Meta nhar
il-Ħadd, 23 ta’ Frar, Ibrahim Hussen Sudaniż ta’ dixxidenza
Eritrejana rebaħ in-Nofs Maratona ta’ Malta b’ħin mill-isbaħ ta’
siegħa u għaxar minuti, il-medja Maltija kollha ddeskriviet lil dan l-atleta
bħala ‘refuġjat’.
Il-kelma
‘refuġjat’ rarament tintuża kemm fuq il-medja Maltija u kemm fit-toroq
Maltin. Forsi ma tintużax fit-toroq
Maltin għax rarament tintuża fil-medja Maltija, u daqstant ieħor tista’ tgħid
li rarament tintuża fil-medja Maltija għax rarament tintuża fit-toroq
Maltin. Bħas-soltu qegħdin f’sitwazzjoni
ta’ min ġie l-ewwel – it-tiġieġa jew il-bajda?
Jekk hux każ li l-medja Maltija tistax teduka aħjar lill-pubbliku Malti,
hija storja oħra.
Fil-fatt gazzetti
progressivi għandhom policy li ma jużawx per eżempju t-terminu ‘immigranti
llegali’ imma ‘immigranti rregolari’.
Il-kelma klandestini hija assolutament projbita. Fil-fatt, assolutament ma tagħmilx sens li
tintuża l-kelma ‘klandestin’, daqskemm ma tagħmilx sens li ssejjaħ persuna
‘ħalliel’ għax ħabbatlek il-bieb fis-satra tal-lejl, ankè jekk inti m’intix
lest tilqgħu u m’għandekx pjaċir bih.
Persuni li jaslu b’dgħajsa f’Malta, ma jippruvawx jidħlu f’Malta
bil-moħbi imma jkunu qegħdin iħabbtu l-bieb tal-gvern Malti biex jingħataw
ażil. Biss din il-kelma mhux l-ewwel
darba li rajnieha tinkiteb jew smajnieha tinqara. Anzi.
Teknikament skont
il-Konvenzjoni tal-Ġnus Magħquda tal-1951 ‘refuġjat’ huwa persuna li għandu dan
l-istatus minħabba li għandu bżonn protezzjoni internazzjonali minħabba biża’
li jiġi ppersegwitat minħabba r-razza, reliġjon, nazzjonalita tiegħu, minħabba
li jagħmel parti minn xi grupp partikulari soċjali, għandu xi opinjoni politika
partikolari, huwa barra mill-pajjiż tan-nazzjonalita tiegħu, u għalhekk
minħabba dawn il-biżgħat ma jistax iserraħ fuq pajjiżu stess li jista’
jipproteġih.
Fil-każ ta’
Ibrahim, minkejja li huwa mwieled is-Sudan, wieħed mill-pajjiżi li għandu
l-akbar numru ta’ refuġjati fid-dinja, u bata minn persekuzzjoni minħabba li
għandu ġenituri Eritrejani, u għalhekk ma għandu ebda dokument, ma
ngħatax l-istatus ta’ refuġjat mill-Gvern Malti imma biss dak ta’ ‘protezzjoni
sussidjata’, u għalhekk jibbenefika minn anqas drittijiet minn refuġjat.
Għalhekk nistgħu
ngħidu li l-medja Maltija hija żbaljata meta użat il-kelma ‘refuġjat’.
Il-kelma
‘refuġjat’ intużat f’dan il-każ għax Ibrahim Hussen għamel bravura, għalhekk kien jaqbel lill-medja Maltija li ssejaħlu hekk. Fil-fatt apparti milli għamel bravura,
Ibrahim bħal ħafna persuni li qegħdin fl-istess baħar tiegħu kkontribwixxa lejn
Malta – f’dan il-każ billi għolla l-livell tal-atletika Maltija. Jiena personali, bħala Malti li nħobb
l-atletika Maltija u li ħadt sehem fl-istess tellieqa li rebaħ Ibrahim,
inħossni onorat li ġrejt fil-passi tiegħu.
Forsi wkoll
nistgħu ngħidu x’differenza tagħmel kif insejjħu lil nies bħal Ibrahim. Fil-fatt tagħmel ħafna differenza u turi
l-attitudni li għandna lejn dawn in-nies.
