The heroic figure of Gerry Zammit

One of my projects for next year is a biographical publication on the life of a prominent young leader of the fifties whose life was cut short at the age of 30 while studying in Oxford. Gerry Zammit, a close associate of Dom Mintoff, died on July 1961 and was the founder of the Labour Party's youth organisation and a charismatic protagonist in the fight against colonialism. Despite his youth, he was already an influential figure and a leading trade unionist before he went to Oxford. The recent history of both the MLP and the GWU would most certainly have been different had he lived. He married Ann Johnson, who was studying in the same college, a year before he died of cancer. She later established herself as an economist within the UN system and now lives in France close to the Swiss border. It is a sad and moving story of unfulfilled promise. There is hardly anything documented about his life and my research is based on scattered sources and personal testimonies. L-Orizzont today published a feature article which I wrote as a preview for the book. An excerpt from the article:

F’Marzu 1961, tliet xhur qabel miet, Gerry zar Malta ghall-ahhar darba flimkien ma’ Ann. Kienu alloggjati fil-villa tal-Perit Dom Mintoff, li mieghu Gerry kien jikkorrispondi regolari minn Oxford. Minn ftit wara li sar l-’isplit’ tal-Partit Laburista fl-1949, Gerry kien rebah il-fiducja u l-kunfidenza ta’ Mintoff u baqa’ jghinu fil-hidma tal-Partit sa l-ahhar. Wara ftit granet biss li kienu Malta, Gerry hassu hazin fir-residenza ta’ Mintoff u kien ordnat mit-tabib tieghu biex jirritorna lura l-Ingilterra immedjatament biex jinghata medicina specjali. Dak kellu jkun l-ahhar vjagg ta’ Gerry.

Kienet Ann Zammit li gabet l-ahbar tal-mewt tieghu li sehhet il-Hamis, 6 ta’ Lulju. L-ahbar hasdet bil-kbir lill-Partit Laburista u lill-GWU. Hasdet iktar lill-familjari tieghu, li sa dak in-nhar kienu ghadhom ma jafux bil-gravità tal-marda li kellu. Kien Gerry stess li ma xtaqhomx ikunu jafu biex ma jinkwetawx. Ann baqghet Malta matul dak is-sajf alloggjata fir-residenza ta’ Mintoff. Ghal Mintoff, it-telfa ta’ Gerry kienet wahda mill-akbar ghafsiet ta’ qalb li garrab f’hajtu.

Il-mewt ta’ Gerry saret fi zmien meta r-relazzjonijiet bejn il-partit u l-knisja kienu hziena hafna. F’dik is-sena l-ezekuttiv kollu tal-partit inghata l-interdett u Gerry innifsu, skond Ann, kien mhedded bl-istess interdett anke fuq is-sodda tal-mewt. Sa l-ahhar Gerry baqa’ ma cediex il-principji Laburisti tieghu...Bhal James Dean, l-artist li kien jammira u li hadem il-film ‘Rebel without a cause’, Gerry kien karizmatiku u spikka kemm ghax kien bniedem kapaci, kif ukoll ghax kellu hajja qasira. Gerry Zammit ukoll hu simbolu ribelluz li kien ta’ ispirazzjoni ghal hafna nies li gew warajh...

Update: Lino Cassar responds to my Gerry Zammit feature article: 'Lil Gerry Zammit' ma ninsieh qatt'