Written by Yahia Deghaili, who is a fourth year medical student and the Human Rights and Peace Officer within MMSA
Earlier this year, retired chief justice Joseph Said Pullicino came out with a damning criticism against Maltese students and their supposed “lethargy” regarding social issues and their unwillingness to raise their voices to bring about a change.
“Not even the assassination of a journalist [Daphne Caruana Galizia] to shut her up – an event that shocked the world – managed to wake the student body from its apparent lethargy,” he wrote. Such strong words. He then proceeded to highlight the contrast between the apparent status quo to the national student-led protests and charity actions against the Russian invasion of Hungary that took place in 1956, whilst mentioning the lack of “any significant ripples of protest or initiative of note within university circles”.
Another shocking headline this year, seemingly running alongside what the former ombudsman said, read “52% of young Maltese people say they shun activism”. Quite the number! A little over half of all Maltese youth say that they apparently “shun activism”.
Now, why am I bringing this up? Is it to add an extra complaint to the seemingly endless pile of complaints about the contemporary student?
Do not get me wrong, I do agree that there is an issue with the current downward trajectory we have with regards to young people’s involvement in social issues. I think that it does not bode well, especially when we are living in a time when we are witnessing daily major violations of people’s human rights, be it internationally or here at home.
Like former chief justice Said Pullicino said, “The lack of meaningful student activism is symptomatic of a young generation comatose to the consequences of grave injustices”. I do agree with him on that, however, I do not think that the main issue is that people are afraid of talking about these issues due to some apparent cowardness or fear of consequences to one’s career prospects as he put it.
I am a student, an outspoken one at that. I live amongst students in my day-to-day, speak with them, and hear their concerns. It might be simply anecdotal but what is apparent to me is not that the students are afraid of raising their voices, while some may feel that way. The issue I see is two-fold.
On the one hand, we see a whole generation of young people who became desensitised to the horrors they see reported on the news, day in, day out, without any significant action being done in response to a large public outcry. Just symbolic or minor concessions by those in power only to the most significant of those movements.
On the other hand, many students are simply blind to the possibility of, or at least how to go about, organising with fellow like-minded people in order to bring about change in society. They were never taught how to do that, and with a schooling system that values conforming to predetermined traits in order to succeed rather than encouraging self-expression and exploration, they were not even provided the space to explore those possibilities. Later in life, their time becomes a valuable commodity, due to work, relationships, hobbies, assignments and the other time-demanding aspects of life, it becomes almost impossible for someone to learn about the importance of and how to go about activism, without being invested in it already.
In fact, lack of time was one of the leading reasons reported by students in the aforementioned Article.
Viewing it from this perspective, it becomes clear that this loss of interest is not simply the ‘lethargy’ of these lazy and afraid students, but rather a form of system-induced catatonia. We are a product of our environment in the end. Therefore, one starts seeing that simply chastising these students is not the answer, but to reach out to them on their own terms. To teach them the value of their voices, and how to exactly go about it.
This is why MMSA is placing student activism and organisation as one of our aims for the term, as well as our central theme for this year’s World Human Rights day. A day to celebrate and remind ourselves of the importance of these rights, as well as the importance of the daily struggle many people endure to make sure that these rights stay inalienable to all. A reminder that making your voice heard is an integral part of protecting your rights.
That is why this year MMSA will be holding an event at University Quadrangle to celebrate World Human Rights Day. So join us on 7th December between 12:00 and 16:00 where we will be hosting a number of stands discussing the different aspects of Human Rights, activism, and how you can make your voice be heard!
Additionally, we are happy to announce that we will be joined by a number of amazing collaborators who will be hosting their very own stands on the day, talking about topics near and dear to their organisations, and explaining how they have been engaging with these topics locally to make a difference. Make sure to join us!
