Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1367395
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 MAY 2021 INTERVIEW Satire is about 'punching up'… not down Let me take my cue from some- thing Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia told you earlier this week. His first comment, in that much-publicised online spat, was: 'Get a real job'. So… have you managed to find 'a real job' yet? [Laughing] Sadly, no. I still have this 'fake job' [as own- er/editor of satirical website Bis-Serjeta]… but now that you mention it: seeing as I'm technically unemployed, at the moment… mind if I take the opportunity to plug my Patreon page (a funding site for artists, creators and serious journal- ists)? It's 'www.patreon.com/ bisserjeta.' Without the hyphen. Got that? Thanks... But I must say, it was funny that, just a few days later, [Cul- ture Minister] Jose Herrera would also come out with his comment about 'artists not be- ing business-minded'. You can more or less see the connection there: put those two comments together, and what they're basically saying is… 'f*** the arts'… And yet, satire itself is not ex- actly 'new' in Malta. Though it doesn't always look that way, we do have a long satirical tra- dition here: mostly concerning cartoons in newspapers. Do you think there is still an ele- ment of people in Malta who just don't understand the lan- guage of satire? With regard to your point that we've always had a tradition of satire in Malta… it's true, up to a point; but then again, satire is always viewed as 'part of some- thing else'. It's given a page in a newspaper, for instance… or a regular cartoon slot. The idea of something totally dedicat- ed to satire – and nothing else but satire – might, on the other hand, be something that people aren't all that used to, here. All the same, I think there's a lot of people who enjoy it more than we often give credit for. But yes, there is definitely a sec- tion of society that just doesn't get it... Part of the reason, I think, is because we put politicians on pedestals so much more here, than in other countries. I'm not really that familiar with Italian politics; though I know they have a few satirical things over there… but in the UK, for instance: the whole 'tribalism' issue just doesn't really exist at all. There are, obviously, Tory and Labour supporters: but there isn't the same sort of 'mass-meeting culture', for in- stance… British satire also tends to be far more brutal than anything we are used to here. But even if Bis-Serjetà's brand of satire takes a softer approach… you still manage to elicit sharp re- actions. Out of curiosity: what sort of feedback do you get in private? Is Farrugia's tirade representative of a wider per- ception out there? I certainly can't remember any politician ever taking a Bis-Ser- jetà joke so… seriously. Bear in mind that he didn't just tell me to 'get a real job'; he also out- ed me as [the secret identity of] Karl Stennienibarra. Like I told him in my reply: that was the first time, in 10 years of doing this sort of thing, that anyone responded by actually outing me. And I'm pretty certain that – Malta being the small place it is – they all knew who I was an- yway. It wasn't a very well-kept secret in the first place…. Bearing in mind that 'freedom of expression', in Malta, is in- variably going to be overshad- owed by the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017… how important was it for you to re- main anonymous? Do you feel that Farrugia 'crossed a line', by possibly exposing you to re- taliation? More than anything else… I'd say it was a dick move. Like I said before: if someone real- ly wanted to target me, they would have found out who I was, sooner or later. And while we're not exactly North Korea, or Saudi Arabia… I do see what I tend to call an 'undercurrent of brutality' in Malta. Put sim- ply, if someone doesn't like what you're saying… they feel as if they had an automatic right to commit violence on you. In Daphne's case, for example: we all know that it didn't start with a car-bomb; it started with slitting her dogs' throats, and setting fire to her front door. So while I'm not really concerned with politicians knowing who I am, as such; it's more their supporters. It's more the odd, random thug out there… who might not, let's say, 'appreciate the value of satire in society…' Then again, however: the fact is, I very rarely post stuff with the explicit intention of actually offending. My main purpose, ultimately, is to make people laugh. And yes, maybe occasionally to make people a little uncomfortable, too… like, for instance, the pic- ture of a dead migrant I post- ed this week [with the speech bubble: 'If only I had receipts for pastizzi and a Red Bull from Havana']. Obviously, that's not intended to be funny at all. It's more of a point I felt I had to make, at that moment. But 99% of the time, it's really just to make people laugh. There's only that 1% of stuff that I post, where I think to myself… yeah, that's really going to piss some people off… What would say is the most offence you've caused, with a single article or image? By far, the article that has given the most hassle was the one I wrote last summer about [breaking into a laugh] 'the Santa Venera statue catching COVID'. [Pause]. I mean: to me, For 10 years, Malta's social media landscape has been graced by the comic presence of journalistic extraordinaire, 'Karl Stennienibarra'. This week, however, his creator's cover was blown during a very heated public altercation with a Cabinet minister. MATT BONANNO speaks out (seriously, this time) about his undercover life as an anonymous satirist Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt JAMES BIANCHI