Reportage MERO BAZE The heavy stone weighing several tons has not been moved more than 50 m in two years. Two years ago, the young people of Shkodër placed it in the middle of the road opposite the PSH Committee to stop the tanks that had been sent against them. Only the tanks. The policemen could not move them. Nor could their bullets. Nor the orders sent to them. The heavy stone bore witness to them; now it has remained a heavy, immovable thing that puts every government in an awkward position. It bears on its back those who are old and faithful, while on the fourth day it also bears flowers. It was there even though it could not stop the tanks. It is perhaps the only memorial in the world that has reminded people least of the protests. Just one photograph, to capture it, and the flowers, as if they had been put there so that blood might grow from it. Arben’s memorial, the PSH Committee, still burned and scorched, an old plaque bearing the crime, and thousands of citizens are there again. At 8:00, at 9:00, at 10:00, at every hour of April 2. It would be quite easy to put all the protagonists of April 2 back in the places where they stood. You could easily recreate the scene from two years ago. Only the ammunition is missing, along with the guides. No one now takes on their roles. Neither the real actors, nor the extras, nor the prompters. They are present in all the unspoken words of ordinary people hurrying to lay wreaths, of politicians hurrying to console them, and, above all, in the silence of the mothers of Arben, Bujar, Nazmi and Besnik. The murderers are missing ... from all the lists of criminals, all the court indictments, all the tape recordings, all the platforms. No matter how carefully organized, no scene can bring them back here. At least not under their real names, in the hands of those responsible. The chairman of the “April 2” association and the others who have taken responsibility for the protocol of this ceremony will fulfill their ideal at that ceremony, on that April 2, when, besides ordinary people, besides those who stood in the street against communism, besides the memorial and the burned committee building, THEY too will be in their places—someone behind windows, behind bars, behind telephones. In the square where the films are kept, people feel in earnest that “every word about them is nothing compared with what they do...” This feeling is there in the words of the mayor, who tries to convey Shkodër’s grief for its dead, with the pride that “that day Shkodër sentenced communism to death.” It is felt in President Berisha’s words, as he speaks of the scope of their deed, calling it “beyond our powers of dedication”; it is felt in Arben Lika’s words, as he feels doubly wounded by grief, since “the real criminals have still not been found.” On the way to the cemetery, a witness tries to show us the place where people stood as the coffins passed, the solemn silence and the grief. There, a photographer takes a picture of a little overturned earth and a covered well. The square where freedom came to life in Shkodër. This is the “Rinia” photograph, created long ago by photographer Kastriot Kërcova. “This is a photograph taken from the church at the ‘Rinia’ venue, where Greeks and Albanians danced and celebrated together, dancing the old dances, while the protests remembered the political parties. In cooperation with a group meeting for the first time after 16 months, all together at one table, during the time of the Government of Stability? What is this, if not nostalgia for the Government of Stability? 3. Distinguished gentlemen ... Gentlemen, guardians of journalists! Do you really believe that a Greek’s intervention was needed for Albanian politicians to appreciate one another together (when you write: ‘Apparently the Greek’s intervention was needed for Albanian politicians to dance together’)? Which dance should Albanian politicians dance together, gentlemen of the “Alliance”—the Greek dance or the Albanian dance? SH. DELVINOJTI At the grave of Bujar Bishanaku, 24 years old. PHOTO: A. BABANI

A young judge at the Tirana District Court, who declined to be identified, confirmed to us that in recent months divorce cases have increased noticeably. Many of them, he added, file such requests in court to separate from their wives for the purpose of gaining benefits. They are mainly former communist rulers who have unfairly acquired excessive living space, abusing the most unscrupulous methods and means by exploiting the positions granted to them by the communist government. So, former communist rulers are divorcing their wives. Why, one wonders—for the sake of their biographies, for adultery, or for ...? Having spent their whole lives accustomed to undeserved privileges, they now feel uncomfortable. And to gain even a little from these privileges, they are deploying their entire diabolical arsenal: they drag things out, fawn, slander, [unclear], make excuses, and even divorce their wives. And what if (God forbid) their wives do not want to remarry them? Then it may happen that the women leave their former husbands all the room they need to marry again, while the men may even end up without a home. Kleo Polena

The Aromanians are GREEKS too?!! They rightly say that appetite comes with eating. After claiming that the borders of Northern Epirus extend as far as the Shkumbin, even as far as Lezhë, after counting every last Greek minority member in Albania and registering the villages inhabited by them, Greek chauvinists and their associates on this side of the border have now thought to make the Aromanians in our country Greeks too. They also say the Aromanians are GREEKS?!!

