When they kill the brave women: Who was Daphne Caruana Galizia murdered in Malta
It’s as tragic as it is absurd: The man you’ve openly and courageously exposed for corruption and institutional rot in your country now orders a thorough investigation into your death. If Daphne Caruana Galizia could write about this, her biting humor and explosive revelations would surely have Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat tossing and turning yet again. But Galizia is gone, her influential blog, as potent and irksome as any newspaper in her homeland, now belongs to history. The fearless crusader, known for her unwavering sense of responsibility, has been silenced.
Galizia was murdered on October 16, 2017, when her Peugeot 108 exploded shortly after she posted her last entry on her personal blog. Her final text was uploaded at 2.35am, and by 3pm that same Monday afternoon, the voice of the government’s most inconvenient critic was forever stilled. People admired her bravery, beginning their days by reading her daily accounts, penned in straightforward, well-documented, fearless prose. Back in Malta, it’s still unclear whether it was her explosive revelations or her audacious overstepping of boundaries that cost her life. This audacity led Politico to label her a “one-woman WikiLeaks,” a thorn in the side of her country’s corrupt politicians. “The woman had guts,” wrote the author of the article profiling the 28 most influential personalities in media and politics.
Whether it was the health and education ministers of Malta or the passport scandal, Galizia’s blog on a high-traffic day could attract around 400,000 unique visitors. Given that Malta’s population is 420,000, that’s quite telling…
This widespread engagement perfectly captures the impact of the 53-year-old Caruana’s work. In June 2016, her revelations about Muscat and his associates’ activities involving offshore companies, the sale of Maltese passports, and dealings with the Azerbaijani government caused quite a stir. Galizia couldn’t walk the streets without someone expressing their admiration or gratitude. Her family, increasingly worried, pleaded with her to request protection after the extent of the Panama Papers revelations. But as reports suggest, she merely laughed it off. She took her work seriously, but not herself. Her primary concern was for her three children, whom she wished to spare from Malta’s current state. “Over my dead body will my children be marooned on these rocks,” she wrote the day she learned she was on Politico’s list of the 28 most influential personalities.
“To best picture this woman, imagine her as a WikiLeaks of her own, a crusader against the opacity and corruption that Malta, an island notorious for these two vices, is steeped in,” wrote Politico a few months ago, referencing the case of the former European Commissioner John Dalli, whom she helped expose in a massive tobacco cartel scandal. “She is a force of nature, a woman who single-handedly brought her country’s government to the brink,” others have said of her. Galizia herself had a different mantra, long before she became entangled in the Panama Papers saga: ‘Nothing and no one is so big or so small in politics that they should not be mercilessly judged.’ Her greatest bitterness, as she often expressed in language that surprised or shocked some, was the common perception of politicians as a swarm of people with no particular talents and no significant contribution to society, yet lining their pockets with scandalous amounts of money.
Whether she was confronting Malta’s health and education ministers or exposing the passport scandal, Galizia’s blog on a high-traffic day garnered around 400,000 unique visitors. Considering Malta’s population is 420,000, that’s quite significant. However, there was also a contrary perspective: as much as Galizia had been a thorn in the side of the political system, she was also seen as a nuisance to ordinary citizens. Many objected to her tone, writing style, and at times, her arrogance. There was a sense that she frequently overstepped the mark, pushing boundaries and disregarding limits.
However, exactly one day after her assassination, the most poignant summary of her valiant work was delivered by her eldest son, also a journalist, Matthew Galizia. “My mother was assassinated because she courageously stood on the line between the law and those who flagrantly break it, as all formidable journalists do. She was targeted because she was the only one here who did that. This is what happens when institutions and the state fail. The last one to resist is the first to die, and it’s usually a journalist.”
“I can never erase the memory of having to navigate the inferno you created in her car, desperately searching for the door through the flames, shouting at the two police officers attempting to quell the blaze with a single fire extinguisher, trying to make them understand that the woman burning inside was my mother. She is dead because of your incompetence, inefficiency, and cowardice,” her son wrote.
Galizia’s blog remains active. Once the investigations conclude – with no significant expectations for the time being – her son is expected to continue updating its content.
Sources: Politico, Guardian, MaltaTimes