interview

eMANcipate yourself

The name Emy Bezzina is always linked to men’s rights. But there is much more to the lawyer, human rights activist and actor, as Ramona Depares discovers

When his name is mentioned, the phrase ‘men’s rights’ and the nastier ‘irgiel imsawta’ always crop up. Emy Bezzina is a lawyer, a politician, a broadcaster and also an actor. Yet as soon as I meet him I can’t help making my first question one about men’s rights. Why is the concept ridiculed so much, I ask him. In classic Emy Bezzina style, he launches forth with an impassioned reply immediately and I can tell that I’ve hit a nerve.

"Because there a lot of ‘Christian’ tongues wagging on the island, that’s why," he states matter-of-factly. "When I first started the movement years ago, and even today, these Christians started calling me a ‘pufta’. I am very liberal, I have nothing against men loving each other – or women, for that matter – but it’s just not true that I’m gay. Then the same Christian people also said that I hate women."
He stops, takes a breath and allows himself a smile.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," he says with his eyes twinkling.

To calm him down, I ask him how his involvement in men’s rights started. The question, however, seems to have the opposite effect and his barrage of words is as passionate as the previous one. That he believes what he is saying is evident both from his earnest way of speaking and his eyes.

"You see, up till the mid-nineties there was this really nice piece of law which allowed a wife to slap an impediment of departure on her husband if they were undergoing separation proceedings. What the law actually stated was that anyone owed at least Lm100 could stop his debtor from leaving the island. This provision was abused in the most stupid and idiotic of ways by wives who were seeking maintenance from their ex-husbands."
I had known that the lawyer is famed for calling a spade a spade, but I’m still surprised when he forcefully finishes his sentence with a loud: "Ic-Cwiec". (The idiots.) Yet I can’t help sympathising with his obvious sincerity.

The story continues. Separated men who had been affected by the provision contacted Dr Bezzina, as a family lawyer, and since that day their cause became his. His face lights up dramatically when he informs me, with a note of pride in his voice, that as of October 1 1995, this "ridiculous law" was removed.

"Now the precautionary warrant can only be issued for minors by one of the parents against the other if there are legal proceedings going on. But we’re fighting this provision too. Even minors have their own voice and it is irresponsible to stop them from leaving the country. The minor’s freedom is more important than the suffering of the parent who is left behind."
He stops a minute and thinks aloud. He mentions how the Maltese spoil their children hopelessly, he lays the responsibility for the "disaster that is Paceville" at the feet of fussing parents. Still, he adds that the minor’s voice remains important.

"The Association for Men’s Rights is not for gay people, although we condemn no one. Those who do condemn should first expose their own private lifestyle. The trouble in Malta is that so many top people are hypocrites, they condemn that which they have gone through themselves. It’s the same with divorce. Malta is ripe for its introduction, those who are well-off are already taking the law into their own hands, going abroad and getting domiciled there so that an eventual divorce is recognised by the Maltese courts."
I ask him what he thinks about the Nationalist party’s stance against divorce. His reply is that the Nationalists have put us years behind. He gets angry at the system again, branding our law-makers hypocrites for refusing to introduce divorce when many prominent people are separated and the off-spring of others are cohabiting. A born orator, he states that lawmakers should view the issue from the human angle and that they should learn from their own experiences.

"There are so many hypocrites," he repeats. "And then there is the Church of course. The Church as an institution has managed to infiltrate into our infrastructure and ruin it. Does the present government have the faintest idea how many of the prime movers and shakers in the top posts have clerical connections? Or are priests themselves?"
I had forgotten that if there is something that is guaranteed to get the lawyer going, aside from men’s rights that is, it is the Church. The Curia, he says, is full of manipulators intent on worming their way into the government. He takes me back to the 1970s when Malta did not have a marriage law and the church regulated all marriages. He talks about the uproar the Labour administration’s introduction of a civil marriage law caused and how the Nationalist opposition branded the law "it-tieqa ghad-divorzju" (the route to divorce). His voice crescendos as he adds that even today, the Church still "interferes" when it comes to marriage annulments.

"It’s is ridiculous that the church has a say in granting annulments. Many are still unaware that they can get a civil one. But the church wants to control everything, it even chooses its own lawyers, the ones who can work at the church tribunal. They certainly don’t want anyone honest like me to interfere with them. And then the tribunal will grant an annulment only to the people it wants, for the reasons that best pays them," he says, going red in the face with indignation.

As he talks I realise that this is one of the easiest interviews I’ve ever done. Emy Bezzina will answer anything I ask him, without beating around the bush with his words. No sentence is followed by the distressing phrase "off the record". Indeed, he hardly seems to care that more than half of what he says is good ground for libel if published. When I mention the fact he shrugs and says that he always says what he believes.

"I’ve hurt people with my words and actions, I know. But I always say what I believe is true. It’s like that quote from ‘Les Miserables’, if I speak I am condemned, if I don’t I’m dead. So I’d rather be condemned than dead. This is what happened to my relationship with Alfred Sant. Some Birzebbugia canvassers quoted something I’d said on a radio show out of context and Alfred Sant then declared that he didn’t consider me a Labour candidate anymore. We did not meet or speak for quite a while then."
I take the opportunity of asking him what he thinks of Alfred Sant as Labour Leader. The two, it appears, have known each other since their days at University when the Opposition leader used to write plays and Emy Bezzina would act in them. The lawyer insists that he never wanted a distance to grow between him and Dr Sant. But his voice then lifts as he tells me that not long ago he chanced upon him in Valletta and "Dr Sant did give me his very nice smile."
Did he ever expect Dr Sant to be leader? The lawyer does not hesitate to answer in the negative and to state that he himself had backed George Abela. Dr Bezzina was at the time chairman of the candidates section of the Labour Party and he remembers Alfred Sant as the quietest candidate of the whole group. When he was elected successor to Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici there were a lot of surprised faces that "the man who came in from the cold", as the lawyer put it, should be put at the helm.

"A leader needs charisma. Tony Blair has it, Hague doesn’t and so the Conservative party in England is condemned to many years of opposition. Alfred Sant too has developed his own charisma. I think today he is affirmed in his status as leader. And if he needs the help of friends, he shouldn’t hesitate to come forward. After all, a leader cannot lead without a circle of trusted people."
At the same time, he doesn’t hide the fact that he still admires Mintoff. He can never accept the violence that happened in the 70s, he quickly says. But besides the violence he also remembers how Mintoff carved out an identity for Malta in Europe.

"Top statesmen remember him to this day. Only two years ago I was at a conference abroad and Edward Heath asked me how Mintoff was doing. This is a former English Prime Minister we’re talking about, one who did not even see eye to eye with Mintoff. And yet he still asks after him. Mintoff gave us our Maltese identity: he gave us our own airline, our broadcasting, the wireless, Maltese banks, the silos…This is what forges a country after all. Is it any wonder I still admire the man?" he asks.

Before I leave, I ask him how he got involved in the soap opera, ‘Ipokriti’ (ironically, he’s playing the part of a lawyer). His smile broadens and he replies with a "‘Ipokriti, what a lovely time I’m having!"
Albert Marshall, it turns out, is another old friend. The two had already worked together on the notorious ‘Il-Madonna Tac-Coqqa’ series. Now, it seems that their talent has been re-united.

"I’m enjoying it tremendously, though obviously there’s a limit to what I can do given my professional duties. I love working as lawyer and will always put that first. But acting is my second love.

"I guess it’s because communication is my forte," he concludes.