The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

In this article , The Shift News reports that female journalists and politicians are on the receiving end of an avalanche of abusive tweets, receiving such tweets ‘every 30 seconds on average’. This information came from a study released by Amnesty International. Twitter is a fast social network. Posts refresh rapidly and news, whether trivial or critical, can be followed live in a series of short and succinct pieces of text linked with relevant hashtags. This is advantageous when used well, but clearly greatly disadvantageous if utilised by the wrong hands.  With such rapidity of newsfeeds, such a swell of ‘abusive or otherwise hostile tweets’ is made possible, though it shouldn’t be. Often the ones behind such tweets will argue that it is free speech after all, and who are we, campaigning for our freedom of speech, to limit them from speaking their minds? Such an argument is one I hear or see online (for trolls generally prefer to hide behind the anonymity of their screens...

Times of Malta reported in this article that migrant women have been moved from the Dar il-Liedna centre in Fgura to the men’s centre in Hal Far. The reason behind this move was that the women’s centre was becoming overcrowded, and so a ‘temporary’ move was needed until space could be made available again in Dar il-Liedna or elsewhere. Security measures have been set in place in Hal Far: In order to cater for this temporary arrangement, a boundary wall was constructed separating the men’s compound from the women’s compound, floodlights installed for extra security at night, and female security guards had also been deployed. It all seems planned out and under control, right down to the women’s own ‘private sanitary facilities’, but one basic and essential action was forgotten: the women themselves '[were not] told why they needed to move to the area in Hal Far'. Why weren’t they told? They had every right to know - more of a right than anyone else, in fact. Perhap...