They have GOT to be joking
I hope a good lawyer has offered to take up this case pro bono – not just to get the young man off the hook, but more pointedly to expose the law for the ridiculous anachronism that it is.
Persecuting this kid has got to be the stupidest thing the police and the university have done between them this year. What next – raiding every Agenda shop for books with sex and violence in them?
Doing what China does and partially blocking our access to the internet so that the perverted and the sexually frustrated can’t get into sex sites?
Maltese society has just got to be among the most hypocritical on earth. Go to www.alexa.com, the top site for monitoring website rankings.
It gives you the top 100 sites, country by country. There are five porn sites in Malta’s top 100 list, and they’re all actually in the top 55.
The 45th most popular site in Malta is the truly, truly ghastly xhamster.com (“just porn, no bullshit”), which from the cursory glance I gave it before I threw up seems to be porn served up exactly to Maltese taste: nejk minghajr hafna nejk, the sexual equivalent of a slab of fried meat slapped down on a plate with some chips.
It currently features on its home page an old tart giving a blow job to an unhappy boy of about 12. Yes, that’s ranked no. 45 in Catholic Malta tal-femili veljus fejn kullhadd imur id-duttrina. And lest you think it’s a paradox, it’s not. The two are related.
At no. 35, there’s LiveJasmin.com, where desperate perverts go to pant and wank in cyberspace. It’s called a ‘sex chatroom’.
Then there’s pornhub.com at no. 36, youporn.com at no. 50 and a porn video site, tube8.com, at no. 55.
To give you some idea of just how many Maltese people use these porn sites obsessively and on a daily basis, which is what pushes them so high up the rankings, amazon.com comes in at no. 51, Air Malta (flight details and online booking) is at no. 60, the Nationalist Party’s news site maltarightnow.com is at no. 83, and Labour’s maltastar.com is at no. 144.
So get this: the Labour Party’s much-vaunted and heavily publicised news portal is at no. 144, but at no. 35 – so very much higher up the rankings – there’s an internet wank-room.
And then the village elders, who probably use xhamster.com themselves and pant with the worst of them on LiveJasmin, go after the 21-year-old editor of a university newspaper.
It’s like living in Salem, Massachusetts, 300 years ago.
The Times, today – ‘Obscene’ story editor to face charges
Christian Peregin
The 21-year-old editor who published a graphic piece of fiction about sexual violence is about to face a dose of harsh reality when he is arraigned on charges that carry a possible prison term.
Last October, Mark Camilleri, a University history student and editor of the leftist newspaper Ir-Realtà, published the now notorious short story in Maltese by novelist Alex Vella Gera called Li Tkisser Sewwi.
The newspaper was distributed at the University before being banned and reported to the police by Rector Juanito Camilleri.
The police yesterday confirmed the student would be charged for distributing obscene or pornographic material and for injuring public morals or decency, under both the Criminal Code and the Press Act.
For the Criminal Code charge he faces a prison term of up to six months and/or a fine of up to €465.87 while the Press Act contemplates a maximum of three months in prison and/or a fine.
The police said the case would be heard by Magistrate Audrey Demicoli but did not say when the arraignment would take place.
The 1,300-word story is a first-person narrative by a sex-craved Maltese man who speaks in very degrading and sexual terms about women, whom he treats like objects.
It received mixed reviews, with some saying it was insulting and offensive to women and others interpreting it as a story aimed at exposing this pathetic but prevalent mentality, as the author said he intended. Some also said the story was weak or unappealing but defended it in terms of free speech.
Mr Camilleri had said that if the issue went to court he would be prepared to go all the way to the European Court of Human Rights on the basis of violation of fundamental human rights.
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erm… really, that story was not up to my standards, but this is going too far. I can’t believe my eyes.
This is a disgrace, a complete waste of valuable police time and taxpayers’ money. Now I can feel what my parents went through in the 1960s when a vast amount of literature was banned as it “offended the church”. Alas, Malta will remain a backwater of bigoted idiots unless a massive counter reaction to this embarrassing and frightening purge of free-thinkers is staged now, without delay.
Next, he will invite the Indy crowd ….. ara kemm ser tiehu gost…..
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100108/local/pl-to-offer-model-of-how-country-should-be-run-joseph-muscat
[Daphne – The reception was for all members of the media and not just for journalists with Allied Newspapers. All members of the media, that is, except for me – the Labour Party does not invite me because Joseph Muscat and Kurt Farrugia, and Alfred Sant and Jason Micallef before them, know exactly what I’ll do with the invitation.]
