Tag: daphne caruana galizia

Categories
Constitutional Development Mediawatch

The Beautiful Garden

The atmosphere at the European Parliament this Tuesday was surreal to say the least. Not being too familiar with the building I arrived just as the debate on the Rule of Law in Malta had kicked off and took a seat hurriedly in the visitor’s balcony. Just as I started to take in the different speeches I noticed that I was seated a couple of seats away from Daphne’s family and the whole business took a wholly different perspective.

It was inevitable that different agendas would be pushed during such a debate. It was, as predicted, a repeat of the Pana Committee meetings with many deputies intent on taking advantage of this moment of weakness of the Maltese state in order to peddle their usual attacks on the island nation’s fiscal policy. Politics is politics and it would be too much to ask of all the deputies in the house to stick to the agenda at hand. Probably.

I felt very ill at ease though, for every other thirty seconds Daphne’s name was brought up. Whether it was to bolster an argument regarding the state of the rule of law in Malta or whether it was to harp on that spurious link between a legitimate fiscal policy and an atrocious cold-blooded murder, those three words would be repeated and would rebound along the walls of the Hemicycle. Each time I heard the name I did not dare look at Daphne’s family but I could not help wonder how awkward all this might seem, how distant from the warmth of a mother and a wife. True, we were there also because of what had happened and yet the way most politicians took over the name and memory of the recently departed did not seem right.

The weak respects jarred mostly in the mouths of those who could barely hide their contempt towards the very fact that we were there in that room, discussing the failure of a society and not only the failure of law and government. They went through the motions expressing regret for Daphne’s sudden departure though it sounded as convincing as a note of apology by the Transport Authority whenever the buses run late.

It was painful. Painful for me as a mere outsider who quite readily admits to having had strong differences of opinion with Daphne throughout the last years and who refuses to succumb to the temptation of creating false hagiographies. In fact I am quite happy to be clear that I did not find Daphne and her work to be perfect. Far from it. It is like stating the obvious. Somehow though I feel that it makes my case for demanding respect for her work all the stronger. Above all it puts the moment in perspective – there is an institutional crisis that led to a journalist being killed while doing her work and without any doubt because of the work she was doing. Daphne was killed with impunity because, in the words of her husband, she mattered.

The institutional crisis, the social deficit, predates Daphne’s assassination. The battle against the rot definitely predates Daphne’s assassination. The warning signs predate Daphne’s assassination. The side of Daphne that we want to remember and be inspired by is the one that was so ably described by her husband. It is the one who aspired to beauty in a world that she saw (as did many others) turn uglier by the minute. Before the situation became desperate it had already turned ugly. So ugly that it rendered others cynical. So ugly that many lost hope.

This is not about a sanctification of a person. This is about continuing the work that Daphne excelled in and that others too worked hard for with different results. The inspiration we should and must take is the Beautiful Garden. We should each build our own little garden and start to expand that slowly until the gardens take over.

The gardens are our hope, our courage, our future.

 

“But Daphne never grew cynical; she grew outraged and appalled by the increasingly sordid and frightening facts that emerged from her work. The more frustrated she grew at the state of our country, the more beautiful our garden became, the more trees she planted, the more books, art, ornaments and curiosities from all over the world arrived at our home. Daphne created, in the words of one of my sons, a parallel world of beauty in a country that slipped further and further away from European values and norms of behaviour which she held so closely. Meanwhile, Daphne’s work never slowed. With every story she broke, particularly about the money laundering network with links deep and wide connecting many of Malta’s political and business elite, her readership grew larger and more loyal.” – Peter Caruana Galizia

 

Categories
Rule of Law

THE GOVERNMENT LIES – a look into government spin in the aftermath of Daphne’s assassination

In this first of a series of posts, JOE BLOGGS (a pseudonym) takes a close, hard look at the evolution of government spin in the aftermath of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. This did not start on October 16th. Read on…

Speed is essential.

