Redefining an assassination

Where were you when they assassinated Daphne Caruana Galizia? I remember very clearly the moment I heard the shocking news.

It took me a few seconds to believe what I was hearing. Also seared into my memory is the moment I went to break the news to a dear friend. He was in a jovial mood. He hadn’t heard the news. I walked into his office with tearful eyes and a choked voice. “They killed her,” I said.

He was about to ask who, then stopped. After a moment of silence, he let out a cry which came from his soul. He knew that Daphne Caruana Galizia had been murdered because of what she wrote, what she knew, and what she could reveal further.

We all knew that at the very instant we heard the news. That’s why we can all remember where we were. We all knew instantly that the bomb was an act of terrorism by the powerful and corrupt against one of democracy’s most fierce watchdogs.

That’s why the bomb was so much more powerful than what was needed. It was a warning to all other watchdogs.

Joseph Muscat recognised this. Over the following days, in speaking to the international media, he described the assassination as an attack on Malta’s democracy. An assault on the country is a political act. A political killing is an assassination.

But that was then, when Labour had to fight off the immediate heat. Now, the government spokesmen reject the term “assassination”.

Now, the attack on democracy is not something you can commemorate by leaving candles and flowers opposite the law courts. Now, candles and flowers are removed by the government itself.

How about that? The government wants to erase the memory of an attack on the democracy it is supposed to represent. In one breath it vows to bring Daphne’s assassins to justice. In the next, it tries to wipe out Daphne from living memory.

The latest stunt in the attempt to rewrite the Daphne Caruana Galizia story came from none other than the former Minister for Equality, and now the next European Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli.

During the grilling session in the European Parliament, Dalli was prepared for all that could be thrown at her. It was quite obvious she had prepared lines for all the questions about her willingness, as Labour minister and parliamentarian, to remain silent on the Panama Papers, corruption, and the scandalous treatment of Daphne Caruana Galizia even after her death.

Make no mistake. She was prepared with lines cooked up with the approval of Castille. Then came the question about the assassination.

Dalli redefined it as “femicide”. I was taken aback by the sheer cheek.

Femicide is the murder of women because they are women. It is often linked to domestic violence, pathological male jealousy and a sense of ownership by men over women. It can be used to refer to the abortion of female foetuses because they are female, in societies where girls are valued much less than boys. Femicide has to do with extreme male chauvinism and societies with deep prejudices against women.

When Dalli called Daphne’s assassination a case of femicide, she was denying the political nature of the killing. She was denying any responsibility of the State authorities.

Dalli shifted the responsibility onto society as a whole. Yes, you guessed it. She blamed us. She converted the assassination into a social and cultural problem that she, as equality minister, had fought against.

She wriggled out of explaining her own shameful silence. She erased Labour’s long years of abuse of Daphne, a political decision for propaganda purposes. To save herself, Dalli threw Maltese society under the bus.

By saying Daphne was killed because she was a woman, she also denied the validity and power of Daphne’s investigations into corruption. Her work was irrelevant, you see.

To MEPs who do not know the context, Dalli may have come across as someone very concerned with women’s rights. To us, who know the context, it was breath-taking. Dalli used a feminist issue to continue to trample over a formidable woman’s reputation.

The police investigators have never mentioned femicide. All the leaks point to an investigation on the tracks of masterminds trying to cover up serious crimes. If the journalist investigating them had been a man, he would have been killed in the same way. In fact, the bomb blast was meant to warn any other investigator, man or woman, from continuing Daphne’s work.

Pretending to come to the defence of Daphne, by condemning the killing as femicide, Dalli actually continued Labour’s work of trying to erase Daphne’s investigative work, which is the reason why she was killed.

The assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia was not femicide. And we are no fools.