Albania is more interested than any other country in the common European home, for the simple reason that for 50 years it was the most oppressed country and continues to be the poorest country on the continent. There are no accurate data on today’s per capita income, but some economists think incomes are at the level of the poorest African countries. It will take time to explain how a European state can live in such a condition. In the elections of last March 22, communism was rejected in Albania and democracy won. For at least 500 years, our Albania has lived under foreign occupations and for a 15-year period under a dark monarchy. Today, for the first time, our people are trying to live under democracy. But, of course, democracy has no meaning without the legal structures to support it and without economic development. Legal and state structures are being built with difficulty, while the economy is in a deep crisis. It is thought that this crisis can be overcome only through rapid privatization and by leaving other fields open to individual initiative in every sphere. Foreign capital is also an indispensable element. Albania’s natural resources are estimated at 70 billion dollars. Thus, the conditions exist for this country of 3 million inhabitants to create a decent life. The whole issue is to find the least painful ways to get out of the tight trap we have fallen into. We mention privatization and individual free initiative as the levers of salvation. But their use is not so easy, since other countries’ experience and psychological factors come into play. In Albania, communist rule lasted longer than in any other country of the East, with the exception of Russia. In recent years, the people were fed the idea that, at the gateway to democratic victory, the civilized world would immediately welcome us with gifts, like a lost child who has finally returned home. Now these people, who clung tightly to this somewhat naive idea, have shown impatience and anxiety, and are demanding miracles from the new government. Thus there is confusion, a lack of conviction and faith that we can get back on our feet; on the other hand, many are waiting for what the West will offer. This psychological state, given the Albanian’s nature and character, can change only after they see the first concrete steps toward improvement, and on condition that the government acts with complete transparency. Meanwhile, wishing to manage the tensions, the government often tries to shoulder the general difficulties without making them entirely public. In the relationship between the people and the government, a phase of give-and-take then develops, with openness to daily petitions and strike demands. Implementing the necessary economic reforms, the like of which is entirely unknown in world practice, will bring new social tensions. This situation can be faced through cooperation among all the political forces of the democratic camp. But this cooperation is incomplete, because the party that came to power, having won a dominant majority of votes, preferred to take all the responsibility for governing upon itself. One-party state rule is undesirable for another reason as well: it runs counter to pluralism and does not favor the development of genuine democracy. Our internal situation is further complicated by an external factor: the problem of the other 3 million Albanians who live in Yugoslavia. The conflicts in the former Yugoslavia began with Kosovo and will end with Kosovo. If the European institutions and those of the United Nations do not intervene quickly and forcefully for a reasonable solution, the Serbs and Montenegrins will attack the unprotected Albanian population again, creating a new threat for us.

Among other things... ● THE PS, AS A LEFT-WING FORCE, WON THE SUREST GUARANTEES FOR TAKING US TO OUR BELOVED EUROPE. ● THE PS’S PREDICTION (DURING THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN) THAT LEFT-WING FORCES WOULD COME TO POWER IN MOST WESTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES WAS COMPLETELY PROVEN WRONG. ALMOST EVERYWHERE, RIGHT-WING FORCES CAME TO POWER, EVEN IN SWEDEN. ● THE PS HAS STILL NOT BEEN ACCEPTED INTO THE SOCIALIST INTERNATIONAL, THE SOCIALIST LEFT. THIS FACT PROVIDES EVERY GUARANTEE THAT, WITH THEM AT THE HELM, ALBANIA WILL CERTAINLY BE ACCEPTED INTO CAPITALIST WESTERN EUROPE. ● TO REGISTER WITH THE ALBANIAN MINISTRY OF JUSTICE, THE PS NEEDED 300 SIGNATURES, AND IT GOT THEM. TO REGISTER WITH THE SOCIALIST INTERNATIONAL, 100 THOUSAND SIGNATURES ARE REQUIRED. ● THE PP HAD 100 THOUSAND MEMBERS, WHILE THE PS HAS 100 THOUSAND MEMBERS. THE DELEGATE

Doctor Gramoz Pashko, having shocked the economy, has begun thinking about shocking Parliament. Always sincerely, without prejudice, without prejudice. Like all doctors: only to heal! The results will come soon and will be reflected in the pages of the newspapers, especially in those of “Zëri i popullit,” whose members have been shocked by... the Government of Stability. Parliament was taken by surprise by Pashko’s mournful tones as he announced the DEPARTURE of A. Hajdari. One thing is hard to imagine: How would Mr. Hajdari have acted if he himself had also been in Parliament and heard the moved Pashko? And, secondly, how would Pashko himself have felt if he had heard the farewell speech in absentia? The truth is only one: the two figures being compared are A. Hajdari and Ismail Kadare. Pashko had been friends with both. Kadare left; Pashko then defended him on “Zëri i... Amerikës,” not on some “other Voice.” Finally Kadare returned, declared that he supported Berisha without any reservations and that this support was the duty of all intellectuals. But, Doctor Pashko, is it something else to lose one’s DEPARTURE? He left for an indefinite period, Pashko declared. His departure will be felt, just like Kadare’s departure. Since doctors rarely make jokes, this statement must be taken seriously. But Parliament did not seem ready to mourn the desired dissident, perhaps solely because “A File on Homer” is precisely a creation of Kadare. And would Azem Hajdari himself have accepted people playing with his name? When, in all the interviews and rallies he has held, he has stressed that he follows the doctors. Has he ever seen Berisha? Would Hajdari have felt at ease in the (deliberate) comparison with Kadare? Azem Hajdari is never denied the values he possessed, nor the merit that, thanks to him, Doctor Pashko himself supposedly learned democracy. The contribution of every noble democrat comes from democracy, and it is precisely through democracy that his absence and need are verified—or not. But why did the doctor not try to change Mr. Hajdari’s mind, when he had not yet boarded the plane and already felt the void left by his departure? When he began to feel and sow democracy because of this? Then surely Pashko should not have said, as if to say, God forbid—or God willing—that Azem Hajdari might return without existing? And at a rally tell the truth, and only the truth, as He knew how to tell it?! It is known that Azem Hajdari has recently had headaches. There have also been people interested in his distress, people who have flattered him with a future he himself never claimed and did not need. Pashko’s applause, for example! RAPO OBLIKA

