Ir-Realta urges intervention by University Ombudsman

Anthony Farrugia

Nov 24th 2009, 09:56

Well the time has come to exit stage left. Before I leave a word for friendly advice to Mr Sammut: do not rush to reply to other contributors,do not skim,but read their contributions carefully and always keep in mind what you have posted in your previous conttributions so as to avoid spirals within wheels.
So now centre stage to Mr Sammut to mount his favourite hobby horse jousting at windmills.

Anthony Farrugia

Nov 23rd 2009, 21:06

@Frans Sammut: Have a closer look at my last post and you will see that 99% of my post was quoting what you had already pontificated in your precious contributions!
I never did enter into the merits whether the contribution was "crass" or not because it was in Maltese; this was raised by Mr Sammut.
I was querying whether Mr Sammut had abrogated to himself the monopoly on contributions regarding this item as other common mortals were not sufficiently acquainted with what was going on. Thus the patronising tone of his contributions.
I agree with Mr Sammut only when states that his interpretation of facts has turned the whole affair into a farce and a silly one at that.
These posts have been a good example of neo-colonialist hang-ups and the Maltese trait of mole-hills and mountains.

m.portelli

Nov 23rd 2009, 14:02

@ Frans Sammut

It is still the Rector who needs to be taken to task, his office is responsible for this and by default his action reflects a bias against the mother tongue with a good measure of hypocrisy thrown in which ever way he tries to sell it. His actions intend to limit the use of Maltese. Yes I acknowledge that literature in Maltese like that of any language can range from the crass. mediocre, dull, good, riveting and excellent but there shouldn't be an artistic prescription on the type of language used for literature. That widens the function use of Maltese contrary to wishes of those who would dearly love to witness its death throes confining it to the dull and dry transcripts of translations from Brussels.

Frans Sammut

Nov 22nd 2009, 13:10

@m.portelli
I wasn't referring to the University Rector. I have already suggested you should ask Mr Anthony Farrugia who has suddenly grown silent. He knows who suggested that the piece under review is "crass, etc." because it was written in Maltese. This interpretation of facts has turned the whole affair into a farce and a silly one at that.

m.portelli

Nov 22nd 2009, 09:59

@ F. Sammut

I understood the implication perfectly well from the start that is why it needs to be exposed as the crass and mediocre hypocrisy it is, more so when the accusation stems from the office of the Rector of the UoM. Would you not feel the need to challenge such a blatant in yer face case of two weights and two measures? I interpret the rector's action as an attempt to limit the function use of Maltese since he doesn't object to Ovid, Boccaccio, Nabokov or Welsh in the UoM's library where minors can also wonder about. I think this situation sums up the Maltese reality, a reality infused like a stagnant cup of tea with mediocrity. I invoke Vassalli’s memory in appreciation of a critical thinker who suffers for having the audacity to show independence of mind. I think the time to stone critical thinkers is long past. What we need is to actuate Vassalli's dream.

Frans Sammut

Nov 21st 2009, 18:30

@m.portelli
I suggest you asked Mr Anthony Farrugia what I am talking about.
In the meantime I will remind you and other interested readers that the pornographic writing under review has been found "crass etc" precisely because it was written in Maltese. The obvious implication is that had this piece of pornography been written in some other language, it would not have sounded so "crass, etc."
Do you understand to which "reality" I am referring to, now, m.portelli?

m.portelli

Nov 21st 2009, 00:07

@ Frans Sammut


What is that is going on that only you can discern? Do we live in some different Maltese reality? Who is conspiring against what? You have every right to stick to your position but the truth of the matter is that you will also need to purge the contents of the library at the UoM. Who will you prosecute then, the Rector, the chief librarian? Do keep in mind that some university students may not yet be eighteen (e.g. 1st years with birthdays in November and December). What will you do bar them from the library? Burn Ovid, Boccaccio, Nabokov or Welsh (In retrospect, how would you react, should they or say Baudelaire or Apollinaire ever be translated into Maltese, would you veto that?) I am quite intrigued really by your position; you swing from pure aesthete to puritan philistine, the true dissonant.
Re the use of Maltese, Why is it" crass precisely because it is in Maltese?" You surprisingly appear to want to limit the function use of Maltese and that is sad. The only conspiracy I see is the one determined to quash the spirit of Vassalli.

