Mark Camilleri
M.Q.R. (born 2 February 1988) is a Maltese historian, writer, blogger, and publisher. Camilleri served as chairman of the National Book Council from 2013 to 2021. Following this, he became an outspoken critic of the ruling
Labour Party and of prime ministers
Joseph Muscat
Joseph Muscat (born 22 January 1974) is a Maltese politician who served as the prime minister of Malta from 2013 to 2020, and as the leader of the Labour Party from June 2008 to January 2020.
Muscat was re-elected as prime minister in the ...
and
Robert Abela
Robert Abela (born 7 December 1977) is a Maltese lawyer and politician who has served as prime minister of Malta and leader of Labour Party since 2020. The son of former President George Abela, he was elected to Parliament in 2017. Abela was s ...
.
Early career
Camillieri studied
history
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
at the
University of Malta
The University of Malta (, UM, formerly UOM) is a higher education institution in Malta. It offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, postgraduate master's degrees and postgraduate doctorates. It is a member of the European University Association ...
, where he graduated BA (Hons) in 2009 and MA in 2012. In his student days he was an active member of
Moviment Graffitti
''Moviment Graffitti'' is a Left-wing politics, left-wing radical environmentalist non governmental organisation and pressure group in Malta.
''Moviment Graffitti'' promotes an amalgamation of leftist sociopolitical ideas, mainly human rights, so ...
.
In 2009, he published Alex Vella Gera's short story ''Li Tkisser Sewwi'' (trans. ''Fix What You Break'') in his student newspaper ''Ir-Realta. Vella Gera's short story is a first person male narrative on female objectification and sexual exploits. The publication was promptly banned from the University of Malta and Camilleri was indicted to court along with the author for publishing obscenities and
pornography
Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults, . This arrest took place during a time when old censorship laws were being applied across the arts sector. This led him to organize a pressure group called Front Against Censorship which lobbied for the removal of censorship laws from the arts. Camilleri and Vella Gera were released from all charges by Maltese courts. Following their release, censorship laws in Malta were removed in 2016. During the following year, the Front Against Censorship lobbied for the removal of criminal libel, which was subsequently removed from Malta's code of laws in 2018.
For his work against government censorship, Camilleri was awarded a
Midalja għall-Qadi tar-Repubblika
The Midalja għall-Qadi tar-Repubblika (Medal for Service to the Republic) is a medal of the Malta, Republic of Malta. The medal is awarded by the President of Malta, with the written approval of the Prime Minister of Malta, for distinguished servi ...
(M.Q.R) in 2013 by Malta's President
George Abela
George Abela, (born 22 April 1948) is a Maltese politician who was the eighth president of Malta from April 2009 to April 2014.
Early life
Abela was born in Qormi, Malta, to George and Ludgarda (née Debono) Abela. He attended the local primar ...
.
National Book Council
In 2013, Mark Camilleri was appointed Executive Chairman of Malta's
National Book Council
The National Book Council ( mt, Il-Kunsill Nazzjonali tal-Ktieb), is a Maltese public entity dedicated to the promotion of the book industry in Malta.
It organises the Malta Book Festival ( mt, Il-Festival Nazzjonali Tal-Ktieb), The Literar ...
. During his tenure he introduced Malta's first
Public Lending Rights
A Public Lending Right (PLR) is a program intended to either compensate authors for the potential loss of sales from their works being available in public libraries or as a governmental support of the arts, through support of works available in pu ...
scheme, began Malta's participation at the
London Book Fair
The London Book Fair (LBF) is a large book-publishing trade fair held annually, usually in April, in London, England. LBF is a global marketplace for rights negotiation and the sale and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and di ...
, and founded the Mata Book Fund.
Camilleri has also pushed for the exportation of Maltese literature, describing
Immanuel Mifsud
Immanuel Mifsud (born September 12, 1967) is a writer of poetry and prose, born in Paola, Malta. He was for a time involved in research theatre. He has written six collections of short stories, six poetry collections, and also children stories.