(not related to this thread)
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100108/local/pl-to-offer-model-of-how-country-should-be-run-joseph-muscat
Is that Micallef Leyson and Kurt Sansone in the picture? Is Sansone the MLP’s main at the Allied newspapers? I stopped reading any reports written by the latter, since they are becoming more and more speculative and partisian.
Only 5 porn sites? I would have expected more. Your article makes it seem like that it’s a particular Maltese phenomenon. So let’s compare to the UK? Xhamster is 56th in the uk (Malta 45) Livejasmin 21st (Malta 35) and youporn is at 44 (Malta 50) I won’t carry on. These are basic global trends. And I don’t think the fact that Malta is catholic makes any difference. Try any other country and you get the same trends. Human nature is universal, and religion doesn’t change it, it just pushes some things underground.
[Daphne – MY POINT EXACTLY. Forgive me for shouting. Malta is as packed with porn-users as the heathen north, but we still think we are different and have ‘veljus’. We are the ones prosecuting 21-year-old university newspaper editors for obscenity. There was a notorious case in England in 1971 – the prosecution of Richard Neville of Oz magazine under the Obscenities Act – but that was almost 40 years ago and it was considered ludicrous even then – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oz_(magazine) The only thing I can say in favour of this situation is that access to internet porn has kept most of the perverts off the streets, country lanes and beaches. Before internet porn, their outlet was real women minding their own business. ]
I’ve lived in Malta, England, Germany and France, and people are more or less the same everywhere. I don’t think most people in Malta think they are any different to people in the ‘heathen north’. Perhaps the kind of people that make it to positions of authority are different. Your average man in the street though, is pretty much the same!
“Before internet porn, their outlet was real women minding their own business.”
That’s assuming that only men watch porn
I’d be more than happy to help defend the accused.
Good for you, ABC; how about some other legal beagles also taking up this case pro bono to show what they think of this ‘only in Malta’ persecution…. er prosecution?
“injuring public morals or decency”
I’d be happy to confirm under oath that this member of the public does not feel injured after having read the story.
What would you like to defend most?
1. A university lecturer sued by a female student because the latter felt sexually harassed when the lecturer stared at her in class when quoting Plautus words “dum femina plorat decipere laborat” i.e. when a woman cries she is harbouring to deceive”?
OR
2. A history student who circulates graphic scenes of the rapes by soldiers during wars, claiming that these sexual atrocities are historical events?
Running Commentary is ranked no. 1,215. You should consider installing a webcam in your bedroom!
[Daphne – That’s because only 27.2% of its hits come from users in Malta. 37.3% come from the USA, where daphnecaruanagalizia.com actually has a ranking (779,851, but still….) and 36.4% come from the rest of the world, the bulk from Canada. This site’s worldwide ranking is higher than that of many other sites which are ranked higher for Malta only. It gets many more hits, but they come from all over. I seem to be popular with expats and emigranti Maltin, but not dawk tal-Awstralja. As for the webcam – a better idea would be a link to Anglu Farrugia’s bedroom. “Is that your trunk, or are you just pleased to see me?”]
Or maybe install a webcam in some priest’s room where he sees the alter boy’s room … that will surely attract a few pervs!
[Daphne – Do you have a particular priest in mind? I would no more tar all priests with the same brush than I would label all men as users of xhamster.com]
One of the priests who are ‘transferred’ after stories of ‘improper behaviour’ start surfacing?
Daphne, why aren’t you popular with Maltese expatriates in Australia? I am curious.
[Daphne – It was just an observation. The Australians might well be grouped together under the class called ‘Other’ in the rankings assessment. It’s just that this site has a specific ranking for the United States and intermittently also has one for Canada. Roughly two-thirds of hits on this blog come from users outside Malta, so I suppose the Australians must be in there somewhere. I can’t see why anyone would find this site interesting unless they have a Maltese connection of some kind. Conclusion: this blog is more popular with people outside Malta than it is with people who actually live here.]
I am in London actually, I left Malta 30 years ago to join the British Army, that was during the ‘Mintoff dark ages’!
I feel closer to Malta with the arrival of the internet. My highlight of the week when I was stationed in Hong Kong in 1984-85 was receiving The Sunday Times of Malta via the BFPO. How times have changed, now I can watch TVM online.
