Totò Riina was no ordinary man. For decades his criminal organisation, Cosa Nostra terrorised the country and killed hundreds of journalists, politicians, rivals within the Sicilian Mafia, and innocent civilians. But magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino were Riina’s most notorious victims. Their legacy, it is said, was Riina’s downfall.
He went into hiding, until he was arrested and sentenced to 25 life sentences. The ‘boss of bosses’ was left to rot in prison.
When he died, journalists went to Corleone, his birth place, looking for reactions from those who knew him. In omerta’ fashion, residents weren’t forthcoming. But a 77-year-old gentleman, heart on sleeve, told reporters what many and mostly people of his age didn’t have the courage and the honesty to say:
“When Riina was around, everybody had a job here in Corleone,” said Paolo. “These men gave us jobs.”
La Repubblica, reported how, on social media, people, presumably younger than Paolo of Corleone, mourned Riina. It wasn’t just in Italy that Riina was mourned but in Malta too, said the daily. No surprises there.
These youngsters couldn’t have remembered Riina’s days of ‘glory’ in Corleone. The mobster had been in hiding, then in jail for their entire childhood, and young adulthood. But they must have heard their elders, who like Paolo, mourned Riina because “he gave them jobs”.
Today, unemployment in Corleone and southern Italy is on the increase. But instead of blaming the culture of impunity, lack of rule of law, corruption and crime, which Riina and his criminal underworld nurtured for decades, and which, unsurprisingly, led to today’s catastrophic results, the elderly and the young alike wax lyrical and long for “strongmen”, as was Riina, to ‘improve’ their living conditions.
The reaction to Riina’s death answers questions, usually asked by law-abiding citizens, on how people, despite a lack of rule of law and a collapse in a State’s institutions, go about their daily lives usually satisfied that their economic situation is good and that’s all that matters.
Admittedly, it takes more than a newspaper article to analyse what makes people mourn the death of a mobster and lavish praise on his ‘leadership’. This article is not an attempt to do that. That is the task of sociologists, economists and anthropologists.
However, the reaction to Riina’s death as reported in the Italian press and on social media reminded me – not that we can at any time forget it – of the situation in Malta. And before I venture on, let it be said that I’m not drawing comparisons between Riina’s legacy and that of the Maltese government, and the situation we’re in.
But, following the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, I met many, and that is to put it mildly, who in no uncertain terms told me that people don’t care if the rule of law is under duress and our State institutions in meltdown. What people care about, I was told, and reminded every day, is that their financial situation is in good shape.
It is only when the financial going gets tough that people care about rule of law and the values that make or break a democracy.
It is an assessment which is, sadly, true. For how then would one describe the Nationalist Party victory in 1987, by a meagre 4,000 votes, when Malta at the time was burning? It was probably the case that, after long years of a Labour Party rule which, especially in its last years, turned out to be catastrophic, the individual financial situation was bad – and that, coupled with violence, corruption, and a collapse in the rule of law was the metaphorical last straw which broke the camel’s back – and which returned the Nationalist Party to government.
Fast forward to today. Radical changes are needed in the running of the State and its institutions. Sometimes, common sense is enough – but that is increasingly becoming a luxury. A journalist has been murdered because, to quote her husband, “she mattered”.
When the wise are ignored, the foolish prevail – and crooks run the show
Corruption, according to public surveys, is at an all-time high. The police force is in shambles. A string of car bombs on our roads have, so far, gone unsolved. The European Parliament discusses the rule of law in Malta and, with an outstanding majority, its members ask the European Commission to “monitor closely the rule of law in Malta”.
And yet, government continues to ride on a high. A few Sundays after the execution of Caruana Galizia, statistician Vincent Marmara conducted a public opinion survey for the GWU weekly It-Torċa. Marmara conducted the It-Torċa general election survey and the outcome of that survey was the outcome of the election.
This is to say that his surveys should be given their due weight. Marmara’s latest survey shows government riding on a high, with an increase in Joseph Muscat’s popularity ratings. Shockingly, the police force, notwithstanding the current mess it is in, has a 69 percentage point approval.
It is their economic situation which, according to the survey, is of primary importance to the average household. Of course, those polled are aware of the importance for rule of law to prevail, and are worried that “security matters” are an issue in Malta, but their ‘buoyant’ financial situation convinces them that no changes are necessary.
I believe that it takes more than political strategy to address the situation. What we are dealing with is deeply ingrained in our society and no political strategy can change a culture.
Education can, but that won’t happen overnight, and from what we are witnessing now our educational system seems to have failed us all. People need to be made aware that to sustain a healthy, individual, financial situation you cannot have a collapse in the rule of law, a culture of impunity, a flourishing criminal underworld, and corruption everywhere you look.
For that, in the long run, will corrode the whole system and things – read your financial situation – will fall apart. That is partly the reason why southern Italy has a high rate of unemployment and corruption: Totò Riina’s, and his Cosa Nostra legacy.
This begs the million-dollar question. What is to be done now? Despite living in an age when an ‘instant-coffee-mentality’ is rife, ‘I want it all, and I want it now’, there are no easy solutions at hand. We are witnessing the collapse of the State institutions meant to protect us.
But it has been a long time coming. Constitutional changes are needed and a clear overhaul in the public appointments a must. But I don’t see that happening with the current situation in Parliament. Not then, not now. Government and Opposition are at each other’s throats. You cannot bring change for the better in such a situation.
Perhaps, a committee of wise men and women is needed to take stock of the situation and chart the way forward. The constitutional convention, which is set to take place in the coming months will fail unless there is an extra effort to put partisan politics aside and identify what really needs to be changed. I can’t see that happening anytime soon.
A committee of wise men and women made up of leaders in their respective fields, would help put things into perspective and pave the way for some much needed changes.
They will look into the educational system, the changes needed in the public sector and the changes happening within our society, for which demographers and sociologists worth their salt are needed. The President should lead this initiative and bring together the right people to the table.
For what is needed is hope in what is, admittedly, a grim situation. There is a time for parliamentary walk-outs, a time for mass demonstrations, and a time for EU Parliament debates. But there comes a time when we must walk the talk and that time is now. The committee of wise men and women would be the first step.
When the wise are ignored, the foolish prevail – and crooks run the show.
Frank Psaila is a lawyer and anchors Iswed fuq l-Abjad on NET TV.