Anthony Farrugia

Nov 20th 2009, 21:09

It appears that only Frans Sammut is sufficiently acquainted and qualified to comment on this subject so everbody else, back off.
"I would hate to see Mr Vella Gera hounded by the police or anything like that, but I would be overjoyed to see the police rap those who brought Gera's piece out of campus in order ostensibly to denigrate the Maltese language in which it was written. There is a hidden agenda behind the latter exercise, Mr Rizzo, you may not be aware of it yet. Delve deeper and you will agree with me. '
So can he illuminate us common mortals about this hidden agenda ? Oh boy another conspiracy theory aficionado.
It also seems that he is not yet decided whether the police should be involved or not? But he would be "overjoyed" if the police rap the conspirators and denigrators of the Maltese language in which the piece was written.
I am logging off to delve deeper into the matter. Yawn Yawn

Frans Sammut

Nov 20th 2009, 20:09

@m.portelli You don't seem to be sufficiently acquainted with what is going on. Yes sir, it has been stated that Vella Gera's mini-cuento appears to be so horrible because the jargon he uses is crass etc precisely because it is in Maltese. Portelli, wake up and smell the coffee, man. And don't start blabbering before you are aware of what is really going on. I repeat what I have been saying, I am in favour of complete freedom of expression, but against the dissemination of pornography that is within the reach of minors. Got it now, Portelli? Well, if you don't, lump it. That is my position and I will not budge no matter how much you and your ilk try to twist it:. I wouldn't like to see Vella Gera charged by the police or anything like that, but I wouldn't mind seeing shady characters being interrogated by the same authorities on the propagation of pornography at the risk of scandalizing minors.

m.portelli

Nov 20th 2009, 16:30

@ Frans Sammut Quel outrage !

'I would be overjoyed to see the police rap those who brought Gera's piece out of campus in order ostensibly to denigrate the Maltese language in which it was written. There is a hidden agenda behind the latter exercise, Mr Rizzo, you may not be aware of it yet. Delve deeper and you will agree with me. '

Ah now we have a conspiracy theory!

'denigrate the Maltese language in which it was written'?

What exactly are you on about ?Are you implying that idiomatic and colloquial Maltese denigrates Maltese? Settling for the analytic of the beautiful are we? Insisting on a sublime detachment from the mundane Maltese world, so that nothing will intrude between your exquisite aesthetic sensibilities and the shrine of pure art? Who would have thought you could swing the censorship baton with such aptitude. What will come next, the sanitisation of sound spaces in our villages and towns? Linguistic straightjackets on authors, publishers, playwrights? You aid the cause of mediocre paternalism and the slow garrotting of critical thinking, not Vassalli's dream for sure!

Frans Sammut

Nov 20th 2009, 15:43

@Anthony Farrugia
How did you come into all this? What qualifies you to enter this debate and act as if you knew it all? Do you know what we're talking about? Do you know what YOU're talking about?
Oh, for Crikey's sake, these comment boards!
Every Tom, Dick and Harry think they can join in whenever they want, and expect to be taken seriously, apart from the stiff upper lip stance they assume!
Mr Farrugia we're discussing the underlying difference and the overriding significances regarding literature and pornography. What do you know about the two? Pray tell us, Oh Oracle of Delphi, that we may learn.

Anthony Farrugia

Nov 20th 2009, 13:12

@Frans Sammut: How patronising!!

