If a pro-mafia “wacko” exists in Malta, this is Mark Camilleri!

 

In his desperate attempt to undermine the credibility of the University of Malta, Mark Camilleri penned an article and mentioned my name. He accused me of being a far-right supporter and a pro-mafia “wacko”. This is what Camilleri wrote:

Then you have for example Dominic Fenech, who is bizarrely and simultaneously both Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Head of the History Department. The History Department is like a ghost town which never ever produces historiographic research and Dominic, the pro-Labour and ex-Labour Secretary General, who barely does any work, is supported by allies at the University like the far-right and pro-mafia wacko Simon Mercieca. 

I have no problem being labelled a pro-Right Activist by a Marxist campaigner. However, I would like to remind Mark Camilleri that as a student, he did not hesitate asking for my support – a pro-Far Right Activist in his words – to write articles for the newspaper that he used to edit and which was being sponsored by unknown exterior funds. I wish to remind him that, at the time, he did not find much support from the academic staff to contribute to his newspaper. Still, I did not mind writing for his paper. Later, when he was dragged to court for publishing that famous short story, which the authorities erroneously considered pornographic, the whole Department of History was in solidarity with him, including the Head of Department, who at the time was Dominic Fenech. I also wish to remind Camilleri, who today is attacking the University of Malta and Dominic Fenech in particular, that Dominic Fenech asked the Faculty of Arts’ board to support Mark Camilleri in this case, on the principle of free speech and academic freedom. I was present at this meeting and strongly backed this position. What I can tell Mark Camilleri is that my thoughts have not changed. It is a pity that he wanted a ‘far-right activist’ to write for his newspaper and sought my support and solidarity when he was dragged to court and unjustly prosecuted by the police.  

Nor do I have a problem being called a friend of Dominic Fenech. Professor Fenech is a hard-working Dean and Head of the History Department. Incidentally, there is nothing strange or bizarre that a Dean is simultaneously Head of Department—the Education Act requires it. Camilleri is so ignorant of the Education Act and attendant University of Malta regulations that he needs to learn that to be elected Dean, one has to be a Head of Department! One may agree or disagree, but this is what the law stipulates. Moreover, the Department of History is one of the departments within the Faculty of Arts with many students, even though history is practically no longer being taught in our schools. I am stating this to rebut another false accusation made by Camilleri that the History Department is a ‘ghost town’. 

To add the cherry to the cake, I was then accused of being a pro-mafia wacko. I have no problem with Camilleri using such language to attack academics. But if there is a pro-Mafia individual, this person is Mark Camilleri himself. If one is to believe what Camilleri is writing about Joseph Muscat and that the latter is a Mafioso, then Camilleri has to own up to his mea culpa. Camilleri was one of those who vigorously laboured and campaigned for Muscat to be elected to government in 2013. And as thanks for his support and loyalty, Muscat appointed Camilleri Executive Chairman of the Malta Book Council.  

Nevertheless, in his obsession with rent-seekers, Camilleri forgets to mention that he once expected to receive a large subsidy from the University to support his writing, and became furious when he did not get it. This is the same Camilleri who was unable to finish his Ph.D. Now, he wants to present and perpetrate false accusations against academics at the University of Malta. 

And the General Secretary of the Nationalist Party, Michael Piccinino now recruits Mark Camilleri to help him and his party form a common unitary strategy. This alliance is already bearing fruit. The first article that Mark Camilleri writes after being roped in is an attack on the University of Malta and those academics who support the Nationalists cause. He also uses this article to support the introduction of abortion in Malta.  Thanks to this new alliance, as leader of the party, Bernard Grech has to tell the nation that he and his party are no longer against abortion. Camilleri’s article is testimony to this. It was published just a day or two after this famous meeting at PN Head Quarters.

 

The Labour Party University of Malta

 

If the strategy that the PN is going to adopt to build bridges is one that seeks to engage Mark Camilleri and similar individuals, to rescue the party then this party is creating the perfect scenario for another big electoral debacle, both in the EU and the next General Election.