Watch: Maltese Activist Gives Perfect Response To Man Who Harassed Indian Bus Passenger For Sitting Cross-Legged
Maltese human rights activist Omar Rababah has sat down cross-legged on a Gżira bench as a sign of solidarity with an Indian man who was filmed and called out for sitting in the exact same position on a bus.
Rababah posted the photo in response to a Facebook video published by Raymond Ambrogio, who is known for speaking out against multiculturalism and irregular migration.
In the video, Ambrogio can be heard approaching an Indian man who was sitting cross-legged on the bus with his shoes off.
“Do you sit like that in your country? I’m Maltese and we sit properly in our country,” he tells the passenger before asking him which country he is from to which the man responds that he’s from India.
“Sit like that in India but in Malta you have to sit like me, alright? You are welcome in Malta but keep your culture at your home. Sit properly but enjoy our country.”
Rababah described Ambrogio’s behaviour as one that displays a “pseudo-patriotic attitude that divides not unites”.
“Mr. Ambrogio thought that he must dictate how one must sit down publicly in Malta,” he said. “He found a harmless youth that was not bothering anyone but he managed to intimidate him by telling him that if he wants to sit in the lotus position, he should sit in India or in his private home as in Malta we ‘sit properly’ in public spaces.”
“I don’t regard this type of attitude as acceptable in 2022. It is a pseudo-patriotic attitude that divides not unites. If one wants to be patriotic, there are so much things one can do, such as fighting against the gaining of public land for reasons inspired by greed rather than bullying someone just because he/she is a foreigner.”
He added that the lotus position can in no way be described as “uncivilised”.
“There are a lot of benefits in sitting in a lotus position and many people use it not just to sit comfortably in it but also for therapeutic reasons, [such as] meditation and relaxation. I like this position and this is me sitting at the Gżira Promenade.”
Rababah invited people to join the initiative by taking a photo of themselves sitting in a lotus position, using the hashtag “#sitproperlyinMalta.
“We [can] show that we respect diversity and we do not see other cultures as inferior to us but we learn and respect everyone,” he said.
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