Tag: freedom of expression

Categories
Mediawatch

The United Kingdom’s Fourth Estate

The UK Parliament is under huge pressure (including a looming deadline) to enact new measures that would regulate the behaviour of newspapers. The highly controversial measures have seen an increase in cross-party negotiations as the Lib-Dems (Tory partner in government) seem to prefer an alignment with Miliband’s Labour on this one. Labour, on its own part is not too keen to be seen working comfortably with Clegg’s party for the simple reason that it would prefer to send out the image of a party that could govern alone.

It is not just our “fledgling” 50 year old parliamentary democracy that has trouble working out the difference between legislative representation and governance. Coalitions and possible difficulties they carry have nothing to do with the real problem here. Only the short-sighted would pin the trouble on the existence of the coalition. Cameron, in fact, is having to also deal with 20 rebel MPs (at least) and that surely proves that the controversial subject is one of those that causes rifts and alliances beyond the lines of government vs opposition in any case.

What is more interesting  in fact is the nature of the ongoing debate – whether or not the press should be controlled by statute or by charter. The repercussions of statutory control are enormous since the chances that MPs become the ultimate guardians of the free press would be higher in such a case. The problem of such a scenario is that this would put serious limits on the freedom of the press itself – the risks of the abuse of the power by MPs would end up creating an unnecessary muzzle of imaginary censorship.

A Royal Charter setting up an independent body could be the most amenable solution in the circumstances. It would ensure that one of the entities that must be scrutinised by the press does not suddenly have control over their freedom of expression. By way of example, the British Broadcasting Corporation was set up by Royal Charter.

The danger of having parliamentary control over the press can never be sufficiently highlighted. Dealing with this in a Westminster-style parliamentary democracy is all the more important – and the danger of having a relativist idea of fairness dominate true principles of justice and rights is a clear and present danger. Not just on the embankment in London.

There can be absolutely no doubt that this rise to commercial greatness was partly made possible by those freedoms won in the 18th century – an independent judiciary; habeas corpus; freedom of assembly; the right of voters to choose their representatives; and above all the freedom of the press to speak truth to power: to ridicule, to satirise – even to vilify – and to expose wrongdoing. – Boris Johnson on the rise to greatness of London.

Categories
Internet Rights Values

World day against Cyber Censorship

The 12th of March is the World day against cyber censorship. The tools of the digital age have thrown back the frontiers of darkness and ignorance that have previously been used to keep whole populations in check. Reporters Without Borders and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) are two organisations that are active in the ongoing battle for freedom of information particularly in the battle against the use and abuse of laws to silence or block the digital (cyber) modes of expression. The Arab Spring and the continuous struggle in China both prove that digital activism can be effective especially in countries where the freedom of expression is a luxury. You may be familiar, for example, with the work of Yoani Sanchez – the Cuban dissident blogger who has become a symbol of freedom of expression in a country that was obsessed with control of information.

It is not just the standard totalitarian regimes who have trouble with information. Even the healthiest of democracies might suffer bouts of allergic intolerance to the independent minded expression of ideas. Again, a combination of ignorance that is nurtured by the establishment and abuse of freedoms based on a misunderstanding of their value  would contribute to the fouling of an atmosphere of open expression and intellectual engagement.

On a more local level the recent events on the day of silence might be misconstrued as a formal attempt to gag the new participants in the social discourse. That would be mistaken. The rule of silence (or reflection) might be an archaic rule but is a law of the land just the same. It is not a blanket censorship that exists eternally but a particular moment of silence imposed with what might be a misguided motivation but is a rational motivation just the same. Whether or not the day of silence can still serve its purpose in the digital age of facebook and twitter (or whether it should be extended to such means) is not really a matter of censorship with political ends but really a obvious example of a law that needs updating to take into consideration the modern circumstances. This is all the more necessary in the absence of objective interpretations that could per se have sufficed to fill such a lacuna.

A dangerous situation is created when rules such as the rule of reflection are abused of by parts of the political establishment in order to make whatever political capital they might deem fit. Such a danger is aggravated if members of the executive forces (whose duty it is to protect and serve) and members of the fourth estate (journalists whose duty would be to objectively investigate) become witting or unwitting co-conspirators in such an abuse of the legal provisions.