You are definitely popular with me. I suspected that you are not popular with Maltese Australians because most of them emigrated to Australia to escape poverty in Malta and they were mostly working class Labour supporters.
So that’s why they cleared the parking of cars from St George’s (ex – Palace) Square and vamped it up. The Taliban will soon be holding a Nazi – style book burning there; names of books to be considered for incineration to be submitted to the University Rector.
Bedingfield’s “Il-hbieb tal-hbieb”.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100109/local/court-confirms-euro-5-825-libel-damages-in-louis-galea-case
And hadn’t Joseph Muscat written a few fis-Sensiela Kotba Socjalisti, too – for which he lost a couple of libel suits?
At the cost of repeating myself, why don’t they prosecute people distributing the bible? it’s packed tto the brim with paedophilic and sadomasochistic activity, not to mention incitement to hatred against whole populations.
@Lino, I think it was George Bernard Shaw who also brought to light this point you raise. He argued that the Bible is bulging with pornographic passages and on that basis should be banned. Here’s a link to a Stop Public Pornography website where it calls for the obscene pornographic passages of the Bible be removed:
http://www.defendingthetruth.com/religion/11942-stop-public-pornography.html
How bizarre! A religiously saturated culture stands by harbouring secret (or not so covert) ripples of glee to watch the pending public persecution of a writer who DARED to portray an aspect of his own culture as it is..and misogynistic it certainly is. And rampantly crude. I’m not sure I know of any other language which is so loaded with sexual double entendres. Where a priest’s penis is part of the swearing vernacular. And a mother’s vagina.
I always thought the USA was the most hypocritically dysfunctional society due to its anal phobia of sexuality embedded in its Puritan roots, but perhaps Malta takes the biscuit.
whilst on the subject of censorship and steps backwards, Ireland has just made blasphemy punishable with a EUR25000 fine……..
http://blasphemy.ie/2010/01/01/atheist-ireland-publishes-25-blasphemous-quotes/
This is when I sympathize with tax evaders. Anyway, when top criminal minds come out looking like a bunch of plonkers, you know your country has some serious problems.
You had published the “offending” story on this blog and dared the police prosecute you: an admirable gesture. Any news about this or is material on the internet not prosecutable? Is distribution of porn on the internet illegal or not (material dealing with paedophilia is definitely illegal because some have been taken to court over this)? Any lawyer specialized in this field?
I guess the court will have to decide if the story is obscene. It definitely is not pornographic in my view. Porn is meant to excite sexuality and I can’t see how that vulgar story can excite anyone if not the most exceptionally excitable – according to one view, if it does not produce an erection then it’s not porn. Porn is said to be a craft not an art (which is art because it exists only for its own sake) and the aim of the craft is exactly to produce excitation… this is what I read, at least. But then, I suppose, one thing may excite one person but not another…
I think this case will go down in history as proof that Malta is only a relative democracy and that the Inquisition was removed from Malta by Bonaparte and re-introduced by Maltese bigots. In my own opinion, it is not the police who are to blame because they have to act if they receive a complaint. It is the priest who went to the rector and the rector himself. I have always held the view that, had the Catholic Church to get back temporal power as in the past, the strappado, the rack and the auto-de-fe’ would come back into fashion.
In Malta, the Catholic Church does enjoy a measure of temporal power through its influence on accommodating governments like the present one. You may not like the alternative but I cannot imagine a change unless there is a change in government. And this also applies to legislation dealing with divorce. This government will continue to be subservient to the Catholic Church as long as it remains in power.
Giordano Bruno
There have been cases of women in their seventies being raped by young men so don’t be too sure what other people may find sexually exciting.
Regarding the police, yes, they have to investigate if they receive a complaint but then it’s their decision whether to prosecute or not.
You must be living in a fantasy world if you think that Joseph free-vote-on-divorce Muscat is going to be less “subservient to the Church” as you put it. Did you notice that neither the PL nor any of its media have as yet commented on the prosecution of Mark Camilleri ?
Can anyone tell me where in Malta the Catholic Church enjoys temporal power? Perhaps you are living on another planet? But don’t worry, these vulgar attacks against the Catholic Church will not harm the people’s faith in Christ and in His Church. The more you attack the church the more our faith will hold.
Two wrongs don’t make a right, Daphne. The bad taste on the net viewed by Maltese perverts is at par with the same writing in bad taste on Realta.
