Like St Thomas, there are things that you need to see to believe.
Otherwise, if someone had to tell you about them without showing you some form of evidence, you would tend to dismiss them as an invention or just speculation.
A common way through which people involuntarily show astonishment is the widening of the eyes. It is a natural reflex that happens when one comes across something unexpected, or something that you would never believe possible, unless you see it.
This is what happened to us a few days ago when Prime Minister Robert Abela announced that he had given instructions for the memorial dedicated to Daphne Caruana Galizia at the foot of the national Great Siege Monument in Valletta to remain untouched, and not cleared, as used to happen until a few weeks ago after each vigil commemorating the journalist.
Our surprise did not come because of Abela’s declaration per se, although that, in itself, was an unforeseen move and one that is welcomed. It is the foundation of a bridge that started to be built between the new head of government and the civil society, which has been protesting against corruption and in favour of good governance for many weeks.
One of the many bones of contention between civil society and the Labour government, particularly former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and then Justice Minister Owen Bonnici, was the clearing of the memorial to Daphne Caruana Galizia after every event that marked her assassination – on the 16th of every month since October 2017 – and often in between the vigils too. That one of the first decisions taken by the new PM was to give an order to not clear the flowers, candles, photos and posters dedicated to the slain journalist was one giant step forward.
Abela’s comment was made after he met Archbishop Charles Scicluna, a few hours before this January’s vigil was held. The next morning, media published photos of the Great Siege Monument covered with candles, flowers, photos and posters, which had remained where they had been placed the night before.
What widened our eyes was the reaction to this development that we saw on the social media by some Labour exponents, who are always ready to share any kind of news related to prime ministerial or government work.
What surprised us – and what we needed to see to be able to believe it – is how the people who were supporting Abela’s decision to not clear the memorial were the same people who, not too long ago, were supporting Bonnici’s idea (backed by Muscat) to clear everything away within a few hours.
How is it possible that people could change their views so quickly? How can it be that there are people who applaud something because their leader says so and then, a week later, applaud a different leader who overturned his predecessor’s decision? Aren’t these people able to think with their own mind? If they thought that Bonnici-Muscat were “rightly” removing the flowers and candles, how can they now say that Abela is “right” too when he is doing the opposite of what Bonnici-Muscat did?
The mind boggles.
This kind of “follow the leader” mentality, irrespective of what he says, and irrespective of whether he is contradicting his precursor, is incomprehensible to people who think.