Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1139344
24 OPINION SO far, I've only listened to the first part of the BBC's docudrama about Daphne Caruana Galizia; so for now, I will resist the temptation to publicly challenge any of its more glaring inaccuracies (like, um… 'Ravioli'? Come on… even Daphne would have said 'Ravjul'.) There is, however, one little detail that cannot possibly go unchallenged, for the implica- tions are just too downright bizarre. It concerns the pre- sumed reasons why Daphne launched her own blog in 2008. According to the BBC, Daphne took that decision because she felt there was no real freedom of expression in Malta at the time. The precise scripted words were: "If there's no free press on the island, I'll create my own bloody press." Somewhat bizarrely, however, the same podcast ends with the election of Joseph Muscat's La- bour Party… in 2013. And this event is presented as having 'set the stage', as it were, for a 'war' between Daphne and the incoming Labour government, in part over the same press freedom issues she had earlier complained about... in 2008. Erm… did anyone vet that script for continuation issues before approving the final production? Is it possible that no proofreader or screenplay consultant ever noticed that there's an enormous, inescap- able contradiction between those two statements… so large, in fact, that you don't even need any real knowledge of the facts to be able to spot it instantly? Ok, I'll give you all a hint. In March 2008 – i.e., when Daphne reportedly stated that there was 'no free press in Malta' - the Prime Minis- ter was Lawrence Gonzi, not Joseph Muscat (who was not even Opposition leader yet; Labour was still led by Alfred Sant…if only for a few more weeks). And besides: in 2008, Malta had been under succes- sive Nationalist governments for a full 19 out of the 21 years since 1987. So what the BBC is really suggesting is that all Daphne Caruana Galizia's complaints about press freedom in Malta should really have been direct- ed at Gonzi's government… not at Muscat's Labour Party at all. For if her 'war' really did have anything to do with the suppression of the free press in Malta… then she should have declared it against the regime that was actually in place at the time; not the one that would come into power five whole years later. Yet we all know that, in reality, it was the clean other way round. Daphne worked tirelessly (and successfully, in 2008) to keep the Nationalists permanently in power; and above all, to avoid any situa- tion which might ever, EVER result in an electoral victory for Labour. Why would she even do that, anyway… if the sole reason she started blogging, no less, was actually down to the PN's failure to protect freedom of expression up until 2008? A situation for which Labour cannot realistically be blamed, either… because it hadn't actu- ally been in power for 10 years before that; and even then, Sant's government had only lasted the grand total of 22 months? These, I suppose, are among the many questions the BBC's screenwriters should really have asked themselves, before writing a 'docudrama' that is quite frankly full of plot-holes. All the same, however: people who were actually around to witness events in Malta in 2008 – a category which clearly ex- cludes BBC journalists – won't need to hear the answers. We know them already. For starters, Daphne's blog did not come about as a response to the lack of press freedom in Malta. It came about for one reason, and one reason only (and she told me so herself directly, in one of many public conversations we had on her own blog): because she saw how close Alfred Sant had come to winning the March 2008 election; and that was the first election in which the social media had played an active role. Quite rightly, Daphne identi- fied the social media's potential to upset the political balance of power; and this was the lacuna she set up her own online plat- form to fill (so much so, that she started blogging immedi- ately after the 2008 election). Secondly, Daphne did not declare her 'war on Joseph Muscat' when he became Prime Minister in 2013. She declared that war long, long before he even took over as PL leader in 2008 – all the way back when he was nothing but a goateed, bespectacled news- caster on Super One in the late 1990s – and for almost exactly the same reason, too. Accurately as ever, Daphne surmised that Muscat was eminently more likeable (and therefore less 'scary') in the eyes of the socio-economic bracket that had tradition- ally always voted PN… so he would easily be able to succeed where Sant had always failed, and attract that ever-growing contingent of disgruntled Nationalist voters firmly to the Labour fold. Ironically, though – and it's a weighty irony – one reason why so many former National- ist voters did indeed rally to Muscat's 'moderate/progres- sive' call in 2013, was precisely the deteriorating freedom of speech situation in Malta under the later Nationalist administrations. We seem to have quickly forgotten that time – precisely around 2008 – when people could (and sometimes did) get arrested for attending Carnival parties dressed as Jesus Christ, or some other Biblical figure; when archaic blasphemy laws were not only still in place, but enforced with (ahem) religious zeal. Forgotten, too, is the case of Alex Vella Gera and Mark Camilleri, who were arrested and prosecuted over the cam- pus publication of an 'obscene' short story in 2011. Not to mention the outright ban of a play called 'Stitching', that was later given an age-14 certifi- cate at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival… Granted, none of these events may have been the single cata- lyst for the mass-diaspora of maltatoday | SUNDAY • 7 JULY 2019 Raphael Vassallo A real drama behind a (mostly COURT NOTICE The Registrar, Civil Courts and Tribunals notifies that the First Hall of the Civil Court ordered the sale by Judicial Auction of the following property to be held in room numbered 78, nearby the Courts Archives, Level -1, Courts of Justice, Republic Street, Valletta. Date Time Judicial Sale No Property 11 th July, 2019 10.30am 18/17 - EGL Busuttil Karm Rev Dun (ID488059M) vs Zammit Joseph (ID685647M) et a) Garage numbered 2 that can be accessed from a common driveway forming part of an unnamed and unumbered block accessible from Triq Wied il-Għajn, Żabbar. The garage is subject to an annual rent of €500 and valued at €9,500. b) Garage numbered 14 with its own airspace that can be accessed from a common driveway forming part of an unnamed and unumbered block accessible from Triq Wied il-Għajn, Żabbar. The garage is subject to an annual rent of €500 and valued at €7,600. c) Garage numbered 22 on the siteplan but numbered 17 on site with its own airspace that can be accessed from a common driveway forming part of an unnamed and unumbered block accessible from Triq Wied il-Għajn, Żabbar, valued at €9,900. d) Garage numbered 17 on the siteplan but numbered 22 on site with its own airspace that can be accessed from a common driveway forming part of an unnamed and unumbered block accessible from Triq Wied il-Għajn, Żabbar. The garage is subject to an annual rent of €500 and valued at €8,600. e) Garage numbered 12 that can be accessed from a common driveway forming part of an unnamed and unumbered block accessible from Triq Wied il-Għajn, Żabbar. The garage is subject to an annual rent of €500 and valued at € 9,500. f) Garage 18 on the siteplan but numbered 21 on site that can be accessed from a common driveway forming part of an unnamed and unumbered block accessible from Triq Wied il-Għajn, Żabbar. The garage is subject to an annual rent of €500 and valued at €8,600. g) Garage numbered 15 that can be accessed from a common driveway forming part of an unnamed and unumbered block accessible from Triq Wied il- Għajn, Żabbar. The garage is subject to an annual rent of €500 and valued at €7,600. h) Garage numbered 3 that can be accessed from a common driveway forming part of an unnamed and unumbered block accessible from Triq Wied il-Għajn, Żabbar. The garage is subject to an annual rent of €500 and valued at €9,500. i) Garage numbered 16 that can be accessed from a common driveway forming part of an unnamed and unumbered block accessible from Triq Wied il- Għajn, Żabbar, valued at €7,600. j) Garage numbered 19 on the siteplan but 20 on site that can be accessed from a common driveway forming part of an unnamed and unumbered block accessible from Triq Wied il-Għajn, Żabbar. The garage is subject to an annual rent of €500 and valued at €9,100. k) Garage numbered 20 on the