The 18-year-old niece of assassinated journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has accused Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Opposition leader Adrian Delia of stoking the flames of racism.

“It has to start from education and I don’t just mean education at school, but at home,” Megan Mallia said in a dialogue at the University of Malta that was held in the wake of the racially motivated murder of Lassana Cisse Souleymane. “The fact that our Prime Minister and Opposition leader, along with other main politicians, have been publicly critical of foreigners in our country, going so far as to insult them with their language, says a lot.”

She quoted a line from her late aunt about how “racism and ignorance go hand in hand” and how education needs to come from everywhere, before turning towards Education Minister Evarist Bartolo, who was seated in the front row.

“I think we need to ask our Education Minister ‘Where is the education and discussion?’ We need to learn about justice at school and we’re not doing that.”

The dialogue was organised by the Faculty for Social Wellbeing and was well attended, with students, lecturers and members of the public packing the lecture hall.

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Tim Diacono

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]