Do you remember the Charlie Hebdo massacre a couple of years ago in Paris? When three gunned man stormed the headquarters of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and shot and killed 12 people, including journalists? That same week, 3.7 million went out to march in the Parisian streets, in defiance and in support of freedom of expression.
Charlie Hebdo purports a highly critical, irreverent, non-conformist, divisive and, at times, shocking kind of journalism, but in the aftermath of the shooting, the topic was not the content of the magazine but the intent behind the horrific terrorist action.
Led by President François Hollande, the French walked the streets of Paris as one. And it was not just the French, mind you; they were joined by many people from all over the world expressing solidarity, including, as it happens, our very own Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. We even sent a DOI photographer to take a photo of him in that march, walking shoulder to shoulder next to people upholding freedom of expression.
And yet what happens here in Malta when the journalist who unveiled the Panama Papers – even before they were uncovered worldwide – is the victim of a minutely-plotted chilling assassination?
Yes, thousands of us take to the streets to march in support of freedom of expression and to demand stronger institutions which in the last four years have become a joke. But who are we led by? None of our leaders. And the Prime Minister, who attends protests in other countries, could not march with his people in the street – because he was the one in charge for the despairing state of the institutions.
Where does all this leave us? It leaves us living in a society which has no moral direction. Our only direction is now money.
This is in part the failure of our education system. We have been too focused on the academic aspect of education and forgot that the real result of education should not be the grades and the certificates but the building of men and women with strong moral characters.
The Prime Minister, who attends protests in other countries, could not march with his people in the street
It is very telling that students jump up in protest if there is a parking issue or a stipend issue or a condom issue; other than that there is mostly an absolute silence. But we cannot really blame students – they are a reflection of what we have become: a nation without a soul. We taught them that what matters is I, myself and I and the money in my pocket.
Consequently, we are now a people of non-thinkers. We lost the art of discerning. All we know is how to grab a microphone and blab whatever comes to mind. We are a people who think that there is no politics with a small ‘p’; and whatever you do has to be partisan.
We desperately need an anthropological study on this. I met a lecturer this week who told me that at home she never spoke to her children – now in their late teens – about politics.
“My husband and I have different political views, so to avoid bickering we never discussed politics, and outside I am always scared that speaking out could jeopardise my job,” she said.
After Black Monday, she tried to get her children to understand the gravity of the situation. But it’s too late – they don’t want to engage.
Also this week, the 15-year-old son of a friend of mine opened up to a teacher of his, about the Caruana Galizia assassination. He told his teacher that his parents had gone to the vigil and to the protest but that he didn’t go because he was feeling scared.
The teacher nodded and told him that he did the right thing, stressing to him that he should always stay away.
“You did the right thing. You keep away from these things because they might take photos at events like these and in future someone might see the photos and recognise you and you might not be given a job because of that.”
This means that we have some teachers (not all of them are like that, thankfully) – people who should be setting an example to the new generation – who, instead of encouraging civic duty, are actually nurturing in children that the best thing is to shut up and hide.
What is happening to the common good of society? Our moral compass has gone haywire and sadly it is increasingly becoming clear that our motto has become see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, as long as we can pat our pocket.
This is not the Malta our children should be growing up in.
krischetcuti@gmail.com
Twitter: @krischetcuti