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MALTATODAY 2 October 2019 Midweek

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4 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 2 OCTOBER 2019 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 "I think it was a stupid decision… I would hazard to say. And I don't think it was a top down decision from the University, but one taken someone, somewhere. If freedom of ex- pression doesn't take place at university, then I don't know where it can take place," Muscat said. "I also want to make it clear - because I noted some comments which were being made - that the government does not intrude into what the University does. [The University] has complete autonomy. And I am sure the University's atti- tude is not one of censorship," he underscored. Muscat acknowledged that wearing a mask was a "humorous way" of criticising those in politics, and emphasised the government was "completely against any type of censorship." Security's guard's reaction was excessive - Education Minister Asked about the matter, Evarist Bartolo said that while the security had acted in an exag- gerated manner by confiscating the Graffitti activists' masks, it was unfair to claim that the University had in place a censorship policy. "I don't think the university [told students not to wear political masks]. I think the security guard in question reacted completely wrongly. Those who know we know that if I were a stu- dent, I'd probably be part of Graffitti," he said. "We have no problem with the University having complete freedom of expression, and with everyone who works, teaches and stud- ies there having maximum freedom of expres- sion. We in fact are proposing in the new law that the University bet he critical conscience of Maltese society." "But to take yesterday's incident and create a whole theory that the University is stop- ping freedom of expression is an exaggeration. Things should be kept proportionate. The se- curity guard's reaction was excessive, but it is not true that there is a policy that students can't express themselves or be critical," Bartolo said. When it was pointed out that the incident had ironically happened ten years after the writer of a story, "Li Tkisser Sewwi", published in a University magazine, was censored - which had prompted the Labour Party to come out strongly against what had transpired – Bartolo said his party still maintained its position on the issue of censorship." I don't think the Labour Party is now com- ing out in favour of censorship. The irony is in the date, but I don't think anyone, not even the security guard, planned for this to take place ten years [after the Li Tkisser Sewwi episode]," he said. Undeterred, Graffitti return with Ian Borg masks Undeterred, the students from Graffitti were back on campus wearing their masks yesterday. This time, however, security did not make an appearance, with one of the activists allowed to walk around campus wearing a mask of min- ister Borg and a costume representing a tall building. "The [demonstration] is part of Graffitti's Freshers' Week stand, which we set up to show what work [the NGO] does," Noah Fabri, a stu- dent and Graffitti activist told MaltaToday. The aim, he said, was to create more aware- ness on the issues connected with construction in Malta. "We wore masks representing people in the industry. One of our masks, depicting Ian Borg, did not go down well with university se- curity. They told us politics shouldn't be part of Freshers' Week and confiscated the mask," he said. "We feel this is an act of censorship. Politi- cal elements are everywhere in Freshers' Week. There are various organisations and political dignitaries who come to the event and certain [politically-related] groups also have stands here." Fabri said Graffitti would not remain silent in the face of censorship, and it would continue practising its right to free speech. "It seems that some financial interests may be involved, which don't want us to protest against certain people. But we will keep pro- testing," he said. PM says government against 'any sort of censorship' LAUR A CALLEJA UNIVERSITY lecturers have come out in support of students, who were stopped by the institution's ad- ministration from wearing masks of Transport Minis- ter Ian Borg as part of Graf- fitti's Freshers' Week stand. The University of Malta Academic Staff Associa- tion on Tuesday said that it supported and encouraged "healthy and creative politi- cal debate". UMASA said that it be- lieved the University of Malta formed the "bed- rock" of democratic gov- ernance and supported the freedom of speech of staff and students alike. On Monday, security guards at the university confiscated a mask worn by a Moviment Graffitti ac- tivist as part of the group's campaign to press home its 'political' work. Taking to social media Moviment Graffitti said that it would not be "intim- idated by such tactics," and demanded that their mate- rial is returned to them im- mediately. The University of Malta said following the incident, that while it supported po- litical debate "as evidenced by the setting up of the Malta University Debating Union", it had to intervene in this particular situation for fears that the matter would escalate. "The Moviment Graf- fiti representative was asked to remove the mask when he ventured outside the designated Moviment Graffitti stand and min- gled with students visiting other stands. It was at this point that security officers, concerned that the matter might provoke a reaction and escalate, decided to act to defuse the situation," the statement read. The university's statement was met with shock by sev- eral lecturers, who were critical of the stand taken by the administration. UMASA highlighted that lectures had a moral re- sponsibility to educate and train the leaders of tomor- row and that a fundamental part of that education in- volved, "fostering a sense of civic engagement on cam- pus." "As such, we continue to support the development of an informed and construc- tive political conscious- ness among our students," UMASA said. University lecturers take stand against Graffitti censorship Graffitti also produced a mask of Sandro Chetcuti, of the Malta Developers Association

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