In a country where controversy is the order of the day, fingers were pointed this week at the producers of Othello – a play that will be performed at the Manoel Theatre next month.

This week’s controversy: a white actor has been cast to play the part of the Moorish Captain in Shakespeare’s tragedy. The character in Shakespeare is (thought to be) black, so it is, of course, highly offensive for the producers to cast a white man for the role and paint his face black.

The politically correct brigade was quick to slam the production as being ‘racist’, while the producers rushed to explain that the actor in question – Cliff Zammit Stevens – was cast for the role because there are no black tenors in Malta and because it would, on the other hand, be preposterous to have a “snow white” Othello.

Ironically, Othello deals, among others, with the subject of racism, with some of the characters expressing disdain at the dark-skinned captain and treating him as a lesser person.

And this is exactly the kind of racism that we should be talking about – the different treatment of citizens in our society based on the colour of their skin, the superiority complex that many among us harbour – not the fact that an actor is using a technique referred to as ‘blackfacing’ to make the play more faithful to how its playwright envisaged it.

True racism is all around us, yet many of us do not say anything about it.

True racism is the exploitation of refugees, charging them exorbitant sums of money to accommodate them twenty in a room.

True racism is regarding foreign workers as lesser beings, as people who are only good at picking up our refuse bags, building our homes and serving us our food.

True racism is the hate speech that goes on unabated online, inciting violence against those who came from war-torn countries and managed to find some semblance of peace in our country. It is found in the stupid comments about how these refugees are bleeding us dry and ‘take our taxpayer money to buy expensive clothes and mobile phones.’

It is found in the general way this country is importing cheap labour without a plan to integrate them in society, and without a care in the world about what happens to them after they finish the job we are bringing them here to do.

It is found in the way we ‘use’ foreigners to paint our houses and do other odd jobs because they are much cheaper but crossing to the other side of the road if we see them approaching on the sidewalk.

It is found in the way people oppose plans for the setting up of Muslim prayer meetings, and the fanning of fears about how these meeting places would ‘only serve to breed extremism and terrorism.’

It is found in the way foreigners are blamed for bringing disease into Malta, and how it will surely be ‘some black guy’ to bring the Coronavirus to Malta.   

True racism was embodied when two army soldiers drove around in their car shooting at migrants in Hal Far.

This is the kind of racism we should be concerned about, not an actor putting some make up on.