So said Joseph Muscat with reference to the events that took place on 15 October 1979, when the home and family of Prime Minister Fenech Adami was attacked by a mob that had previously set fire to the building of Allied Newspapers in St Paul’s Street, Valletta.
That attack was one of the very visible highs of a regime that had been trying to coerce the population into a state of submission. The period has been well documented and those who, directly or indirectly, sustained the ethos of that regime are well known too. The fact that the passage of time may have dimmed the memory of the events, that political expediency finds turning a blind eye mighty useful and that a line must necessarily be drawn at some point for national healing to commence, in no way liberates the consciences of those who contributed to so much suffering or did very little to prevent it.
I have no hesitation in stating that nobody can really understand the climate of fear that was allowed to reign at that time unless they lived in the Cottonera area. My wife and I never knew if our children would be attacked when they went out. Homes became places for hiding in, resembling more the wartime shelters than places for family life. As a doctor my duties often took me to areas where I could palpably feel the threat, but I could hardly refuse to go because once you start running, you never stop. While many were those who suffered, and certainly the high profile attack on the home and family of Eddie Fenech Adami and The Times deserve the utmost condemnation, I doubt whether on their own they constitute the worst atrocities of the time when Malta was at war with herself.
Let us not forget that an innocent young girl was killed by a letter bomb, while a young man sitting quietly over a drink in a political club was murdered; amazingly both crimes have never been solved although admittedly political murders are not the easiest to solve. I myself, together with my friends and helpers, was ambushed in Zejtun and had to flee from a hail of bullets that struck one of them in the head. We actually had to smuggle him out of Malta to the UK where he underwent a life-saving operation. Luckily he has lived to tell the tale.
No Joseph, it should never have happened; but it did
What about the violence perpetrated against those who protested against government action? What about the thousands of transfers as people were vindictively shuffled from one place to the next in an attempt to break their spirit or punish them for the crime of not supporting the regime? Do people still remember the cry of “Min mhux maghna hu kontra taghna (whose not with us is against us); sadly it is a cry that still reverberates in a more muted way. My own brother was one of the many victims due to the simple fact that he happened to be my brother. What about the vile propaganda then emanating from the national television station that had fallen into the hands of diehard supporters of the regime? All these actions were supported by the ministers of the government, some of whom later managed to reinvent themselves to such an extent that they have managed to convince the present generation who, like Joseph Muscat were too young to be directly involved at the time, that they are free and fair commentators of the local scene and would never, ever, have contemplated in remotely acquiescing to anything that was not altogether nice.
No Joseph, it should never have happened; but it did.
There were many who expected, once the Troubles were over, to see justice done and the perpetrators punished. Many were disappointed. Many had hoped that it would help them achieve closure. Many saw their hopes blighted when they, the victims, were left to lick their wounds while those who, even if by association, sustained a regime that perpetrated unbelievable injustices, were left to dwell in peace, further the careers established during the glory days of power, and prosper in health, wealth and happiness.
Outcomes like these do not apply only to Malta of course. The Nazi scientists who were responsible for the appalling toll of human life in pursuit of their rocket experiments found an easy home in the USA. In Italy, the fascist police chiefs, prefects and magistrates were re-instated by the Allies, as they were needed to run the devastated country. In France, which has to this day found itself unable to come to terms with the Vichy collaboration with the Nazis, personalities with a dubious wartime past actually ended up in positions of power. Communist regimes now ply the democratic trade and speak as if the relatively recent bloody past was only a Hollywood film. We have seen the same happening in Iraq, where former members of the regime were recruited to help run the place. No, not all perpetrators of moral or physical violence, or silent supporters of what are, at best, ignoble administrations, end up losers when their regimes bite the dust. Some do very well indeed out of it.
Yes Joseph, it should never have happened but it is constantly happening because injustice comes in many different forms.
It’s a funny place Malta. It’s Byzantine to the extreme, where the critics of yesterday morph into today’s friends overnight, where loud cries of corruption turn into unexpected loyal applause, where last year’s enemies are the good friends who deserve support and promotion today, where some awful things are easily forgiven and lesser misdeeds strangely crucified. It’s a shifting sand of alliances that dissolve and reform in constantly intriguing shapes, sizes and colours. Justice, many a time, seems to walk into a cul-de-sac. But then, as we all know, she is blind.
And finally dear Joseph, if some people used a political party for their own ends (now who on earth can they be I wonder since you didn’t give any names), haven’t you, in your political youth, already witnessed how a party tends to use people and then discard them? If you truly haven’t, you will.
Where you are right of course is that such things shouldn’t happen whoever is in power.
Dr Muscat is the
leader of Azzjoni Nazzjonali