David Schembri
Censorship laws under review – de Marco
The controversial censorship of films, plays and literature is under review, Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco has announced.
The review comes as Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Culture Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco yesterday launched the National Culture Policy, which sets out the government’s vision for culture taken in a broad sense.
Dr de Marco said responsibility for classification and censorship would move from the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs to the ministry in charge of culture, that is, the Office of the Prime Minister. He announced that lawyer Jeanine Rizzo was assessing the relevant legislation to see what could be done.
Stakeholders are being consulted for their feedback and different scenarios are being considered.
The issue of censorship was thrust into the national limelight again in 2009 when Stitching – a controversial play by Anthony Neilson – was banned from being staged at the small theatre in St James Cavalier, Valletta.
The producer, the cast and the director had filed a Constitutional Court case claiming a breach of their freedom of expression following a decision by Mr Justice Joseph Zammit McKeon who had upheld the Classification Board’s decision to ban the play.
Commenting on the review, Stitching director Chris Gatt said such an exercise was “essential if the country is going to go forward”.
“We cannot have a situation where the artist is considered to be immature and not being capable of making the correct decisions. Artists need to be responsible, yes, but whenever you have censorship you not only threaten the fundamental freedom of expression but you also threaten an aspect of art that is also fundamental to what art is, in other words to discuss awkward things.
“Art cannot always be comfortable or pleasant. The aesthetics of art also cover things we do not necessarily want to discuss. It is how society can debate. Without asking the awkward questions you can never have a debate,” Mr Gatt said.
“Democracy cannot exist where there is censorship. Let us not forget that, in Malta, censorship was introduced under colonial rule”.
The Cinema and Stage Regulations, which govern classification and censorship, are part of the Code of Police Laws, which place it under the jurisdiction of the police and the Justice and Home Affairs Ministry.
The proposed culture policy says that “the ministry responsible for culture shall lead in the provision of policy, direction and advice on the arts, heritage and audiovisuals, in particular on issues affecting their cultural and creative content”.
It also says that “in terms of freedom of expression, legislation shall be reviewed in order to ensure that the classification of works reflects the maturity of a 21st century public in a contemporary society”.
The former artistic director of the Manoel Theatre, Tony Cassar Darien, said this was a “step in the right direction, something has to happen”.
“Nowadays, everyone realises that the system of censorship, the existing boards, are a bit passé”, Mr Cassar Darien said, adding he hoped the new system would see more dialogue between the board and production companies.
Media analyst Fr Joe Borg said the idea of doing away with censorship and introducing classification instead already applied to television, adding that “in principle, if for drama the same rules apply as for television, there’s no problem”.
He said that, despite there being no censorship beforehand, if anything illegal happened during a show the producers would still be liable to prosecution.
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Allan Gatt
Jul 16th 2011, 20:48
Naqbel mieghek, DR EMMANUEL BEZZINA,MA,MAG.JUR.[EU Law],LL.D. Nixtieq li jidhlu wkoll emendi u restrizzjonijiet fuq l-uzu tal-caps lock. U meta ismek itwal minn novella ta´ Louisa Mary Alcott, nhemmen li ghandek tqassru. Taf int, bhala kortezija ghal minn qed jaqrah. Izda thossokx obliggat li tiehdu l-parir tieghi. B´dawk l-ittri kollha war´ismek, probabbli tifhem iktar.
Allan Gatt
Jul 16th 2011, 20:37
Min jhemmen fic-censura ma jhemminx fid-demokrazija. Ic-censura m´ghandha qatt tkun, l-anqas fl-icken ammont. Ic-censuri huma kocc korrotti frustrati li jahdmu wara l-kwinti biex jdefsu mnehirhom f´xoghol haddiehor. JIEN niddeciedi x´nara, mhux INT.
DR EMMANUEL BEZZINA,MA,MAG.JUR.[EU Law],LL.D.,
Jul 16th 2011, 17:49
It is of the uttermost importance that those entrusted with formulating a new legal structure relating to any form of censorship should have a basic mental framework of what is one referring to.It is useless for anyone formulating a structure related to evaluating plays, for instance, if that someone has never been to a theatre,or dislikes the theatre, or is not fond of plays,or does not have a general background of what one is actually to bear in mind.
Similar with cinema, literature, videos, or what could come under the censorship umbrella. The technocrats in the field who do not have a hidden agenda, as appears to be the case with STICHING,must have an open mind and responsible enough to accept that their work should not insult the intelligence of the legions who may be far superior to their mental outlooks and capabilities.
Agreed, however, that the Censorship Comrades should be allotted to the Culture Ministry,so the Board should be eliminated and in lieu, in line with respect for superior minds, the new set up should read : Censorship Cultural Council - with the acronym CCC, how`s that ? Prof. Debono might refer to this as Creative or Lateral or Parallel Thinking....in short this CCC must be competent to put on different hats depending on the genre which they will be evaluating.
In practice,censorship should be abrogated and instead the word evaluation inserted. In an age of liberalism, and Mario de Marco is a liberal politician, no one censors anybody else as this might imply that idiots will censure enlightened individuals!
Mr l Azzopardi
Jul 16th 2011, 12:20
Just finished reading one of Ben Elton's books, Popcorn, and there's a passage that is quite precise which I would like to share ...
"We are scapegoats! (artists)....The politicians do not want to take the heat, so who gets it? Us, the entertainers, the artists. Well I've got news for you. Artists dont create society, they reflect it. And, if you dont like that, dont change us, change society".
Numerous times in the past we have witnessed similiar situations in Malta but rather than blaming society we blamed the artists, ridiculed them, questioned their ability and at times even insulted them heavily. You cant ban or censor something because you dont like it because tomorrow who knows whats next...homosexuality? immigrants? Its a dangerous path. At one point parts of the world wanted to ban the jews!
DR EMMANUEL BEZZINA,MA,MAG.JUR.[EU Law],LL.D.,
Jul 16th 2011, 11:36
Mario de Marco is coming over as a young,liberal politician. On this track,he will proceed to a ministerial status and beyond no doubt.Good Luck.
The dark episode of STITCHING and other ridiculous illustrations of censorship in our country has to be legally overriden so that judgements such as those related to STITCHING will not be repeated.Hopefully the Constitutional Court presided over by Mr Justice Alberto Magri will remedy the situation once submissions are made this October 2011 and then the judgement.
I watched the play STITCHING and it left me accepting that such situations might exist in the warbled entangalment of an erroneous mind.Certainly it was farcical to ban this play by a Board that should have known better, having experienced much graver scripts in their reading of such.The Court should have taken time to watch a private performance of this play to be able to form a mental framework of what the average spectator might evaluate,even though whoever attends an evening at the theatre,does so freely and thus not the slightest iota of censorship had to be even considered,certainly not banning!!
On this line of reasoning,no one should be allowed to even reach the threshold of notorious jungle territrory.known among the civilized as Paceville. OFF with Censorship.
Ramon Casha
Jul 16th 2011, 11:15
The board of classification should be restricted to what its name implies: classification. I fully agree with making the public aware of the nature of an item, be it a play, film, book or other form of creativity. This allows the public to make the decision to watch/read/listen, or not - but the decision must remain in the hands of the audience.
Personally, given that this board banned the play "Stitching" but then classified "The Passion of the Christ" for 12 year olds, I have great misgivings about their ability to judge anything.
Alfred Fenech
Jul 16th 2011, 10:24
About time too. Dejjem bil babao. We were the laughing stock. I remember that if one is a foreign
citizen ,censorship does not apply. Freedom of speech !!!!