After 48 hours We believe Albanian television viewers are longing for, and can hardly wait to watch, the program “Today in the People’s Assembly.” To be clear, it is not that people today have any particular desire to follow the parliamentarians’ discussions; rather, it is the state we have been reduced to that makes us gather in front of the small screen. Just two words are enough—“a house without a state”—to give a complete picture of today’s Albania. The tasks piled up before the new parliament are so numerous that the main question is where to begin. At 10 o’clock, the people’s deputies and 40 party representatives will sit down to work, to take office after four years. 65.7 percent of the seats are represented by the DP and 27.1 percent by the SP. At first glance, it is a change of guard compared with previous years, but fundamentally many things have changed. First, the PP(S) no longer enjoys a majority. (So we will not have Assembly blockages lasting weeks.) The group of cooperative chairmen from the SP will no longer be in this parliament (for the simple reason that there are no cooperatives anymore). The political spectrum of parliament has clearly broadened. As many as five parties have representatives, although not in the desired proportions. The Republican Party, as is known, enters this parliament with only one deputy. Nevertheless, it will have its say as best it can, facing the problems of this country, which at long last expects to get on the right track. People hope that the new deputies have learned to put the saying “time is gold” into practice; that they have learned that one person, however wise and clever, cannot become a specialist in medicine and jurisprudence, in the military and in economics, etc. They should have learned that no deputy should dare to use the phrase “The people who elected me.” In any case, the work of this parliament is expected to be much better in quality than that of the previous parliament. As we emphasized at the beginning, the tasks awaiting parliament are numerous. Starting with a government, the constitution... We would like to close these lines by quoting a foreign expert on political science (Hangington): “Based on the past, we can say that the most decisive factors influencing the future strengthening and spread of democracy, and economic development, are political leadership. Economic development makes democracy possible; political leadership makes it real.”

After a long and bad dream, hopes for the salvation of the great ones. But memories of the past, however much many of us try to forget them, cannot be erased from memory, just like frightening dreams that unknowingly bring out insecurities. Some people, fervent partisans of “forgiving the past,” found inspiration in Christian morality, specifically in Christ’s reply to Saint Peter: “Our enemies must be forgiven not seven but 77 times.” But these souls (most of them did not have bad dreams because they were the dreams of the past) forget Christ’s words when he came out of the temple in anger and, as he was leaving, people approached him and said: “Do you see all these things? I (the Messiah) tell you, not one stone here will be left upon another. Everything will be razed.” These words, quoted in the Gospel, constitute the essence of punishment for evildoers and must therefore, in a certain sense, be accepted as a message about justice. As is recalled: “In these punishments of Christ, it emerges that the preaching of Christian mercy

April 2 — a politically organized crime against a city ...is nothing other than a phenomenon of personal vendettas, while there also exists the idea of punishing the establishment of terror as an evil in itself. God, who defines it in earthly language as justice in this context, and Albanian society must follow the path taken by the Lord, along the path of the most humane history of peoples. In a word, can today’s criminals be forgiven; can there be mercy for Nexhmije Hoxhën, Sulo Gradecin, and Enver Hoxhën’s associates? No. Will a new race be destroyed? ... What remains for us? Shall we choose the alternative of personal revenge (as happened on March 21 in Shkodër, where a veteran of local crimes was brutally murdered) or legal justice? There can be no middle path. We address our words on three levels, with the second ensuring the general meaning ... Let us set aside for a moment all the monstrous crimes of 48-year communism and consider only April 2. Today marks a full year since the persistent demands of public opinion and the opposition parties, the publications of the ... and the trials concerning the case have turned into a soap-opera farce. Incompetent witnesses, while those accused are being avoided. The malicious disregard of many chilling facts, the failure to arrest those directly responsible for the massacre, etc., knowingly or unknowingly lead to the conclusion that those in power have “managed to conceal the truth properly.” The question now arises: what did democracy gain? Will democratic alternatives find a solution? I believe they will. I say yes, because the victims of April 2 were not four, but many more. On April 2, those others who were wounded could also have died, had the black hand not missed by a few centimeters, as well as hundreds of others grazed by bullets. The people remember, the witnesses speak, but they are not heard. The witnesses’ statements are seen (?). April 2 cannot be treated solely as the killing of four people, but as an organized crime against an entire city, against those who first entered through the door with communication, feeling. Finally, I beg the gentlemen who will take responsibility for reviewing this case not to forget that the Brocët, Mishanakët, Çekët, Kryezët, etc. of Shkodër will never accept unconditional reconciliation, no matter how loudly it is proclaimed. On the contrary, they will distrust everyone, including the democrats themselves, if the real culprits do not appear before the people’s court. SPIRO LITO

