Daphne remains divisive but one legacy should persist

Daphne Caruana Galizia remains a divisive figure in Maltese society, eight years after her brutal assassination. 

Many hold Daphne in high regard for her investigative journalism that told truth to power in a fearless style—no matter how uncomfortable or dangerous it was. For these people, Daphne symbolises the fight against corruption; the fight to hold people in power to account; the fight to expose the uncomfortable camaraderie between people in power and the world of business. 

But to many others Daphne was a vindictive person, who revelled in tabloid journalism that targeted ordinary individuals whose only sin was to openly support the Labour Party. For these people, Daphne symbolises hypocrisy, pettiness and hatred. 

Eight years on, this dividing line persists, etched in a psyche that paints everything in black and white; red and blue; where conversation is destined to become a shouting match. 

The truth is that Daphne could be both a superb journalist whose fearless style shook the foundations of a corrupt system; and she could be the trashy gossiper who had no qualms in shaming ordinary individuals who were innocent bystanders to public life. On occasions she allowed her latter self to overshadow the good, strong and probing journalism. 

Daphne cannot be painted in black or white—doing so would ignore her complex nature. She was no saint but she wasn’t just a sinner, either.  

And yet, irrespective of which side of Daphne’s character one chooses to exalt, there is nothing that can ever justify her murder. The vast majority of people, including those from every shade in the rainbow, who were critical of her writings, condemn her murder and agree that nothing justifies the fate she had to endure. 

But many Labour Party supporters hurt by Daphne’s tirades against them as a collective and as individuals, today still berate her, a few going to the extreme of justifying her murder. Understanding this sentiment, even if one doesn’t agree with it, is important if this country is ever to heal. Understanding opens the route of communication in a country where too often the different sides of the political divide engage in a zero-sum game that benefits no one. Having a conversation does not mean justifying Daphne’s murder. Having a conversation gives us the space to shed a critical light on the arguments raised, in good faith. 

The truth is that the Labour supporters who despise Daphne would have never been the ones to carry out that heinous crime. It wasn’t hurt and angry Labour supporters who conspired to murder Daphne. It wasn’t the women draped in Labour flags, whom Daphne gratuitously shamed on her blog, that carried out the assassination. It wasn’t the unsuspecting and transient girlfriend of someone at the heart of a scandal who ordered Daphne’s murder. 

No, it wasn’t these individuals who are to blame for the car bomb that killed a mother, a daughter, a journalist. It was a criminal organisation with close links to Castille that assassinated her. Labourites who persist in denigrating Daphne eight years on are simply playing into the narrative this criminal group wanted to foment. It’s OK to disagree with Daphne, her point of view and her writings but that should never equate to rationalising her murder. 

The criminals who eliminated Daphne rode on the anti-Daphne sentiment to try and make their crime acceptable, justifiable—in the hope that investigative authorities would close one eye and be less motivated to solve the case. They almost managed but these criminals underestimated the power of the force they unleashed on 16 October 2017 when a shocked nation saw a grieving family soldier on resiliently as they took on the State and its agencies in a battle for justice that infected many, many others in Malta and overseas. 

It never was and never will be acceptable to snuff out the life of a journalist for exposing corruption at the highest levels of power. It never was and never will be acceptable for the course of justice to be obstructed. It never was and never will be acceptable for people in power to run this country as if it was bequeathed to them. It never was and never will be acceptable to have people in positions of authority who acquiesce to wrongdoing. 

Daphne’s murder cast a spotlight on this country’s deep-seated ills—the proximity of political power to business; the nepotism that characterises certain appointments; the lack of enforcement; the lack of transparency and accountability in public administration. 

Many upright individuals before Daphne’s murder had taken up the battle against these ills. They often faced ridicule and threats. But that battle became a cause for many more people after Daphne’s life was brutally terminated. Her death exposed the lengths to which the corrupt were ready to go—they killed her, hurt her family and wounded a nation. 

It is our duty, irrespective of political creed, social background and economic status, to collectively say ‘never again’. To collectively hold power to account, irrespective of whoever has the keys to Castille. To collectively condemn wrongdoing and demand justice, irrespective of who the perpetrator is. 

This is the legacy of Daphne’s murder that we hope, at the very least, lives on in perpetuity.