or why Mark Camilleri (and Alex Vella Gera) really ought to be imprisoned for a sensible period of time
This Realtà business is now in overdrive. Author Alex Vella Gera is rightly pissed off at the liberties some people have taken of printing his piece in various forms without first kindly asking him for permission. I had written to Alex asking him for a copy of Li Tkisser Sewwi when the ruckus was still in its infancy. I had intended to publish a copy too on J’accuse (hey, controversy sells if anything) but then refrained from doing so on the basis of the purely personal, unobjective and biased criteria called taste – mine.
It is my blog after all and if I don’t like the way a story goes I feel rather confident in choosing not to publish it. But as I said. It was a matter of taste – my taste – and not an all out injunction on Alex’s liberty to have his characters express themselves in whatever manner he chooses in order to make (or, controversially enough, not to make) a point.
Having said that, the issue now has moved on to Mark Camilleri – the (young) editor of the publication that carried Li Tkisser Sewwi in the first place. The news of his imminent arraignment before the courts of law has moved many people into more direct action with regard to this supposed infringement on the freedom of expression. What kind of country is it that in the 21st century arrests people for obscenity? So we had the group of authors (1) regretting the “institutionalised curbing of the freedom of expression“. Meanwhile Labour has called for a review of the laws that be while Minister Dolores Cristina distanced herself from the arraignment of (young – it seems to make a difference to the press that this is a young student – have you asked yourself why the emphasis?) Mark Camilleri.
There is a whiff of the very Maltese phenomenon of bandwagon-riding movement about to kick off. We had to wait until the ridiculous concoction of delusionally constructed social mores, hypocritical holier-than-thou movements, antiquated laws and non-liberal crowd pleasers would lead to a young (there it goes again that adjective – is it an insult? an apology? an appendix?) editor faces being locked up behind bars for publishing an article.
That we needed this local caricature of a Dreyfus affair so as to finally shake the supposed intellectual elite out of their navel-gazing, self-congratulatory stupor is just another symptom of the cultural malaise that afflicts the island. Hell, you do not even need to go back to Stitching to see how much we have tolerated before even emitting a tiny squeak (and probably aimed at the wrong persons) of protest. The aspirant liberal society has allowed women to be arraigned before magistrates of the law for the crime of exposing their boobs in public. Not a squeak then. Maybe a guffaw or a derisory comment on Catholic Malta but nothing more.
The intellectuals and liberals, if any are left, should have been protesting in the street and yelling cultural murder ever since legislators, law enforcers and saintly predicators were falsely implying that such things as strip clubs, topless sunbathing and dressing up as the apostles for carnival go against the collective mores of this catholic society. Yet they were silent.
It gets worse. Every time they voted in the political system that is a comfortable bedfellow with those who still sell the lie of the catholic nation to those who dare not contradict, they continued to acquiesce to the very status quo that they now criticise and yell against in disbelief.
“In European Malta of the 21st century, expression should be free. Acts of censorship cast serious doubts on the respect of the fundamental rights and freedoms safeguarded by the Constitution,” they said.
That is what the authors wrote about. They are amazed that 21st century Malta still applies antiquated laws. Why they are amazed is beyond me. Every topless sunbather arraigned, every performance censored and every act towards the preservation of the political muzzle that hinders the nation’s intellectual and cultural development should have been a constant warning signal that this is so.
If they did not get the message till now then we can only hope (no hard feelings guys) that Mark Camilleri and Alex Vella Gera end up behind bars for a sensible period of time (judging by current standards of course). Maybe then, only then will the huge gap in our society’s development curve become apparent to those who should have seen it long ago.
(1) John Aquilina, Clare Azzopardi , Mario Azzopardi, Simon Bartolo, Norbert Bugeja, Mark Camilleri, Charles Casha, Antoine Cassar, Charles Colerio, Noel Fabri, Lino Farrugia, Charles Flores, Francis Galea, Sergio Grech, Maria Grech Ganado, Adrian Grima, Simone Inguanez, Gorġ Peresso, Ray Mahoney, Ġorġ Mallia, Albert Marshall, Immanuel Mifsud, Kevin Saliba, Andrew Sciberras, Karl Schembri, Loranne Vella, Vince Vella, Alex Vella Gera and Trevor Żahra.
5 replies on “Freedom of Expression”
i for one was amazed at said hullaballoo mainly cause in the last decade or so i have witnessed the following:
Genesis – a local film production wherein the main character blasphemes loudly, clearly and profusely (of the madonna variety) – this film needed funding to be transferred from digital to 24mm and was therefore submitted to the ministry in charge of arts and culture – funding was refused but no witch hunt ensued – i had seen a screening at the university;
Marat/Sade – performed at the MITP – one of the characters flashed his manhood and frolicked about (still flashing) the archbishop (of course played by an actor);
Karl Schembri, Guze` Stagno, Immanuel Mifsud, Trevor Zahra – they all published books, round about the same time, where explicit language was used (and i believe it was mifsud’s KIMIKA, years later, the first to sport a warning on its cover);
Shelley Rayner – i am not sure whether this tv series was prime time or not, but some of the characters swore (but did not blaspheme);
Playpen(?) – i am not sure what this was called but i clearly remember a locally produced magazine sporting topless girls – it just ran for one issue as far as i know;
and these are just the first things that popped to mind… i thought that the island was beyond certain stuff and that only the overtly blasphemous still stirred the waters… but apparently…
I very much doubt whether the case against Mark Camilleri (Vella-Gera is not a defendant, is he?) is a question of laws being “antiquated”.
As far as I know there’s no definition in the law of what’s “obscene”, “pornographic” or “public moral”, giving ample leeway to the magistrate presiding to interpret what constitutes such in the light of the current social mores.
Excising those parts of the law completely is hardly likely (meaning that, politically, the bandwagon you refer to will not go very far). And rightly so: I don’t think many people would be ready to make the case that pornography should not be subject to any restrictions in distribution especially when it comes to minors. Ditto for “offence to public morals” which removal would make flashing legal.
So far, in this case, I can only complain about the legalistic approach of the Rector and the highhandedness of the police (which can happen with even the most sensible, up-to-date law). And for all the talk about “the authorities” there’s is and should be difference and separation between the government, police and the Courts.
As to the law, at most expect some tinkering. Just as well.
I wish Camilleri luck.
Perhaps an analogy should be made here to the ‘Bovary scandal’ rather than the ‘Dreyfus Affair’.
What a pedantic little stickler is themaltapamphleteer!
But here is a question. Would J’Accuse agree that a piecemeal approach to this situation, contesting event after event as though they were isolated, has little effect except to solidify existing positions, and that malta’s liberal community would do well to press for a serious and inclusive review of the constitution?
Regards
Agreed. On both counts.
A serious and inclusive review of the constitution
Admittedly, it sounds sexy. But what does it mean or imply?