Property must be respected. There are no new and old owners. There are only owners. There is no law for expropriations or [?], only laws that guarantee justice and the harmonious functioning of society. The Ramzani law on the division of land carries within it the seed of division in Albanian society, the hidden core of the class struggle, which cost our people so much and risks erupting tomorrow with ferocity. The idea that there is little land, that the population has increased, is not an economic argument. Go right into the heart of Myzeqe, where most of the population ought to live, and you will see that in Këmishtaj 4 dynym of land per person have been distributed (and not two, as the law requires), in nearby villages 5, and in others 3. Come to my village of Zvernec, gentlemen deputies, and you will find that in families with only 50 olive trees, or far fewer, the “brotherhood” has today appropriated more than 300 trees. The arguments that there is little land and that the population has increased are uneconomic, because the development and potential of the market economy in the countryside do not depend only on the amount of land. They depend on a sound agricultural system, the introduction of modern technology and, above all, close links with the market and an advanced banking system. Even now, the farmer is beginning to feel that land is not everything. Go to the farmers’ market, talk to people, and you will hear farmers asking for roads, transport vehicles, irrigation facilities, and new industrial and commercial developments for the countryside. Talk to the farmers themselves and you will understand that they do not want enmities; they do not want “door-to-door” disputes over a piece of land, disputes that are very bitter in the Albanian world because they end in killings, as they are ending every day. The farmers themselves will now tell you that it is unjust for their fellow villagers, former owners, political persecutées, those branded as collaborators, prisoners and internees, to be prevented from returning to their own village, where they grew up and wish to live. This is no place for a surgeon’s pretence. Here the democratic state has a duty to ensure that the transition takes place with as little pain as possible. For people say that the Albanian people have suffered a great deal, and that is true, but once again the “notion of the people” is abstract, a general term, whereas pain, gentlemen, pain is personal. Does the people not say: “Woe to those who make other people’s misfortune their own heart’s concern; always: ‘woe to us, it has befallen us’.” We must not inflict more pain on people; we must not ride roughshod over their suffering, consoling ourselves only with the thought, “let us divide the land quickly so we can sell it tomorrow.” What Albanian would buy land amid conflict, buying from one person and then another? Foreigners? A fine thing for Albanian sentiment! Don’t you see how eagerly foreigners are waiting for our doors to open? Yes, let us suppose that someone does buy a piece. He will always face the threat and restraint of Albanian vengeance for the land seized. And be sure that he will leave before he has settled in. And not only him. Or perhaps you dream that Albania will become Switzerland tomorrow? Gentlemen, without losing any of my love and respect for my country, to the rest of the world we are still “a wild people.” And not without reason. It may seem like an outdated, customary-law concept, but it was precisely the question of settling land ownership that brought out, from the very beginning, the need for a rural structure based on understanding and wisdom. The land law must be improved to help them. (Continued on page 2)

350 dead in the first 9 months of the year Is it really dangerous to travel by car today? The continual increase in the number of vehicles, on the one hand, and the poor quality of our roads, on the other, make a driver think that... According to data held by INSIG, during the period January–September 1993, around 3,000 accidents were recorded, adding to this a further 20 / 30% of cases that are never reported to INSIG. And according to information INSIG has from the Road Inspectorate, 350 deaths resulting from road accidents were recorded during the same period, January–September 1993. An extremely high figure, considering that only 640 people died in road accidents during 1990–1991. Gji. Pilika

Photo: Muharem [?]

