When the balance sheet of the National Liberation War was drawn up, my native village, although large, had no fallen heroes. And this was first of all for the simple reason that this village had only two partisans. Nevertheless, the absence of fallen heroes caused no concern whatsoever, because, after all, it could happen that the whole village became partisan and nobody was killed. On the other hand, people newly emerged from the war were glad about other things and had no time to think about the absence of fallen heroes. Later, time took its toll. Gradually, their absence began to be felt. The presence of fallen heroes in neighboring villages, much smaller than my village, stirred up jealousy and a desire to have one of our own. On the other hand, some of my villagers were given various responsibilities (rose high) in the district and at the center. In addition to their personal biographies, they now also needed a biography for the village, which unfortunately had no fallen heroes. Nothing hurt them more than the mention of their absence. Driven by all these circumstances, the day came when a fallen hero had to be invented. Someone who had been killed under completely unknown circumstances was named as one. After that, people in positions of responsibility were relieved of this great anxiety, and some of those who were advancing through the ranks by virtue of the fallen hero rose even higher. From that time until today, my village has had a fallen hero. Some time later, the two former partisans in the village, as everywhere in Albania, were given the title of veterans. It would have been good if everyone had stopped there, but that is not what happened: at first, the two former partisans went to the district’s large veterans’ meeting. A year later their number had doubled, and so, systematically, year after year, the veterans in my village doubled. That is how veterans multiplied throughout Albania, and today most people have veteran status, while pensioners can be counted on one’s fingers. Had the new times not come, one day I too (despite my poor biography) would have been written down as a veteran. The exact number of Albanian veterans is difficult to calculate, but nevertheless one can say that a large part of the population has this status. So much for that time... ...And now, the politically persecuted... There are many of them; in a way, this whole people has been persecuted and oppressed like no other. Nevertheless, the politically persecuted are quite distinct, and there is no reason to confuse them with anyone else. But, unfortunately, the same thing is happening here as with the veterans: today, the political-persecutee’s card can commonly be found even in the pockets of persecutors—the former secretaries of the party (PP), employees of the communist administration at every level, and even some State Security officers. A few days ago, someone told me that the daughter of a former PP secretary, because of her average grades, did not qualify for higher education. After many efforts (he wrote: efforts at compromise), she became persecuted, and now his “persecuted” daughter is continuing her studies. This is degrading and ironic for the genuine political persecuted. To date, 700,000 politically persecuted people have been counted in Albania. This, if most of the veterans in my village accumulated over the years, the persecuted of today multiply by the hour. Let us do that too; but first the status must be defined, and the fishermen must be cast out of the ranks of the persecuted: above all, the genuine politically persecuted themselves must do this. 700,000 persecuted people—one million veterans—would mean that Albania had at least 5 million inhabitants. The granting of the status of the persecuted, and especially its genuine implementation, is not determined and respected only in relation to the knowledge of the people who tried to bury them alive; first of all, this definition is respected by the new, democratic era itself. The politically persecuted must not—and will not—suffer the same fate as the veterans...

JANULLATOS “TETA E TETE” WITH THE SERB PAVLE AND THE GREEK SERAFIN. Six and a half years after the first gathering, the second great interfaith assembly for peace was held. Forty-seven delegations representing the three great monotheistic faiths—Christians, Muslims and Jews—took part and prayed at this assembly for peace. Giovanni Paolo II, at the peace meeting in Assisi, called for hatred to end, condemning the genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina and describing it as “very similar to the terror of the Nazi era.” On January 10, 1993, “Islam prayed together with the Pope” to stop the murderous hand that had savagely bloodied the modern age. The Pope and the many representatives who took part in the great Mass held in the old Church of Saint Francis included in their prayers the first question for Europe: “How can there be so much death, if one is oneself alive?” Forty-seven delegations accepted the Pope’s invitation. Some abandoned this great interfaith gathering for peace, refusing the Pope’s invitation, including the Serbian Orthodox patriarch, Pavle. And that is only natural. Think how he could pray for peace, and especially how the Serb Pavle could pray to stop the murderous Serbian hand and its imminent threat of spreading further. According to “La Gazzetta,” which cites the Orthodox see in Belgrade, the Serb Pavle explained his absence from Assisi to the Pope by saying that “at this time of the Christmas holidays and given the difficult travel conditions caused by the country’s international isolation, it is impossible for him to go to Italy.” This reasoning is utterly ridiculous, considering the noble and lofty purpose of the interfaith assembly. But as far as the Serb Pavle is concerned, this is entirely natural. It is just as natural for the Greek, Serafin, who also did not attend this interfaith gathering. But what is most surprising is that Janullatos of the Albanian Church, following the Serb and the Greek, also refused to attend and pray for peace. It is now said that Patriarch Pavle’s decision was made after consultations with the other Eastern churches in Europe. That is his right. Our right is to ask: does the Archbishop of the Albanian Church, Janullatos, explain his absence by the weather difficulties, or some other climate, or was it after consultations with the Greek and the Serb?! “To use religion as a pretext for committing injustices and using violence is a terrible abuse that must be condemned by all those who truly believe in God,” the Pope said in the Church of Saint Francis at the January 10 meeting. What do you say, Mr. Janullatos, still on the throne of the Archbishop of the Albanian Church: could your latest alliance and its consequences, reflected in the position of the Greek and Serbian churches, be mere coincidence? After this latest demonstration of the positions of your two leaders, the only answer is to leave the Albanian Church, and as soon as possible.

