Thank you for coming here once again so that together, while honouring the memory of Daphne Caruana Galizia, we may also reaffirm our commitment to restoring the integrity of the Republic of Malta.
Repubblika’s activities generally conclude with the National Anthem. This evening, let me begin by recalling the Anthem’s verses, which constitute the official prayer of our Nation and of our State. The verses embody the elements of a covenant between State and Nation. On 21 September 1964, Dun Karm’s prayer for Malta was realised in the Constitution of our newly-sovereign State. As a matter of fact, the Constitution’s first four chapters embody the core elements of the covenant bonding State and Nation. Thus, the first chapter prescribes the State’s character, its role in world affairs, and the Nation’s defining symbols; the second Chapter encompasses guiding principles of domestic policy; the third Chapter regulated citizenship, until Parliament hijacked the constitutional principles and made citizenship a tradeable commodity. The fourth Chapter defines and safeguards fundamental human rights and freedoms.
Numerous Maltese now recognise that certain high state officials have betrayed the constitutional covenant, by subverting the rule of law, distorting the meaning and practice of democracy, and plundering the common good in favour of privileged interests. For these officials, citizenship means nothing more than revenue for the treasury and votes for their political party. They are uncomfortable with the notion that citizens might exercise constitutionally-protected civic rights to participate in policy-making and to scrutinise their performance, because it threatens ill-gotten privileges. The very people who were elected or appointed to safeguard the common good and to administer national affairs, seem instead to arrogate the State as their patrimony, and the people as their subordinates.
Consequently, the country has recently witnessed successive statements, policy stances and legislative measures that are clearly intended to curtail civil liberties: they include the vilification of the judiciary and the Ombudsman; discourses about the suppression of fundamental human rights because they are ‘outdated’; the law that effectively denied citizens’ access to magisterial inquiries; threats to do the same with citizens’ access to the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life; and what could be manipulation of electoral boundaries. Our country is going through a dark time; the foundations of the Republic of Malta are being weakened – the Constitution on the one hand, the strength of the citizen in the face of the power of the State on the other.
The Repubblika association and our partners in civil society fight against the erosion of civic rights, restrictions on democratic life and the arrogance of those who abuse the powers of high public offices. Not only that: we also work to renew the constitutional pact, and offer researched and thoughtful proposals for institutional reforms. Through training for activists, we help the People recognize the full dignity of citizenship and learn to exercise the rights, virtues and duties associated with it.
For this, there are those who call us ‘extremists’, ‘terrorists’ or ‘traitors’. We are not extremists, but our goals are radical: we wish and want the constitutional pact between State and People, between those who govern and the citizen to be renewed from the roots. We are not terrorists: we exercise the civic rights that the Constitution protects and the means that the Law gives us. Nor are we traitors: on the contrary, activists within civil society struggle so that truth triumphs over deceit, so that human dignity triumphs over the arrogance of the powerful, so that the common good is not stolen by private interests. We reject the accusation that we are extremists, but we are proud to be radicals!
This square, the smallest in Valletta, embodies the radicalism of civil society. The buildings, monuments and images found here testify to the radical virtues that inspire free citizens in a liberal State: St. John, an image of the fundamental trust in the greatness of man created in the image and likeness of God; the Court, a shield of justice. The three figures in the Great Siege monument represent faith, strength and the victory of civilization over slavery. The images of Ms. Caruana Galizia remind us, on the one hand, of the bitter price that can be paid by those who struggle for truth and freedom; on the other hand, they inspire us and invite us to renew our commitment. It would be appropriate that, at least among us, this square be called the People’s Square, or rather, the Square of Civic Virtues.
Every now and then, fatigue and discouragement can dampen enthusiasm and commitment. In its early years, the Repubblika movement won many battles that brought about important changes in political life and the institutional framework of the State. Today, that time has passed; the campaign against civil society has intensified and some of the main tools we could have used have been removed. In my opinion, we are in a time of transition that requires new strategies to get where we want to go.
Our country needs a politics that unites rather than divides, that builds rather than destroys, that discerns rather than condemns. Repubblika’s rhetoric, behavior and choices can show a path that leads to the renewal of politics in Malta and Gozo.
Our country benefits if the citizen appreciates and supports the institutions that protect him from the abuse of power – the Courts, above all, the Ombudsman, the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life, the National Audit Office, and the Anti-Corruption Commission. Here too, civil society can do much good, through research on institutions, leadership in public life, monitoring the quality of governance, and moral support for those who suffer unfair criticism, attacks and threats for carrying out their duties in the institutions I mentioned .
Above all, civil society is the cradle of truly active citizens, truly partners with politicians in shaping our common future, truly guardians of democracy and builders of the common good. We do not seek to replace parliamentarians or ministers, but we demand that they dialogue, that they partner with us in the big choices that lie ahead for our country, and that they give a full account of what they do and earn while they are state officials.
For all this to happen, we must continue to meet here, in the Square of Civic Virtues; we must continue to watch with our lamps lit, with renewed hope, even in dark times. I began by mentioning the Maltese Anthem: I will close with the dream of the Indian poet, Rabindranath Tagore, which is also my dream and that of every free citizen in a liberal State:
Where the mind is without fear, and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out of the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever widening thought and action;
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.