As we have heard many experts say, the first 24 hours after a crime are key to secure evidence at the crime scene and avoid contamination. Secure the area swiftly and efficiently, bring in forensics and interview eye-witnesses. The time taken to do that is inversely proportional to the likelihood of apprehending the offender.

Much like in the Egrant case just 5 months ago, we are well aware that this did not happen in the case of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s cold erasure by car bomb on Monday. It would be interesting to know how long it took the Malta Police to secure evidence in each of the prior 10 car bombs since this government took office in 2013, half of which happened under the present Police Commissioner’s 1 year watch alone. Whether this latest failure to act swiftly is down to sheer incompetence or worse, reluctance, will undoubtedly be the subject of continued debate. There will also be cries for responsibility to be borne and faith restored in the soon to be renamed ‘Malta Police Farce’.

However, this narrative is not about that.

This narrative is about the insensitivity of a Prime Minister and his government (and the Labour Party, like many things in Malta, the line got blurred) obsessed with PR, spin and its “greater plans”. So obsessed, in fact, that the public execution of a journalist, one of its most vociferous and effective critics, gets treated coldly. To them, this is a mere PR crisis and they are proceeding to manage that “crisis” with clinical precision and efficiency.

Much like the situation was “managed” when politicians in government were proverbially caught with their trousers down in the ICIJ’s Panama Papers (they are all still very much in office after what can at best be described as a brushing off) and myriad other scandals that, in any other reality, would have ended political careers. Not here.

Man is an apex predator, not because we are particularly big or have sharp teeth or claws but, besides our inventiveness, we are designed to run for far longer than quicker prey. We tire them out. Then, when exhausted and their stride slows, we can isolate them from the herd, encircle them and strike.

This game plan works outside the Savannah and can be applied to scandals, calls for resignation and critics too. You just need to take some measures, batten down the hatches and wait out the news cycle.

Manage the immediate aftermath swiftly, dilute the news, point fingers and attack the messenger if you must, spread seeds of doubt and up the freebies, divide and, if you can wait out the reaction, people will eventually tire and lose interest. People move on, they accept compromises, they forget. This is only set to get worse as younger generations with ever less will or patience to read replace those that do (votes for 16 year olds just speeds up the process). The cycles are getting shorter and, on longer term or macro issues, less intense.

This narrative focuses on the PR crisis management exercise and explains its elements. There is a lot of background and much darker sides to this story which must be told, which is why what started off as a post needed to be broken up and will likely have to become a serial. The trick is to know where to look. The government is PR savvy and has advisors (including Trump advisors and their tools of the trade) on tap, so even if the soulless felt no sadness, surely they will have been told that on a week of national mourning, flags should fly half mast. They did outside Malta including in Brussels but those on government buildings, including Parliament, did not budge an inch and in all likelihood they will not. If you have not realised or questioned, I invite you to ask yourself why this is. Similarly, during a silent protest by Maltese journalists in Valletta on Thursday, whilst journalists were placing placards about freedom of expression and laying flowers on her impromptu shrine, one person strategically and slyly tossed a copy of L-Orizzont on the far left and slipped away. Although the cover of that edition bore a headline claiming that Muscat would leave no stone unturned to find her killers, the knowledge that that same newspaper called for her cleansing just months earlier and the absolute detest that Daphne had for that propaganda outlet may have escaped many. This was the journalistic equivalent of taking a dump on her grave. The offensive rag thankfully disappeared by Friday evening.

Daphne Caruana Galizia’s death comes at a convenient time.

Like gazelles running for our lives on the scorched desert plains slowly drifting apart from what was left of our herd, we are exhausted and broken in. Resigned to our sad fate.

