Today, in my page, I am publishing part of the speech I gave to journalists during the press conference given by Repubblika on Saturday 5 October 2024, in order to explain to our members what our organisation intends to do to respect the Court decree. We called the press conference to announce all the activities we shall be organising to mark the seventh anniversary of the death of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Today, more than ever before, we appeal to you and to those persons of good will to participate in our activities as a sign of the importance we all give to the democratic process. Once again, you will find the programme of events at the bottom of this page.
As you know, the 16th October is the seventh anniversary of the death of Daphne Caruana Galizia, and like every year, we expect justice to be done. We are marking the life and work of this journalist through a series of activities that we are organising. The full programme may be found on our website and facebook pages.
As you also know, Repubblika does not only assume the role of “watchdog” over the rule of law and of criticism wherever and whenever this is not respected. It also has the role of reflecting on and proposing new approaches to ensure the protection of democracy and the respect of the rule of law. It is in this perspective that we have launched a new document entitled: “Defending Integrity. Stategy and Manifesto against Corruption”.
As I stated in my introduction to this booklet, this is a manifesto for an alliance of civil society against corruption. In a functioning democracy, civil society has an important role to play in the fight against corruption. This fight cannot just be left up to the political parties, who keep guard against each other. This is why we have taken up the challenge of fighting against corruption as part of our mission, and we encourage other civil society movements to participate with us so that together, we can be stronger against evil and deceit, too much of which we have witnessed and continue to witness in our country.
When you open this booklet, you will notice that there are black lines running through it in parts. We have exercised this autocensorship in respect of the decree emitted by Judge Edwina Grima. It is because we earnestly want to see justice being done, and we do not in any way want to impede the course of justice that we are doing this. This booklet was printed before the decree was emitted, consequently, we have decided to redact all that may go against the Court’s will. This because we believe that it is not important whether we agree or not with the Court’s decision, but until that is the order given, we shall obey it. For the same reason, we have revised our programme to ensure that we do not go against the Court’s will. As a result, we shall not be transmitting certain activities live, so that our speakers can speak freely, and except for the memorial ceremony in Bidnija at 3 pm on the 16th October, we shall transmit all activities after they occur, by censoring all that can go against the decree.
Vicki Ann Cremona
President