Local

The Realta' Collective is calling for all organizations, groups and all citizens to join the Front Against Censorship which will start lobbying to remove outdated laws, abolish censorship once and for all and bring about artistic freedom. The Collective believes that the limitations to freedom of speech which are being set up with moralistic and religious justifications are unacceptable in a time and age where the freedom of speech and artistic freedom are values, widely accepted in the European Union. 2009 is ironically the Year of Creativity and Innovation of the EU but for Malta, 2009 is the year of censorship and suppression of the arts. The Collective is here linking the official Proposals which will in the end abolish the censorship regime and is urging all of civil society to back them up so as to exert, strong pressure on Parliament to adopt them.

http://realtamadwarek.org/ir-realta/Front%20Against%20Censorship.doc

Moviment Graffitti is hereby raising some questions related to the visit in Malta of a senior military officer from NATO. Admiral Giampaolo di Paola is currently in Malta, where he will give a lecture at University and where he will meet the Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Moviment Graffitti states: “This visit from a high ranking NATO officer, and his meetings with the highest positions within the Maltese state, inevitably raises concerns about the relations between Malta and NATO. This is being said also in the light of other facts which indicate that Malta is getting closer to this military alliance. In 2008 Malta started to make part of the NATO project Partnership for Peace and during the last few years it welcomed many warships which, in their absolute majority, came from NATO countries.”

The Realta' Collective would like to announce that its critical and satirical newspaper Ir-Realta' has been banned from University by a direct order from the Rector. This information has arrived to the Collective by an informal meeting with the KSU President Karl Grech. He announced to the editor that the newspaper has been banned by a direct order from the Rector due to the discrimination against women incited by the artistic prose of Alex Vella Gera called Li Tkisser Sewwi. The story is about a man, the narrator, who uses women as sexual objects while being completely ignorant about love. The narrator uses vulgar and crude language so as to help the reader rto help the reader to realise how much of an ignorant brute he is. It is an ironic piece of art which has a direct message, against the discrimination of women. The Collective explained this politely to the Rector by an official email, however the Rector did not respond and the ban is still in force.

University Students Council (KSU) has submitted an eviction notice to Moviment Graffitti from their office at Student House, University. The office will instead be used by the Demo-Christian Students organisation (SDM). KSU is currently run by SDM.  This is the result of an orchestrated attack against the left at the University by a hardline Catholic called Anrea Pace and the KSU President Carl Grech. Andre Pace is the Room Allocations Officer and has the duty to inform all organisations about the Social Policy Commission meetings. Not attending these meetings would result, by statute that the organization looses its right for an office.

As an international student, starting a full-time course in Malta, I would like to express my disappointment with the Freshers Week at the university. It was disturbing how this event was totally commercialised and not focused on its primary purpose. Walking around the area where the stands were set up, one got more free pens, pads, razors, advertisements from phone-companies, etc. than information about the different university-organisations. Seeing all these companies promoting themselves for the single aim of making profit, was not what I expected from the first days at the campus. Especially multinational companies like Nestle, which are known for their unethical operating procedures, should under no circumstances be invited. Deeper was my disappointment when I got to know that this event was organised by the University Students' Council, the body which, in theory, should give its utmost importance to students and students' organisations.

The Ir-Realta' collective has just published its latest issue of the most controversial newspaper in the country. Ir-Realta' Issue 8 contains an article on the diminishing natural water supply, single-mothers and child centres, an interview with the President of Malta Union of Teachers, art, satire and more. For a free copy send an email to realta (at) inventati.org (replace (at) with @).

On Wednesday, 30th September, the local courts have again reminded us about the theocratic obligations of the Maltese citizens, by charging a young man with offending the Catholic Religion and handing him a six month prison sentence, suspended for three years.

The young man was showing an artistic, visual compilation he made at home while playing a live set at Microfest in May, when police officers came up on him, stopped the set and confiscated his laptop.

The visual included a clip of the current Pope followed by a naked woman.

The young man pleaded guilty and Magistrate Silvio Demicoli handed out the sentence.

We have finally updated the website with new technical features and a new and neat design which will makes it easier for reading articles. We will again start uploading content on the website more regularly than before. For those who would like to join our efforts can join our email list which is

http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-malta

or send email to imcmalta (at) inventati.org

Thanks goes to the local Indymedia Team and for our international colleagues who made this upgrade possible!

Indymedia is yet a very young organization which has until now struggled to survive with a lack of funds and resources. To complicate problems fraudsters such as Mr Pinta have also stole equipment and money from the organization. However in our short experience we have been successful in producing as much as information and news items as possible but things have slowed down again due to further lack of resources. Thus we are currently spending our time re-roganizing ourselves, and getting more funds, in order to be able to keep the website online and even better.

Minn mindu beda l-mandat tal-gvern tal-Partit Nazzjonalista sena ilhu, saru hafna azzjonijiet mill-gvern li ifixklu l-organizazzjopnijiet tal-haddiema, l-gholi tal-hajja spara 'l-fuq u fuq kollox dhalna f'ricessjoni ekonomika minghajr ma ttiehud mizuri konkreti biex jigu ssalvagwardjati l-postijiet tax-xoghol. Biex niskopru aktar x'inhu jigri fil-qasam tax-xoghol u tal-organizazzjonijiet tal-haddiema tkellimna ma' Gejtu Mercieca, deputat, segretarju-generali tal-General Workers Union li hi l-akbar union f'Malta.