The 2017 snap election was designed to be a charge of the light brigade. The net result was effectively the smoking out any remaining dissenters (ponder here for a minute as to why a government that knows it still has a huge majority acted as though the opposition stood a chance) and “shock and awe” the others into the silence of acceptance and helplessness. Again, compromises. The snap election victory was followed by a farcical debate in the European Parliament on the state of the rule of law in Malta where the government quite happily paraded its LGBTI and civil right friendly laws to pinkwash its abysmal record in good governance and human rights. It also mentioned its much vaunted two gimmick laws, the removal of prescription on crimes of corruption for politicians (tiny tip, it does not apply to Chiefs of Staff and other cronies or to other crimes such as money laundering) and the so-called Protection of the Whistleblower Act (a law already pending in Parliament neutered through the inclusion and need for official recognition as a whistleblower by politicians and by ensuring that reporting lines for corruption by and large lead straight to politicians). The PANA committee was just ignored and its legitimacy questioned. Locally, the great “don’t attack Malta or dirty our name with foreigners since we need their business” line was peddled (think of the scope, timing and effects of MaltaFiles) and bought readily. Omertà by any other name.

The official line also peddled was that the Opposition’s and Civil Society activists’ criticism of corruption was “negative”, “had no proof” and full of “hate” whilst the government’s winning campaign was “positive” (we will talk about subliminal messages later as we stray into the fascinating realm of commercialised PSY-Ops). Awash with cash from multi-million deals shrouded in secrecy with the Azeri and Chinese governments as well as from closely guarded golden passport and VISA schemes, the government promised that the best times for this country are ahead of us, we just need to put up with a little scandal or hiccup here and there but do not criticise us because that is negative.

A couple of editorials in that Labour newspaper (L-Orizzont) called for the cleansing of negativity and the journalists that spread it including the late Daphne Caruana Galizia so that the government may continue with its grand plan. The official line in relation to those editorials was condemnation but yet mere weeks later that editor joined the hordes of Labour journalists and media relations people employed since 2013 with an unspecified job at the Office of the Prime Minister undoubtedly involved in propaganda, likely with the Department of (mis)Information.

A whistleblower who was never acknowledged as one and who was effectively ridiculed and branded as a liar, thief and Russian whore by the government machinery (a magistrate’s comments left much to be desired too), rightly fled. The guns turned on the Opposition leader, Simon Busuttil (negative) who was also subjected to ridicule in the press by government officials parading as opinion columns.

A new opposition leader, whom Daphne also criticised for his baggage (one cannot rally behind a leader to clean up this sorry state if his background and baggage does not inspire faith), stepped out of the side-lines and riding on a wave of “positivity” swept up the party vote. The reason for this victory and the resulting attacks on Daphne by those who just months earlier egged her on, was negativity and criticising corruption does not appeal to the majority so we must compromise. A new normal, just one or two notches lower.

Journalists were replaced or fell quiet and new opinion columns by officials within the Office of the Prime Minister popped up boasting about this country’s prosperity and deriding negativity. The eunuch press slipped back into its habit of cutting and pasting from government press statements, never questioning or digging.

Then the news disappeared. Under the threat of financial ruin and likely political pressure, articles screaming about money laundering, kickbacks and Azeris through the bank where the whistleblower worked (Pilatus Bank) disappeared or were amended without so much of a note. What would have caused uproar in a normal country, caused little more than a whimper. A blog post about Franco Debono’s polo shirt and the size of the logo got more of a reaction than one reminding people of the gravity of an Orwellian situation that permits the erasure of the historical record.

On 9 October, 2017, the government unveiled its budget for 2018 branded as the first ever budget without new taxes. A surplus budget. Malta is rolling in dosh from the sale of passports to Chinese, sheiks and Russians at Euro 1m a pop and the best days for our country are just around the corner. We will create a new authority entrusted with doing up all of Malta’s roads (funded by passports), explore a national blockchain strategy (CryptoRubble springs to mind), build like there’s no tomorrow and generally make hay.

Daphne’s last post, a silent scream about the dire situation where the Chief of Staff and head of anything strategically important, Keith Schembri, who rode out the many scandals including Panama Papers in which he was not only implicated but appears to have master-minded, is continuing with a defamation court case against the ex-opposition leader for daring to call him corrupt, defied her views on the news cycle. Isolated and frustrated she exclaimed about the dire situation. Were it not for the explosion that finally ended her Running Commentary just 30 minutes later, that post would have had at most double digit shares, a few daring comments by people under pseudonyms and some more praising her for giving the Opposition leader, Adrian Delia, a break. Then the 11th car bomb went off in a quiet country lane on a day when one of the subjects of Daphne’s most harsh criticism was on roster duty as inquiring magistrate, the fifth anniversary of the forced resignation of another who called her his nemesis and just 3 days away from the 38th anniversary of another Black Monday.

