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Harry Vassallo
It appears that the PN Executive Committee has taken exception to the allegation made in this newspaper last week that some of its members celebrated the passing of John Dalli from the cabinet. The PN’s Secretary General has also taken exception to the allegation that he had a hand in passing information to the MLP leading to the furore ousting John Dalli.
The result has been a blizzard of libel suits against the editor of this newspaper.
The truth or otherwise of these allegations is not my concern. I honestly could not care less whether or not any of the allegations are true. It really makes no difference to my estimate of the people involved. In fact the blizzard of court actions is what attracts interest to the matter.
Most people will be surprised at the reaction from the PN heartland that only a few weeks ago was complaining at being sued by the Greens for their own outrageous EP election smear campaign. This time last year one of the PN’s apologists was whingeing in public that a politician had had the gall to reply in kind to her spinning. She made it seem like an outrage on the sanctity of the press.
Here we have the PN’s Executive Committee coming down like a ton of bricks on a newspaper that has had the gall to repeat some gossip. Do they really want us to believe that their reputation for fairness and absolute correctness is in of virginal quality? It will be a field day for the defence lawyers.
Joe Saliba may yet go down in history as the Oscar Wilde of Maltese politics. The sanctimonious libel suits have to be based on the premise that Saliba & Co have a reputation to lose. Can they claim that they have never ever passed information to their political rivals in the course of intra-party feuding? If not, what are they trying to achieve by vindicating their good name?
Oscar Wilde destroyed himself by suing for libel in retaliation to an allegation of homosexuality made against him. He ended up in jail himself exploding his own reputation and standing in Victorian England’s high society. I truly hope that it will not all fizzle out in Joe’s case. In today’s world Joe’s sexual preferences and proclivities are nobody’s business. His relationship with the truth is a matter of the greatest interest. It will be an enormous disappointment for all us spectators to hear that a settlement out of court has been reached.
Would it not be wonderful to be called to the witness stand to establish Joe Saliba’s record for telling the truth and keeping to the high moral ground? I would be delighted to tell all I know on the matter with full judicial immunity and in the greatest detail possible. There must be an endless list of persons who would be delighted to do likewise. At the end of it all there will not be just the guesstimate of a reputation but a litany of facts.
My guess is that the conclusion to all these forensic fireworks will be a pyrrhic victory for Joe & Co. Quite probably the law does not allow such gossip about politicians. The damages should be not much more than Lm1 per victim once the losses to their reputations are assessed.
If it comes to that I hope that the defendants have the stamina to appeal and then to challenge the law as a violation of the European Charter guaranteeing citizens’ rights to freedom of expression and information. At the end of the day this is what it is all about.
The Executive Committee of the PN runs the show. It controls the party media machinery. It decides the fate of its MPs and of government ministers. The government’s policy is the party’s policy. In 17 years it has not lifted a finger to ensure that the Maltese enjoy anything beyond the absolute minimum in freedom of expression and information. From where I stand, it has been a party to institutionalised violation of these rights.
It has enforced a system which has been a continual outrage of the rights of minorities. Today it gives its blessing to the decimation and partitioning of the state broadcaster. Tomorrow it proposes to freeze the mutilated system until after the next general elections. I have been a witness to its humiliation of the Broadcasting Authority’s feeble attempts to abide by the Constitution and ensure a balance in broadcasting.
Joe Saliba & Co have made Dom Mintoff and the 1980s seem like a mild form of entertainment. The attack by a massive political party-cum-government-cum-media-empire on a small independent newspaper is shameful in itself. It can also be taken as a signal to all other critics that the PN is no longer prepared to tolerate the slightest criticism. It can be expected to strike terror in the hearts of the fainthearted. Perhaps it is meant to do so.
It feels like déjà vu. I lived through the 1980s and have seen a government party in its last throes before. It was what made the PN. Today it looks likely to be that which will break it.
Dr Vassallo is Chairperson of Alternattiva Demokratika – The Green Party
harry.vassallo@alternattiva.org.mt
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