You forgot to mention the satellite dishes and TV stations. In Saudi Arabia satellite TV is the only communication source which the state cannot control.
Vera pajjiz tal-biki!
The president and the prime minister competing as who will pander most to the Catholic Church, police arresting kids dressed as nuns on the instructions of priests, university rectors ordering bans on publications after receiving orders from the university chaplain!
You can also add the Mosta shopwindow episode when a “ras kbira” complained to the police who investigated and up till now, because in Malta you never can really be sure and as the wheels of justice grind exceedingly slow, have not taken any action.
Il – Pike kien jghid “Ghad fadlilna biex inkunu injoranti”.
I think that this article complements yours highly:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/david_aaronovitch/article6975833.ece
‘What else but hypocrisy oils the sexual activities of misogynistic cultures, in which women are supposed to be modest, but men aren’t, and where virginity is demanded in unmarried women and derided in unmarried men? Where prostitution is outlawed, but carried on by foreign women on pain of terrible punishment? Can you imagine a society where men agreed to wear a burka? Other than the Ku Klux Klan?’
Being rational has nothing to do with police work. They, along with their safety crutches, the Attorney General, have chained themselves to the strictest interpretation of the law for fear they should ever (barra minn hawn) be crticised “li ma hadux azzjoni”.
…meanwhile, they ignore such fundamental rights as freedom of expression.
I agree with the general consensus on this issue. To prevent distribution of something deemed as ‘obscene’ is one thing. To prosecute someone for doing so is going back to the medieval dark ages. haha daphne you forgot youjizz lol. And please just becuase you visit a website doesn’t mean you’re a pervert or sexually frustrated Daphne. It means you need sex and since there is no willing partner you have to do what needs to be done haha.
[Daphne – That’s the definition of sexual frustration, my dear. Is there another one?]
Isn’t it better than raping or going with a prostitute and end up with an infection or hassled by the pimp and stolen of your money. The issue of censorship is getting ridiculous. I completely agree with you.
[Daphne – Try starting a relationship. I imagine it would be a bit difficult though, as it requires certain social and communication skills and not, as some men fondly believe, good looks and lots of money. Malta is full of really plain men with attractive girlfriends and believe me, it’s not because they’re rolling. Most girls just want somebody kind-hearted and amusing, who showers every day.]
And please note that livejasmine.com is an irritating pop up that pops up with all the porn sites mentioned. What would you expect Daphne in Malta where pornography is banned from the mainstream. People will flock to free porn sites. We know the Maltese people and how much they love everything that is free. I remember the days when porno was sold (probably still is but not as much) behind the counters of video shops and we used to laugh when we saw a priest asking for such videos. When will this country rise from the medieval mentality. Daphne, if you find a guy visiting a porn site as being sick would you rather have him impregnate some underage bimbo? Porn watching has never harmed anyone. Rather it helps those who because of their looks are left to cope on their own and satisfy themselves in fantasy. I do visit such sites here and there but I also have a girlfriend. If we were to block porn hubs I’m sure rapes and prostitution will increase.
[Daphne – Porn is a manifestation of contempt for women, and many men who use it – I won’t say the majority, but it could be so – use it not to satisfy their sexual urges but to satisfy another urge altogether: power over women, the exception being those men whose particular fetish is being dominated by women, but then here’s the thing – they’re generally the ones who get to dominate others in their ‘real’ lives. As more and more women enter the workforce, are successful, make decisions, earn money – the cover story of The Economist is about how, for the first time since WWII in the USA, there are now more women in paid work than there are men – so more and more men immerse themselves in a dream world (too bad it isn’t a dream world for the participants) of porn in which women are nothing but sex-objects to be used, abused and assaulted.]
Come on Daphne don’t be sexist and childish. How long have you been married and still, you have no clue about men really. Women don’t just want your body..they want to know what you’re thinking every second, dominate your entire soul. Reading your comments about the latest joke on times of malta about the grocery guy who was blackmailed by canniving women really showed how sexist you are. You blamed the guy instead of them. Men will always be weak when it comes to sex. Women are the key. If women open up their legs, especially for money who is to blame other than themselves? Yes the world is unfair, when I visit a porn site and I see a black man doing a white girl and getting paid for it while if I dared to pay for sex I would be imprisoned. Women actually are getting more rights than they deserve. Eu is forcing states to give roles to women even though they are not as capable as the male counterparts. So please stop picturing women as the innocent naive little girls being exploited by men. They do it for money and not to please us. They marry for social status, money, so that they don’t have to work since the husband will work and in the meantime do an escapade and meet some other guy while the husband is working his ass off. Women especially maltese women are more deceitful and canniving than men and when I once trusted women she went off to have sex with my ex-best friend so please don’t lecture me about women. I know all about them. And yes I do have a girlfriend. I finally found a girl who truly deserves my respect, the rest are rubbish and have been in bed with almost every guy in town. Let’s face it most of the maltese women are who^^^ and do not deserve respect. Thanks
[Daphne – Miskina dik it-tfajla li sibt.]