On this World Day Against Cyber Censorship J’accuse would like to reiterate a fundamental disagreement with the current laws affecting expression during election campaigns in Malta. This includes the rules appertaining to silence on the day before and on the day of elections, the rules covering the “balancing of opinions” on public broadcasting, the rules regulating the funding of political party campaigns and the lack of rules (or lack of application thereof) covering the blatant abuse and violation of digital rights with regards to the collection and reuse of personal digital data.

Happy World Day Against Cyber Censorship.

Blog… and be damned!

 

(illustration is an adaptation of the Reporters Without Frontiers cover to their report on Cyber Censorship)

Categories
Internet Rights

The Emperor’s New “Internet Civil Rights”

There seems to be “all-round support for the internet as a civil right” if we are to believe the Times, and we have no reason not to. Lawyer Antonio Ghio described it as “the legal crystallisation of a reality we live in”, which is an interesting statement for many a reason. Ever since PM Gonzi announced “four new civil rights related to online behaviour” there seems to have been much clapping and jumping with enthusiasm. J’accuse has a problem with this enthusiasm – yes we’re going to be the usual wet blanket but we feel duty bound to point at the herd of elephants presently occupying the centre of the debate.

Elephants, might I add, that seem to have escaped everybody’s attention. So here are the questions in short: What exactly are these rights and if we do not know what they are how can we be so bloody enthusiastic about them?

The pseudo-psychological analysis of the situation is simple. “The people” were pissed off about ACTA – all that yada yada about lack of consultation and infringement of rights without actually looking into the darn agreement still gathered momentum. Enter Castille Office’s new technique of tackling complaints yesterday and we get the impromptu promise of “new civil rights”. Which brings us to the first problem… does anybody know what these rights are… and more importantly do we need them?

Mysterious rights you (probably) already have

So what actual facts do we have about these new rights? Well we have a DOI press release (PR0293 – thank you Fausto for the split second research). The rights are mentioned in the introductory paragraph:

Il-Prim Ministru Lawrence Gonzi jemmen li l-aċċess mingħajr xkiel ta’ persuna għall-Internet; id-dritt għall-informazzjoni u l-libertà tal-espressjoni permezz tal-internet; u d-dritt li jiddeċiedi x’informazzjoni jikkomunika huma drittijiet ċivili ġodda li għandhom jidħlu fil-liġijiet ta’ pajjiżna. Għalhekk il-Prim Ministru se jressaq liġi fil-Parlament li tiggarantixxi dawn id-drittijiet ċivili ġodda f’pajjiżna.

There you have it we find a generally worded reference to the four “rights”:

1) a right of unobstructed access to the internet;

2) a right to receive information via the internet;

3) a right to freely express oneself on the internet;

4) a right to decide what information to communicate.

Let us assume that rights two to four overlap insofar as they can be generally summed up as the right to exchange information (send/receive, upload/download) using this technology. That leaves us with the right to access the internet and the right to use it to exchange information. Can someone in their right mind who has been unaffected by this civil right frenzy stand up and tell me which of these rights does not already exist today?

As somebody put it (rightly) – why not introduce the basic civil right to read books, to watch TV and to listen to radio? Do you know why? Because it is already there – in the fundamental rights and freedoms that even our supposedly faulty and archaic laws include. So what is Castille selling?

Well, the people at Castille are not that stupid. If I can get you to believe that I am giving you the right to the air that you breathe and that for that you will be extremely grateful then why not? So who is being a silly ninny then?

Ignorance of the law is no excuse

We’ve said it before and we say it again. All too often nowadays we are being besieged by an army of supposed experts wanting to tinker with our legislation. The Franco Debono Reform is fast becoming an example of that. What could start off as a well meaning change ends up becoming a sweeping bungling exercise by the uninformed. And that is dangerous.

The anti-ACTAvists had us all in a twist about strip-searches at the border and Big Brother and Corporate intrusion into our private lives. What almost every indignant ACTAvist missed was the simple point that even if the strip-search myth turned out to be true it would be conducted in order to discover and prosecute an illegality. Downloading bootleg copies is a crime with or without ACTA. Illegal use of the instrument called internet is just as illegal as the illegal use of a book, radio or TV.