Frans Sammut

Nov 20th 2009, 11:01

Sorry to disagree with you again. Pornography is not entirely meant to excite in the way you put it. De Sade does not excite at all. Sometimes the aim is to be repulsive. It can be an exercise in self-excitement regardless of the effect it can have on the viewer/reader so long as it conveys a message of revolt, rebellion, call it what you may. In any case it remains far from the realm of art or at least tasteful writing.
By the way, there is a great difference also from erotic writing. I hate to go back to what I had already written. Pornography is what it say it is: whore-writing as the Greek suggests.
To recap: I would hate to see Mr Vella Gera hounded by the police or anything like that, but I would be overjoyed to see the police rap those who brought Gera's piece out of campus in order ostensibly to denigrate the Maltese language in which it was written. There is a hidden agenda behind the latter exercise, Mr Rizzo, you may not be aware of it yet. Delve deeper and you will agree with me. Thank you.

Franco Rizzo

Nov 20th 2009, 10:02

I might be wrong but as far as pornography is concerned, it is meant to sexually excite the viewer, or in this case, reader. As disgusting as the portrayal of the mysoginistic character was, I doubt whether such writing caused that kind of excitement...

Frans Sammut

Nov 20th 2009, 09:07

Permit me to say you're wrong, Mr Rizzo. Others HAVE touched the subject already. But with taste (no pun intended). Just have a look at Hrejjef Zminijietna (2002) and see for yourself.
The point being made here is that there is a difference between genuine literary attempts and mindless incursions into stark pornography that must be countenanced in any civilized society.
I repeat my original point. I am for freedom of expression, absolutely,but I would still call a brothel with its real name, not try to define it as a temple of art. A lap dancer is a lap dancer, a ballerina is ... a ballerina. I hope you get my point.

Mike Rizzo

Nov 20th 2009, 00:05

Irrespective of the artistic merits of this story, it certainly seems to have hit a nerve with a lot of people. I wonder... perhaps this is because most people in Malta know someone like (or once themselves were like) the character in this story. What Alex Vera Gera has done is expose a side of Maltese society that everybody is afraid to talk about, and in that respect he should at least be recognised for having the courage to write about something that nobody has dared write about before.

Frans Sammut

Nov 19th 2009, 23:03

@Alex Vella Gera
Heed my words, keep writing crap like the "story" you wrote and you'll end your "literary career" before you even start it. Pornography is a monster that devours not only its children but itself. You won't find too many subjects to write about, because pornography is just one subject and no more.
If you try your hand at a wider range of subjects you may save your "career" if you really want to make a career in writing.
If you didn't read De Sade it's nobody's fault but yours. Take my advice and read him, you'll find out he has touched all aspects of pornography one can possibly think of, leaving you little space to wander in. Take a tip from an older hand, leave porn to those who make (dirty) money out of it and try something more salutary for yourself and your readers. Pornography is a dead end and you shouldn't waste more time on it. If you're a serious man, try something better. You may succeed yet, why not?
On the other hand, if you are dead set on making a bloody fool of yourself, just go ahead. I couldn't be bothered.

d.attard

Nov 19th 2009, 22:12

art is beauty...and beauty is in the eye of the beholder...some see porno some see art...so what is the problem with that...any one ever stood at a particular french museum staring at the throng staring at the the mona lisa...not believing how ugly she looks and wondering how that portrait can be considered beautiful? well i think the mona lisa is ugly and i would dearly have loved to see any beauty in the bland painting...but i do not and would not hold anything against those who see any kind of beauty in the portarit ...always wondered if it was all down to the lack of skill of the author or if the lady was as ugly as the painter makes her out to be...in my eyes...

GiovDeMartino

Nov 19th 2009, 18:10

The publishers should hide their heads in shame!

Anthony Farrugia

Nov 19th 2009, 17:46

Here we go again: all self-appointed arbiters of literature with a capital L have come crawling out of the woodwork once again. Shades of long hot wasted (better spent at the beach)summer afternoons wrestling with "forom" and "Inez Farrug"!

