In a very ingratiating interview by Ricky Caruana with Culture Minister Owen Bonnici, Bonnici stated that he doesn’t like the makeshift monument for Daphne Caruana Galizia in front of the Courts because according to him, “it doesn’t bring her honour”. The Minister also called on the family to hold discussions with him to find an alternative and permanent solution.
The makeshift monument for Daphne Caruana Galizia is set-up in front of the Law Courts at the Great Siege monument for the symbolic reason that justice for Daphne hasn’t yet been fulfilled as the suspect who masterminded her murder is still free on bail and his trial hasn’t even started yet. Not to mention the corrupt politicians and government officials who were investigated by her that still haven’t faced justice. The monument is regularly vandalised by Labour Party supporters.
The point of the makeshift monument is to protest the lack of justice and not just to commemorate Daphne Caruana Galizia. I don’t think I have ever heard her family or her supporters ever demand for the Great Siege Monument to be replaced with a monument for Daphne.
The Minister for Culture is evading the crucial reasons why the makeshift monument is being set-up in the first place. In addition, the Minister’s comments imply that a monument for Daphne Caruana Galizia shouldn’t be in front of the Law Courts because she is not a national symbol: this is also wrong.
Daphne Caruana Galizia is in fact a national symbol for authors and journalists and also to the general public as a martyred journalist who was killed for her journalistic work. You can be a Labour Party supporter and still acknowledged these facts.
Note that the Labour government previously inaugurated a monument for Guido de Marco, a Nationalist Party politician, right at the doorstep of the Law Courts. Guido de Marco is by far less a national symbol than Daphne simply because he was a member of a political party – Daphne was a journalist and a writer. They can also build a monument for her too.
You can watch the full interview here.
Website Editor
Historian and Publisher
Leave a Reply