It’s funny how much language can tell you about a people. Which Maltese person hasn’t heard the phrase “rajt ma rajtx, smajt ma smajtx” which roughly translated means “act like you have not seen what you have seen, act like you have not heard what you have heard”?
Our grandparents and their parents turned secret people-watching into a national sport, whiling away hours at a time peering out at their neighbours from behind the reed curtain that was meant to fend off the elements. They would know everything about everyone but wouldn’t directly go to the objects of their gossip with the information they had.
In sunny Malta, you see, we don’t usually confront people and find it uncomfortable to do so.
Our days of bitching quietly behind the ħasira are over
And so, the cycle has gone on and on for generations with people preferring to complain about things in private than actually solve things in public. It’s in this environment that unspeakable things have been allowed to happen and old wounds have been allowed to fester.
As the days go by and more and more information is revealed, it would seem like everyone but the kitchen sink knew the details about Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination, and yet, it took something completely unrelated to bring this house of cards down.
Information was passed from hand to hand and mouth to mouth and yet, throughout all of this, it didn’t occur to anyone to go to the police. The Corleones would be proud.
And of course, in true omertà style, instead of us now applauding and supporting those people who are stepping forward and choosing to shout to the heavens for justice, our latest claimer to the prime minister’s throne is claiming that the only purpose of ongoing civil society protests is provocation.
I mean, it’s not because the people are angry at the way the country has been sent into a tailspin or the way this entire affair has been handled and is still being handled even today. No, not at all. Apparently, all that these horrible people protesting in the cold, wet rain want is to start a civil war.
The mind boggles. What next, sharing horrific, stomach churning memes about a journalist’s death on the internet? Oh wait, that’s already happened.
The country hasn’t just gone through all this to get more of the same in a different package, and our new would-be leaders would do well to remember that.
Our days of bitching quietly behind the ħasira are over.