Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1543022
9 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 4 FEBRUARY 2026 OPINION Sapienti sat: A word of caution to the wise Andrea Briffa Lawyer at Aditus IT is a peculiar kind of 'protec- tion' that requires 10 bullets fired at point-blank range into a restrained man. When shots rang out at a Minneapolis in- tersection on the 24th of Jan- uary 2026, Alex Pretti was not the only victim; the very notion of state accountability died alongside him. We must first be honest with ourselves. When it takes two handfuls of armed, masked men to pin a single individual to the pavement, we are not witnessing courage. It is mob violence wearing a government uniform. What we saw was the exercise of a trigger-happy personality, emboldened by a state-sanctioned impunity that treats a badge as a licence for cruelty. The official propaganda that followed was reminiscent of George Orwell's novel, 1984, in which the following warning is more than apt: "The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. But do not be fooled. This was a murder. Yet, it also served as a desolate reminder of how ef- fectively a state narrative can strip a life of its inherent val- ue. This is what happens when societies spend years reviving and regurgitating the rhetoric of 'vermin' and 'blood poison- ing'. Those words, which infa- mously used by Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf to sway the pop- ulace, and which still echo to- day in political rallies, are not just mere insults. They serve as a moral opiate, designed to numb the conscience so that the trigger-pull feels like a civic duty rather than a crime. By no means is this writing intended as a Reductio ad Hit- lerum. However, in the interest of confronting an uncomforta- ble truth, it is a grave shame to see history repeating itself. The deeper tragedy is that we have clearly not learned from those rookie mistakes; and it is be- cause of this paradigm that we must rely on humanity's dark- est era to understand the mod- ern state of the world. We are currently witnessing a series of chilling similarities. Just as Hitler marched troops into the Rhineland in 1936 to test a weak League of Nations, we see modern territorial gam- bles through Palestine, Ven- ezuela, and Greenland, and a growing defiance of interna- tional law against the backdrop of an impotent United Nations. The primary tool has always been the 'othering' of people. Whether it is the antiquated labelling of opponents as 'pests' or 'criminals', or the claim that migrants are 'poi- soning the blood' of a nation, the focus has shifted from ex- ternal threats to internal ones. Both eras have utilised a spe- cific brand of populism which renders traditional media, crit- ical thinking, and fact-check- ing irrelevant to the loyalists. Of particular concern is the weaponisation of the executive. Just as the Gestapo operated outside the traditional judicial system through protective cus- tody, we now see an evolution of enforcement that relies on secrecy and the bypass of judi- cial safeguards. When slogans like 'One Homeland, One People, One Heritage' are used in the US, mimicking Hitler's 'Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer', it pro- vides the ideological branding to justify the 'cleansing' of a nation by an enforcement arm that answers to populism rath- er than law. In the Maltese context, we see this being normalised (and ap- plauded) when the authorities raid a public bus and racially profile passengers before haul- ing them off to detention. We see it in the sight of unaccom- panied children being kept be- hind those wired fences—bul- lied, harassed, and maltreated. We see it in the treatment of those who are detained simply for the 'crime' of applying for asylum. I must admit my contempt for the term 'detention centre'. These words are, to me, noth- ing more than a euphemism of the original term 'concentra- tion camps'. Yes, there are no gas chambers or death squads in Safi. However, there are vast human rights violations occurring, even as we speak. The methodology has changed since the 1940s, but the un- derlying philosophy remains identical: Demonise, ostracise, divide, and conquer. A 'state of exception' general- ly refers to a situation of crisis in which a government invokes extraordinary powers by sus- pending normal legal rules. As observers of the machinery of power, we see this state of exception being built brick by brick, both at home and over- seas. Whether it is the res- urrection of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act in the US or the tactical crusades against NGOs and CSOs here in Malta and across Europe, the objective re- mains the same—manufacture a buffer-zone where the law exists on paper but is bypassed in practice. By rebranding a ci- vilian migration flow as an 'in- vasion', a state conducts a dan- gerous pivot by replacing the sanctity of laws and the court- room with the volatile whims of public opinion. The responsibility for this shift does not lie solely within the halls of high office, for a re- gime is only ever as cruel as its public is indifferent. During the Nazi consolidation of power, the concept of Gleichschaltung (the systematic synchronisa- tion of all social and legal insti- tutions) was the primary tool of control. Yet the real danger isn't just the coordination of the state; it is the coordination of the living room. It is the way we allow ourselves to play the role of 'good citizens', nodding along to the promise of security while the cost of that security is measured in corpses at the bot- tom of the Mediterranean Sea. We are being sold a bargain— national pride in exchange for our empathy. We are told that NGOs are 'traffickers' or a 'cancer of society', and that extending a helping hand to another human being is an act of 'treachery'. It is a cynical tac- tic to rebrand compassion as a crime. In Malta, we should not need reminding of where this path leads. We must not forget Lassana Cisse, murdered in a drive-by shooting in 2019 for the simple fact of being black. While his murder was a rare and extreme act, it was the in- evitable harvest of the institu- tional dehumanisation sowed in our current policies and dis- course. The historical tragedies of the 1930s were not solely the work of monsters. They were made possible by millions who convinced themselves that as long as they weren't the ones pulling the trigger, they wer- en't part of the violence. But silence is a signed confession, and 'following orders' hasn't been a defence since the 1945- 1946 Nuremberg Trials. If we accept the false narrative that a human being can be 'illegal' by their very existence, we pro- vide the moral cover for every bullet that follows and every cry for rescue that drowns. In Malta, we hold a unique and heavy responsibility. We are not merely observers of the state of exception; we are its geographical frontier. The decisions given in our court- rooms, the legislation debated in our parliament, and the di- plomacy we conduct with our neighbouring states are the true barometers of our democ- racy. Reject the Gleichschaltung of the living room and move be- yond the silence that serves as a confession. Dissent against a dehumanising status quo is not unpatriotic—quite the contra- ry: it is the cornerstone of Mal- tese identity. The tragedy of the 1930s was that many only realised the cost of their silence once the darkness was absolute. Today, in 2026, the lights are still flickering. We have the privilege of speech and the capacity to act. We are at a crossroads, and we must choose: To be the an- chor that holds the line for thy neighbour, or to be the weight that drags them to the seabed and regress 90 years of pro- gress. The darkness doesn't fall all at once. It arrives in the mo- ments where we decide it's eas- ier to shrug than to speak. The choice to speak is yours. The darkness doesn't fall all at once. It arrives in the moments where we decide it's easier to shrug than to speak. The choice to speak is yours.