The Culture Minister’s ignorant comments on art and culture are not surprising. He is an obvious and clear case for resignation because not only does he have no idea what he is doing, but he also intends to use the Ministry to impose censorship and limits on what is offensive and what isn’t. Essentially, he is bringing us back to Lawrence Gonzi’s era.
However, I digress, because what should be even more surprising and even shocking is that the Labour government is organising a propaganda event called the “Festival of Ideas”, where the taxpayer is now directly funding a festival at which the government and its executives line up speakers to speak about several subjects. In addition to lining up local speakers for the event, the government is also flying in foreign guests to participate in it.
The shocking and scandalous behaviour of the government in using public funds to push its propaganda and distort the local cultural industries keeps reaching new highs.
Now we not only have to contend with a state intellectual and cultural machine that acts as a direct commercial competitor to publishing entities like ours, but we now also have to contend with renewed censorship.
Artists’ organisations also need the press to raise their voices, apparently. After allowing the Minister to start his tenure by moving entities illegally, this step was enough to raise the alarm and begin lobbying for him to resign. But artists ingratiated themselves with him until the press is now revealing his unhinged ignorance.
We should not hope that the government will do the right thing (rarely, if ever). This Minister should literally be forced to resign.
As for the Festival of Ideas: this is another obscenity by Labour, in which Labour is directly influencing and controlling local intellectual institutions and spaces.
Note that this is also the same Minister who defrauded the public treasury a salary from a parliamentary role he never fulfilled, and the same Minister who said that Daphne Caruana Galizia wasn’t killed for her work.
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