During the past two weeks I have listened over and over again to statements such as “All Maltese are shocked at the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia”, “There is a sentiment of national grief” and “This is a horrible murder that is condemned by all the Maltese.” Probably every reader of this commentary can say the same thing. There is one big problem. These statements are not true.
Please wake up and smell the coffee. Look at Malta and the Maltese as we really are, warts and all. Don’t romanticise or fantasise a dream of a nation and a people that do not exist.
To drive the point home let me spell out the implications of what I wrote.
It is not true that all Maltese are shocked by Daphne’s assassination or that they condemn it or that there is a sentiment of national grief. On the contrary, there are many Maltese who are happy at Daphne’s assassination. Besides, most Maltese do not care.
Repeat these statements a few times till they sink in. If you wish to meet the people of Malta as they really are, go on Facebook. This is the space inhabited by most Maltese most of the day. Old, young, literate and illiterate Maltese share, discuss, insult and boast all the time on Facebook. It is their main source of sociability, information gathering, communication and entertainment. For most Maltese, Facebook is the real thing, the rest is alienation.
For ease of reference I reproduce just a couple of comments shared on November 2, when this commentary was written – on the eve of Daphne’s funeral and of the so-called ‘Day of National Mourning’.
A certain gentleman nicknamed il-Brazz, whose page is full of pro-Labour propaganda, posted one of the worst comments ever. He was wondering, he wrote in a language that vaguely resembles Maltese, why in Malta we never had a truck mowing down people.
But hope has not abandoned him yet, so he eagerly looks forward:
“Maybe that will happen at Sunday’s protest. I’d love to see them crushed in the middle of the road.”
A certain Gafa compared Daphne’s funeral to a carnival, and a ‘lady’ with a double-barrelled surname condemned “dak il-bott vojt ta’ isqof” (that empty vessel of an Archbishop) for celebrating a ‘fake Mass’ for Daphne’s funeral.
How can one preach national unity when the comments evidence a sentiment of deep hate and utter intolerance?
A certain Cassar opined in the same vein, and a policeman wrote that demonstrators should be mowed down by a water cannon truck. Someone else produced one of those printed mementos commemorating the dead. It shows a picture of Daphne with horns, adding that it is with great pleasure that he greets her death, which he described in a way only a pervert would consider sane.
Don’t think that this is the mentality of what a snob would describe as the hoi polloi of Facebook. A friend recounted two anecdotes about two Maltese academics, one of whom teaches in a foreign university. They said they were not troubled by what had happened to Daphne, as she reaped what she had sown.
The crowds attending the solidarity demonstrations were not small but they are just a minority.
This is why I think that all the talk of national unity that is being uttered now – some of it undoubtedly with the best of intentions – is just not effective.
How can one preach national unity when the comments mentioned above evidence a sentiment of deep hate and utter intolerance? How can one tally this rabid odium and savage animosity with 2,000 years of Christianity, which is a religion based on love? Or is our religiosity skin deep, as one can see during the pagan celebrations supposedly held in the honour of Catholic saints? The mind boggles.
Please remember that the biggest ‘revolt’ of Catholic Maltese against their Church was not because of the revolt of Vatican II reforms, as happened in several parts of the world. Most people probably did not care about them either. Considerable noises were uttered when the fancy dresses of certain churchmen were toned down by certain Church reforms. But the greatest protest in recent years was against the Curia’s attempt to reform the parish festas. The opposition was so great that the Curia had to beat a hasty retreat.
This is a country based on amoral familism. It is a country that votes in the most corrupt politicians in the hope that even they will benefit from that corruption. Many must be laughing their heads off after a British minister resigned because 15 years or so ago he touched the knee of a journalist during some function. The British are so backward, many must have said. On the contrary, the Maltese are so liberal that brothel-visiting politicians are feted and voted in.
Ours is not a republic based on work. It is a republic that works on cynicism.
joseph.borg@um.edu.mt