Gentlemen of the board of “Aleanca” (an Albanian newspaper), Mr. editor-in-chief, gentlemen editors, gentlemen Pashko and Ismail, Mr. Spartak Kico Nagleja, the well-known longtime dissident: in your newspaper “Aleanca,” in the March 30 issue, we read an article entitled “A little girl and a peaceful migration near the grown-up road.” The Greek diplomat, former minister in Tirana, Kanellos, has his daughter baptized in an Albanian church, in the Albanian language, in Greek. A bishop from the embassy in Tirana gives a private invitation and, as a contributor, gathers his whole family together with an Albanian deputy prime minister, Albanian ministers, Albanian politicians and others. This has its value, although, at least up to now, we have not read in a Greek newspaper that anyone attended the celebration, on the occasion of the 16th, of our ambassador in Greece, for gifts, explanations and other things. Greece has done more for Albanian emigration and has become a country in which many people have taken part. The Greek diplomat Kanellos is doing the job for which he came, as is our higher consulate. We have some questions for the board and guardians of the newspaper “Aleanca”: 1. What common cultural foundation do you mean when you write: “This celebration of friendship was then moved from the church to the ‘Rinia’ venue, where Greeks and Albanians danced and celebrated together the old dances of the Albanian people and the Greek people, who are one,” as if they were two Slavic peoples? I recall Konica and his book “The Rocky Garden of Southeastern Europe,” and one of his cultural conclusions in that book: “It is written: ‘The leading representatives of the political parties sat together at one table for the first time in 16 months ...’” “A little girl and her name bring the grown-ups closer” It is natural for contemporary Albanian life to record events that could not have been imagined two or three years ago. Last Saturday, in the town’s Orthodox church, a Greek girl was baptized, bearing the name of the ancient goddess of peace, Irini. She is the daughter of a Kanellos (Niko and Maria), who have worked at the Greek embassy in Tirana for many years. Just as the Greek diplomat was present, Greeks here also gathered, along with Albanian politicians and journalists, local diplomats and creative people. Likewise, there was an invitation from Greece, to everyone who is a well-wisher of the diplomat’s family. This celebration of friendship was then moved from the church to the “Rinia” venue, where Greeks and Albanians danced together the old dances of the Balkans, which speak of a common cultural foundation? As he said, something that would remain in an unprecedented memory? This celebration became a symbol of what brings people together and should bring countries closer too. At the celebration for our Greek friend, others intervened for the first time in 16 months at the table ...

The Turkish Naval Forces destroyer TCG YUCETEPE, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Necat Kurt, arrived at the port of Durrës on April 2, 1993, at 15:00, and will be a guest of the Albanian Naval Forces until April 8. This destroyer carries out duties with NATO’s Joint Forces in the Mediterranean. The destroyer visiting the port of Durrës is 118.72 m long, 12.45 m wide, and has a draft of 6.85 m. It is equipped with modern weapons systems.

The madwoman “N” made a leap in her own political movements. She addressed the politicians in a tone that was not pathetic, but somewhat sad, saying: “The competition I announced for ‘Miss KG’ cannot be held because the number of male contestants for ‘Miss KG’ would require the participation of those communists who were scattered across Albania, such as Miladin Popoviç and Dushan Mugosha. I advise you to go before the public instead, and see who can identify the name of the doctor who visits the British oilman Tom and is mentioned together on page 166 of the book ‘Connected History,’ recently published by the Albanian left in the hope that it will change its activity. The doctor’s answer, according to the English author, is a tragicomic vice; so instead of the ‘Miss KG’ show, where Nimet Cami was the sole runner-up contestant, we will develop other activities. The association of madmen will finance these activities not materially, because no mad person in the world has money, but with ideas that are shocking to so-called normal people, for whom normality means a lack of sincerity. Therefore, the madmen, with their association and the help of the invented means, will organize a show entitled: ‘Truth—madness, lies—normality.’ From the side of the madmen, besides me, other mad people appointed by the communist state solely to make their statements seem unbelievable will also take part. All the political figures of communist Albania. From the side of the liars, that is, normal people, the participants will be: Pali Miska, Leka Tallanxhi, Gjela Biba, Raqi Masha, Jorgi Sota, Sokrat Plaka. Naturally, the documentation for this show will aim to establish the so-called truth about who is mad and who is normal. And, more than anything, to provoke the question of which side is the bread of this people: the above-mentioned normal people or madmen like me. Here I modestly declare that the madmen are the true heroes of society. I do not believe in legal or moral constraints; above all, they have no fear or corruption, qualities that drive you to work against our country. This is a subject that calls for a dissertation, and we will not go into it, as in those who rejoice in the prayers they offer to world capital and its economy; rather, let us make it real, as on our beloved stage of Southern Europe. Here is what will happen in the cultural council. Open the twilight to people in culture and do not call them mad.” THE CHRONICLER

It would not be called realistic if it photographed the faces of those young men who brought the bodies back to the square to show people the scale of the massacre. Not a thing has moved from its place. People hesitate to move them from there ... Not to remember revenge, but at least repentance; not to remember death, but immortality. The hand of one-year-old Çirlim Bajri is almost drying up from the bullet of April 2, 1991. From the April when we all await the blossoming. The mother’s tears, like those of the other mothers, can no longer recognize the boy’s hand, which by now could easily have been moving, growing, healthy ... On the road to and from the cemetery, a person who thinks only of their deaths naturally returns to thinking of their lives. At Arben’s house, the brother of those responsible [recounts] the students’ meeting with Ramiz Alia. Arben spoke as if to tell us about everything. About the stone that we moved just 50 m from the middle of the main road, about his memorial in the middle of the city, about all our appeals and claims. The stone that has become a memorial has been moved only 50 m—from the middle of the road to its side. And only the date of the crime is written on it. Today the road is open, and passers-by will no longer have to detour around the stone, as the tanks did two years ago. And if the chairman of the “April 2” association were to put everything back in its place once again, as it was that day. It is known that today there can be no “dummy” tanks, no police extras, no mannequins for police chiefs, and no prompters to give orders. It is difficult to reinstate those same interior ministers, those same officers of the Presidential Council, that same secret-service officer. It is extremely difficult. Now they “all want reform and democracy,” but are against giving up their chairs; they understand the difficulties, but cannot overcome them without the teflons; they understand democratic processes, but do not accept that comrade Ramiz and comrade Nexhmije are under arrest; they understand human rights, but have forgotten that these were to be fulfilled only a short time ago ... Now, in the main square where the crime took place, the road is open, although the several-ton stone has been moved only 50 m.

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