K. SH Gjergj Kola Anyone who remembers the grotesque scenes of the so-called first congress of the “socialists” must recall Mr. Ditëro Agolli’s statement that if this is the party you are looking for (the party of opportunists, criminals, second-generation Enverists and ignoramuses), I have nothing to do with this party. People, especially intellectuals, applauded this desperate yet brilliant act, hoping he would line up on the democratic front, particularly since he had expressed the courage and desire to engage in politics. But the congress passed, and D. Agolli was seen accompanying R. Alia in Shkodër and Fatos Nano at the illegal meeting with students on October 16, 1991, in one of the buildings. Many believed that the reappearance of the writers’ president alongside communist president Alia and PS chairman Nano was merely his being “used.” Now everything is different ... it is not just the “use” of the writer and his “authority” by the so-called Socialist Party, but the writer Ditëro Agolli’s forbidden reason. Indeed, the forbidden reason of the communist party member Agolli, the ferocity and venom of the communist intellectual Agolli. (Remember Sartre: “I love communism, but communist intellectuals are beasts.”) Mr. Agolli publicly displays this forbidden reason, this revanchist ferocity and venom, in the newspaper “Zëri i Popullit,” dated February 14, 1993, in the article “The Socialist Party is the civilized, more cultured party.” Likewise, the headline, in large letters, is signed not by Ditëro Agolli, but by party member Ditëro Agolli, a member of the leadership of the PSSH. Anyone who is in their right mind, after this headline (about which we are not sure whether it is the editorial staff’s or Mr. Agolli’s), would expect to find facts and arguments telling readers that the PS itself is a civilized party, indeed the most civilized and cultured. No! The communist party member Agolli’s forbidden reason cannot produce, and has no way of producing, such facts and arguments. The communist party member’s forbidden reason makes Enverist-style calls to provoke new elections and support workers’ strikes. “We must not become strike-breakers ... We have no interest in joining them (PD, PR) in denouncing the strikes. Let them conduct the strike as they wish, let them denounce it or do whatever they want, but we (PS) must not become fellow denouncers of the strikes.” Communist Agolli’s forbidden reason calls on communists not to become strike-firefighters, and this same forbidden reason of the not particularly profound party member does not say that the PS is a strike-breaker. The events in Poliçan and elsewhere have shown this. But why does socialist Agolli’s “forbidden reason” need strikes? He does not hide this aim, but declares it openly: “We must cooperate openly with the trade unions” (cooperate!). But why, when further down he writes, “we must not put out the trade unions’ strikes”—certainly so as to inflame them—since they really ought to be ours. The provocation of elections comes only from the movement (continued on page 2) He has woven songs for Enver Hoxha all his life... You raised us and made us men You raised every young person and every old person We walked through mountains, paths, springs We lit communism on every threshold...

He has woven songs for Enver Hoxha all his life...