Hey Mark! Do you ever re-read your crap after it is posted and wonder ‘did I really say that?’. Probably not — too thick. Crawl back under your rock.
@Mark C, with what you wrote here you only continued to prove Daphne’s point.
Unlike you, I hold a high opinion of Maltese girls. Our university student population has a majority of girls.
Mark C, I seriously recommend therapy…………….
and in the meantime ladies, lock up your daughters. Mark C’s in town.
As a matter of interest control of the porn industry is largely in the hands of women, in the U.S. at least. At least that’s what I read, but in more then one place.
@MarkC “Isn’t it better than raping or going with a prostitute and end up with an infection or hassled by the pimp and stolen of your money.” There are other alternatives to watching porn.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwlnoxSvkGQ
Leonard. Excellent! If you look at the guy in black on the far right, ‘peeping’ through the window–that’s Mark C playing a guitar, or something–keeps looking down and grinning.
Mark C needs a psychologist to see through his perverted mind. If he is trying to insinuate that Maltese women are all whores, he should pray that he never meets me. Hide your face in shame, Mark C.
Liberal and Nationalist; only in Malta!
[Daphne – The Nationalist Party is not right-wing or conservative. The Labour Party is. A rose by any other name….]
Nationalist not right wing or conservative? You must be joking.
[Daphne – How would you define a Labour Party that’s xenophobic, Luddite, anti-change and vociferously anti-EU, with supporters who are predominantly religiously conservative? Left-wing and liberal?]
Did I say the Labour Party was progressive? If you see my post I never mentioned the Labour Party. How exactly does the Labour Party being xenophobic, Luddite etc make the PN liberal? Should it make me feel better that the two major parties are conservative?
[Daphne – The Nationalist Party is not conservative. If it were, it would not have campaigned so assiduously to open Malta up to EU membership. It would not have been the main agent of post-war change. It would not have made tertiary education accessible to all and paid people to study. Much of what the Nationalist governments of the last 22 years have done would elsewhere be associated with the centre-left. The difference is that reform measures and social welfare initiatives were not funded through the punitive taxation of high earners (punishing initiative, as the left does), but through lower taxation right across the board and through taxes on spending.]
A party that still refuses to discuss divorce, let alone legislate in favour, liberal?
[Daphne – The refusal to discuss divorce is a matter of strategy, not conservatism. You don’t discuss unless you can act. If you’re not in a position to act, don’t discuss. Joseph Muscat needs to heed that advice. If he keeps talking about divorce the way he does, people are going to expect to find it in his electoral programme. Then if it isn’t, he’s screwed. And if it is, he’s screwed too.]
If the PN is not conservative or right-wing only the likes of Pinochet and Franco would classify as conservative or right-wing in your book. Or maybe they are moderates?
[Daphne – Why go to that extreme? The British Conservative Party is an example of what it means to be civilised, democratic AND conservative and right-wing.]
They would not dare invite you Daphne. You are not one to suffer fools gladly and are incapable of hiding your feelings. I remember the look on your face when you were in the presence of Dr.Alfred Sant after his 1996 win.
Miskina xejn Daphne. Inhobba u nirrispettaha ghax naf x tip ta tfajla hi u nista nafdaha b ghajnejja mghaluqa li mhux se teqlibili. Miskin min jahseb li nisa mhumiex kapaci jaghmlu hazen daqs l-irgiel Daphne.
[Daphne – You really have some self-esteem issues. Men who pick a woman on the basis that she won’t cheat on them (and how do you know that?) have a problem. The woman ends up with a problem too, because this is the sort of man who is always looking for evidence of cheating, almost willing it. And the obsession invariably turns to abusive treatment and violence.]
