This week I am filing a constitutional case against the government for what I argue is the breach of my fundamental right to free expression. The matter was covered this morning in The Sunday Times. Of course this is not about me, or just about me. Over 11 months thousands of people stepped up to [...]
Malta Today’s story about a band club in Marsa banning black people is hard reading. The committee denies the policy exists though the journalist, Karl Azzopardi, does his own checking and confirms with the barman racial profiling of visitors is indeed the order of the day. I don’t think this surprises anyone. Surely people realise [...]
The European Centre for Press and Media Freedom continues to closely monitor developments, such as they are, here in Malta since Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed almost a year ago. Iris Rohmann has been coming to Malta regularly and she says "it feels like watching a bad play". I would add to that, watching a [...]
The Economist magazine 1843 published a long story entitled 'Murder in Malta'. It's written by Athens based journalist Alexander Clapp and here's one paragraph you should read first: "The lesson from Malta is not that journalists can be killed in tranquil places. This has always been the case. But, as Nicholas Shaxson, author of 'Treasure [...]
It’s not a rhetorical question. What is ‘independence’ for you? Is it citizenship? Look at this British company selling Maltese citizenship to people who have never been here and never want to be. Who have never contributed to the wellbeing of this community and never mean to. Who have to look up Malta on the [...]
Partit Demokratiku issued this statement earlier today. Minister Owen Bonnici’s recent handling of the Daphne Caruana Galizia memorial issue is further proof that the Labour party has metamorphosed from the broad church it portrays itself to be to an intolerant cult which stops at nothing when it comes to erasing uncomfortable reminders and activities to [...]
Liberal Democract Sophie in t' Veld, Green Sven Giegold, Socialist Josef Weidenholzer, and Popular Party Roberta Metsola heard from activists how the government, by order of Justice Minister Owen Bonnici, has removed, repeatedly, mementoes left at a makeshift memorial set up when Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed. In remarks to the press today they called this [...]
https://youtu.be/sHjNxVT5B4k Until they censor the protest again. Would Owen Bonnici consider this 'appropriation' too? Does he believe this can cause harm to a national monument? Would he consider this a health hazard? Would any of the excuses for blind censorship that have been used till now be applicable to this? In the meantime go and [...]
If you’ve seen the story you know what I’m talking about. Or maybe you spotted the report on other websites who commented on what I posted. Or maybe you saw a link on Facebook. If you haven’t seen it, no harm done, you can ignore what follows. I want to leave on the record however [...]
Brian Tonna and Karl Cini want privacy. Crooks have that. They try to use the law, wrongly in this case, to protect themselves from public scrutiny. They asked the authorities to force Peter Caruana Galizia to delete pictures of their passports from her blog. He refused and gave legal reasons why, including the detail that [...]
If we let them suppress this protest, they can suppress any. They'll be able to stop complaints about environmental degradation, about the privatisation of your healthcare, about discrimination and abuse of minorities, even about your own property and your life. I am not taking the Great Siege Memorial with me. I do not 'appropriate' memorials. [...]
The Court of Appeal, presided by three judges, deferred their decision on whether Judge Antonio Mizzi should be made to recuse himself from hearing an appeal by Joseph Muscat and the Panama Gang from a court order the police investigate them to October 29th. Now you can read that sentence again and try to draw [...]
Italian TG1 anti-mafia journalist Maria Grazia Mazzola has published an appeal on anti-mafia NGO website Libera Informazione calling for journalists and Italian civil society to come to Malta to join public protest events marking the year since the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. The journalist compares the unanswered questions about the assassination of Daphne Caruana [...]
Neil Falzon, who runs the Aditus Foundation said yesterday his NGO is "not asking for too much, just for the peace of mind that we still live in a safe and functioning democracy". He said that because government's actions around suppressing the protest in Great Siege Square are "an unacceptable and a clear populist attempt [...]
The PN issued a statement yesterday after Owen Bonnici publicly sought to justify the state's suppression of the protest in Great Siege Square. It interprets the government's actions as a violation of the right to free expression. Here's the statement: Id-dritt tal-espressjoni ħielsa taċ-ċittadini m'għandux jiġi mxekkel Il-Partit Nazzjonalista jqis l-aġir tal-Ministru tal-Ġustizzja Owen Bonnici [...]
Sent in by a sixteen year old author known to me. DOI photo of Joseph Muscat marching in protest after the murder of Charlie Hebdo journalists in Paris. When I think the government cannot stoop any lower, my expectations are always surpassed. They put their own banner now. What the government is trying [...]
Here's the statement by #Occupyjustice at their action at the Justice Ministry. We came here today, in front of the Ministry of Justice to lay flowers, candles and handmade ‘in memoriam’ notes, because this is the place where freedom of speech has come to die. The Minister of Justice whose prime duty, as an elected [...]
Read here Owen Bonnici’s case for the prosecution against the crime of public protest. No one is seeking to ‘appropriate’ the Great Siege Memorial. Using big words does not make the speaker any less ridiculous. I didn’t see anyone taking the Great Siege Memorial home. I didn’t see any one of the protesters in Paris [...]
I wanted a few days to pass from Saturday’s gay pride march before I commented on this. Only a few years ago gay pride was a very difficult experience for people marching in it. And now that it has rightly become a party I would hate to sound like I resent any of it. For [...]
Activists are planning a number of events during October to mark a year since the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. The 16th of October The 16th of October 2018 is a Tuesday. A vigil is being held at the Great Siege Memorial that evening as has happened every month over the past year. Mass will [...]