Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1041944
13 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 21 OCTOBER 2018 at the murder was shared by a wider number of people, many do not share the movement's zeal in blaming government for the murder or its reverence for Caruana Galizia. Neither can the movement take on the mantle of an anti- corruption movement, since its focus is largely limited in range to Caruana Galizia's targets and unlike other civil society groups like Graffiti – that vigorously fight for specific causes and well defined issues – this movement is chiefly motivated by antago- nism towards the government. A more inclusive movement calling for institutional reforms in the aftermath of the assas- sination may well have had a wider appeal especially among the Labour leaning segment of the population. But probably it would have been less cohesive. The problem for the PN In this way the movement does not represent any direct threat to Labour's hegemony on society. On the other hand it represents a challenge to Adrian Delia's leadership in the PN. Although the PN leader has recently taken significant steps to reach out to this category, his efforts often meet a wall of defiance as was the case when a wreath laid by Adrian Delia at the makeshift memorial dedicated to Daphne Caruana Galizia was put aside and replaced by a poster with the journalist's last words. This raises the question; will this movement ever develop into a political party, possibly serving as a refuge for the anti- Delia faction in the PN possibly in alliance with the Democratic Party in a re-edition of the Forza Nazzjonali of 2017? One crucial factor is that despite the ability to mobilise crowds, the move- ment's electoral reach may be too limited to sustain the politi- cal ambitions of MPs who aspire to keep their seats in parliament. The prospect of being held re- sponsible for splitting the PN vote and thus bolstering La- bour's majority militates against the party option. In this sense the only opportunity for such a movement would be next year's MEP election where Malta is counted as one district. But even this would come at the cost of weakening the Opposition, pos- sibly reducing the official PN to one seat. Waiting for defeat? In his speech to the crowd on Tuesday Manuel Delia has given some clues on the movement's future, which without entering the electoral fray may live on to condition the debate in the PN. Delia made it clear the move- ment is here to stay, irrespective of whether "victory is in reach or not" because the most important thing according to him is "being true to oneself." He knows that no political party can afford to do that. Moreover, this may come as a recognition that the movement is not in synch with the popular mood. By making a direct reference to the ransacking of Eddie Fenech Adami's house by Labour thugs he also grounded his movement in the Nationalist Party's history. "The fight for justice did not start last year," Delia said, adding that those who fought for justice back then feared that what they had campaigned for could be lost. By remaining a moral force to contend with, the movement may use its influence to back individual candidates in the forthcoming MEP election. But it may also wield even greater influence if the party is trounced in this election and Delia's lead- ership is put in question once again. Meanwhile, however, if they remain hostile to Delia they also risk being blamed for the defeat. This realisation may re- sult in a long truce which leaves the party torn between those who want the party to revert back to Busuttil's antics which failed the electoral test and those who want to move on along De- lia's unpredictable 'new way'. ANALYSIS In Daphne Caruana Galizia the movement has also found a martyr and an effective narrative summed by the journalist's last blog post 'that there are crooks everywhere you look' ALL PHOTOS BY JAMES BIANCHI Frontline: activist Manuel Delia (left), a former Nationalist government and once PN candidate aide, and (right) anthropologist Ranier Fsadni, a former advisor to prime minister Lawrence Gonzi Nationalist MPs Simon Busuttil and Karol Aquilina