocities

Remembering the millions of people who died in the atrocities of the Holocaust, Foreign Minister George Vella and shadow minister Tonio Fenech warned that the world had learned little from the massacres of 71 years ago.

Today, they said, hatred is being sowed through racist comments and xenophobia and the lack of respect towards different cultures and beliefs.

Fenech went on to warn that the freedom of expression was being abused of, attacking other equally fundamental rights such as the right to peace, respect and security.

With subtle references to the recent rise of a right-wing, anti-Muslim feeling in Malta, led by the self-proclaimed Maltese ‘patriots’, the Members of Parliament made repeated calls for the respect of human rights and tolerance.

“It is clear that that world has not understood the message of ‘never again’,” Vella said, referring to the 1994 Rwandan genocide and later to the Israeli-Palestinian The minister said that the remembrance of the Holocaust should serve as a reminder of the role to be played by international organisations. Yet, he noted that a supposedly strong body such as the United Nation had been rendered toothless through the application of the veto power.

Speaking of the respect towards fundamental rights, Vella said youths should be educated about mutual respect and respect towards people of different cultures.

“My appeal is one: we are being exposed to different cultures and this is something which every country faces. We cannot, with one swipe, deem everyone undesirable.

“Obviously, we will remain vigilant but we can’t live with the prejudice that everyone is an enemy just because they are different from us. We must be more understanding, tolerant and integrate more.”

Echoing Vella’s sentiment, Fenech said humanity failed to learn much from the Holocaust as selfishness remains the destruction of others.

“The genocide had long been coming, the seeds of hatred slowly sown in anti-semitic literature and blaming the Jews for the economic woes Germany was facing. All of this makes us reflect on whether we are today allowing similar sentiments to foment … against those who do not share our same religious beliefs,” Fenech said.

“Today, racism and xenophobia have stronger tools than literature. Social media is targeting people directly and is being used by organisations with racist sentiments. We have to fight it.”