A tribute to activists of all genres… - Alan Deidun

The brutal assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia has lifted the lid, at least for the uninitiated, on the sheer lengths that some individuals or syndicates are prepared to go in order to silence those shedding light on the murky and the nebulous. Having been involved in local environmental activism for the past 20 years, I find many parallels between journalists and environmentalists in their common search for the truth.

There are many, for instance, who assume the role of environmental journalists. The number of environmental activists slain globally is steadily on the rise. In 2016, 200 were slain in 24 countries, including Berta Caceres,  winner of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, who was killed in Honduras for protesting over a controversial dam project that is displacing indigenous people. (www. goldmanprize.org/recipient/berta-caceres/).

Once must go beyond the statistics of these killings, which grab the limelight but which are not a comprehensive indicator of the real extent of the suffering that activists of all genres have to go through to bring about change. For instance, very often, murder is just the last desperate attempt to silence the activist…it is...