Satire as a public political weapon became widespread in Malta when censorship by the powerful started appearing less threatening. In carnival times, political dissidents stepped up their resistance to perceived tyranny or disliked adversaries by parading outspoken floats.

"On the patriotic side, the constant butts of bitter humour were Gerald Strickland and, to a slightly lesser degree, the corpulent Augustus Bartolo"

The essence of satire is the ability not to take others or oneself too seriously. You will find no trace in these political floats of any yearning to laugh at oneself. My collections house a considerable number of photos of pre-war political carnival karrijiet, the earliest dating to 1900. 

A carnival float, probably 1932, featuring Gerald Strickland and Augustus Bartolo stirring the pot. Photo: Salvatore Lorenzo Cassar

Horses still draw one of the tableaux. The grim ideological divide between the anti-colonial Nationalists and the pro-imperial Constitutionals provided the right backdrop to the yearly carnival tussle. On the patriotic side, the constant butts of bitter humour were Gerald Strickland and, to a slightly lesser degree, the corpulent Augustus Bartolo. 

[slidecaption]A pro-Nationalist carnival float, still horse-drawn.[/slidecaption]

[slidecaption]A patriotic carnival tableaux from the 1900 carnival. [/slidecaption]

The floats mostly targeted current political scandals or misdemeanours, essentially transient events, in a way that the passage of time has obscured many of the messages and may have softened the sharpness of their bite. 

A carnival float targeting oppressive increases in rent, possibly organised by the new Labour Party.

It is significant, though unexplainable, that of the pre-war images in my albums, only two show pro-Strickland floats. 

An anti-Nationalist carnival float showing Enrico Mizzi in his death throes, being given Roman medicine. Photo: Photo: Frank A. Cohen, Cospicua

All the others abuse the pro-imperial party. 

Carnival political satire, after 1928, by Strickland’s Constitutional Party. Note the Terinisti dig. Photo by Frank A. Cohen, Cospicua

An anti-Colonialist float in a 1900 carnival défilé.

When London, in 1933, revoked the 12-year-old self-government constitution and reverted Malta to direct colonial rule, political carnival satire disappeared overnight, as if by evil magic. This was assumed to be another result of hostile censorship by the imperial police. 

A political float in the 1922 carnival, just after the grant of self-government. Photo: Chretien & Co.

In 2012, Mario de Marco, then minister for culture, revealed that no legal enactment could be traced that forbade political satire in carnival. 

The 80 years’ hiatus in freedom of expression was not due to pernicious autocratic censorship but to something more demeaning still: craven self-censorship. 

An anti-Strickland float in the 1932 carnival.