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WATCH: 14-Year-Old Maltese Girl: ‘We’ve Had More Than Enough Of Your Crap, Shame On You Castille’

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A 14-year-old girl delivered a fiery speech in Valletta last night, denouncing the government for fostering corruption and a sense of impunity, eroding freedom of speech and tolerating hate speech.

“We’re in a very sad state, where people are scandalised if you swear but not by their own corruption,” Tiziana Aljasem said. “A state where journalist are assassinated for doing their job properly, a state where a government MP can threaten a female MP and still receive the Ġieħ ir-Repubblika. This is your best of times, this is your best in Europe and this is your endless corruption.”

“We’ve had enough of your hypocrisy and double standards and have had more than enough of your crap. Shame on you, Castille, shame on you.”

Tiziana is an activist with the Partit Demokratiku and indeed the Ġieħ ir-Repubblika reference was a throwback to 2015 when former Labour MP Joe Debono Grech had said in Parliament that he’ll beat up PD MP Marlene Farrugia.

In her speech last night, held to mark 17 months since the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, the young activist said she only started reading the late journalist’s blog after her death but that she decided to join the movement demanding justice for her murder so as to defend the right to freedom of speech.

“Many keep asking me why I care so much, but I care because we reach a point where asking uncomfortable questions means you either shut up or get blown up. 17 months ago it was Daphne, but who knows who it might be next?”

“I care because our freedom of speech is being slowly eroded, because a woman was brutally assassinated in order to silence her. I myself feel ashamed to say I live in a country where hate speech is tolerated but freedom of speech isn’t. For a year and half we’ve been demanding justice, and we expect justice and not to keep hearing of new scandals everyday.”

Punker

Turkish journalist Pelin Ünker

The vigil was also addressed by Pelin Ünker, a Turkish journalist who hit the International news wearier this year when a Turkish court sentenced her to 13 months in prison after finding her guilty of defamation and insult for writing about Maltese companies owned by former Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım. Ünker has appealed this decision and her case has drawn widespread sympathy from journalists and press freedom organisations.

“Being a journalist in Turkey requires courage but I don’t know whether I’d have had the strength to do what Daphne did and to go through what she went through,” Ünker said. “She exposed powerful people and held power to account. She never gave up and neither should we.”

“Daphne was a patriot who wanted better standards for Malta and she continued working against all odds because she wanted Malta to do better.”

“Journalists persist in exposing wrongdoing because we love our country, because we want the best for it, because we want the public to be informed and because we want the abuse of power and corruption to be exposed. This is our job but also our vocation.

“Malta is worse off now that Daphne Caruana Galizia is gone but I can see hope in the civil society activists that Daphne will not to be forgotten, that her sacrifice will not be in vain and that her voice will live on.”

READ NEXT: Malta Denied Visa To Turkish Journalist’s Baby Because Of ‘Risk’ Infant Would Stay Here Illegally

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]

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