Thanking you for the “Round Table” you organized on the first anniversary of the death of PETRO MARKOS, we take this opportunity to express our admiration for the Republican Youth Forum and to assure you that, by honoring the writer and the man, you have earned our respect and that of all those people who loved and valued the struggle and work of PETRO MARKOS. THE FAMILY

The use of the epithet “red” has no lofty purpose. “The Girl with the Red Ribbon” became a title that Nexhmije Hoxha herself had given herself. It evoked in her imagination the color of revolution and eternal youth, the dream of every dictator. But, in fact, if we analyze it today, we see that the Enverist clan’s effort to preserve, falsify and distort history served only an ideological purpose and the interests of the cult of personality. The distortion and falsification of history is the greatest crime that can be committed against a nation, and we must take it into account. Looking simply at the economic side of the problem, it turns out that this moral crime was also an economic crime. We are not calculating the expenses of an entire army of scholarly falsifiers. It is enough to make simple calculations of the financial costs of luxurious editions of Enver Hoxha’s works, of their prices and print runs; it is enough to calculate how much the state lost when it bought these works at full price, then distributed them free of charge or gave them away, while the money went to the Hoxha family. (Continued on page 3)

VINCENZO SCIASCIA “With Sarajevo, civilization is tottering, writes a journalist, while Kosovo, inhabited by Albanian Muslims, is coming to Sarajevo, reduced to slavery by a Serbian minority.” The ethnic minorities of the regions along the Albanian border with influence there are alleged to be destabilizing Albania. These are demands like those of 1963, which would certainly not benefit the cohesion of the Albanian people and nation, nor its history, culture, epic or economy, but which, through the political maneuvering of certain political factions, defend against the danger of the brutal dictatorship disappearing. “Freedom is not only a problem for Albania, but also for Italy, France and Germany,” and for all Western democracies. The Albanian people feel subjugated, incapable of exercising freedom, alienated from their own land, bound by a complicated love-hate relationship, according to the Oedipus complex, and burdened with an isolationist guilt that is not theirs. In fact, this great absence is felt: the absence of the past, of historical ties, of tradition and of this people’s folklore—a people that is tendentiously forced, among other things, to identify with and imitate the countries of Italy. More than the desire for an “ideology,” what is missing is its true identity: its conscience. That conscience which, as Voltaire says, is the storehouse of traditions, of the past and of its roots. One need not resort to Sigmund Freud’s profound theories to distinguish and understand the soul of the Albanian people; it is enough to recall its historical past to appreciate the most hidden and dignified aspects that appear “briefly.” The Revue de Deux Mondes and Charles Didier, who studied and wrote about the Albanian character. Today the Albanian people have lost the liberal tradition, the national and historical essence of patriotism, in competition for the “love” of their own land. “Your awareness of what you are going to lose,” says Charles Didier. But, perhaps putting it more starkly, I think that a future without land is a land without a future. You must love your country, your land. If this love is not sincere and enduring, it means making distinctions between your country’s present conditions and its “ideal” conditions, which call for change; and this love is tendentious, serving the interests of those who betray the authors of political change. Bertrand Russell says that a social system can be judged by its attitude toward culture’s “evils,” that is, not only by the “evils of power” but also by the evils of character and “physical evils”: the elements of such a judgment will include not only REFORMS but also the type of education and the type of society it knows how to express: THE TYPE OF CULTURE. When governments are bad, as is usually the case in all countries, there is very often the danger of one country being conquered and absorbed by another, the weak by the strong; yet this is a step forward in organizing a world of peace for humanity. Certainly, it would be an advantage for the whole world if everyone were governed by a great power, as when the whole world was under the rule of Rome. Universal order once rested on a rational empire, accepted by all, on the universal cult of the imperial language and universal peace. Those eras from which our political practice emerged had a ... (Continued on page 3)

In a quite astonishing way, on Tuesday the capital saw her rushing as if running from the district to Atdhe. After three swift years, exhausted, she climbed the steps of the Palace of Culture, to the library section, and shouted: “I’m going to Helsinki! They trampled on me and my rights!” Aranit Çela also went to her to [unclear] her rights and honor, as did Xhelil Gjoni, and Janullatos stood beside them. Why were her rights trampled on by a democratic government? Why did the chief tell her what her rights were? Why are human rights shining in Shkodër? I will write to the Western newspapers that human rights are violated in Albania, that people are persecuted, that there is no freedom of speech or freedom of action. Why is there class warfare? Why has the government decided, the thoughtful N. of Bari. Why does the democratic government put people in prison when they say that prices have gone up? Why does the democratic government cement for a community? Has it raised [them] and lowered them for the democrats? Why does the government not give higher education to the son of Xhelil Gjoni, Aranit Çela? Why does it intern the children of those political prisoners, of the Central Committee, of the first secretaries? Why are human rights shining in Shkodër? I will write to the Western newspapers that human rights are violated in Albania, that people are persecuted, that there is no freedom of speech or freedom of action. Why is there class warfare? Why has the government decided, the thoughtful N. of Bari. Why does the democratic government put people in prison when they say that prices have gone up? Why does the democratic government cement for a community? Has it raised [them] and lowered them for the democrats? Why does the government not give higher education to the son of Xhelil Gjoni, Aranit Çela? Why does it intern the children of those political prisoners, of the Central Committee, of the first secretaries? (Continued on page 2)

The signing of the petition for private property continues. 1 - Lezhë 1500, 2 - Lushnjë 1000, 3 - Përmet 900, 4 - Peshkopi 600, 5 - Pogradec 920, 6 - Skrapar 1200. Around 110,000 signatures have now been collected for it. THE COMMITTEE