Jessica DeBattista

Nov 19th 2009, 17:40

@ Alan Vella: "So, any university student can write crap and have it disseminated officially on campus?"
Yes. If you truly believe in freedom of speech then the answer is a clear YES. Just because you or Frans Sammut believe that a story is crap, pornographic or "not artistic enought", it does not mean that it can be banned. Art is subjective by its very nature ....”"

By what criteria (and I really mean it) do you qualify that piece by Vella Gera as art? I’d like to know.

You can add me to the list together with Franco Farrugia and Frans Sammut - I feel honoured to be in their company.

How convenient to hide behind the right to freedom of speech to dare present to the general public filth and what’s more dare to defend it!

m.portelli

Nov 19th 2009, 17:09

@Frans Sammut: No your answer is not satisfactory, being as it is an answer coming from someone who incessantly tries to further the cause of M.A. Vassalli, the father of Maltese secularism. You appear to be in a cognitively dissonant conversation with the Vassallian part of yourself and the other, that part very keen on procedures of exclusion, trying to determine the permissible boundaries of Maltese in literary expression and publication. What you seem to be advocating is the power to silence, censor and infantalise rather than freedom of artistic expression and speech. That frankly is slightly puzzling.

Alan Vella

Nov 19th 2009, 15:47

E.ella: "What about female university students? Do they consider the writing a work of art?"

A female student answers your question in this very same newspaper: http://www.timesofmalta.com/blogs/view/20091113/students-view/distorted-realta

Alan Vella

Nov 19th 2009, 15:20

So A Clockwork Orange and Lady Chatterly's Lover have been relegated to pornography now? I advise Frans Sammut to stop digging a hole.

Franco Farrugia: "So, any university student can write crap and have it disseminated officially on campus?"

Yes. If you truly believe in freedom of speech then the answer is a clear YES. Just because you or Frans Sammut believe that a story is crap, pornographic or "not artistic enought", it does not mean that it can be banned. Art is subjective by its very nature - you cannot control or set boundaries to freedom of speech in that way. How difficult is this to understand?

F. Scerri-Headley

Nov 19th 2009, 14:57

Whatever happened to the principle behind the phrase (normally attributed to Voltaire):
"I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it". If the article did not incite or advocate anything illegal, then there should be no grounds to ban it.

Franco Farrugia

Nov 19th 2009, 14:26

@ Frans Sammut: 'I believe they enjoy a kind of “intellectual immunity”, the former being a university student, the latter a writer intending to publish within the precincts of campus.'
What 'intellectual immunity'? Can you expound on that, please? I mean, ... in what way does the term 'intellectual' come into this episode???
So, any university student can write crap and have it disseminated officially on campus?
What do we mean by 'publishing within the precincts of campus'?
Let's have a kind of Brigate Rosse, then, working within campus: that way, they will be above the law ... simply because they are university students and because they work in campus.

c.caruana

Nov 19th 2009, 14:25

@ASpiteri
a agree with you 100%. I dont want any far right leader to talk as he wants and attack whoever he wants!!

Alex Vella Gera

Nov 19th 2009, 14:18

@Frans Sammut

I have never read de Sade, so he couldn't have influenced me. But from what I've heard about de Sade's writings, comparing my story to them reveals a gross ignorance, not only of de Sade's work, but even more so, of my story.

Listen, I understand you have convinced yourself that you're some kind of guardian of literary "good taste" on the island. Good for you. But the more you insist that my story is nothing but pornography the more you make a fool of yourself.

Cheerio!

Frans Sammut

Nov 19th 2009, 14:14

@m.portelli
I believe you deserve an exact answer. I am definitely for freedom of speech and artistic expression but am equally against pornography masquerading as art.
If that answer is not clear enough I will try again to explain myself better.

