After the discussion in the plenary session of the draft law “On the return of ownership of agricultural land” Dr. ÇERÇIZ MINGOMATAJ Secretary-General of PR The Republican Party submitted to Parliament a draft law, “On the return of ownership of agricultural land” and, while this law was awaiting its presentation before Parliament, PR, through an organised campaign, tried to present it to the wider public. Where will landless villagers go if they return from liveliness and become? The population has grown considerably, and where will the tripled rural population find food if it remains without land? And what will become of the former owners if Parliament does not approve the law? What is the point of this law when the chances are that this Parliament will not vote in favour of it? Thus, PR defends both the “old” owners and the “new” owners, as well as the “future” ones. In short, the Republican Party defends the concept of property. And this has nothing whatsoever to do with the idea that “PR is for property because it is a right-wing party.” The Republican Party defends one of the fundamental human rights and freedoms: the right to the inviolability of property. Human rights are the speciality of “left-wing parties”, and their turning a blind eye to this fact, by excluding the right to property from the body of fundamental human rights, leads these parties to ... communism. With this law, it is clear what the “old owners” gain. They regain their legitimate property. Only the property that, during a period in the history of the Albanian state, was legitimate and sacred. The property that was taken during a period when logic and dictatorship prevailed. Albania is now a state governed by the rule of law and, since 28 November, has celebrated its 80th, 81st, 82nd anniversary. And if this 80-year continuity is accepted, why should the legitimacy of property that was inviolable during the lawful period of those 80 years be called into question? What do those who have not been owners gain from this law? Returning property to former owners is precisely an incentive for the propertyless—the future owners—to work hard. By returning property to its lawful owner, one encourages the assurance that, once property has been created, it will remain inviolable. Becoming an owner by taking property from one person and giving it to another is no kind of ownership at all. The land the state gives away today, it has the right to take back tomorrow. State property is the product of collective sweat and blood, and Parliament has the right to distribute it to those without property. Private property must not be infringed by anyone, not even by Parliament. What is the point of the law submitted to Parliament if it is not approved? The Republican Party is a political party, committed to presenting its draft laws, explaining them as democratic laws and, when it also has the power, fully implementing those laws. A constructive political party demonstrates its own policy even when it does not have a majority in Parliament, and does not describe those policies with the phrase, “if we were in power...”

At a press conference for journalists, this time held by the Serbian Unity Party for Kosovo, a request was sent to the official authorities, as stated, for the urgent arrest of LDK leader Dr. Ibrahim Rugova. The party’s deputy chairman, Borislav Pelević, supported this demand on the grounds that, as he puts it, Rugova’s organisation is no political party at all, but a hostile terrorist organisation which, according to him, attacks the integrity and sovereignty of this state. According to Mr Pelević, this is a hostile act that no other state in the world would tolerate; therefore, he said, the Serbian Unity Party urgently demands the arrest of Rugova and his associates. From the BBC

The warring Bosnian factions, setting aside the issue of Sarajevo, resumed their long effort to reach an agreement on creating three ministates for Serbs, Croats and Muslims. Mediator Lord Owen told journalists before a new round of talks between the three communities that if the problem of the 15 disputed areas that the Muslims wish to include in their republic can be resolved, then an end to the 22-month war is near. “This is the last element that can be discussed where there is a disagreement. If we can resolve this, we can reach a comprehensive settlement,” he stressed. According to ATSH

The authorities arrested four former security officers as Hungary makes efforts to bring to trial those who helped crush the tank-led revolt against communist rule in 1956. This brought the number of people arrested for this purpose to nine. The Ministry of Justice has estimated that armed forces killed around 1,000 unarmed demonstrators during the revolt. Historians estimate that tens of thousands of people may have been killed during such an uprising, but say that it is impossible to determine the exact number of dead. ATSH

