Satire is about ‘punching up’… not down | Matt Bonanno

Let me take my cue from something Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia told you earlier this week. His first comment, in that much-publicised online spat, was: ‘Get a real job’. So… have you managed to find ‘a real job’ yet?

[Laughing] Sadly, no. I still have this ‘fake job’ [as owner/editor of satirical website Bis-Serjeta]… but now that you mention it: seeing as I’m technically unemployed, at the moment… mind if I take the opportunity to plug my Patreon page (a funding site for artists, creators and serious journalists)? It’s ‘www.patreon.com/bisserjeta.’ Without the hyphen. Got that? Thanks...

But I must say, it was funny that, just a few days later, [Culture Minister] Jose Herrera would also come out with his comment about ‘artists not being business-minded’.

You can more or less see the connection there: put those two comments together, and what they’re basically saying is… ‘f*** the arts’…

And yet, satire itself is not exactly ‘new’ in Malta. Though it doesn’t always look that way, we do have a long satirical tradition here: mostly concerning cartoons in newspapers. Do you think there is still an element of people in Malta who just don’t understand the language of satire?

With regard to your point that we’ve always had a tradition of satire in Malta… it’s true, up to a point; but then again, satire is always viewed as ‘part of something else’.  It’s given a page in a newspaper, for instance… or a regular cartoon slot. The idea of something totally dedicated to satire – and nothing else but satire – might, on the other hand, be something that people aren’t all that used to, here.

All the same, I think there’s a lot of people who enjoy it more than we often give credit for. But yes, there is definitely a section of society that just doesn’t get it...

Part of the reason, I think, is because we put politicians on pedestals so much more here, than in other countries. I’m not really that familiar with Italian politics; though I know they have a few satirical things over there… but in the UK, for instance: the whole ‘tribalism’ issue just doesn’t really exist at all.  There are, obviously, Tory and Labour supporters: but there isn’t the same sort of ‘mass-meeting culture’, for instance…

British satire also tends to be far more brutal than anything we are used to here. But even if Bis-Serjetà’s brand of satire takes a softer approach… you still manage to elicit sharp reactions. Out of curiosity: what sort of feedback do you get in private? Is Farrugia’s tirade representative of a wider perception out there?

I certainly can’t remember any politician ever taking a Bis-Serjetà joke so… seriously. Bear in mind that he didn’t just tell me to ‘get a real job’; he also outed me as [the secret identity of] Karl Stennienibarra. Like I told him in my reply: that was the first time, in 10 years of doing this sort of thing, that anyone responded by actually outing me. And I’m pretty certain that – Malta being the small place it is – they all knew who I was anyway. It wasn’t a very well-kept secret in the first place….

Bearing in mind that ‘freedom of expression’, in Malta, is invariably going to be overshadowed by the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017… how important was it for you to remain anonymous? Do you feel that Farrugia ‘crossed a line’, by possibly exposing you to retaliation?

More than anything else… I’d say it was a dick move. Like I said before: if someone really wanted to target me, they would have found out who I was, sooner or later. And while we’re not exactly North Korea, or Saudi Arabia… I do see what I tend to call an ‘undercurrent of brutality’ in Malta. Put simply, if someone doesn’t like what you’re saying… they feel as if they had an automatic right to commit violence on you.

In Daphne’s case, for example: we all know that it didn’t start with a car-bomb; it started with slitting her dogs’ throats, and setting fire to her front door. So while I’m not really concerned with politicians knowing who I am, as such; it’s more their supporters. It’s more the odd, random thug out there… who might not, let’s say, ‘appreciate the value of satire in society…’

Then again, however: the fact is, I very rarely post stuff with the explicit intention of actually offending.

My main purpose, ultimately, is to make people laugh. And yes, maybe occasionally to make people a little uncomfortable, too… like, for instance, the picture of a dead migrant I posted this week [with the speech bubble: ‘If only I had receipts for pastizzi and a Red Bull from Havana’].

Obviously, that’s not intended to be funny at all. It’s more of a point I felt I had to make, at that moment. But 99% of the time, it’s really just to make people laugh. There’s only that 1% of stuff that I post, where I think to myself… yeah, that’s really going to piss some people off…

What would say is the most offence you’ve caused, with a single article or image?

By far, the article that has given the most hassle was the one I wrote last summer about [breaking into a laugh] ‘the Santa Venera statue catching COVID’. [Pause]. I mean: to me, that’s just ‘funny’…

But not to others, evidently….

I guess not. Anyway, I actually got a message from this guy – who found out who I was, basically – which was… let’s just say, ‘borderline threatening’.  The sort of thing I almost felt I should report to the police, but… not quite.

How did you respond?

Oh, I lied, naturally. I said: “What the hell are you even on about? I don’t know who this good-looking fellow you’re talking about is; but if I were you, I’d leave him alone…”

Interestingly, though, your most intimidating experience came not from a political party supporter, but from a village festa enthusiast. And Malta is full of other, similar issues which people feel very strongly about.  Do you ever feel that you might be unwittingly exposing yourself to danger, over things that you yourself don’t take seriously at all?

