Time Person of the Year Shahidul Allam referred to murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia during a speech in Valletta as he called for dissent to be “protected and nurtured”.

“While we are very happy that an investigation is taking place, it is certainly not desirable that journalists become victims because of what they do,” Mr Alam, an award-winning Bangladeshi photographer and activist, said at a recent event for young arts festival managers.

“Journalism is what they are about, investigation is what they are meant to be doing. Digging things up is part of their job, giving their lives is certainly not,” he said.

Malta, he added, was far from the only place where journalists faced risks.

“I would be hard-pushed to find a government that does not, in its rhetoric, promote freedom and democracy and does not, in its practice, actively try to put it down.”

Digging things up is part of their job

Mr Alam was one of eight journalists, all targeted for their work, who were celebrated collectively by Time magazine as its Person of the Year in 2018 after he spent more than 100 days in prison for anti-government comments during student protests in Bangladesh. 

His arrest triggered international protests, with rights groups, Nobel laureates and academics calling for his release.

He shared his experience of arrest and imprisonment and of using art to engage communities and foster a spirit of dissent when speaking at the opening of the international Atelier for Young Festival Managers, which ran between March 23 and 29.

“In my country we are now in a situation when artists are silent, they do not ask questions, they prefer to keep quiet and wait for better times,” he said. 

“I want to remind you all that there are never better times. Spaces for dissent need to be created, protected and nurtured; it doesn’t happen by itself.”