That is the backdrop. Make no mistake, the ship that is the national psyche has been listing for a while. We need to acknowledge that, though we recently refurbished it with ebony planks and sterling silver nails, the deck is almost vertical before we even attempt to right this ship. If you are reading this from Malta then you likely went to today’s demonstration, likely jeered and shouted for freedom of expression and the protection of journalists but just days before Monday 16 October, 2017 I bet that you were wondering whether it may be worth taking down an old facebook post or cover photo talking about corruption lest it damage chances of some crumbs or favour.

I should get back to the immediate reaction but will have to tackle that in the next part along with a wider look at how we got here. Until then maybe watch Black Mirror and wonder why, if this is not a political assassination, magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera’s first and only act before accepting to recuse herself from this investigation summoned what distinctly looks like a gang.

 

Categories
Citizenship Constitutional Development

James Debono at the Civil Society Demo

Reproduced with the kind permission of the author.

Nhar it-Tnejn Daphne inghatat il-piena kapitali minn xi hadd li tant hassu omnipotenti li ddecieda li jhassar mid-dinja gurnalista li bil-pinna taghha kienet saret tehdida…

Meta smajt l-ahbar hassejt vojt…il-vojt li thoss meta thoss li pajjizek tilef bicca minn ruhu. Ghalhekk wara giet ir-rabja.

Xoghol il-gurnalist mhux li jinghogob mil-poter imma li jzomm distanza minnu biex ikun jista jwassal il-verita. Speak truth to power ghandu jkun l-motto taghna lkoll.

Inhossni mcekken quddiem il-karba tal-qraba u t-tfal ta’ Daphne, karba ghal gustizzja mhux ghal ommhom biss imma ghal Malta taghna li tant inhobbu.

Tajjeb li l-gvern qed jibghat messagg qawwi li se jaghmel min kollox biex jaqbad lil kriminali.

Imma fuq kollox Pajjizna irid fejqan.

Ghax pajjizna ma jixraqlux hekk. Pajjizna ghandu ruh.

We do not want to live in a mafia state. Ma nridux inkunu washing machine tal-flus mahmugin tal-kriminali u d-dittatturi. Il-flus ma jixtrux kollox, wisq l-inqas il-gustizzja.

Fuq kollox quddiem tehdida daqshekk kattiva mill- kriminalita organizzata, hemm bzonn twegiba politika ghal kwistjoni morali li qed tifni lil Malta taghna.

Hadd m’ghandu jipponta subghajh lejn hadd ghax lkoll ghanda parti mit-tort kull meta harisna n-naha l-ohra biex naghmlu lira zejda. Imma din mhix skuza biex inhallu kollox ghaddej.

Biex ninghaqdu u nuru li ahna ahwa Maltin u nibghatu l-aqwa messagg lill- kriminali li qatlu l-Daphne inridu nuruhom li Malta ghanda istituzzjonijiet li ghandhom is-snien u jgawdu l-fiducja taghna lkoll.

Fl-ahhar ftit snin ma rajnix rieda tajba. L-istituzzjonijiet fallewna bl-ikrah f’bosta kazijiet bhal Panamagate li gew midfuna taht it-tapit tal-konvenjenza. Kellna paralizi istituzzjonali fejn l-istat u l-pulizija ma resqu lil hadd quddiem il-qrati biex jigi gudikati.

Ghalhekk biex ikollna fiducja fl-istituzzjonijiet jehtieg bidla fl-istituzzonijiet.

Irid isir ezami serju ta’kuxjenza u kull min ghandu jwarrab ghandu jwarrab illum qabel ghada.

