Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1206972
13 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 FEBRUARY 2020 NEWS situations like this." Subversion in carnival Such an argument raises the question of how mature or so- phisticated, carnival float crafts- men are to make use of full ar- tistic freedom. It is an argument that can be accused of elitism, especially when one of the adult victims of the St Joseph sex abuse expressed his solidarity for the float-makers, seeing an opportu- nity to highlight the fact that no compensation has yet been of- fered to the abuse victims. Still, should something as se- rious and painful as clerical sex abuse be even tackled in a carni- val float? Would it not be health- ier to mock those in power with- out caricaturing their victims too? Carnival is historically associat- ed with the subversion of the pre- vailing order, a day when bishops and kings could be mocked with a degree of impunity by town folk who become kings for a day. Yet for the past decades carnival in Malta consisted mainly of a de- filé attended by children in cos- tumes, an environment which is far from conducive to subversion. Labour MEP and writer Alfred Sant, who firmly disagrees with censorship, but had disagreed with the lifting of the ban on po- litical satire in carnival when the suggestion was first floated in 1998, feels vindicated. "Back than I disagreed with this and many were scandalised…. They accused me that I was against freedom of speech…. But my point remains that we live in a small society where political satire easily degenerates into per- sonal insult which serves to deep- en partisan divide among oth- ers… The anger felt by different segments of society… is amplified by the country's small size". What Sant finds striking is that it had to be "satire on the Catho- lic Church" to re-open the debate on satire in carnival. On his part the Archbishop who himself felt aggrieved by the "ma- licious" float linking him to sex crimes, chimed in saying that he hopes to see floats featuring poli- ticians linked to gifts from alleged Caruana Galizia murder master- mind Yorgen Fenech – an obvi- ous dig at Joseph Muscat. "I have no objection to seeing that who- ever occupies a public role is sub- jected to satire… hopefully there will be other floats on politicians who gave us a lot to talk about in recent times in terms of satire. I'll be curious to see whether there'll be any floats depicting specific watches and particular brands of wine," he said, referring to the Bvlgari watch Muscat was gifted from Fenech. The archbishop's provocation smacks of gross inconsistency, simply because he himself object- ed to the 'defamatory' carnival. Is it a case of one law for himself and another for others? But it does raise one important question: how can this year's carnival not make any reference to the meltdown of the Muscat government, or is the Church an easier target to pick on for satire and ridicule? In the wake of Tangentopoli in 1992, carnival floats in Italian cities like Acireale were replete with images of politicians like Bettino Craxi and Gulio Andre- otti in hand-cuffs. More recent- ly it was the turn of Berlusconi's 'bunga bunga' orgies, even if their existence was contested in the law courts. And apart from the refreshing online presence of 'Bis-Serjeta', satire has been so far completely absent in comment- ing on recent political events in Malta. And on this point Alex Vella Gera is in agreement with the archbishop. "I would also like to echo the Archbishop's state- ment that the political class is incredibly ripe for satire right now. Will there be any in the carnival? I doubt not…. There's self-censorship going on there which should be addressed as a cultural failing." KARL AZZOPARDI A slightly altered design of the float depicting Archbish- op Charles J. Scicluna will still make its way to the Valletta carnival parade in February, despite all the criticism it has received so far. Rayvin Galea, the artist be- hind the float's design, said he hoped to get across vari- ous issues which he feels have not properly addressed by the Church. They included its opposition to same-sex marriage, depict- ed on his float through a fig- urine of a gay couple on top of a wedding cake, while the Church's opposition to IVF takes the form of, controver- sially, two horned cherubs. Scicluna will come decked in some military uniform, which Galea says represents the Church's conservative stance on many social issues. Missing will be the words St Joseph's Home above the Sci- cluna effigy, the reference to the sexual abuse of children in the late 80s at the Church orphanage. The float also features Lady Justice with a blindfold, a balance, and a sword, showcasing the lack of justice received by the victims of the abuse. "We hope the float serves as a wake-up call for the Church, whose hard-line stance on a variety of social issues has pushed people away from it," Galea said. Since making the rounds on social media, the float re- ceived a flurry of mixed reac- tions. While some called on the design to be completely scrapped, others insisted that freedom of expression entails satire to be directed at the head of the Catholic Church in Malta. "If people came here and asked us to explain to them the design, their reaction would be totally different," Galea insisted. He said the design submitted to Festivals Malta was a condensation of the 3D float into a two-di- mensional picture, which aims to give the best possi- ble impression of the overall float. Galea says his sketch had remained unchanged, con- testing Festivals Malta's claim that the original sketch lacked the further details that "in- creased the defamatory ele- ment". nt. "They only told us that if we didn't change some as- pects to the float we would be disqualified, but when they came here and saw the on-go- ing work, they confirmed that their sketch was identi- cal to mine and nothing was changed," Galea said. With the final float design expected to have some minor changes, such as the words 'St Joseph Home' being re- moved, Galea was asked why he would be carrying out the amendments if no law was be- ing broken. "I decided to remove the words as they may come out as a little aggressive, but I was never referring to the pres- ent-day orphanage, but to the situation when those atroci- ties happened," he said. Asked if they plan to par- ticipate with another satiri- cal float next year, the team behind the project said that they plan to come out even stronger. "Most definitely, we already have something in the pipeline," Galea said. 'Our float should be a wake-up call to the Church' 2009: Mark Camilleri protests the censorship regime