Msomma la hrigna mit topic nistidnek tibdel l-argument ta nisa kontra l-irgiel. Kemm nixtieq dal pajjiz jigi promoss iktar specjalment fuq l-internet f sites bhal youtube. Tal misthija kif visitmalta u ‘branding’ ta’ Malta tefaw 2 videos kollox u daqshekk qas naqra effort. Jekk trid nistidnek tara l videos li qed naghmel fil hin liberu tieghi biex nippromwovi dal-pajjiz meraviljuz mimli storja u sbuhija.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__k7thxSCLk
Daphne, meta se nikbru dal-pajjiz u nieqfu nisseparaw bejn ahmar u blu, nisa u rgiel u nimxu lkoll l quddiem f daqqa al gid tal pajjiz u mhux tal individwu jew partiti.
Msomma yuou always twist arguments to your liking Daphne . I said I trust hercompletely, am not possessive and also not looking for evidence of cheating since as I said. ‘I trust her’. But you seem to ignore what is evident and build up an argument with your own conclusions. My point was to give you a taste of your own medicine since both men and women use and abuse each other. Oh and Harry yes I re-read everything I write before posting and find everything I say agreeable to myself. Obviously that does not mean it will be agreeable with your views but then that’s the point of having different opinions. Sexist people like Daphne are just as bad as racist people that’s all. haha
Mark, you have just proved my point–too thick to understand how your ‘writing’ is construed by thinking people. Possibly re-reading all comments on this thread may enlighten you. However, I somehow doubt it.
Antoine Vella: what I said is that there is no chance of divorce under this government. PL is no more palatable to me than it is to you and I did not appreciate Muscat’s kissing of the Archbishop’s ring on New Year’s Day. Kowtowing to the Catholic Church to gain votes is despicable. The conclusion seems to be that none of our politicians has enough spine and, as to the electors, few of them have any of it either. Malta will be for ever hostage to obscurantism and bigotry, not to mention nepotism, favouritism, opportunism and crass ignorance. As regards your views on women, the less said the better. You generalize too much, anyway.
Daphne: I respect a great deal of what you write but your views on the PL are way too extreme and you insist on ignoring the serious faults of the PN who have turned the country into a private feudal state, dispensing favours to their vassals.
[Daphne – Hardly. But then I am in a position to make odious comparisons, not having wiped my slate clean of the years up to 1987. I don’t see any latterday Fuselli taking protection money or payment for access to permits and import quotas, or ministers behaving as though Malta is their personal fiefdom, or go-betweens taking payment for telephone lines and televisions, or arbitrary arrest and detention – but this was a way of life until 1987. ]
In my opinion, you are not aware of the favouritism that pervades the government and the whole administration. Discrimination is rampant and shameless. They are no different from Labour in the 70’s and 80’s, bar physical violence and thuggery.
[Daphne – My dear, unlike me you can’t have been privy to what actually went on back then. Or you were blinded by love.]
I was a supporter and paid member of the PL for more than 20 years but they have grown more and more arrogant and the “gustizzja” which they preached has been thrown down the drain long ago. It’s a pity really. As to whether the PN is right wing or conservative is debatable. That some of its leaders are, is plain for all to see.
[Daphne – That’s true, but you can’t have failed to notice just how many of its supporters are not while, on the other hand, great swatches of right-wing conservatives root for Labour. What was the anti-EU vote if not a vote against change?]
Marc C: paying for sex does not send you to prison (though it might dent your self-esteem) – it is legal as long as the prostitute is not a minor. In Malta, prostitution pure and simple is legal. What is illegal is soliciting, pimping and keeping a brothel (unlike countries like Germany where brothels are licensed). Some marital situations are not much different from payment for sex.
Demonizing the PL is in nobody’s interest. In a situation where the PN is incorrigible and will not change its ways, they are our only hope whether we like it or not. These are the hard facts.
[Daphne – I think you will find that, human nature being what it is, if the Labour Party knows it is going to win by default precisely because of this kind of reasoning, then it won’t bother with policy. Let’s face it: two years in and it hasn’t written any yet. The only way you’re going to get Labour to get its act together is by letting it know that the Nationalist Party will win, if it doesn’t. Failing that, it has no incentive.]
As to pornography, it is as old as civilization: Satyricon is a classic satire but nonetheless a porno novel written in the 1st century. The porno industry is associated with crime, drugs and exploitation of women. Read the background to the infamous “Deep Throat” and you’ll get the drift.
@ Daphne – What would you do with the invite?
@ Mark C – what a plonker!