The Gonzi Civil Rights are stating the obvious. What they do not do is tell you that you have the right to use the internet illegally. Downloading your favourite Lana Del Ray album from Pirate Bay remains a technical illegality. Caveat pirata. Expression? You have always had the right to express yourself on the internet.. you did not need Gonzi’s 4 rights to do so. Is it clear? For example if you have decided to publish something like “Li Tkisser Sewwi” (or any other literary essay) on your blog you are just as likely to be sued under Maltese laws as you would be if you printed it in pamphlet form.

We should not be confusing the medium with the content. Sure we all want the right to the internet and soon we’ll be claiming for the right to wifi and fast-speed access. But the basic rules of society that have evolved since Socrates and Plato need not change. You have a right to express yourself – from graffitti on a wall to pamphlets to a blog – whether your use of that right impinges on the rights of others is a choice you make and that right has consequences you that you must also consider. I shall never stop repeating it: we are servants of the law so that we may be free (Cicero).

Those who should know

So if Fr Joe Borg is the communications expert he claims he is I expect him to be more clear about this ploy and not call it a “noble and laudable” measure. As for Antonio Ghio, with all due respect, the whole point of the “legal crystallisation of a reality” is that the very crystallisation is futile. You don’t need to be given a right that you already have – unless you mistakenly believe that these new rights will give you something extra.

Which brings me to the masked men and women at MAAG. Here’s Ingram Bondin from MAAG speaking about the rights that aren’t new:

Ingram Bondin, from the Malta Anti-Acta Group, which staged the protest on Saturday, welcomed the initiative, saying the rights were a “step forward for Maltese society”. However, he cautioned that the proposals would not stop opposition to Acta, which was driven by a host of other issues.

A host eh? I’m still waiting for an answer about the Convention on Cybercrime. It’s the kind of convention that shows you the limits of internet rights – particularly because crimes are crimes no matter what the medium. The Convention is a perfect example of the limits to the freedoms (that you already have) on the internet. More particularly take a look at the Protocol on Racism and Xenophobia. Yes, you can express yourself on the internet but that does not mean you can do so illegally.

Same goes with downloading, uploading etc. J’accuse’s conclusion remains the same: if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

Gonzi’s new “Four Civil Rights for the Internet” are nothing more than a marketing ploy of appeasement. We can afford to say it here because we don’t need to pander to the people for a vote or two. Our spineless opposition is so lost in the knee-jerk pandering to the “civil rights on internet” that it has forfeit any possibility of exposing the Emperor’s latest set of clothes.

 

Categories
Politics Values

Reality Bites

The Times reports that Alex Vella Gera and Mark Camilleri, respectively the author and the editor in the Li Tkisser Sewwi saga, have been acquitted of publishing pornographic and obscene material. So much for “censorship” then. It’s not like the fuss was not necessary, it’s not like there was no need for a discussion as to why a University rector might feel the need to involve the boys in uniform because of his fears about the content of a piece of writing.

This is a huge wake up call to all those who have been yelling about fascist governments and censorship. J’accuse pointed out, time and time again, that the law is there to be applied and that we could not yell censorship unless the courts of law actually thought that the law on pornography applied to the content. We will have the fury of literati bearing down upon us again but the naked truth is now written in the court judgement handed down by Magistrate Audrey Demicoli. Stories like Li Tkisser Sewwi are not considered pornographic or obscene under Maltese law.

So what are we left with? An overzealous rector and a police force that once again gets trumped in court (pole dancers, obscenity and pornography – all in a days work). On the other hand there will be less excuses for the illuminati of this world to yell “censorship”, “oppression” or “fascism” at some trumped up ghost.

Ironic as it may seem* reality does bite every now and again.

*phrase sponsored by PG’s tips.

Also on the subject:
Mark Biwwa’s : Violence and Obscenity Maltese Style

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Categories
Arts

NippleJesus (something clever)

The reactionary movement to the restrictions on the freedom of expression has taken different forms and attracted its own limited amount (if we really want to navel gaze) of controversial moments. J’accuse came under-fire when we took the opportunity to highlight the relative futility of certain modes of protest in today’s day and ager – particularly with regards to the over-reliance on facebook clicks and petitions and on the resorting to the over-worked medium of marches in Valletta.

