Malta, together with most of the countries in the West, is watching the unfolding events in Libya with bated breath as the island has a lot to lose if things go really wrong. What we are all hoping for is not only an end to the bloodshed but the emergence of a democratic state on our doorstep.

That is more easily said than done. When the Soviet empire collapsed, the people of the satellite countries too thought that all they had to do was to copy the democratic systems of the West. Many of them ended up deeply disappointed and we have seen numerous “democratic” dictatorships emerge.

Democracy is a set of formal principles developed in Western Europe with the aim of facilitating the representation and articulation of the middle and working classes and designed to contain peacefully the conflicts between them and the upper class. In the absence of a balance of power between classes, and a consensual unifying national identity, the automatic installation of formal democratic principles might only make matters worse. Moreover, democracy does not necessarily solve problems related to poverty and economic inequality, nor does it resolve cultural conflicts related to the common identity of the nation’s citizens.

Democracy alone is no panacea

Lev Grinberg, professor of political economy and sociology at Ben-Gurion University, warns that demonstrating for democracy is not enough. What the countries of the Middle East require is political consensus on the mutual recognition of rights and coexistence, guaranteed by a constitution and institutionalised by electoral procedures and representative institutions as otherwise even the most democratic regime can be toppled by massive protests, possibly leading to new forms of dictatorship. He may be subconsciously reflecting Israeli fears but few will claim that his analysis is wrong given that the same problems have been faced by other societies apart from those in the Middle East.

In 1999, Argentinean electors voted into power a broad leftwing coalition that had promised to bring the country out of its deep economic crisis. It failed. The elected government pursued the policy dictated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – a banking organisation responsible for the ruin of many a state − which protected the interests of foreign investors against those of the local middle and salaried class. The crisis caused all holders of local bank deposits to lose 70 per cent of their money, with the blessing of the IMF. So, in December 2001 masses of people flooded the streets calling for “all politicians to go home” and toppling five presidents in a row.

Most Arab regimes are, in different degrees, corrupt since they tend to be dynastic and hence dictatorial. The people of the Middle East face an uphill task in developing institutions they never had the chance to create. In the process, they are liable to discover that it is far more difficult to uproot a corrupt economic culture than to topple a single dictator. Unfortunately, the problem is not only theirs, because although the other countries around the northern Mediterranean littoral cannot by any means be called undemocratic, the Levantine manner in which they conduct their politics is.

Fear of high levels of

immigration

The Libyan crisis has renewed fears of a heavy immigrant flow, mostly it is presumed of Gaddafi supporters fleeing for their lives from the people they so abused, or of protesters fleeing from Gaddafi retribution, although the likelihood of such a scenario seems to be fading fast.

I was one of the first to point out the dangers of a possible future ethnic divide in Malta due to a heavy immigrant flow. I am more than willing to forget the names and accusations hurled at me because the Maltese authorities have since started to take the issue seriously and moved from telling us that Frontex was more than able to protect us, to the proposal of burden sharing, a proposal I had stated needed a miracle to achieve. I also understand of course that Malta has no great choice of routes to follow; the options are limited indeed. But I have to add here that the credits that the Prime Minister and our Foreign Affairs minister are earning from the different countries involved are more than merited. Thousands of people are at the moment passing through our country and yet most of us are ignorant of the fact as it has all been done very sensitively. As the nation prepares for Carnival, the lights at the Auberge de Castille are never switched off at night. Only a select few really know what our islands are facing but it is not difficult to deduce that Malta is facing potential dangers of huge proportions and the country must unite at this juncture behind its leader.

For when a country’s identity is threatened, strong measures may be called for. We have seen Sweden ridiculing Malta’s burden-sharing proposal while accusing Italy of overestimating the numbers it claimed had landed on its territory during the Tunisian crisis. Now this Nordic country has been forced to send aircraft to Malta to help its own citizens in Libya. We have seen Tunisians on our TV screens, themselves the children of a revolution, beat back with sticks the thousands trying to enter their country from Libya. The survival of a nation comes first.

Integration v assimilation

The Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at present on a tour of Germany, has urged the children of Turkish immigrants in Germany to learn Turkish before German. He told them that while they should integrate, they should fight assimilation. “I want you to learn German, your children to learn German – they should study, get degrees. I want you to become doctors, professors and politicians in Germany,” he told the assembled thousands at a public meeting, but he insisted they must never forget they were Turks and Turkish should the first language they teach their children. On the face of it there is nothing wrong with what he said, but in reality he is insisting that millions of German citizens never come to see the country that hosts them as their own; this means a constant clash of loyalties.

The 2008 micro census reported that 15.6 million of Germany’s total population (82.1 million) have a migrant background and it was increasing. True that here in Malta most of us probably were immigrants at some time in the past, but the influx was always a trickle that could be contained and in fact we all became Maltese with loyalties to no other country other than our own. Imagine what would happen on this little piece of rock were it to become home to a large number of immigrants encouraged never to assimilate, never to reach the stage when they would call themselves Maltese and nothing else. It would create an ethnic problem of immense proportions.

Of course there is a general election in Turkey coming up in June and for the first time Turks abroad will be able to vote at Turkish consulates. Germany, with almost two million eligible voters, will be the fourth largest constituency after Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. But even so, Erdogan’s words are bound to have an effect that goes beyond mere electioneering.

Additionally, these claims were made at a time when Christian monasteries in Turkey were being closed down. Even Turks who opt for German nationality often find life difficult if they return to the country of their birth for Turkey forbids dual nationality. Ironically, Turkey doesn’t want to be lumbered with the uncertain loyalties it is so ready to foist on others.

And then there are those who try to fault Angela Merkel for famously declaring that multiculturalism did not work − a remark by a person who has lived the experience as opposed to those who only see it in academic or ideological terms.