The Nationalist Party is liberal? You are more intelligent than that. Are you hiding something? So please tell us what you understand by “liberal”.
[Daphne – The British definition. Fools like Joseph Muscat equate the Malta Labour Party to the British Labour Party and the Nationalist Party to the Conservative Party. Wrong.]
It’s obviously true that the MLP has nothing to do with the British Labour, but aren’t the Nationalists quite close to the Tories’ economic policy?
Look at changes the NP spearheaded over the past twenty years: market liberalization, privatization, the shift from direct to indirect taxation… weren’t these pioneered by the Conservatives in the early 80s?
[Daphne – Yes. Now look at far more significant current matters, like attitudes towards the European Union and the adoption of the euro.]
I have a question to all enlightened persons here.
If I’m a die-hard neo-Nazi and publish graphic scenes of victorious soldiers raping the women of the defeated, would you censor this magazine (possibly funded by state money because students’ associations receive grants) from circulation in public?
Are you?
Please keep us posted on the date of the first hearing. All lawyers who cherish respect in freedom please rally around. This may be a unique opportunity to usher Malta into a ‘modern’ era.
Mark C: I liked your video about Verdala Palace. Could you tell me what the background music is from – a movie or CD? I was intrigued by your caption that one of the chairs on exhibit was sanctified by accomodating the pontifical derriere – if Pope John Paul II is canonized, as I’m sure he will, that chair will become priceless as a miracle-working relic (in the way of the Precan shoelace). If Benedict XVI will sit on it next April, its efficacy would double…
Your efforts to promote Malta are commendable but I don’t think Verdala is open to visits by tourists as the State Rooms at the Grandmasters’ Palace are.
Daphne: Me blinded by love for MLP in the 70s and 80s? You must be kidding. I do not favour violence or thuggery or corruption. But aren’t you blinded by love not to see the “institutionalized” favouritism which has become the hallmark of this government?
What would be the outcome if we continue to harp on the past? Are we saying that Labour should never again be in power because of its past and that the PN is to rule in perpetuity?
[Daphne – No, I’m saying that until the Labour Party cleans out its stables, I will be against giving it a chance at governing. The very idea of, just to cite one example, voting to make Anglu Farrugia a cabinet minister is utterly revolting, more so voting to make a Super One hack prime minister. One would have to be nuts or eaten up by bitterness and resentment against this government, like that silly fool who demanded to be made Malta’s High Commissioner in London, didn’t get what she wanted and decided her bread was buttered on Labour’s side.]
I have no intention of pursuing a polemic on this with you – I share most of your ideas on other matters but on this I will continue to differ. I don’t exclude that you’ll experience a Damscene conversion some day… oh dear, this must sound heretical to you.
[Daphne – Not at all heretical. You can be forgiven for thinking that, because you don’t know me. I make up my mind about people and that’s it.]
Thank you for allowing me the space to air my views anyway.
[Daphne – You’re more than welcome.]
However Daphne…First impressions and making up ones mind on other persons, does not mean that the former is always right…
We are all human beings ( I hope..lol) and we are ‘programmed’ to err…the problem lies when one makes a mistake and does not learn from it…or his/her ego is too big to accept his own mistake…
@Marc C…hysterical! you accuse DCG of being sexist and childish and then proceed to make the most flagrantly sexist and childish remarks. Your evident paranoia towards women is merely the softer version of the mentality which apparently was portrayed in the story. I say apparently because I haven’t read the story because it is in Maltese.
Perhaps I should try and read it because I suspect I will easily be able to follow the gist of it since I have acquired a broad understanding of Maltese swearing which invariably centres around cursing the vagina. These foul phrases are readily bandied about at bus terminuses and band clubs.
When I first came to settle in Malta, I thought males had GPS chips embedded in their crotches because many times when I would ask a man for directions, he would immediately start rearranging his crotch gear.
What I find most shocking about this court case is that universty students didn’it seem to make the slightest attempt to defend the principle of freedom of speech, whatever their personal objections to the story content may have been. There still doesn’t seem to be any ruckus coming from the grooming stables of Malta’s future hopefuls.
The parallels between the worst of Third World societies and Malta are expanding alarmingly, ranging from tolerance for rampant corruption to suppression of freedom of speech. And we’re worried about illegal immigrants endangering our moral ethics? Soon the difference between theirs and Maltese society’s will be indistinguishable, if it isn’t already.