Our criticism was particularly harsh (and provocative) because this ‘anti-oppression & police-state‘ movement does not (and should not) concern a bunch of University students. At least it does not only concern them. The whole aspirant artistic and intellectual non-fraternity is also deep in the muck and our criticism was also a direct result of the disappointment registered seeing the paucity of reactionary ideas. This led to the usual pooh-poohing of bloggers who can only write “something clever” on their blog rather than march up Republic Street waving megaphones.

We also asked “who cares?” as this is a genuine worry that comes up time and time again. It is stronger in the case of art than in the case of politics for example for art does not even have a monopoly on 90% of the nation who look upon politics as another way to vent their cultural genetic tendency towards fanaticism. The worry is that not many people do and that the weakness of the challenge to the development of a police state is also due to the fact that so long as the people get the “panem et circenses” that they are used to then they will not protest if Virgil and Horace are locked up for obscenity.

One of the summer events last month in Luxembourg was an adaptation of a Nick Hornby short story called “Nipple Jesus“. The blurb on the agenda magazine described it as follows:

Via a monologue (sometimes humorous) given by a security guard whose duty it is to guard a museum work of art judged to be scandalous, a number of essential questions on the function of art and what should or should not be shown are raised.

Unfortunately the play was shown in Luxembourgish so I could not attend that particular performance but I did google the short story on the net. Now I do have some qualms about the copyright nature of the material but on the other hand the story is too good to be lost. You may find it in pdf version at this blog called “Tainted Canvas“. This is definitely school textbook material (yes with all the “fucks” and two “cunts” thrown in for good measure). The controversial painting in question is a huge mosaic depicting the suffering Christ on the Cross  (with emphasis on the suffering). The twist (and this is no spoiler) is that the mosaic is made of many photos of women’s nipples (“bizla” in Maltese).

Follow Dave the bouncer’s reasoning throughout the story and draw you own conclusions. I loved it. One of my favourite extracts is the bit where the bouncer reflects on the second wave of visitors – those who have come expressly to criticise the work of art having read about it (and having been provoked into not liking it) by the media circus.

Nothing much happened at first. A steady stream of people came in and looked, and a couple of them sort of clucked, but what’s really clever about the picture is that you have to get close up to get offended, because if you stand at the back of the room you can’t see anything apart from the face of Christ. So it makes the cluckers look like right plonkers, because they have to go and shove their nose up against the painting to see the nipples, and so you end up thinking they’re perverts. You know, first they have to ignore the sign on the door telling them not to go in, and then they have to walk the length of the room, and they go, “Oh, disgusting.” So they’re really looking out for it.

Magic. Read it. Now.

Nick Hornby giving a public reading at Central...
Image via Wikipedia

Blurb by Maskenada for the Luxembourgish performance:

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Categories
Articles

J'accuse : Overnight Bags

It’s that time of the year when the arrival of the weekend heralds the packing of the overnight bag and a trip to some destination within driving distance of the Grand Duchy. It also means that the quality of the articles submitted to the Indy suffers from a telegraphic transformation as it is well nigh impossible to maintain a steady flow of coherent thought at about the same time as the mind wanders in parallel with what the encyclopaedia of the world has to throw at us.

Put briefly, the normal source of inspiration for the weekly J’accuse fare comes about as a not too summarised précis of the events populating the Internet of the previous week. At this time of the year, when the walking shoes are put on, we also add an extra set of feelers and listen to what the rest of the world is offering beneath its sun-kissed (hopefully) skies. For example, while the TV in some drive-by motel might announce record figures at the Edinburgh Fringe, and thus remind us that Art is more than alive and kicking in the more rational parts of the world, we prefer to sample this first hand by going out and about.

Walk through the cathedrals of illumination that are the bookstores in Blighty and you only stop for a minute to question whether that feeling of weirdness ever existed before getting your hands on a compendium of erotic literature that spans the centuries (The Collected Erotica – 2000 years of erotic literature available online at Waterstones) and pay for it at the check-out counter without feeling like you have violated a myriad laws of the state. “Life is easy abroad,” they will tell us Luxembourgers and Bruxellars with a wry smile. “You have no business reminding us how sad and oppressed the people of Malta are” they will say as they admonish us with much pointing of fingers and many a jealous gaze.