— After this, Nexhmije Hoxha will owe Albania nothing PS leadership committee member and head of the Foreign Affairs section, Bashkim Zenel, organizes the first meeting The campaign to collect money for Nexhmije Hoxha from Enverist Albanians outside the borders of the Republic continues. It has even reached such a stage that one can say it is nearing its end, crowned with complete success! These are large and small families who for 50 years could see Albania only in their dreams. They imagined it beautiful, prosperous and cultured. That is what they heard about it, and that is what they wished it to be, to compensate for what they lacked and balance the pressure and oppression imposed on them by foreigners, as well as the denials and all the other restrictions in various fields. They imagined knowledge, schooling, culture, national and human rights in their motherland, and lived and resisted for 50 years with this feeling. But 50 years were overturned, democracy was established, and what had been denied them—that is, coming to their motherland—was now more than possible. And suddenly they saw with their own eyes Enver’s “miracles”: the ravaged and impoverished land of the masses, the heavy burdens at every turn, the primitiveness of the economy, and the genocide perpetrated against people. They saw all this with their own eyes. And they cursed that time and welcomed the new era of democracy. With heavy hearts and distressed spirits they returned to their homes, thinking that the motherland needed help, investment... But at this point the unforeseen, absurd wonder begins! They gather, organize themselves and collect money to put up a statue of Enver Hoxha. And they are not just one or two, but hundreds and hundreds. They collect the money in homes, on the streets, in cafés. They appoint people to count it, treasurers and organizers. The wonder continues, but, as is known, it is moving toward its end, toward the achievement of its goal. In this atmosphere, charged with extreme Enverism, Bashkim Zeneli himself, head of the Foreign Affairs section of the leadership committee of the Socialist Party, goes to those parts, undoubtedly to organize them even more skillfully according to the experience of the Party of Labour. He goes and meets people, gives them instructions on what to do and how to be discreet, so that the campaign can be carried out without fuss and without saying too much. They are even inspired and feel energized, in short, by having him among them as well. Naturally, not according to the Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini or some other code of that sort, but precisely according to Enver’s infamous code. But why use too many words: the aim is being achieved, and it has the blessing and inspiration of our socialists here, of a section of the communists, comrade Bashkim Zeneli. We do not believe that he found himself among the Enverists collecting money for Nexhmije Hoxha in order to oppose the money and persuade them not to collect funds to put up a statue of Enver. As far as can be gathered, the money collected will soon be brought to Tirana by a delegation of Enverists, the most distinguished from that area. Meanwhile, let us wait to learn what follows in this truly extraordinary effort, this action that is an insult to all Albanians.

Why is the newspaper announcing his death? EDMOND TUFINA [Photograph of Hamdi Shavelli] It announces the death of Hamdi Shavelli, or Saçi (the name by which everyone in Tirana knows him), known as a distinguished man. He never received a decoration. The newspaper announces Saçi’s death to honor the great road and asphalt worker (fifty years paving the roads and squares people use). The newspaper announces the grief of the many who knew Saçi and his work. For the few who did not know him, the newspaper announces that a solitary man has died. Alone, without anyone, alone with his work. Not a politician, not a scientist, but a human being. Yes, Hamdi Shavelli has died. We announce his death to tell people that although Saçi lived alone, he did not die alone. He died with people beside him, people who were connected to him not by blood or interests, but only by work. The director of the Asphalt Enterprise, Mr. Përparim Cani, his colleagues Sali Qordja, Xhevahir Muçogllava, Bardhyl Berxholi and Fran Deda, who accompanied Saçi to the cemetery along with dozens and dozens of workers and citizens, accompanied a man to his grave. This, too, is why we announce Saçi’s death: to tell people about the man, about being human. Finally, the newspaper announces Hamdi Shavelli’s death to ask everyone: How much time is left for you to die as a human being? If you have any left, if you can, and if you want to die as a human being... If you can and, especially, if you want to die as a human being. Hamdi Shavelli, born in 1927 in Shllovë (Peshkopi), worker at the Asphalt Enterprise, died AS A HUMAN BEING!! February 1993

“Sent” by FIFA, Gramoz Pashko “Sent” by FIFA, Gramoz Pashko On February 20, the second anniversary of the toppling of former dictator Hoxha’s bust, the PD Youth Forum and the Albanian Youth Federation will organize “The Day of the Toppling of Idols,” which will not be an ordinary commemoration. According to the person responsible for this event, Mr. Ilir Dizdari, a match will be held that day between representatives of Albanian comedy artists and journalists from the press organizations. The artists’ team is expected to include Vasillaq Vangjeli, Xhevahir Zeneli (the artists who acted in the film “Everything at the End,” a satire against former dictator Hoxha), and others, while the journalists’ team will include: forward A. Frangaj, journalist at “Koha jonë”; A. Krasniqi (from the newspaper “Rilindja Demokratike”); L. Rama (from the newspaper “Zëri i Popullit”). The chairman of the Journalists’ Association of Albania, Mr. Mero Baze, will play in midfield. The spectacular coaches of the match will be the chairmen of the two largest Albanian political parties: Mr. E. Selami, coach of the journalists’ team, and F. Nano, coach of the “Hoxhaists’” team. G. Pashko will be the “FIFA” envoy. The match will be sponsored by the private company “Epidam,” whose president is Mr. Shpëtim Domi, and will be simulated with three “Arildas”.

