Under the leadership of Robert Abela, the Labour Party has been gradually propagating a negative sentiment against the free press, often accusing it of being negative and defamatory. The Labour Party’s accusations against the free press are also often associated with the “negative faction” of the Opposition and this constant attack against the free press and critique has cowered the Opposition Leader to conduct a “positive” general election campaign without “attacks”.
This campaign against the free press has also been spearheaded by the Labour propagandists who have taken over public broadcasting. One exhibit can be found below. Labour Party MPs are also pushing for a clampdown against the free press and the Labour Party is even proposing to increase libel damages. The Labour government has also explicitly condemned the free press from Parliament. Manufacturing racist outrage for progressive’ exhibitionism will also help Labour’s case to push for further restrictions on free speech, despite hate speech already being illegal.
Hate speech in our laws is associated with the threat of violence. The Labour Party is attempting to broaden the understanding of this concept by including offence and insults. Individuals like Alex Agius Saliba are very well aware of this cultural shift that the party is pushing and Agius Saliba himself is also in favour of using Labour’s hegemony to clamp down on critical voices. There is nothing organic in this.
The Labour Party has gradually captured the information space including the press. Adding more restrictive laws will consolidate Labour’s control over the information that is produced and consumed daily to the general public. The Labour Party knows what it is doing and it needs strong pushback to preserve what we have gained so far in our years fighting against censorship.
Another issue which is exacerbating Labour’s authoritarian push against free speech is that Labour has spent too many years in government by now and Labour’s confidence is growing that it can get away with anything, even thinking about Malta and its governance in terms of a permanent one-party state society. Authoritarianism won’t be stopped if we play nice and according to Labour’s rules and conditions. Instead of cowering to Labour’s gaslighting and avoiding attacks, the Opposition should seek to escalate its campaigns.
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Historian and Publisher
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