President of Malta Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca participated in the first working session entitled ‘Building Societal Resilience: From Hard to Soft Security’ during the 14th Meeting of the non-executive European Union Presidents of the Arraiolos Group, currently being held in Latvia.
President Coleiro Preca stated that, “more than ever before, we need our European project to be foregrounded by our politicians and felt by our citizens”, while adding that European citizens have to believe once again that “together we can be successful”.
“With the call for freedom of speech we are sometimes fed fake news and misinformation”
President Coleiro Preca said that the weaponisation of the media is a reality, often leading to misinformation and hate speech, creating social tensions and stress.
“Free speech is not a free for all; free speech is the manifestation of sharing diverse views in a respectful way”, said the President, whilst adding that this can be achieved through education in general and media literacy in particular.
“Social media should stand for a stronger democracy, and not to foment hatred”
President Coleiro Preca said that social media presents a significant opportunity for the recovery of democratic life, providing opportunities for outreach, social networking and political engagement.
“Such recovery ought to be seen as a project of hope and possibility aimed at countering the paranoia and insecurity that is developing around social media. We need a paradigm shift, one that aims to communicate, dialogue and interact productively and meaningfully rather than defensively, suspiciously and manipulatively”, the President said.
The President concluded by stating that “it should not be humanity for technology, but technology for humanity”, further affirming that “we need to socialise technologies because we need to reclaim sociality within our societies. This is the essence of positive peace. There can be no security without collective empowerment.”