I ...
and
Walid Nabhan as two of the most representative contemporary Maltese authors around the world.
After the
2019 Malta political crisis
A political and institutional crisis within the Republic of Malta followed the uncovering of alleged links between government officials and the 2017 assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The Prime Minister's Chief of ...
Camilleri became very critical of the government owing to complications arising from his own position on
Daphne Caruana Galizia
Daphne Anne Caruana Galizia (; 26 August 1964 – 16 October 2017) was a Maltese writer, journalist, blogger and anti-corruption activist, who reported on political events in Malta. In particular, she focused on investigative journalism, repor ...
's murder investigation. An example of this is evident in the cancellation of the National Book Prize Ceremony, which was due to be held at the Office of the Prime Minister in November. This followed a request for his resignation from his public service post after insulting senior government officials. He refused to resign and issued a formal apology.
His contract with the National Book Council was not renewed in 2021 and he claimed political discrimination, demanding a lifetime achievement award.
Political views
Camilleri has identified himself as a "
Marxist
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
" and a "
leftist
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
"
Publications
His output as a historian includes the books ''A Materialist Revision of Maltese History 870-1919'' (2016, SKS, ) and ''A Materialist Revision of Maltese History 1919-1979'' (2018, SKS, ). Camilleri also accused in his work that Superintendence of Cultural Heritage had deliberately concealed archeological evidence to gloss over Malta's Islamic history and called for the publication of all archeological items in its inventory. In 2020 he also called for relocation of a
statue of Queen Victoria from the centre of
Valletta
Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit and capital city, capital of Malta. Located on the Malta (island), main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, i ...
.
In his book ''A Rent-Seeking Paradise'' (2021, Dialekta, ), Camilleri claims that six
Malta Government rebel
members of parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
had asked
Joseph Muscat
Joseph Muscat (born 22 January 1974) is a Maltese politician who served as the prime minister of Malta from 2013 to 2020, and as the leader of the Labour Party from June 2008 to January 2020.
Muscat was re-elected as prime minister in the ...
to resign from
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
and leader of the
Partit Laburista
The Labour Party ( mt, Partit Laburista, PL), formerly known as the Malta Labour Party ( mt, Partit tal-Ħaddiema, MLP), is one of the two major political parties in Malta, along with the Nationalist Party (Malta), Nationalist Party. It sits on ...
during Malta's political crisis in December 2019.
Camilleri writes regularly on his blog and pursues as a self-published author through his own publishing house, Dar Camilleri.
Publications include his novel ''Ġaħan fl-Aqwa Żmien'' (2022, ) and ''L-Antologija ta' Letteratura Mqarba'' (2022, ).
In 2021, he released the online chats between alleged Daphne Caruana Galizia murder
Yorgen Fenech
Yorgen Fenech (born 23 November 1981) is a Maltese businessman whose main interests are casinos and hotels in Malta. He was head of the Tumas Group and director of the Maltese-Azerbaijan-German company ElectroGas Malta.
Suspected of bribing ...
and Maltese politician
Edward Zammit Lewis
Edward Zammit Lewis (born 21 June 1973) is a Maltese politician within the Labour Party. He has been a member of the Maltese House of Representatives since 2013. Following the general elections held on 9 March 2013, won by the Labour Party, ...
. In 2023, he released the chats between Fenech and Maltese politician
Rosianne Cutajar. This led to the resignation of Cutajar from the Malta Government's parliamentary group, which also triggered her removal from the Social Affairs Committee of the
Parliament of Malta
The Parliament of Malta ( mt, Il-Parlament ta' Malta) is the constitutional legislative body in Malta, located in Valletta. The parliament is unicameral, with a democratically elected House of Representatives and the President of Malta. By const ...
. The Criminal Court ordered that Camilleri be charged with criminal action over the release of the chats involving Cutajar, interpreting this as contempt of court in the context of Fenech's ongoing judicial process.
References
External links
Mark Camilleri's blog*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Camilleri, Mark
1988 births
Maltese historians
Maltese writers
Living people
Maltese Marxists