Ilum il-ġurnata s-soċjetà Maltija mmaturat biżżejjed biex nies li
għandhom xi nuqqasijiet fiżiċi ssejħilhom bħala ‘persuni b’diżabilità’. Dan juri l-mod differenti kif inħarsu
lejhom. Fil-passat dawn in-nies konna
naħbuhom u nsejħulhom bi kliem differenti.
Fil-fatt x’konna nsejħulhom qabel illum huwa meqjus bħala kliem
dispreġġjattiv.
Nittama u nispera
li ‘l quddiem xi kliem li jintużaw fuq nies minn pajjiżi mhux tagħna li jiġu
hawn għal-ażil jitlaq mill-vokabularju tagħna, għax hemmhekk jirrifletti l-bidla
fl-attitudni tagħna, l-mod ta’ kif naħsbuha, u ta’ kif aħna lesti li nilqgħu u
nintegraw ma’ dawn il-persuni li jiena nemmen jistgħu jikkontribwixxu lejn
Malta kemm kulturalment, ekonomikament u bħal f’dan il-każ partikolari ta’
Ibrahim sportivament.
**********
Refugee
When on Sunday, 23
rd February, Ibrahim Hussen, a
Sudanese
of
Eritrean parents won the Maltese Half Marathon with the impressive time of 1
hour, 10 minutes, all the Maltese media called this athlete a ‘refugee’.
The word ‘refugee’ is rarely used both on the Maltese media and
the Maltese streets. Maybe it is hardly
used on the Maltese streets since it is rarely used on the Maltese media. However it can be equally argued that such a
term is rarely used on the Maltese streets since it is rarely used on the
Maltese media. As is many times the case, here we find ourselves in the chicken and egg
dilemma. Who came first – the chicken or
the egg? Whether it is a case that the
Maltese media is duty bound to educate better the Maltese public, is another argument.
In fact progressive media houses have the policy of not
using the term ‘illegal immigrant’,
(since how can a person be illegal?) but use the term ‘irregular immigrant’. ‘Clandestine’ is absolutely prohibited. Reality is that the word ‘clandestine’, apart
from being politically incorrect is also intrinsically wrong, as much as it is
wrong to call someone a ‘thief’ or ‘robber’ if he knocks on your door in the
middle of the night asking for something.
Even if you are not prepared to welcome him, even if you see him as a hindrance and even if maybe he or she lost you your beauty sleep.
Persons that arrive in Malta on a boat, are not trying to
enter the island behind closed doors or through windows but are simply knocking
on the island’s doors asking for asylum.
However, unfortunately the term ‘clandestine’ does get used on the
Maltese media, and even more so on the Maltese streets.
Technically, the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to
the Status of Refugees define a refugee as ‘[A]ny person who: owing to a well-founded
fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership
of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of
his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail
himself of the protection of that country".
In Ibrahim’s case, even though he is born in Sudan, one of
the countries with the biggest number of refugees all over the world, and has
suffered from persecution due to having Eritrean parents and thus
have no official document, has not been actually given the status of a ‘refugee’
from the Maltese government but only that of ‘subsidiary protection’. Such a status is deemed as lesser than that
of a ‘refugee’ and allows one for lesser rights.
Therefore we can say that the Maltese media is incorrect when
in this particular case has used the term ‘refugee’. The term ‘refugee’ was used in such a case
because Ibrahim Hussen did something impressive, and it suited the Maltese
media to call him so. Ibrahim like many
other who are in the same situation as him has contributed towards Malta – in this
case by increasing the level of Maltese athletics and sports in general. Personally, as a Maltese who loves Maltese
athletics and was running the same race feel honoured that I ran in his own
footprints.
Maybe some would say that it doesn’t
matter how we call such people. I beg to
differ since the way we call them and which terms we use uncover our attitude
towards such people. Nowadays, the
Maltese society has matured enough to call people with physical shortcomings as
‘disabled’. In fact what we used to call
them in the past is rightly frowned upon and deemed as insulting.
Hopefully, in the future some words or
terms that we use on people who were not born on the same island as us and came
on boats looking for asylum will disappear from our vocabulary. This will reflect a change in our attitude
towards such people, the way we think about such people, and ultimately the way
we are prepared to welcome them and are prepared to integrate them in our
society. I firmly believe that these
people are able to contribute towards our island culturally and
economically. And as is this particular
case of Ibrahim, through the beautiful world of sport.