I don’t know; it’s like, my naïve side always says… ‘Oh come on: it’s just an article!’ But then again, it’s one of those things where… yes, people in this country do tend to be very passionate, about one thing or another. And I appreciate some of it myself: there is a certain beauty in all this passion. And besides: the country would be kind of dull without it, too. In fact, if it wasn’t for all the – let’s face it - weird stuff out there, this place would be pretty damn boring…

But to me: as someone who was never really in that culture to begin with, even while growing up - in a house where politics was never spoken about at all, incidentally - to me, I find a lot of that to be just… totally baffling, to be honest. Like ‘mass-meetings’, for instance.  Or the way [Transport Minister] Ian Borg’s supporters always rally to his defence, whenever he is criticised…

[Pause] It just… baffles me. I find it almost medieval, in a feudal sort of way: like Ian Borg is their ‘lord’, and they’re his… um… ‘serfs’, or something.  It just doesn’t look right…

Now: as a football fan myself, I can understand being obsessed with football, to the point where you feel compelled to defend ‘your’ club, no matter what. But… to defend a minister? And, to boot, the most powerful minister in Malta? I don’t know. I find it kind of sad, and pathetic, really…

You said that 99% of the time, your intention is to ‘make people laugh’. But there seems to also be an undercurrent of political realism. For instance: the one about Gozo (and hunting) Minister Clint Caruana ‘denying claims of bird massacre while covered in blood and feathers’, also contained real (or at least, believable) statistics for illegal hunting this year…

Oh, they’re real. I took them from news reports…

So wouldn’t you say that part of your aim is also to highlight these (ultimately serious) issues – not just hunting, but also immigration, etc? Hence, possibly, the name ‘Bis-Serjetà’ to begin with?

Yes, I suppose… but that is also what marks out satire from other types of humour. Behind the laughter, there is meaning… there is a ‘point’. And what I myself love most about satire, is that it gives you the ability to say things, without actually saying them.

Tell you the truth, however… I can’t actually remember why I named my own website ‘Bis-Serjetà’. It must have been one of those things that just came to me, at the time. I do, however, remember why I chose the name ‘Karl Stennienibarra’. Because that was my pet name for Karl Stagno Navarra ever since I was a kid… when he was on TV all the time.

The funny thing, though, is that he didn’t have quite the same reputation 10 years ago, as he does today. If I were to create a new fictitious journalist now, I’d probably go with another name…

Doesn’t that tell us something about the nature of Maltese politics, though? Karl Stagno Navarra used to be a NET TV presenter; today, he is doing exactly the same thing, only with the Labour Party station instead. And suddenly, it’s a big ‘no-no’. Isn’t there some truth to the perception that Labour supporters are somehow considered more ‘legitimate’, as targets, than others?

I can see what you’re saying, but… in my own case, I obviously criticize Labour more because they’re in government right now. And this is something that some people here don’t seem to understand. There’s always been this thing in Malta, that if you criticize one side, you have to, ‘bilfors’, criticise the other equally. But that’s not really the case. If one party is government, I’d say it has to be more of a 70-30 split… or 80-20, or whatever.   

But when it comes to ‘legitimate targets’ for satire: I’d say it’s anyone who is in the public eye; and anyone who is… ridiculous, really. Having said that, I do my utmost not to target private individuals; with the exception, perhaps, of Aaron’s mum…

But the thing with Aaron’s mum, is that…  she was commenting in public so much, that people starting knowing her name. She became a publicly known figure, commenting publicly, about public things. And that, to me, is fair game…

And yet, among the many reactions to this type of satire – aimed, as rule at the more ‘quaint’ of typical Maltese traditions (or even ‘Malteseness’ itself, so to speak) – there are some who might describe it as ‘classist’. Have you ever been called that, yourself? And is it a concern when writing satire in such a polarised environment?

I don’t think anyone has ever specifically called me ‘classist’, in as many words: but yes, it is something I have to watch out for; even because, in my own view – and it’s something I really do try to stick to, myself; though I admit I don’t always succeed – satire should always be about ‘punching up’… never ‘punching down’. Ideally, satire picks on the strong, not the weak. And as a screaming Leftie myself, I can only agree with that…

But it’s not always clear-cut. With politics, you know you’re always going to be ‘punching up’, no matter what. But I can understand how some people might feel about picking on, say, Santa Venera village festa enthusiasts…

Which I’ve never really done, mind you. That joke about Santa Venera getting COVID… it wasn’t aimed at the villagers themselves.  It was aimed, for starters, at religion… and let’s face it:  you can’t possibly ‘punch any higher’ than that if you tried. Who else is there to even take a swing at, higher and more powerful than God himself?

But still: I do think there’s space for criticism… or ridicule, if you like: if not of the people themselves, at least of the more absurd aspects of our society in general. And besides: most of this criticism - this ridicule - actually comes from a place of the heart; and place of love and sincere affection.

I really mean that, by the way. It’s just like ‘making fun of your friend’. And… come on, what’s the harm in a little banter between friends?