Political satire is being reintroduced in carnival after an 80-year absence as celebrations are transferred to St George’s Square, Valletta, where they used to be held nearly 40 years ago.
The news that political satire was never really banned by Maltese law was welcomed by politicians last year but organisers were reluctant to reintroduce it this year because the celebrations co-incided with the election.
However, a special category for political satire has been introduced for next year’s event, between February 28 and March 4.
The category will include two floats, one about the Nationalist Party and the other about the Labour Party
The category will include two floats, one about the Nationalist Party and the other about the Labour Party. Although the floats will not be in competition, if the category goes down well with the audience a contest will be introduced for the 2015 event.
There will also be two sets of grotesque masks – 12 in all – that will have a political satire theme.
In the last legislature, former culture minister Mario de Marco had asked the Attorney General’s office to examine the law to see what amendments could allow for political satire. But the reply came back saying there was only a police notice related to politics that stopped being republished and did not even prohibit satire.
The police notice of February 8, 1935 said: “No one shall carry emblems, flags or other signs relating to foreign political questions, or by any masquerade or other means make allusions to the same.”
Newspaper reports had interpreted this as banning political satire, probably because the language question was seen as both a foreign and local political issue.
At a ceremony yesterday, during which prizes were distributed to winners of this year’s carnival, Jason Busuttil was officially appointed carnival director and it was announced that the carnival enclosure will return to St George’s Square.
The enclosure was transferred to Freedom Square in 1975, where it stayed for a number of years before being moved close to the Triton Fountain, just outside City Gate in 2011.
The defilé will proceed from Castille, down Merchant Street, through Archbishop Street, on to St George’s Square and up Republic Street.
The events will include carnival by night for the first time. This will take place on the Saturday, when celebrations usually stop at 7pm. Next year, however, Valletta’s theatres and squares will remain alive until the early hours of Sunday.
The prizes, which are subsidised by the government, have been revised after 10 years and some have been increased by up to 25 per cent.
The carnival committee is discussing the possibility of exchanges with the organisers of the Notting Hill carnival in London and the Viareggio carnival in Tuscany.