@ brittwitt: I share your thoughts. With regards to university students, don’t be too surprised. Universities are usually natural breeding grounds for creativity, free thinking, radical movements, anti-establishment writings and most often the nerve centres of government protests – which in some places has served to overthrow dictators and governments.
The 1998 protests in Indonesia which led to President Suharto being left no option but to step down is a case in point. In Malta, university students are another kettle of fish altogether, where conformity, sterility (not of the biological kind) and feebleness are the traits of well over 90% of the student population.
The only time when the students were egged on to take to the streets by the student organisations (organisations which have evident and open ties to our two main political parties) was when their pockets were touched – their stipends threatened. This is a very sad fact that Maltese university students are not a force to be reckoned with, a pressure group and a source of inspiration for the country and for generations to come.
brittwit
“..many times when I would ask a man for directions, he would immediately start rearranging his crotch gear.”
You are probably unaware of it but in parts of the Mediterranean, touching one’s balls is thought to ward off the evil eye. They might have been afraid you were going to jinx them or something.
PS – By the way, I’ve no idea what women are supposed to touch (wood?), according to this superstition.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100110/local/censorship-laws-set-for-revamp
The Sun and The Daily Mail are both top hundred in Malta, it’s papers like The Guardian and The UK Times that I didn’t notice. How infinitely sad.
Censorship exists in most countries including the UK which still has the Obscene Publications Act and prosecutions still take place under this law. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obscenity#United_Kingdom_obscenity_law
However they have got to be joking …
I have a suggestion: why not through this blog organise a support demonstration outside the law courts when the young editor is charged?
I also agree with you, Daphne, that Nationalist supporters are liberal (many) but the party which they HAVE to vote for is not.
The foreign newspaper website most visited by users in Malta is The Daily Mail. I think that says it all.
It was just an innocent story, we found it rather funny but come on, isn’t freedom of speech a fundamental human right after all? Why do these people think they can tell us what to say, read and hear?
I live in Malta and I can’t believe that such things are happening here, it’s not that we live in Medievals right? first of all everyone can write what they want, secondly whatever he wrote there was nothing bad about it, thirdly the moment the police will start controlling who can write what, the persecution of beliefs, religion, sex preference will start! what a country!
Nixtieq nitkellem dwar dan l-artilu. Mela il-qorti qed tghidli li peresss li dan l-artilu mhux erotiku jigifieri ma jqajjimx emozzjonijiet fil-bniedem allura ghandhu jghaddi. Skond l-editur huwa wisq moqziez dan l-artilu. Allura skond il-qorti jekk jkun erotiku ghandu jigi iccensurat mentri jekk jkun pornografiku ma ghnadhux jigi iccensurat. UNBELIEVABLE . Ridiculuos. Il-Magistrata ghandha tirrizenja minnufih. Il-Qorti vera waqat ghac cajt dwar din. Jien nahseb li hija kollha politika din. Kien hemm min qabillu jitfahgha politika ghax hekk kienet tghaddi tieghu. Allura tal-labour hargu jghidu li ma jaqblux mac-censura. Tafu li ma hawnx l-ebda pajjiz fid-dinja li ma ghandhux censura. Jekk ma jkunx hawn censura dak jfisser li jien nista nitfa film pono minflokk il-cartoons fil-5. Nghid lil professur kenneth wain biex jwarrab mill=post tieghu universitarja. U ara ma titfax xi ktieb tieghek tal-philosophy fis-syllabus tal-junior college. Ghax ma stajtx nifhmu xejn. Jien naqra injorant ma tantx nifhem. Dan ir-rizultat huwa politika partigjana. Dak l-editur jahseb li jaf hafna u ma jaf xejn. Kolllu hruq tal-labour dan. Dan l-artilu jirrifletti kemm huwa baxx il-partit laburista. Certu tfal fl-iskejjel taghna joqorbu lejn dak li inkiteb hemm. Tistaw tobsru minn huma dawn in-nies.
IL-Messagg wara dan ir-rizultat tal-qorti huwa biex nghidu li hawn kollox fottimenti. U allura jaqtalna qalbna mill-hajja li kollox hazin. IL-FOTTIMENTI HUMA KOLLHA LABOUR. Il-labour ma jridniex nimxu il-quddiem ghax huwa mahruq. Hawn il-gid bhalissa gej kollu mill-ewropa ghax we are at our prime. Maybe we can say it is our Golden Age.