A mechanic can tell what a car has been through by descending into the garage pit and inspecting it from below. It may seem an obvious statement but these wise words were uttered by a friend of mine, a Dominican priest, who worked for many years in Brazil.
"You need to go underground to understand communities and individuals," he told me, drawing from years of experience in the Brazilian favelas.
Understanding the causes of yesterday's riots at the migrant detention centre in Safi is as important as cracking down on those who created the mayhem.
What the migrants did was wrong and will do little to help their cause. But understanding the frustration of able bodied men who are locked up for a maximum period of 18 months (it may be less) after escaping a harrowing war in Libya is a necessary mental exercise that society must perform.
Malta is justified in sending back migrants who do not qualify for any form of UN protection back to their country of origin. The fact that they have been working or living in Libya for some years should be irrelevant to their cause in these instances.
However, the issue at stake here is whether to keep these migrants detained in closed centres until arrangements are made for their departure. What is the difference between releasing them now after their presence has been documented and in 18 months' time?
It should not make any difference to the State because the fate of the migrants has already been decided. The only difference immediate release will make is to the well being of the migrants. It will reduce frustration and lower tension.
But somehow, the word compassion seems to disappear when the discourse revolves around migrants, it seems.
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