D. Darmanin

Nov 19th 2009, 14:07

@Frans Sammut

Unfortunately this story was sensationalized and driven out of proportion by the Rector and the police.

Had they left the newspaper where it was, leaving the University students (who are supposed to be adults) to decide for themselves, no one would today be talking of Ir-Realta.

This story has yet again opened the wound of censorship in Malta. The paternalistic attitude of the authorities has to stop. So my support goes to Mark Camilleri not because I like Ir-Realta but because we are talking of fundamental human rights.

E.ella

Nov 19th 2009, 13:51

Frans Sammut

I definitely think the writing under review belongs with pornography, not art.

Agree with you hundred per cent

What about female university students? Do they consider the writing a work of art?

Joseph Schembri

Nov 19th 2009, 13:42

I read the story... I must say that I found it nothing much more than the type of language some men in my local bar use. To call it art needs considerable stretching of the imagination. I would not have printed it were I the editor of the newspaper because I see no merit in it. But maybe by printing it his newspaper has now shot to fame or notoriety. I am sure that he will not be arraigned.... or maybe the police are hard headed enough to do it in the light of the fact that a well known acerbic columnist has published it in her blog in an attempt to bask in the limelight that this silly incident has provided.

Edwin Seychell

Nov 19th 2009, 13:28

I don't agree with most of the comments posted here. Whether the short fiction story is art or not should not be the issue. A lot of rubbish is written regularly in newspapers and online, and a lot is said on radio and TV. And this includes porn, which believe it or not (for the uninitiated), it can be accessed with a couple of clicks online 24/7. No one takes notice of this though - if you don't want to read, listen or watch, you have every right not too. And until you manage to understand this argument first and foremost, you won't understand why your line of reasoning in favour of censorship is flawed.
C Ciantar - whether the editor should have chosen or not that fictional story is just an editorial issue. If you don't like his editorial policies, just don't read it and buy the Times or something else instead. That's the beauty of a free market.

Victor Laiviera

Nov 19th 2009, 13:21

From, small acorns grow mighty trees.

The publishers of Ir-Realtà are right to push this issue as strongly as they can, in and out of University, because it is the thin end of the wedge.

In these time when fundamentalism and repression are on the rise again, we have to defend our hard-won secular and liberal freedoms at all coste.

I am surprised that someone like Mr Frans Sammut, who is such an accomplished student of history, cannot see this and seems to feel that the quality of literature is more important than the freedom to decide for oneself what is and what is not literature.

I read the piece concerned. Whether I liked it or not is immaterial and does not in any way impinge on the paper's right to print it.

Ernest Vella

Nov 19th 2009, 13:19

Jiena ma nistax nifhem xi dritt hu dan li tikteb gazzetta b'dak il-kliem oxxen u jippretendu li ma jerfghux ir-responsabilita ta dak li kitbu. Dak li kitbu jiktbuh misshom fuq dawk li jhobbu huma ez. l-gharusa, l-omm jew il-kunjata taghhom u jhallu il-kliem mahmug ghalihom. Ir-Realta misshom jindunaw li huma m'humiex jghixu f'realta.

m.portelli

Nov 19th 2009, 13:16

@ Frans Sammut

Could you please declare yourself either for freedom of speech and artistic expression or against it.

Cedric Mamo

Nov 19th 2009, 13:12

I agree with them that censorship should be removed. Nobody forced anyone to read the article, the paper has to be picked up by anyone wanting to read it so it's not forced on anyone. If you don't agree with it, there's a very simple solution... don't read it! Nobody forced anyone to.

