Pushing the big red button

Only a few minutes before Adrian Delia was to give the signature PN leader’s speech at last month’s Independence celebrations, the government announced that, finally, it was setting up a public inquiry into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Coincidence? Yeah, right.

We never needed proof that this inquiry is a hard pill to swallow for Joseph Muscat and his inner circle. But if anyone wants proof, there’s plenty.

First, there was the government backpedalling for all it’s worth after Carmelo Abela, Minister for Foreign Affairs, assured an international audience that the inquiry would be held. Then there was a summer of stories and distractions to make us forget about the inquiry.

At the last very minute, only days before the Council of Europe’s three-month deadline was reached, and seeing that the public and international demand for the inquiry was growing stronger, the government announced that there will be an inquiry after all.

In a non-Orwellian world, the country would have given a sigh of relief. But we remembered where we really are once the composition of the board of inquiry was announced.

The individuals chosen by the Government created a stir of disbelief. Many have explained why already. The human rights organisation, ADITUS, tweeted: “Why is it that Malta has serious issues understanding the basic definitions of ‘independence’ and ‘impartiality’?”

I will go further. After 55 years of independence, what have we learned about the value and the meaning of being independent? Has the political independence of 1964 truly trickled down into the mentality of each citizen?

The Archbishop, Charles J Scicluna, put forward similar questions in his homily on Independence Day. Fundamentally, the Archbishop questioned our knowledge of the true value of good governance and accountability.

He also challenged us on our sense of State. He defined the prevalent concept as “an atavistic sense of entitlement at the hand of a benevolent despot.” In other words, our dependency on the Government, not just materially or financially but even in the way we think.

Mgr Scicluna challenged us “to move forward into the very uncomfortable place of participating in the destiny of our society as co-stewards”. He would like us to “move from the passive quasi-parasitic dependence on the State as the Big Brother of Orwellian fame to a proactive coownership of the instruments of the State.”

Stern words. But fair. An independent and impartial public inquiry is an important instrument to guarantee the rule of law. Hence the anger at how the inquiry has been set up. But are the angry ones enough to make a practical difference?

JB Morton said, “Justice must not only be seen to be done but has to be seen to be believed.” What must we believe when an inquiry is set up on terms that suggest that we are being taken for a ride?

Recently I met an old friend. We were talking about the current political situation. She told me, “Don’t you wish we could just push a big red button and get things to be normal again?” Of course that would be great, but who is going to push the big red button?

We cannot expect one individual or a small group of individuals to do this. The “hand” that makes the move must be a collective one. It must come from the public. All big, significant changes come from the grassroots. We need a peaceful revolution of like-minded individuals who really believe that enough is enough.

There is a constant group of loyalists who attend the monthly events to remind everyone that, two years ago, a wife, a mother, a daughter, and a sister was brutally assassinated because she was a journalist who dared investigate the dirty secrets of the powerful. She discovered so many of them. Then she publicised them so that the whole world got to know.

These loyalists don’t meet in adoration of Daphne Caruana Galizia. They meet to pay their respects to what she represents: the courage and fighting spirit of a woman who insisted politicians are public servants and we are their masters.

Those who regularly attend these monthly vigils are honouring the memory of Daphne Caruana Galizia through their persevering presence. I would invite others to join.

I invite those who stop me in the street and tell me they are giving up on this country, on politics and politicians. I invite those who speak to me in disgust at what is going on. We all need to transform our private outrage and protests into public ones.

The Archbishop quoted the famous words of John F Kennedy about asking what we can do for our country, and not about what our country can do for us. We all should be asking ourselves the question. Let’s push the big red button together to make our country better.

Because we do deserve better.