Tyranny doesn't start with kidnapping political adversaries, exiling critics of the leader or with stuffing ballot boxes to keep him in power. But that's how it ends.

Tyranny starts with little covert steps. It begins with overcomplicated red tape, little tweaks to existing legislation.  It starts with replacing permanent secretaries with party loyalists or spineless cowards. It starts with undermining procurement rules to reward party funders with millions of euro. It starts with public land stolen from the people and donated to developers, generous with the party.

Then it suddenly shifts gear.  The intimidation and persecution of critics and adversaries becomes more brazen. The demonisation of perceived enemies spreads from opposition MEPs, to independent journalists, to the judiciary and then to the NAO, the Ombudsman and the Standards Commissioner. Everybody is part of the evil establishment, everybody an enemy of the state - except the leader and his ruling party.

Malta's democracy and rule of law have been tottering dangerously for over a decade now. But Robert Abela is intent on bringing them down with an almighty crash. He's abandoned all semblance of tact.  He's ripping up all checks and balances in a frantic frenzy of panic.  He's rushing through legislation to deprive us of our right to request a magisterial inquiry making it impossible to demand an inquiry but also puts us at real risk of financial ruin if we try. He's committed himself to ensuring senior civil servants collaborating with Labour in demolishing our democracy and abusively enriching ministers, their partners and their friends are forever immune from prosecution.

Labour has been at it for years.  It first targeted Daphne Caruana Galizia. The majority thought I'm not Daphne, and she can be quite nasty. They turned on David Casa and Roberta Metsola. The majority thought, I'm not Casa, nor Metsola - they'll take care of themselves. Then they unleashed relentless attacks on Jason Azzopardi. Most thought I'm not Jason and he's such an attention seeker anyway, serves him right.  Then they attacked the magistrates.  We're not magistrates, and they're so useless anyway. And isn't the Prime-minister right that he is the "check and balance" on the judiciary?

Then Robert Abela attacked Newsbook, mocking and humiliating their journalist. Most thought we're not Newsbook, and she's got the  Archbishop to protect her. Then Abela turned his guns on the Shift, dragging them through the courts over 40 different FOI requests which the Data protection commissioner had ruled in their favour.  Abela viciously called them "fake news" and that "90% of what they publish is false" after they exposed his dishonesty and greed.   Most thought we're not the Shift. And who needs them anyway.

Then Labour turned on private individuals - Matthew Maggi, John Rizzo, Mark Camilleri - using Labour's massive media firepower to destroy them. Still everybody kept silent because Labour wasn't targeting them.

Abela was emboldened. He learned that as long as he targeted one small group at a time, nobody objects.  He achieved his objective of arbitrarily using his power and control for his own ends - isn't that what tyranny is?

He won't stop now, he can't. He's using prosecutions to silence critics. Instead of prosecuting adversaries for being "enemies of the state" he's making things up.  Jason Azzopardi is being prosecuted for "filming in court". Abela's lauding Magistrate Nadine Lia's order for a police investigation into  Repubblika's Robert Aquilina for the Pilatus leak.

Abela's putting pressure on the police to investigate the leak of the Wasteserv inquiry, publicly claiming the culprit is already known. Rosianne Cutajar demanded the prosecution of Mark Camilleri for revealing the truth.  Robert Abela is doing the same - he's ramming through legislation to stop the truth emerging through magisterial inquiries.

His steps towards tyranny were gradual and tentative at first.  Now they're brazen and rapid. Abela refused to table his cabinet's declaration of assets in parliament.  His cabinet secretary, Ryan Spagnol, refused to release them on request as he is legally obliged. Abela openly defies the courts by failing to enforce the courts' rulings - on Ian Borg's illegal swimming pool or Joseph Portelli's illegal developments. Now he's planning to gerrymander the electoral districts to guarantee victory.

It's obvious which direction Abela is heading. His early small anti-democratic moves have now turned into giant authoritarian strides.  From a little speech here and an off-the-cuff remark there, he's abandoned caution. He's broadcasting his plans  for the final demolition of democracy.   You keep thinking Robert Abela can't possibly cross that line - and he dashes across at full speed.

At first it was just little tweaks to the rules.  Now he's rewriting laws to gain total control.  When that doesn't suffice, he just breaks the rules or simply ignores the courts.  Abela constantly pushes the limits, testing how far people will let him go, how many of their rights they're ready to relinquish before they'll budge.

In a democracy you don't expect the Prime-minister to viciously target the independent media. You don't expect your government to snatch away your right to request a magisterial inquiry. You don't expect your Home Affairs minister to protect an abusive former prison director despite overwhelming evidence of his violations. You don't expect the Prime Minister to shield ministers who stole public funds for their partners. You certainly wouldn't dream that your prime-minister publicly attacks journalists, especially when they're still reeling from the traumatic assassination of their colleague .

We wish we'd paid more attention to Abela's early flashes of authoritarianism.  We should be kicking ourselves for ignoring those ominous signs simply because the economy was doing well.  There'll be no point ruminating that we should have seen it coming - it may be too late. It was convenient pretending nothing was happening so we didn't need to do anything.  Every person targeted, every individual harmed is our business.  It's time to stand up to Abela's assault on democracy.  It's time all forces unite to resist Abela's tyrannical moves.  If you're hoping somebody else will stand up against his relentless attacks on our freedoms you may well be disappointed. Only you can end the tyranny.