Rajna wkoll rigress kulturali fejn xi whud f’partiti differenti bdew iseksku li onestsa u l-indafa huma xi zvantagg fil-politika. Kwazi li tkun parti mid-dinja tat-tahwid bdejna narawa vantagg.

Rajna kultura tal-libelli li fija l-prova tal-innocenza tigi billi tfajjar xi libell.

Iva ghal ghexieren ta’snin gvernijiet minn partiti differenti ma ghamlux bizzejjed biex insahhu s-saltna tad-dritt. Hallejna hafna xquq min fejn setghu jghaddu d-delinkwenti politici ta zminijietna.

Imma flimkien nistghu naghmlu d-differenza… kurragg.

Intom ragg ta’ dawl f’din i-lejla mudlama tar-repubblika Maltija…Intom l-Malta t-tajba, dik il-Malta li ma tiskotx, dik il-Malta nadifa

Ghax inhobbu l-pajjizna inridu inkomplu dak li bdejna illum u ma nifqux qabel pajjizna jerga jikseb il-hakma tad-dritt f’kull qasam tal-governanza.

Grazzi li qomtu mir-raqda. Viva Malta nadifa. Viva l-Maltin li issa qed jghidu issa daqshekk.

Categories
Corruption

Muscat Offers Price of a Passport (for a family) to Find Daphne’s Assassin

The government has officially confirmed today it is offering a €1 million reward for information leading to the identification of the person or persons responsible for Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder.

Daphne’s relatives have already refused to endorse the reward. “Justice, beyond criminal liability, will only be served when everything that our mother fought for – political accountability, integrity in public life and an open and free society – replaces the desperate situation we are in” – were the words of Daphne’s sons.

The government seems to believe that it can buy a clean conscience with €1 million. That million euros will not bring Daphne back. It will not reunite a grieving family. That does not count in the government scale of values though.

In fact one million euros is just about right to buy an interested family a passport for each member of the family. If they choose to rent a house to circumvent the property investment issue they might even get some change back on that million.

This is the government of the budget surplus made of questionable profits. It believes it can put a price on everything and that way everything will be solved.

There is no price for freedom.

There are crooks everywhere now. But some people will never be bought.

Categories
Rule of Law

For your sake and ours, please don’t look away

Justin Borg-Barthet, a Maltese citizen, is a Senior Lecturer in EU law and Private International Law at the University of Aberdeen. He is the author of The Governing Law of Companies in EU Law (Bloomsbury/Hart 2012) and several papers on mutual recognition in EU law.

In the Maltese Parliament yesterday, Simon Busuttil MP appealed to the international press to keep a watchful eye on Malta. Malta, he says, needs this independent and objective scrutiny more than ever now. He’s right, of course. Freedom of the press in Malta is under grave threat. Daphne Caruana Galizia was, in many ways, the last line of defence.

Her assassination completes a process begun many years ago in which the media has been systematically intimidated, weakened and bribed to the point of effective castration. Consider, for example, the eerie silence in the press in matters concerning Pilatus Bank, the Malta-based money-laundering outfit for international Politically Exposed Persons and the failure of anyone (bar Daphne) to comment on the quiet deletion and censoring of what little they dared publish. This silence from the local media appears to be a consequence of threats from the aforementioned bank of costly (but vexatious) legal action in the United States. Reportedly, Daphne too was in receipt of such heavy handed threats but stood fast to her truths.

Malta now relies on the international press to provide a truly free account of the deterioration of the rule of law and corruption of administrative practices there.

But keeping a careful eye on Malta is not only in Malta’s interest. It is in the global interest too. This is why the Treaty on European Union enables action against Member States who persistently breach the rule of law. It is not because the EU is a safety net for the Member States, but because judicial, administrative and legislative decisions of Member States have extensive external effects. Contrary to President Juncker’s recent protestations, when Simon Busuttil pleaded with the EU to cast its eye over Malta, the rule of law in a Member State is not a purely internal matter. The EU is duty bound to keep one of its own in check, for the good of the wider bloc.

