University mum on Graffitti eviction, newspaper ban
The University of Malta has not answered questions by MaltaToday over the eviction of left-wing group Moviment Graffitti from its campus office, and the ban on student publication Ir-Realtà.
The official reason for the eviction is that Graffitti failed to attend three consecutive meetings of the students’ union Social Policy Commission, which includes all the recognised organisations on campus.
Perversely, Graffitti’s eviction comes in the wake of a report by the Rooms Allocation Board, showing that Graffitti was the most active organisation on campus. The report gave points to each organisation and ranked Moviment Graffitti first. Organisations who rank first on the list have precedence over the rest in choosing a room at the University Students’ House.
But since Graffitti was absent during the meeting in which the report was discussed with the other organisations, it was relegated to the last position and was asked to share an office with three other organisations.
Graffitti activist Andre Callus claims his organisation was not even informed about the meeting.
In the meantime, the university authorities appear to have ordered the removal of copies of Ir-Realtà, published by the Realtà collective, from the university campus.
The university is claiming that a short fictional story by Alex Vella Gera entitled ‘Li Tkisser Sewwi’, published in Ir-Realtà, “was deemed to be in breach of the laws of Malta and for this reason the publication was removed. The University campus falls under the responsibility of the Rector. To this effect, prior permission should always be obtained before any material is distributed within the University precinct. In this case permission was neither requested nor granted.”
MaltaToday is informed that the Police were investigating the content of the fictional story, over whether the article’s contents were defamatory with regards to women.
In a statement, the Realtà collective said Vella Gera’s story is about a man who uses women as sexual objects while being completely ignorant about love.
“The narrator uses vulgar language to help the reader 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,” Mark Camilleri said.
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