Ten former Albanian communist leaders to stand trial tomorrow Ten former senior Albanian communist leaders, members of the Political Bureau, including former dictator Foto Çami, will stand trial tomorrow in Tirana for “violating equality among citizens” (because they granted themselves various privileges at the expense of the common treasury and may be sentenced to one year in prison), Radio Tirana reported. This is the first time former communist leaders will be tried in Albania under an article of the Penal Code. The accused are Foto Çami, Besnik Bekteshi, Haredin Çeliku, Lenka Çuko, Llambi Gegj, Muho Asllani, Pali Miska, Fiqiri Muho, Grijako Mihale and Vah? (?), Kërava. Their trial, opened in July 1991 for “theft and embezzlement of funds,” was suspended for further investigation. Other former members of the Political Bureau, including former president and Communist Party leader Ramiz Alia, former prime minister Adil Çarçani, former interior ministers Hekuran Isai and Simon Stefani, as well as Manush Myftiu, are awaiting trials on serious charges in investigations opened against them. Against the admission of Macedonia This is how one should act in an effort to ensure that Macedonia does not receive recognition if it fails to make the necessary constitutional changes and establish full national equality. The People’s Democratic Party, based in Tetovë, as a parliamentary party in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, stated in a letter from the party sent to the KSBË party in Rome that it had opposed international recognition and admission to the UN from the outset, making these conditional on the elimination of national discrimination in this multiethnic republic. The letter then stresses, in this context, that... Greece accuses EC countries Greece again accused its European Community partners on Sunday of compromising its ability to make decisions collectively on diplomatic relations with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Deputy Foreign Minister Theodor Pangalos told reporters: “It is not for the European Community to make agreements concerning this country.” “Moonlight” (The night of the six-decade-long communist dictatorship; Kadare’s work is one of the most highly valued works of the twentieth century. The publication in French of the first volume of Kadare’s complete works is a notable event. The publication offers the opportunity to reread in full writings mutilated by censorship and to encounter a literature that immediately encompasses human history. Two short stories accompany the appearance of this collection of novels, which is as daring as Aristophanes’ writings in Plato’s translation. In “Moonlight” (“Night of the Moon”), a woman employee openly defies the Party authorities, the Immaculate Lady. Meanwhile, “The Great Mummy” shows how the terror of all the games of Enver Hoxha, which created him in its time, survives. This is a powerful work that has come from the past, concludes its review in the French magazine. We recall that this publication of Ismail Kadare’s works is being issued by the publishing house “Fajard.” The French translation bears the signature of Jusuf Vrioni, now well known. A train carrying pesticides in Albania threatens to cause an ecological disaster Germany has sent 1.4 thousand [?] tons of pesticides, to be used in taking safety measures around a German transport train in Albania that threatens to cause an ecological disaster. The tanks containing around 217 tons of pesticides on this train, which has been parked for some time on a railway line near Lake Shkodër, have begun to leak. Their toxic contents are leaking from the 17 wagons making up the train and threaten to contaminate 20 hectares of agricultural land, form a cloud of gas that could threaten [?] in Albania and, in one instance, kill people in a large area of Italy lying around the Adriatic. Reda and Feeling [?] in confrontation with the Macedonian state This time the madwoman N was not mad. Perhaps because of the tactics [?]. At the Meeting of Albanian Theatre Companies, not just one but several dramatic pieces featuring mad people were staged? Leaving aside the dramas with ghosts, shadows and unknown figures, which finally convinced the former madwoman that this was a condition in which she could live normally among Dostoevsky’s idiot. Living ghosts of Kamsye and their likes. “We do not believe that Enver Petrovski was really an idiot, like people,” she said in the round-table discussion. On only one occasion was she ready, at the moment when it was to be an Albanian Theatre Festival, there was no [?] Albanian drama; but she consoled herself with the fact that it was an Albanian festival in the Albanian capital and thus a celebration of Albanian art! More than anything, the next meeting will be held in the [?] school. “Perhaps the Albanian drama will not return to the festival?” It was with ... By then he had not been and was no longer [?] a critic in evaluating performances; Vargush Furn? was no longer a critic, nor even an actor. He is a deputy minister of [?]; perhaps one should not take what he says badly. Once the state separated me. Once I was [?] one of the most sensitive creators. By then there was an old artist? The ministers themselves were not artists. By then life was grey. This is a summary, quite [?], in keeping with the director? Vangush [?] (unclear) and that former [?] (...). Chronicle These writings in the “From the chronicles” column and this part of the page contain damaged and illegible text.

National Seminar against AIDS As part of the national cooperation programme for the prevention of and fight against AIDS in Albania, the Ministry of Health is organizing a National Seminar with the mass media on 8–9 December 1993. For this seminar, the World Health Organization has mobilized well-known specialists from England and France. The aim of the seminar is to help our journalists further develop their professional skills in providing information and communicating with the general public and specific audiences, as is so essential in relation to HIV/AIDS infection, its now considerable threat to our people, especially younger age groups, and in influencing the prevention of the widespread spread of the infection in our country as effectively as possible. The seminar will take place in the hall of the Ministry of Health, starting at 08.00. The “Property with Justice” Association appeals once again to the Constitutional Court Read on page 2

After that long period of isolation and the typical political and social obscurantism that prevailed for nearly half a century, it is not easy to build a genuine democracy in Albania in such a short time. This is due to the fact that the Albanians themselves, and especially the human personalities shaped by the system that prevailed for almost half a century, have been affected by it, and also to the absence of a tradition outside that system. At present, 3 million Albanians still live in Albania (after the oppressive communist regime), with extraordinary emigration to Italy, Greece and other powerful capitalist countries (65–75% of the Albanian population). Therefore, the burden of concentrating political and social activities falls on the citizens, and particularly on the capital. This intense activity is expressed in 30 political parties and some 80 national or local associations, and is reflected to a great extent in the crowded presence of 12 national newspapers and more than 80 local ones. This political and administrative arsenal, then, for 1 million inhabitants—and should the figure fall from 5 million—we have 1,000 [?] deputies, monarchists, members [?], prominent figures, parties, associations, etc. It is further complicated by the grouping of political forces, all of them left-wing, by parties that now all appear to be left-wing, in groupings, parties? The grouped parties? The? 10 separate parties. It is not [?] ... In the field of ... (small text in columns, partly illegible) ALFRED STEFA

This time the madwoman N was not mad. Perhaps because of the tactics [?]. At the Meeting of Albanian Theatre Companies, not just one but several dramatic pieces featuring mad people were staged? Leaving aside the dramas with ghosts, shadows and unknown figures, which finally convinced the former madwoman that this was a condition in which she could live normally among Dostoevsky’s idiot. Living ghosts of Kamsye and their likes. “We do not believe that Enver Petrovski was really an idiot, like people,” she said during the round-table discussion. On only one occasion was she ready, at the moment when it was to be an Albanian Theatre Festival, there was no [?] Albanian drama; but she consoled herself with the fact that it was an Albanian festival in the Albanian capital and thus a celebration of Albanian art! More than anything, the next meeting will be held in the [?] school. “Perhaps the Albanian drama will not return to the festival?” It was with ... By then he had not been and was no longer [?] a critic in evaluating performances; Vargush Furn? was no longer a critic, nor even an actor. He is a deputy minister of [?]; perhaps one should not take what he says badly. Once the state separated me. Once I was [?] one of the most sensitive creators. By then there was an old artist? The ministers themselves were not artists. By then life was grey. This is a summary, quite [?], in keeping with the director? Vangush [?] (unclear) and that former [?] (...).