Posts Tagged “inaction”

This is the third segment in a three-part series recalling different facets of the Bulgarian crisis back in 2007. Focus shall finally placed upon evaluating Malta’s role, supposed and actual, in this crisis as well as the reflections that should be made following the conclusion of this saga.

Throughout the Bulgarian saga the diplomatic machinery of the Maltese Islands remained idle. Hardly any prominence was given to this heated controversy which had been unfolding mere hundreds of kilometres south of our shores. This while six persons, five of them citizens of the European Union, were struggled over through all legal and diplomatic channels in order to spare them a fate of death by firing squad within the North African nation of Libya. Very little pressure, if any at all, came from the Maltese Islands and this, in the opinion of myself, would have been a tarnishing stain upon our name had the crisis not been resolved and the lives of the medics been lost.

There are undoubtedly a number of arguments that support Malta’s actions, or lack thereof, throughout the crisis. One could say that it was not the responsibility of the Maltese to enter into diplomatic haggling over individuals who were not Maltese citizens. After all, we are to be loyal to our own. One could also say that Malta was in no position to throw its weight around on the issue, placed hundreds of kilometres north of Libya’s shores and exposed as a military target. After all, it is unwise to talk the talk if one is unable to walk the walk, to bastardize some contemporary pop culture.

However Malta’s non-action has thrown it in a negative light very unfitting of its rich past. Ever since Malta’s entry into the European Union in 2003 it officially became the closest EU member nation (Lampedusa is a colony) to Libya’s shores. While the ‘not our problem’ mentality may have been passable prior to 2003 it no longer remained the case following entry. Upon entry the Maltese Islands became a crucial strategic position for asserting pressure during the crisis and yet the Maltese authorities failed to do so with little more than the odd cursory minimalistic comment passed within parliament on the matter, weakly whispering a hope for a positive resolution. And this remained true even when the last in the legal appeals were exhausted.

Strangely it had to be non-government sources to recognize and act upon their ethical and circumstantial responsibility in the crisis, such as Moviment Graffiti earlier on and individuals supposedly from the opposite end of the political spectrum at the 11th hour.

A more legitimate concern was that of repercussions upon the Maltese for speaking up during the crisis – but such would have been a very unflattering reason for the Islands to remain silent. Indeed one might suggest that non-action was an act both in disowning the efforts of our forefathers in their efforts to uphold their virtues in the face of hostilities as well as denying our grandchildren something to feel proud of within this age where pride is spoken of in the past tense.

A final possibility is that the Maltese authorities secretly believed that the medics were guilty and that they deserved the death penalty. The absolute truth of the machinery at play may never be confirmed with full clarity but in the meantime the Maltese effected by this third instalment can take heart in the fact that no blood was spilled to their inaction. It is my hope that we as a nation will know better in future and not be afraid to actively offer our voice to such dilemmas that may yet unfold.