Frans Sammut

Nov 19th 2009, 13:03

@Galea L.
I concur with your views re education and pornography. I have been all my life involved in both fields. Literature can be harnessed as it often is to serve educational purposes. Pornography is alien to literature and education. The meaning of it is exactly that: the writing about whores. (Porno meaning whore and graphy, writing, in Greek of course). De Sade was locked up in Charenton Mental Asylum (and not at the Bastille as some would contend) on the basis of his pornographic writing, was released by the Revolutionaries but locked up again by Napoleon (the man who bridled the Revolution for its excesses). I agree that De Sade's pornography may be taken as part of the Revolution (also against the notion of God) but would never recommend his writings for educational purposes. Incidentally De Sade must have inspired a lot of goings-on inside "Stitching". Mr Vella Gera might care to tell us whether the Marquis inspired him as well. Incidentally also, the actions described by Gera are indulged in by the chief baboons every morning with all members of the clan with a view to asserting their lordship over the rest, females and MALES too.

Stephen Farrugia

Nov 19th 2009, 13:01

Censorship has been normal in so many cases of the 'right, ' over the last five years, that questions now have to be asked.

Why are protests only about this left-wing issue ?
Are people not equal in political groups ?
What is going to be done about censorship of the 'right '?

The left-wing had already been told, that once the Liberals censor the 'right', then they will turn against you. It was also the left-wings fault, that freedom of expression was not defended because they failed till today, to defend other censorships.

The 'right ,' which in Malta is Libertarian ( very important), has always stood by the left-wing for their right of freedom of expression. In fact, they even spoke freely within their own meetings and took part in all gatherings.

Now we wait for developments.

sciortino m

Nov 19th 2009, 12:58

@Frans Sammut. "I am not impressed by people quoting Anthony Burgess or DH Lawrence. These people should be told that Mr Burgess himself repudiated his “A Clockwork Orange” and Lawrence’s “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” when he was lecturing right here in Malta."

Perhaps you should look at the principle that a US Court established in 1959 in a case instituted against the ban on "Lady Chatterley's Lover" in the USA for obscenity. The argument was that "only material ...that was both prurient and worthless — should be denied the privileges of free speech". "Lady Chatterley's lover" did not meet these criteria and the ban was lifted. The full article can be read by clicking the following link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/opinion/21kaplan.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

The NY Times article provides further insights whic I think are relevant to this discussion.

Galea. L

Nov 19th 2009, 12:38

Frans Sammut
Agree with you.
For me the story was simply a pretext to use a lot of foul language and not artistic freedom.
Is this the way to educate our future generations?

C.Ciantar

Nov 19th 2009, 12:36

After reading the article published by ir-realta I feel that it is a very degrading article with obscene words, especially in relation with women, that I really cannot imagine how the editor felt it was ok to publish such an article. However the editor seems to think that know the actions taken are quite drastic and they shoould be revised. all i can say is that you should have thought twice about publishing the article in your newspaper.

ASpiteri

Nov 19th 2009, 12:19

I surely support their cause, but coming from a group who always supported the censorship of individuals leaned on the right, sounds a bit hypocritical!

Frans Sammut

Nov 19th 2009, 12:18

The matter is evidently taking on very serious tones. I would like to state my position. I do not agree that Mr Camilleri or Mr Vella Gera should find themselves in any undesirable position vis-à-vis the police. I believe they enjoy a kind of “intellectual immunity”, the former being a university student, the latter a writer intending to publish within the precincts of campus. But I vehemently condemn the attempt to sensationalize the whole episode outside those same precincts.
Worse than that is the fact that the episode is sliding into a debate over what is art and what is pornography. I definitely think the writing under review belongs with pornography, not art. I am not impressed by people quoting Anthony Burgess or DH Lawrence. These people should be told that Mr Burgess himself repudiated his “A Clockwork Orange” and Lawrence’s “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” when he was lecturing right here in Malta.
I feel I have a duty to speak out since I am not known as a prude or anything like that. My own writing bears this out. What I deeply dislike is to witness an attempt at denigrating literature by mindlessly confusing it with literature.

Paul Gauci

Nov 19th 2009, 12:15

Milli jidher il-graffiti bazitilhom jiggieldu mal-vapur ... sabu xi kampanja gdida donnhom