Last week, we all saw a hug that was probably, no, definitely, illegal. No social distancing measures were observed and one of them was not wearing a mask in public. It has been drummed into us for more than a year that such breaches are illegal and dangerous for public health.

But no one was remotely thinking about these things while looking at the heartbreaking image of Luna Reyes, the Red Cross volunteer who was photographed hugging a Senegalese migrant in Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta. He was so physically and emotionally exhausted from the perilous voyage that Reyes had to help him sit down. In broken French and crying uncontrollably, the migrant tried to tell her that most of his friends died in front of his eyes.

Reyes said she saw deep despair in his eyes and hugging him was “the most normal thing in the world”.  This image captured the raw humanity of two people who clung to each other, one in relief and gratitude and the other in compassion and solidarity. Even though Reyes downplayed her gesture because, for her, hugging someone in need is the only natural thing to do even amid a global pandemic, she told the press that “the embrace was his lifeline”.

This photo went viral. Reyes had to change her social media accounts’ settings to ‘private’ after she was trolled with a barrage of racist and sexists insults and threats following this simple, human gesture. But the internet rallied to her support and the hashtag #GraciasLuna was trending on social media, heralding Reyes as the face of civilisation in a sea of inhumanity.

But for every Luna Reyes, there are a thousand Neville Gafàs.

Last week, Gafà was testifying in constitutional proceedings filed by lawyers Paul Borg Olivier and Eve Borg Costanzi on behalf of 52 would-be asylum seekers who had been pushed back to Libya in April 2020. This pushback, that resulted in 12 migrants dying of thirst, was subsequently called the Easter Massacre. The court case is supported by Repubblika.

Gafà spoke as if pushing back desperate migrants to a failed state to certain torture, and oftentimes even death, is the most normal thing in the world. He flaunts his brazenness with an air of authority and assurance, speaking about conducting operations from his Mellieħa home like a wannabe Blofeld from his lair. But where does Gafà get his authority from?

From Robert Abela himself. Let’s not quibble about semantics. When Gafà says he got his orders to pushback from the OPM, from the chief of staff,  Clyde Caruana, it means Prime Minister Robert Abela. History repeating. Will Abela now resort to the same tired spiel as Joseph Muscat that the chief of staff’s business is not his own? We know the drill.

Neville Gafà spoke as if pushing back migrants to a failed state to certain torture, and oftentimes even death, is normal- Alessandra Dee Crespo

Do you remember the deer-in-the-headlight look that Abela was sporting that evening when he hastily convened a press conference in prime time to bash Repubblika after we filed two criminal complaints against him and the Armed Forces of Malta Commander, Brigadier Jeffrey Curmi? Do you remember Abela’s hysterical monologue? Do you remember that no pesky journalists were allowed, you know, because some have a habit of asking impertinent questions?

When the prime minister of a European country uses the power of his authority to discredit an NGO that had basically asked the police to investigate whether the deaths were a consequence of bad decisions, you know that something is amiss. In this press conference, Abela had accused Repubblika of “betraying the country”, echoing Glenn Bedingfield’s patriotic sentiments that we were “working in the interest of the enemy”.

That press conference was programmed to fix the narrative and to rally the troops online. Following this presser, our Facebook page was a cesspit of racist abuse and downright threats for weeks. But we soldiered on because we could smell a rat or several rats, as it turned out to be.

The prime minister knew that an investigation would lead to the proof that he and the army chief actively worked together to push migrants back and that 12 poor souls died because of their involvement. Who knows what happened to the 52 that were sent back? Gafà does not seem to care and we can bet that neither do Abela, Curmi or Caruana. Because, as long as they are working in the interest of the country, what’s a little loss of life here and there, right? Maybe the government should start a hashtag on Twitter #GrazziNeville because, you know, he works for free, especially when he coordinates pushbacks.

That hug on the beach between Reyes and the Senegalese migrant last week represents all that is good. A picture can give important lessons in humanity when we are not blinded by hatred of the other. The picture that Gafà painted in court last week, on the other hand, is another important lesson in how a country can go rogue, ignore all international obligations and just dump desperate souls in a hell hole in the “national interest”.

Maybe Magistrate Joe Mifsud should revisit his hastily concluded inquiry where he stated that “it did not emerge from the evidence gathered that Gafà coordinated a rescue in this case”. ‘Rescue’ must be a euphemism. Mifsud had also lamented that neither Alarm Phone nor Repubblika had mentioned the role of traffickers putting out migrants at sea, saying these had to be held responsible for their criminal actions and threw out the case against the government.

Helping migrants in distress, whether you’re hugging them on the beach or advocating for them with judicial means, is not illegal.

Actively working to push them back certainly is.

How are you feeling now, prime minister? Dizzy yet?

Alessandra Dee Crespo, president-elect, Repubblika