EU ambassadors accredited to Malta, whose training teaches them to report objectively and dispassionately, are relaying back to capitals in Berlin, Paris, Rome and elsewhere the state of Maltese politics today in the terms below.
In brief: Maltese politics is deeply polarised in a way not seen here for 30 years. The Maltese predilection for conspiracy theories has been given fresh wings. The assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, which has been used by a small unrepresentative body of activists to generate international concern about the rule of law in Malta, lies at the heart of present domestic political tensions. But Prime Minister Joseph Muscat continues to ride high in the opinion polls.
The polarisation of politics stems from a poisonous mix of Siculo and Semitic blood coursing through Maltese veins. Toxic tribalism is contaminating public life, stifling constructive debate and spreading hateful stereotypes. Political strife is magnified by social media and public discourse gets nastier by the day.
In order to justify the decision to support Nationalist or Labour, the Maltese listen selectively to the facts, only hearing those which will reaffirm that they are right. Being in a tribe avoids the bother of original thought. The script is written for you. Nuanced opinions recede. Group-think and the group opinion becomes paramount. Shades of grey are simplified to black and white.
Today, the shadow of Caruana Galizia’s murder hangs over everything. The tragedy of her brutal death – harrowingly and unflinchingly described by her son, Matthew – is not to be underestimated.
I only knew of her professional capabilities as an investigative journalist – tenacious, fearless and the most effective Malta has known. But not understood abroad is that she was a virulently divisive commentator on the Maltese social and political scene, hated by many in this country.
I did not like her politics. But Caruana Galizia’s commitment to freedom of expression and courage in promoting it were the most utterly redeeming features of her life. Courage in the face of adversity is not merely a virtue. It is the virtue. It takes the exercise of courage for faith, hope, charity, all the rest to become virtues.
Although one could disagree with her politics and utter snobbery – and I did with a passion – it has to be said that the kind of moral courage she displayed was an even rarer virtue than physical courage.
What the vast majority in Malta object to today, however, is that her death is being unscrupulously hijacked to tarnish Malta’s good name abroad, where they only know about her untimely murder, not about her hate-driven effect on local politics. The three Nationalist members of the European Parliament are at the forefront of this exercise, led by David Casa who seems to harbour ambitions to oust the present PN leader.
The shadow of Caruana Galizia’s murder hangs over everything. The tragedy of her brutal death – harrowingly and unflinchingly described by her son, Matthew – is not to be underestimated
Pseudo-politics has been allowed to intrude on those understandably grieving for her. This has been generated – “weaponised” is a better word – by a few thousand mainly disaffected Nationalists representing a certain strata of Maltese society, who have raised Caruana Galizia in a posthumous apotheosis to the status of a secular saint.
This pseudo-political grouping feels that they cannot support the Nationalist Party while Adrian Delia is its leader – goaded on by what Caruana Galizia wrote about him before her death, which they appear to regard as indisputable since it was written by her.
They feel entitled by birth and social status to ensure that the Nationalists are led by “one of us” (in Caruana Galizia’s words: “their contempt... for the Nationalist Party started when they began to perceive its image and its key figures as what I can best describe as lower middle-class”), and they look down on a Labour government which is, in their eyes, by definition composed of “lesser people who are not to be trusted with government”.
Their number probably amounts to less than 1,000 “activists” and at most 10,000 or so sympathisers. They make a lot of noise, but their only tangible effect is to divide the official opposition when – more than at any other time in recent history – Malta needs an effective and credible government-in-waiting.
By their divisive actions this group of committed Daphne disciples are only ensuring that the day when Malta gets a Nationalist government is postponed for another decade.
They are, like many Maltese, convinced believers in whichever conspiracy theory is running at the time.
From the latest report about 17 Black and Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi to the high-blown story in the Spectator magazine (allegedly linking the chairman of Henley & Partners to Cambridge Analytica, to elections in St Kitts and Nevis and thence to Maltese passports and the murder of Caruana Galizia) without providing any evidence or proof, just guilt by association.
While I long ago predicted that Schembri and Mizzi would be an albatross round the Prime Minister’s neck, that is a different issue to finding them guilty of corruption based on suspicion, no matter how strong. The Prime Minister must respond to 17 Black. But we must also await the results of the magisterial enquiries for guilt or innocence to be proven.
The latest initiative which keeps the Caruana Galizia story in the international public eye is the so-called Daphne Project. In the sense that it stays true to her memory while combining with reputable and influential newspapers abroad in examining some of her earlier investigative blog stories, it is good journalism.
But it is inescapable that the Daphne Project is yet another development intended to weaponise her death as a means of undermining Malta’s government and sullying Malta’s international reputation – which it is succeeding in doing.
If this unrepresentative pseudo-political group of activists think that their actions will bring down the government, they are wildly misled.
Rather like Hiroo Onada, the Japanese soldier who finally surrendered in 1974 having previously refused to believe that World War II had ended, they had better come to terms with last June’s devastating defeat, in which Caruana Galizia played no small part.
Those who are trying to reverse the last election are not just sticking their fingers in the eyes of the people. They are playing with democratic fire. They should direct their legitimate grief elsewhere.