Some time ago, the local newspaper reported that a Kosovar arriving on the ferry that passes through Albania had been caught with a quantity of drugs at the Port of Trieste. This is not an isolated case. Increasingly, the Italian, Swiss and other police forces are catching people transporting drugs who travel through Albania. Albania is becoming a transit country for drugs. So poor and impoverished are the people transporting drugs. At the doors of a completely ordinary warehouse (for example, a tobacco or sugar warehouse), a businessman (or someone presented as one), dressed like a foreigner, waits. He has been in Albania for more than six months and does nothing but sit and wait outside the warehouse doors. It is hard to understand what a “businessman” has to do with tobacco. Yet increasingly, a drug dealer is hiding behind such a “businessman”! For each kilogram of drugs transported from Eastern countries, around 50 thousand dollars are handed over. It is hard to believe that poor Albanians pocket many such sums. But transportation has its own rewards. The Albanian who helps transport the drugs certainly earns a great deal. If you look around our ports and other customs points, you will find everything apparently calm and orderly. Yet the Italian police in Bari report ever more frequently drugs arriving from Turkey, Iran and Pakistan, which supposedly pass through Albania. It is difficult, and life-threatening, to understand what the real connections are between foreigners and Albanian transporters. Who arranges them, and how? Perhaps these people are needed for Europe. It is truly painful to admit that drugs are transported from Albania. But the question of where that quantity of drugs from producer countries passes through on its way to Europe remains unanswered. MARIA.

The “coaches” Se lam and Nano will lead

In recent days, the madwoman N. Curiously, after being present for so many hours, filled with speeches and pathetic calls, she did not wander anywhere through the streets of Tirana. Eyewitnesses would later state in the corridors of “Arbëria” or even the “Dajti” hotel, where communists and former senior officials swarmed around every foreigner (sometimes as escorts, sometimes as specialists), that the woman in black had most recently been seen in front of Rinas’s rear fence. She, the witnesses said, cursed all the while... “the beu of Sauk”, who “had taken the ...” half of the Political Bureau, and swore that she would set off again for Switzerland to find Albania’s lost money. But that was all; she had not been able to fly. That is, she had not managed to get aboard the “arseninë e dërrasë”. On Tuesday evening, at last, after much commotion and commentary, involving mainly kiosk vendors of the refurbished ... and a few party chairmen (especially one with a name with many -ra), the madwoman appeared for a moment in the square in front of the Socialist Party committee building. Observers would later say that, because of the large crowds there, and because the woman had decided to speak, at least for a while, only with the ... and the night guards, she disappeared again, only to reappear at midnight, emerging from the narrow passage between the Puppet Theatre and the Ministry of Industry (the ... are now trying to prove that she tried to kill Abdyl Xhafa), and hurriedly crossing “Skënderbej” Square. She howled loudly, frightening the lonely ones and the stillness of the night: “Long live the Left! The Left will win, but then where will you go, you wretches?! Down with Servet Pëllumbi! Servet Pëllumbi will destroy the Socialist Party! Long live Dritëro Agolli! The friend of Enver Hoxha, Mehmet Shehu, Ramiz Alia, Nexhmije Hoxha, Pali Miska, Hekuran Isai... The Minister of Education must ...; the biology textbooks are missing Agolli’s verse, ‘For Enver Hoxha, songs are woven!’ As an insomniac journalist would later point out, the ... entirely Italian, there in Bari, report ever more frequently on drugs arriving from Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan, which apparently pass through Albania. It is difficult, and dangerous to one’s life, to understand what the real connections are between the foreigners and the Albanian carriers. Who carries them out, and how? Perhaps these are needed for Europe. It is truly very difficult to admit that drugs are transported from Albania. But in any case, the question of where that quantity of drugs from producing At dawn the madwoman had gone off in the direction of the National Theatre. As was noted, throughout the morning, her final ... disappearing into the distance was: “The fallen on the stage, ‘The Communists’.” THE CHRONICLER