While we’re on the subject of President Juncker, let’s not forget his spine-chilling defence of Joseph Muscat in the European Parliament. It is an open secret that Joseph Muscat intends to replace Donald Tusk as President of the European Council. And here is President Juncker publicly defending and enthusiastically applauding an ambitious man, a man whose connections to Azeri and Chinese corrupt dealing – particularly in the oil, gas and solar energy markets – are, at best, at arm’s length.

But back to the rule of law in Malta: Malta is an EU Member State. The Member State remains the basic unit of EU law and policy-making. The adoption of legislation requires the consent of Member States, usually achieved on the basis of consensus. This means that compromises are made to accommodate Malta’s position. Malta sometimes has formal veto rights too. The European Council, made up of heads of government of the Member States, determines general EU policy direction.

The Member States also have powers of appointment; they nominate members of the Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors. The gravity of a Mafia State holding such sway over the largest trading bloc in the world hardly needs explanation.

But it gets worse. The EU/EEA internal market functions, primarily, on the basis of the principle of mutual recognition. Mutual recognition essentially means that that which is lawful in Malta is presumed to be lawful elsewhere. This includes gambling services, letterbox companies, and the many other services Malta has developed since 2004 to reap the benefits of EU membership. The EU has several international trade deals, some of which enable mutual recognition in the services market. In future, Malta may well be in a position to provide passporting rights to Canada, for example. In other words, laws and administrative decisions determined by a Mafia State are automatically recognised, and their effects felt, far beyond its borders.

This is true of judgments of the Maltese courts too. The Brussels I Regulation requires judgments of courts of one EU Member State to be recognised and enforced elsewhere in the EU. There are movements towards a similar global convention to further develop the Hague Choice of Court Convention. The EU, and therefore its Member States, is party to these negotiations. Decisions to weaken judicial independence in Malta have global effects.

In other words, the assault on press freedoms in Malta concerns you directly. Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated because she exposed the crooks who have come to control an important part of EU and global governance. This is not of concern only to fewer than half a million Maltese citizens, but genuinely affects the entire globe. It is that serious.

To the international media, I have this to say: Please, for your sake and ours, do not look away.

Categories
Zolabytes

Acts of engagement: an appeal

Anton Caruana Galizia sent this open appeal for publication. These are times when different people from different walks of life have been shaken into action. At this moment the reflection is on what to do and how to do it. Anton’s appeal includes that of small acts of engagement. It is definitely a first step to which all of us can subscribe.

I venture to state that it is in the little things that we find answers to the big questions that democracy asks of us. The simple act of becoming aware of truths we find unsettling. Taking the time to gather information on which we can voice a point of view. Summoning the confidence to enter into a conversation, however quietly. Discovering that others share in our perspective or cause us to shift it, (for we are none of us all-knowing). Taking that first step towards a place where we gather together. Casting a vote.

From our fictions of political life we expect soaring rhetoric from a polished podium, or a prophet to emerge ragged from the wilderness. We expect others to provide the answer that we might follow. I don’t consider that a reasonable expectation, however often we indulge in it. If it is answers we want then we must participate in finding them. We must share in their creation. I suggest that this is achieved through small acts of engagement: sharing, listening, reflecting, participating.

I urge you not to succumb to cynicism. I hold the view that the people of the Maltese islands are capable of rational discussion and reflection. That as citizens of the Republic of Malta, we can recognize an attack on the liberties we claim as fundamental to the operation of our democracy. That our claim to those liberties and our aspiration to uphold them can serve as a source of unity.

From what I observe, unity won’t simply appear by summons or appeals. It is not, to my mind, a spirit that responds to incantations and wild emotional gestures. It must be demonstrated and articulated. And for this to occur, I would suggest that there must be a broader understanding of what it is we aspire to, an understanding that it is incumbent on each of us to cultivate for ourselves and to share with others. There is hope here, for this is happening already, and has been happening for some time. I want to encourage all others involved in this enterprise to broaden their conversation. To engage more people in it.

I venture to state further, that the rational response to an attack on liberty of expression, is to make more intensive use of that liberty. And to hope and strive for justice.

 

Anton Caruana Galizia