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Simon in the lions' den
Alfred
Sant and Evarist Bartolo continue the EU propaganda charge, Kurt
Sansone reports
It could have been described as Simon in the lions' den for the
Malta-EU Information Centre (MIC) director, Simon Busuttil yesterday,
as he was forced to bear the brunt of the crowd's criticism while
addressing a seminar organised by the Labour Party's, Fondazzjoni
Mikiel Anton Vassalli at the MLP headquarters.
But Dr Busuttil kept his cool, and the way he handled his critics
even earned him sympathy from Labour spokesman, Evarist Bartolo.
Mr Bartolo was the other keynote speaker in the morning seminar,
which was closed by Labour leader Alfred Sant.
The talk focused on education and the European Union. As expected
the controversy on whether MIC's school campaign is indoctrination
or not, arose.
Dr Busuttil stressed more than once that the school campaign, which
concerns two roaming exhibitions, was an attempt to give objective
information about the European Union.
"At no point do we tell or hint to students that Malta should
join the EU", Dr Busuttil emphasised.
He rejected claims of indoctrination and warned, "Let us not
use the excuse that information is propaganda simply to withhold
information."
Speaking first, Evarist Bartolo said that school children should
be informed about the EU, but not by utilising MIC officials. The
Labour spokesperson said that teachers should be trained to deliver
that type of information.
Mr Bartolo described MIC's school campaign as pro-EU propaganda,
while the Labour leader reserved harsher words for the campaign
in his closing speech.
Dr Sant described the campaign as "scandalous" and added
that MIC's intervention in the education system could never be described
as innocent, since the issue was divisive in Maltese society.
The flack did not stop there. The Labour leader stressed, "Dr
Busuttil's claim that MIC's information is objective, is naive.
MIC's school campaign is a subliminal message in favour of EU membership."
He continued, "By all standards, what MIC is doing in schools
is indoctrination."
Throughout the seminar Dr Busuttil stressed that MIC's role was
not to tell people how to vote in the EU referendum. He encouraged
the people present to seek out information and then decide for themselves
whether membership suits Malta or not.
He even capitalised on a negative comment made by a member of the
audience about EU unemployment figures to stress the point that
MIC's duty was to inform factually.
Dr Busuttil said that the person probably got the information from
a press release sent by MIC to all the media about the latest EU
unemployment information.
"We even added Malta's unemployment for you to be able to compare
things," Dr Busuttil told the audience member.
Replying to a point raised by Evarist Bartolo on university stipends,
Dr Busuttil said EU students will have the right to be treated equally
with their Maltese counterparts, except where stipends were involved.
"An EU student will have the right to get free university education
just like Maltese students, however he will not be entitled to a
stipend as this is considered a social service," Dr Busuttil
explained.
The majority of comments made by the audience were critical of MIC's
operation. Most people present viewed Dr Busuttil as a PN acolyte
dishing out information that only suited the government's agenda.
At the end of the day the seminar was more like preaching to the
converted for Mr Bartolo and Dr Sant and mission impossible for
Dr Busuttil. |
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