If you put a number of people, even a divided bunch, into a threatening situation they will band together to resist that threat. That is human nature.
Friday night’s events, when the home of The Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia was torched – possibly with the intention of harming her and her family while they were asleep – prove this point. Journalists, columnists, editors, opinion makers and others rallied in support of Mrs Caruana Galizia because they know the simple truth – an attack on one is an attack on all.
The attacks seem to be targeting people that are speaking against racism. They started on the Jesuits, but the arsonists who torched their cars quickly realised that they were only hunting small fry. So they decided to turn their attention to the so-called big fish. Saviour Balzan of the MaltaToday was the first victim and Mrs Caruana Galizia came next.
Perhaps the strategy of the people who started this series of attacks was to break the will of the more influential personalities, so that the not so prominent journalists would fall into rank and muzzle themselves.
Well, the news is that journalists and media people do not take such things lightly. The media prides itself on the stances it takes no matter what and above all the right to speak freely on any issue it deems worthy.
The media in Malta is very fractioned – but perhaps what the arsonists didn’t realise is that while there are very public and often heated differences of opinion and rivalries in the media – we do not accept attacks on one of our own.
It is very much like a group of hunting animals – we all seek our own quarry and we all want to be at the head of the pack. But we are not stupid enough to not realise that if the pack is weakened, it can be attacked more easily and individuals may be cornered.
Make no mistake – the media will stick together on this one.
The media are an opinionated bunch of people – that is our job. It must also be pointed out that while there are some journalists who take an objective view of irregular immigration, there are others who take a stand against it or accept it, and writing about it is an inevitable progression of our country’s development.
You see, there are three or more different opinions – and this is exactly what the media should be and is in practice, a place where different
opinions are expressed.
That is what free speech is – you express your own views and accept those of others without fomenting hatred or using acts of violence to intimidate.
The public needs to look at what is going on and take a decision. It can sit and watch as events unfold – or it can wake up to what is happening – a very serious threat to our democracy.
We are a small, bad-tempered and highly-polarised nation – but can Malta afford this? Can this country afford its free press to be muzzled? Or perhaps a better question to the public: Do your really want us to be puppets? Do you really want to be in a situation where there is no free speech – where you, the people, will be held to ransom by others who think nothing of setting fire to houses with people asleep inside?
If the answer to that is the typical Maltese “Oh well, we’ll see”, then the country has an even bigger problem than we thought.
But the media is strong and it is confident. The media will not buckle under this pressure, it will continue to strive to put forward its views. One just hopes the people will realise that this threat on democracy and free speech is a threat to us all.