Swedish Foreign Minister Margaret Ul-Uglas expressed her government’s concern about the tragic situation in Kosovo, the terror, violence, and oppression that the Serbian government exercises against Albanians. Speaking before the Swedish parliament, Ul Uglas denounced the oppression imposed on the Albanian majority in Kosovo, where the university, radio and television, and the only daily newspaper, “Rilindja,” have been closed. “This is contrary to the conventions and documents signed by the former Yugoslavia,” she said. Since they are a European people (the Albanians in Kosovo), we must not allow them to suffer oppression and discrimination before our eyes, the Swedish foreign minister declared. She emphasized that Albanians have not been forgotten by Europe: “Kosovo and its problem will find a solution.” She said, “We will do everything possible to raise this issue, because ‘there will be no peace in the Balkans, nor in Europe, if the Kosovo problem is not resolved.’” “...Fully in Germany’s support...” At a meeting with Kosovo Albanian political activists, Hans Shterken, chairman of the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee, stated that Germany is following the issue of Kosovo’s Albanians closely. “I,” Shterken said, “will strive to work toward a democratic solution to Kosovo’s problems.” Bukoshi and Rugova, he emphasized, will soon receive support from the highest European institutions to represent the issue of Kosovo and the Albanians. “Free elections in Kosovo are a good path toward a democratic solution. Kosovo and the Albanians can count fully on Germany’s support,” Hans Shterken stressed. “If it wishes to be recognized as an independent state...” According to the bulletin of Sweden’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during [?] a symposium of Eastern European countries, Austrian Foreign Minister Alois Mock declared that while Croatia and Slovenia already have legal recognition, “Macedonia, if it wishes to be recognized as an independent state, must treat the Albanians in Macedonia as a nation with full rights.” “A typical example of colonialism” PRISHTINË, the Kosovo newspaper “Bujku” published an interview with the United States ambassador in Belgrade, Warren Zimmerman, in which he stated, among other things, that Kosovo is a typical example of colonialism. He sta- (Continued on page 3)

Headache of the new parliament: the PRESIDENT question If a person’s face changed every time their position changed, Ramiz Alia would have to change his identity card every week. If we were to accept that the ill omen for non-communist democracy has been left with only one person, even in Albania, everyone’s thoughts and eyes would turn to Ramiz Alia, who is still a temporary resident in the Palace of Brigades. Amid the silence and monarchical mystery reigning even in the palace’s most important rooms, he is preparing to bless the new government for a period of less than two years... Should this be allowed? Is this some game—as if the arrival of an angel who has finally descended upon this long-suffering land were to join hands with a demon who has been sucked dry, turning its face away and remaining unknown? Not even the slightest shadow of suspicion should fall upon the much-awaited new democratic government regarding the injustice of its decisions, and they must know the final details of a certain policy. Let us recall the prolongation of the strike by Naxande, the bread club by Bufit. (Ashmati has still not reached the final day.) A swearing-in ceremony for the long-awaited government, which follows the elections. As always, this time too the president cannot break away from the tale of paradoxes. At the press conference he displayed self-confidence, arrogance, and exemplary intolerance, worthy of a president for whom even the unborn have voted. The expression on his face in the declaration announcing the election results was entirely different. Of the unbroken, unyielding expression, only the wrinkles remained. If a person’s face changed as often as their position, Ramiz Alia would have to change his identity card every week. But his dream remained the same. After the statement “the people finally gave their trust to the party that deserved it”—anyone could quite reasonably add: “if the Labour Parliament were still here, the one I myself chaired, things would be quite different...” In that same statement, Alia invites us to a blindfolded game when he says that the Democratic Party must present its government within the coming week. In no way does Ramiz Alia need to be given time to put his affairs in order; that time must not be granted to him. The government’s swearing-in ARBEN HLLACI (Continued on page 2)

While the “week of reactions” continues in the press, analysts of Albanian politics have surely set to serious work (if only that were really the case) to understand the reality in which they will operate. If the winners do not do this, others surely will, first and foremost those who want to regain their lost position. If the democratic forces do not offer the people scientific and professional truths, others will provide their own analyses, “realistically” dressed in “scientific-sociological” garb. If some truths are kept to oneself and not told to the masses, even though they may not be very pleasant for them, then Sami Frashëri’s advice has not been followed: “A person who keeps a true affliction of their nation hidden has done a very great good in the world.” But the Latvian proverb should not be forgotten either: “Anyone who tells the truth must have a fast horse” (to escape). Even so, this is no reason not to tell it at all. The decision made by the Albanian people (in Albania), on 22 March 1992, in accordance with their state of consciousness and psychology, is historic when viewed as an act. Viewed as a process, it displays several characteristics that require attention for what lies ahead. 1. The great fluidity of the people’s consciousness and psychology is a characteristic that readily catches the eye. Within little more than 300 days, the years of a difficult transition saw an almost identical reversal, almost on the same scales but in the opposite direction. Even if the number of votes falsified last year is subtracted, the situation does not change much. In this situation, a series of important questions arise for what lies ahead. Does it matter whether there is now balance, or does the cycle continue? Are the actors of the movement “many-colored”? In what direction will it move next? If it cannot return to where it was, what direction will it take? These and other questions require considered answers and wise action. On such shifting ground, no serious political force can feel at ease, because there are always forces seeking change and trying to give the movement a particular direction of their own. In any case, the population’s level of awareness—and, since history is sensitive to competing wills and interests, no historical project can be fully realized—will play an important role in determining the direction of future movement. 2. The high degree of social responsibility is likewise a characteristic that is easy to see. What psychological mechanism drove a people, whose degree of political responsibility during the social life of the recent past was so high that the claim that nobody had done it was almost accepted, to embrace it again? This is an important question raised by this phenomenon. In the new situation, two tendencies would be harmful: on the one hand, excessive fear of the proposed changes in the historical course, even when they are reasonable; and, on the other, presenting as reasonable failures that are not. Likewise, the absence of socially responsible institutions, and consequently the lack of experience in using them, are factors that can cause unforeseen difficulties if they are not anticipated in time. What is the relationship between the person who has taken on these responsibilities and the person who has assigned them? How much is one responsible to oneself and how much to others? And, indeed, is the person who assigns responsibility answerable to anyone else? ... Other questions are important for a people who have had little experience of these aspects of democratic social life. 3. Collectivist social thought HYSAMEDIN FERRA (Continued on page 2)

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