Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1190498
ONE of the saddest long-term effects of Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder is that the victim has since been polarised into two mutually incompat- ible human beings. She is now either the 'witch of Bidnija'; or the infallible 'one- woman Wiki-leaks' who could literally do no wrong… with nothing in between. But that simply isn't true, and we all know it. In a very short time, we seem to have forgot- ten that there was all along a third Daphne Caruana Galizia, midway between those two extremes. There was also the Daphne who wrote scathingly about government's immigration policy, for instance… even more so when the PN was in power. The same Daphne also commented apolitically about all sorts of other social and political issues; and on those occasions, she tended to call a spade a spade (where others, myself included, might have called it 'a sharp-edged imple- ment used for digging holes'). I'm sure I'm not the only one who occasionally pauses to wonder what this other Daphne Caruana Galizia might have written about this or that issue, were she still alive today. One recent example – and perhaps a silly one, given the gravity of everything that's happened recently (but then again, perhaps not) – concerns animal welfare. A short while back, the relevant ministry announced a one-time grant of 150 euro for anyone willing to adopt a cat or dog from an animal shelter. There was, quite rightly, an outcry: animal welfare organi- sations quickly pointed out the potential for abuse (in which case, the adopted animal would be the victim)… and pretty much everybody else saw it as a means for government to sim- ply avoid having to contribute directly to the animal shelters itself. But nobody made the argu- ment Daphne Caruana Galizia had made dozens of times throughout her career: i.e., that if Maltese governments (both parties) traditionally hide behind all sorts of random acts of charity, it is only to ab- solve themselves of their own responsibility for the sectors concerned. Over the years, Daphne consistently argued that Malta shouldn't have to depend on the voluntary sector at all to provide for its animal welfare needs. It is part of govern- ment's job to build and run its own animal shelters, instead of relying exclusively on such organisations as the SPCA, Noah's Ark, Association for Abandoned Animals, etc. And she was right: Malta, as a whole, does use 'charity' as a sort of magical invisibility cloak, to cover up for all the naked greed beneath. But I don't recall Daphne Caruana Galizia ever arguing that the SPCA, Noah's Ark, AAA, and all the rest should be 'disbanded' or 'boycotted' for that reason. Unlike many of her most ardent admirers today, she was capable of dis- tinguishing between govern- ment's culpability in abusing a charity system… and the charity system itself. This is precisely part of what angered her whenever she wrote about this, and similar issues. Charity organisations fill the void left by govern- ment's abdication of its respon- sibilities. And because charity itself exists for a reason (apart, of course, from massaging the egos of the people doing all the 'giving')… those voluntary organisations cater for societal needs that are very real. So, if government doesn't do its job properly, someone else will invariably be compelled to intervene. This, in turn, forces ordinary citizens to have to fi- nance, out of their own pocket, what government should really be financing out of their already-paid taxes. Daphne used to repeatedly call governments out over this double whammy: holding them to their own responsibilities, while not denying that the cause for all this charity did indeed exist. It wasn't just animals, either. She often made the same point about L-Istrina: you know, our annual orgy of hypocriti- cal generosity (just in time for Christmas, too)… where everyone digs deep into their pockets, to make good for an equality imbalance that is mostly caused by those hand- ing out the fattest cheques to the Community Chest Fund: to be presented, with much fanfare, during live telethons for maximum publicity… It was one of those occa- sions – more frequent than you probably think – where Daphne's views coincided with my own to a 'T'. The Com- munity Chest Fund serves the same purpose as all those animal welfare associations: to camouflage the govern- ment's unwillingness to finance Malta's expensive welfare state itself. L-Istrina in particular also provides a much-needed pre- text for us to collectively atone for our disregard for human suffering at all other times of the year. And how do we do it? Naturally, by giving ourselves a good hearty pat on the back for being so very generous and philanthropic… thus, in turn, feeding our home-grown mythology, of Malta as a 24 OPINION maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 DECEMBER 2019 Raphael Vassallo Should we boycott Christmas, too?