Intransigence

Funny how summer tends to bring out a regular parade of individuals intent on negating the attachment to Malta of their fellow countrymen simply because we do not have Malta as our one place of fixed abode at the moment. Apparently, we are no longer to be called expats but transfrontaliers or something of the sort. The phenomenon is not new on the continent; a Frenchman who commutes to Luxembourg for work will always consider himself to be a Frenchman rather than anything else and will be more worried about the advances (or otherwise) of Brother Sarkozy than in the intrigues of Juncker’s Luxembourg.

We are, however, the brigade that exists outremer (overseas) and that regularly pours articles of concerned disdain about the mishandling and mismanagement of our country. Our unbiased judgement (by national standards) is more often than not mistaken as some form of intellectual snobbishness since we can afford to stand aloof – far enough that we do not even need to peg our noses to avoid the stink. Woe betide mollycuddled (sorry Raphael, I like this version more – another jaccusism) expatriate tax-avoiders should they type even one word to criticise the goings on in the land of Milk and Honey.

Tired of the PLPN rant, I resolved to use the eighth month of the year for mental regeneneration in the hope that new ideas replace the mantra of old. No more Fear and Loathing in Valletta for us. In the meantime we notice, without any trace of humility, that the blog “e-volution” has been a partial catalyst to some form of mediatic development that was previously untraceable. Paul Borg Olivier will choose his boat trips more carefully next time around and he will do so because – notwithstanding all cynicism and conspiracy theories – such trips no longer go unnoticed.

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Emancipation

Last week I criticised the Front Against Censorship for its choice of medium for protesting against the current state of the freedom of expression. The reaction to my criticism has prompted much of this article this week. I stand by my original statement – not with any intention of discouraging the young lads (ah, how I yearn for the folly of youth) from their task, but rather to urge them into more proactive action. Bring the Fringe to the streets of Malta. Fill space with ideas and darkness with light. The protest is not just a means in itself, it could become the very expression that the Front are rightly reclaiming.

The Internet is a wonderful medium of empowerment and expression. It is still, I believe, an unknown factor in Maltese social life and politics. We have still to see what the numbers are behind the equations – what is a “popular website”? , “What can we consider to be the maximum threshold for a Maltese website in terms of hits?” “how net literate are we?”. New battle lines are being drawn on the ether as Google controversially toys with the concept of “internet neutrality”. After its bumpy honeymoon with the Chinese giant, Google still seems to be hungry for power that ill befits its slogan of “Do no evil”.

Books

No overnight bag would be complete without a book to accompany you on the journey. I still have not got used to the e-book reader thanks to the hundreds of snags afforded by proprietary rights so I still depend on the printed word. I’m stocking up on a mixture of classics this summer – books I should have read long ago. From On the Road (Kerouac) to Kafka’s Castle through to a gigantic compendium on the history of Christianity. The best catch of the week has to be Thucydides’ History – an illustrated bumper hardback that is a veritable time machine into the days of our forefathers.

When I tire of the books, I switch to photography and editing – a new, very amateurish hobby of mine. Books and cameras will accompany me on any journey. During that journey I will sample the goods and delicacies of the lands I visit – like the memorable Winston Churchill burger I once washed down in Chaucer’s Canterbury. It was a home-made burger with all the right spices coated in sweet onions and a lovely capping of melted Stilton. As rudely pleasant as the Wife of Bath (God bade us for to ‘wexe’ and ‘multiplye’).

Art cannot die because if art dies then mankind is dead. It accompanies us to the depths of the earth. This expression business has really stuck in my head more than any other issue that has been in the headlines in Malta recently. It is a sad situation at the moment because it is a sad reflection on a country with so much potential that can only be wasted thanks to our trend for internecine warfare and jealous ideals. Frankly, I’m switching off the thinking cap for the next few weeks as I absorb, absorb, absorb.

For the world has so much to offer. If we’re prepared to listen that is.

www.akkuza.com is sort of packing its bags every weekend this summer. Join us in the interim and check out our views. As we type, publisher Chris Gruppetta has guest posted about what he thinks is the next big step in the freedom of expression saga. Gesundheit.

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