Talking Point - January 27, 2010

There is a growing majority of people eager to turn Malta into a truly European country based on strong democratic values, on pluralism, broadmindedness and tolerance.

The whole freedom of expression issue, and lack of it, hits right where it hurts the most. Last year, the government's censor decided to ban a beautiful play by the name of Stitching. This year, the authorities went one step further and decided to arraign a young editor of a University newspaper called Ir-Realtà on charges of "distribution of obscenities" for publishing a story.

There's more to all this than simple mishandling of affairs on the part of the government. Labour has been categorical in wanting to abolish the regime of censorship from theatres and films (and replace it with a system of age-classification) and urged the government to set up a committee - last constituted in 1975 - to review what would amount to an obscenity in today's society.

Mario Azzopardi and Sergio Grech have criticised both the concept of censorship in today's society and the mishandling of the whole Ir-Realtà issue in Nationalist newspapers, as did the Nationalist Party's Charlo Bonnici in Parliament. Twenty-seven writers have issued statements in favour of a liberation of artistic freedom. The Culture Minister herself, Dolores Cristina, has described the existing laws on the matter as archaic and obsolete and distanced herself from the charges issued to the Ir-Realtà editor.

Nevertheless, the PN press has put all its efforts to disintegrate and ridicule my endeavours. It did not only tie my name with the pervert views of the fictitious character created by the Ir-Realtà story but disgustingly stooped so low as to mention my two-year-old daughter in the process for two days in a row.

I am sure that, had the controlling powers within the PN been truly in favour of bringing Malta in line with truly democratic values on this issue, they would have acted differently. Why is it that the PN or one of its offshoots, like SDM or MŻPN, did not join the Front against Censorship? What about KSU?

The Minister of Home Affairs and Justice, Carm Mifsud Bonnici, under whose competence (or incompetence) censorship and obscenity laws fall, has never at one point uttered even one single word in favour of artistic expression or publicly reflected on the tragic reality that in today's Malta a University student will be arraigned on criminal charges due to a fictitious story.

Neither has the Deputy Prime Minister, Tonio Borg, whose academic achievements in the field of human rights are undisputed, felt the need to express a word of reflection on this whole freedom of expression issue.

Is it the inherent conservative mentality of this government, which is tying this country down from advancing towards the attainment of freedoms obtainable in all healthy democracies? Or is it something else?

It's high time for all the people, irrespective of their political opinion, who truly believe in the need of turning Malta into a truly European country to stand up and be counted.

Dr Bonnici is a Labour member of Parliament