Back to the 80s

Free speech is hard-won and easily lost. Right up to 1987, the opposition’s voice was stifled to such an extent that it had to transmit its message from the safety of Sicily.

Protesting over the lack of running water earned you a beating. Demonstrators at tal-Barrani, Żejtun, were met with gunfire, tear gas, stones from Labour thugs and police officers.

Two demonstrators even had their noses bitten off. Raymond Caruana was murdered simply because he was at a PN club.

When we thought those days of oppression were over, Education Minister Clifton Grima ordered teachers to stop expressing their views unless it’s to parrot government policy and propaganda.

Minister Grima issued a directive restricting the right of educators to speak publicly. That directive ordered all teachers, heads of school and heads of college networks to refrain from participating in any TV or radio discussions. It ordered them to stop writing newspaper articles or appearing in podcasts or video blogs.

It demanded that no teacher contribute to any online publication. And anybody considering doing so must submit in writing a request for approval from their line manager specifying the topics to be discussed and the media house involved.

That request must then reach the Director General of the Education Services Department. Those hand-picked teachers granted permission “must adhere to strict representation policy” and “reflect the policies, guidelines and objectives of the Ministry.” Shockingly, that directive states that “participation should not result in the promotion of personal beliefs.”

To ensure compliance, Grima’s directive included a public threat: “Any breaches of the policy are to be referred to DG Department of Educational Services for review and ensuing action”. That directive even ordered “the head of school and heads of college network” to “ensure adherence to this policy”.  The Education Minister, of all ministries, issued a despotic directive.

Unsurprisingly, the Commissioner for Education ruled that Grima’s directive “unlawfully restricts” educators from making public statements without prior approval and “forces them to reflect ministry policy”.  That directive, the Commissioner said, “imposed conditions that restricted personal opinion and discouraged critical engagement”.  He even called it “doublespeak”.

He noted that requiring approval from Grima’s Director General before speaking added “another layer of administrative control which could have a chilling effect on educators’ willingness to speak publicly”.

The Commissioner was absolutely clear – the restriction violated freedom of speech and “cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be considered to be reasonably necessary in a modern democratic society”.

This government is attempting to silence everyone who dares harbour different views from Labour’s diktats. It wants total darkness, where only its stories are told and its voice is heard.

We no longer fear a return to the dark days of Mintoff and Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici.  We’re already there. Dissident opponents of the ruling party are no longer beaten up at the Malta Drydocks, but they’re tortured online by party trolls, threatened with anonymous letters and intimidated by an overbearing, overreaching authoritarian government.

And what better group to target than our educators – those who train our future generations to think for themselves, to critically appraise events and decisions, to openly challenge cynical orders from above.

There is little doubt that free speech is under attack by a repressive government.  Grima is leading that charge by tightening the muzzle he’s placed on teachers. There can be no question that this is a regression of the most fundamental of our rights – free speech.

He knows that most won’t even challenge his Kim-il-Sungian order.  Most understand the Minister’s message – he wants no dissent, no criticism, no opposition to his orders.  Most will comply.

The majority will self-censor, fearful of displeasing the Minister and anxious about possible retribution.  They know full well Labour’s ruthlessness in rooting out dissenters and punishing adversaries.

Grima is finding new tools of suppressing awkward facts and ideas.  He’s determined to stop teachers and academics exposing his mediocrity.  He feels emboldened to use such blunt tools because Labour’s domination has made support for free speech falter.  Labour has no qualms censoring dissent – and it does it publicly through a government circular.

Seeing something that Grima claims is good and pointing out why it’s bad is an essential function, indeed a duty of educators.  It is one of democracy’s crucial safeguards.  The Minister’s actions create a climate of contempt for those who dare to challenge his order. The next thing he’ll be calling teachers “traitors” and “enemies of the people”.

If Grima thinks something is contradictory to his policies, no one should be allowed to say it.  So he’s criminalising dissent, threatening disciplinary measures against those who dare utter their views.  He is trying to intimidate teachers into docility and compliance. And if they don’t relent, they’ll receive torrents of threats and abuse on social media from Labour’s organised trolls.

Labour goes further.  It dominates the media using taxpayers’ money.  It hijacked the national broadcaster to propagate its rigid messaging. It uses our money to advertise its position and manipulate public opinion.  The government is the biggest advertiser, so everybody’s terrified of annoying it. Labour buys the obsequiousness even of private stations and media through the advertising money that keeps them afloat.

The state news agency has long been stuffed with toadies and loyalists.  Its bulletins would make Pravda proud. Labour’s advertising budget has swollen enormously. And it’s using it for one purpose – to bolster and consolidate its power and prolong its hold on it.

The Commissioner for Education recommended that the ministry issue revised guidelines to allow teachers freedom to express personal views on the educational system “without fear of disciplinary action”.  But the Minister rejected both complaints.

The Commissioner referred the matter to the Prime Minister, but Robert Abela took no action.

Students can see what’s happening to their teachers, or at least those teachers who dare speak out. They are targeted by an all-powerful Minister with the full backing of his authoritarian prime minister. And that’s a lesson they will never forget – the lesson of quiet subservience and compliance. That guarantees the death of open debate and free expression.

Our right to free speech was hard-earned.  Labour imperils it again.