Corruption - Speculation - Corruption ONE DIBËR HAS NO OIL, GREATER DIBËR EATS FROM US The shortage of imported food products in the towns of Peshkopi and Bulqizë has been felt in all the markets for months. Food rations are not being distributed regularly either, at a time when television says they are guaranteed. For months, laundry powder, oil, sugar, rice flour and butter have been missing from the market; powdered milk, too, is only now becoming more available. The residents of Peshkopi are at a loss, trying to find some new cooking method that excludes fat. Only the warehousemen benefit from this shortage, followed perhaps by wholesalers and retailers, who sell aid oil for 50 lekë a liter and olive oil for 100 lekë a liter. Those private individuals in the villages who sell butter also profit, charging as much as 150 lekë. At such a price, not everyone can afford to buy it with the meager income from social assistance. Among the counter goods most sought after today is oil, for which you cannot do anything. Meanwhile, it seems that even the considerable quantities received of this product have disappeared; it is not known where they ended up, but one thing is certain and established: there has been speculation with it, just as with meat and butter. While food is plentiful in the district of Dibër, though at high prices, it is plentiful in Greater Dibër as well, and it is precisely our aid oil that crosses the border toward Dibër, in the Republic of Macedonia. I was visiting Greater Dibër these days and saw with my own eyes how our profiteers hurriedly took the oil away for a few dollars. I also saw a woman shut the door in their faces, saying: “I will never take oil that you have taken from the mouths of my brothers!” We discussed this problem at length. People told me sadly how the meat from our livestock is sold in Greater Dibër for dollars, and likewise the aid butter, while in the town of Peshkopi... So, as can be seen, the food-basket products have been plundered by profiteers who benefit from the “generosity of the warehouse managers,” while television shows scenes of successful financial-police operations. But are they really successful?... The facts say no. As long as the market is allowed to thrive on theft and warehouse managers to manipulate food-basket goods, how can supplies be guaranteed? The people themselves do not care “a whit” about what the state authorities are doing. They want the food rations to be available in the market, so they need not worry about them, because children do not want to eat just anything: they need food to grow, and adults too, to keep their families alive. The world is helping Albania climb out of the great quagmire into which it has fallen. Speculating with aid and selling it off by thieves of every stripe is one of the greatest crimes being committed against this people. This crime must awaken young and old alike. The sellers of aid must be brought to trial. EDUARD BAHOLLI

Vora, its land and coastline, a wonder that allures and is allured... We feel nostalgia for its greenery; everything there is so captivating that it both attracts and tires you. If you look carefully at how well endowed it is, you will understand the perfect harmony of natural conditions that make this place abundant: an average temperature of 18° C, 200 millimeters of rainfall, conditions that favor vegetation of shrubs with forest patches, where wildlife spreads and birds with beautiful wings thrive, along with hares, martens, roe deer, wolves, etc.; all to the continuous song of the birds. But against them stands the merciless hunter. Not a telephone wire, a cable from the cement factory’s cableway, or a steel rope from the oil wells was left uncut; they were taken for hunting snares. The experts of this kind have, as it were, laid waste to the entire forest area of Llogara, Karaburun, Gumenishtë and Fterrë. They have left no wild animal standing. And it is not only wild boar. Martens, goats (for their valuable fur), squirrels and roe deer are also heading toward extinction. The General Directorate of Forests apparently has not found enough time to put a stop to these activities... These rare, elegant animals should be used for educational and decorative purposes, but that seems to have been forgotten. The habits of these poachers have not been forgotten. In addition to weapons intended for this purpose, firearms (rifles) are also used. You can always hear them when the forest is asleep, as if it were a military firing range... The sons of the conservatives who left their political workshops, together with unknown hunters from elsewhere in the country or from abroad, have been equipped with such weapons. It seems as if war is to be declared on Albanian nature, to turn it into scorched earth. Those who until yesterday kept us isolated, together with some blue-and-pink pseudo-democrats, now feel at ease among foreigners... Italians have made inquiries and presented themselves to the hunting association, but it, as “unauthorized,” did not issue a license, nor did it raise its voice in protest against the influx of foreigners. They occupied entire areas such as Mali i Bardhë, Shashicë, Llogara and the Vlorë River, to seize the prey of hare hunting for free. With modern cars and packs of hounds like the emperors of Ancient Rome, they hunt; all day long their rifles and magazines do their work, carrying out a slaughter, but night is even more ominous. Under the village and searchlights, one can see what is going on. The filming increases to inflate the ... [?]. Liberal Italian conservationists have been coming into our backyard for several years without a knock (that is what they say in Vlorë). The “friends” use refugees’ houses as their base both for sleeping and for parking their cars... O Lord, GANI LEKA! BESNIK VELAJ (To be continued: page 2)

1. Letter of complaint from the Roxha family addressed to international organizations 2. F. Nano: The road to Europe passes through Greece

THE XHEVDET MUSTAFE GANG

1992 ...