For the PS, only one thing matters: Gavrosh LEVONJA Listening to what was said at the PS’s 2nd National Conference and judging the alternatives presented there in connection with revitalising the economic situation, at first glance one cannot help noticing signs of change in the political line this party claims it will follow. Something new in the life of this party was also the different views expressed by different speakers, which in some cases even contradicted one another. This is, first and foremost, a consequence of the constant pressure of the spirit of democracy and the unstoppable, rapid development of democratic processes, which are coming to dominate every aspect of life in our country. The PS’s effort to present itself in Albanian political life with a new profile is also dictated by its desire to come to power as soon as possible. In this respect, political struggle cannot continue using the old, traditional forms of the monist period that this party inherited from the PP. The PS leadership seems to have understood that continuing to pursue politics in the style and forms of its predecessor is like fighting with spears and clubs in the modern age. At the PS Conference, the main leitmotif was “a new political solution serving an economic solution, to emerge from the difficult situation we are in and make reform possible.” What, in reality, is this “new political-economic solution” put forward at the PS’s 2nd National Conference? Taking into account the current circumstances in the country and the experience of Eastern countries where the former communists of yesterday have returned to power, this solution consists of a set of measures of a social nature, in an effort to “protect” those sections of the population affected by the reform. The term “social market economy” was used for this, a term also found in some other Eastern countries, including China under Deng Xiaoping. Referring to the increasingly pressing demands of ever broader sections of our society, Mr Pellumbi’s report delivered at the Conference points out that “20% of urban families are below the full value.” Accordingly, this fact has led the PS to pay more attention than any other political force to human concerns and the social dimension of the market economy. In the current state of the economy, the ways to ensure social protection are more or less these: creating new jobs, or keeping in operation the many anti-economic enterprises built during Hoxha’s time; exempting from taxes, or at least reducing them for, that part of the population most exposed to the difficulties of the reform; increasing the fund of payments for those unable to receive assistance; and ... so on. In fact, this means financing financial support from abroad to get through the transition period. As for the Medi Belortaja

A few days ago, I read in REPUBLIKA Mr Ylli Rakipi’s reply to Mr Nexhmedin Spahiu’s article “What should be changed in our national education”, published in this same newspaper. While greatly appreciating the author’s contribution to Albanian journalism and, in particular, to “REPUBLIKA” (I would also single out the article “Sanctioning”, published recently), I find entirely out of place the response made to our renowned writer I. Kadare by some foreign students. I do not at all agree with the very inferior tone and spirit conveyed by the article. Nor with the vulgarisation of the issue, based on the information of an English “journalist”, or with the conclusion this young lady reaches, which Mr Spahiu kindly confirms too—that Albanians “flee” and “only flee”! According to this anonymous journalist, who apparently knows Albanians about as well as I know the general, the chaff of Kurmi and all of Siri. Thus, according to this lady, for centuries the old judges have been “fleeing” and only “fleeing”! This “historical discovery” is made by this young lady, who apparently has never read either the verses that the young Byron wrote about them or a single line by the English historian, writer, publicist and author Edith Durham, who happened to be there, present at the events. What are you supposed to read, half-asleep, in this part of the world where there is no bread? Yes, “bread”, business and ...? Indeed, bringing to mind an Albanian expression, they either attribute it to them or make it up, as we also find in history. “Flee! Flee! Flee!”, as the young lady says. “That’s how I fled too.” And further down: “That’s how we fled too”! Where on earth did this lady find this grandfather? This little man, this phantom? At the market, in the toy shop, or at the puppet theatre? And who are these “we”?! The centuries and millennia bear witness to how Albanians have “fled” and “flee” from this land! Waves upon waves swept like furious hurricanes over these lands and this nation: Rome, Byzantium, the Slavs, barbarians and their red wolves, seeking to uproot the Albanians from their soil and exterminate them. But they did not move! They became one with this land, these trees and these stones! History bears ample witness to this. In any case, throughout these past millennia! I do not intend to present the endless lists of martyrs—men, women, old people and children—who were killed, tortured and massacred, erased and slaughtered, killed, mutilated, burned alive and punished, subjected to every kind of pressure, assault and inhuman treatment in order to humiliate, subjugate, break, expel and wipe the Albanians from this land and these territories! I am convinced I would not be exaggerating if I said that no other nation on our continent has waged such an unparalleled and enduringly heroic struggle as the Albanians! They fought heroically not only against the Ottomans, Serbs and Greeks, but also against the colonists and crusaders of Europe. But, regardless of the author’s position in addressing the subject, the rather grotesque devices he chooses and the sources he uses, the reality is obvious and undeniable. Whether we like it or not, we cannot help but acknowledge and assess this problem. The warning issued by Spahiu, who writes from Zagreb (very close to the flashpoints), as an eyewitness to the tragic events in Bosnia, gives him the courage to tell us plainly that we are unprepared and fundamentally incapable of confronting the aggressor! The Israelis paid a heavy price for apathy, pacifism, complacency and lack of preparedness. But why go so far? Do we not see even now, every day and every hour, how dearly this is costing the Bosnians? I absolutely disagree with the view that the Albanian nation has lost the battle, that it has become a city turned to stone. Historically, the factors behind this are well known, and I have no intention of repeating them. But Mr Nexhmedin Spahiu is entirely right when he says that a kind of apathy and lethargy has come over us. And that, having become utterly absorbed in the age-old and banal struggle against the barbarians, we are left with a spoonful of water (just look at the headlines and articles in the newspapers published every day) and forget the real war. We do not even hear the beating of the heart and the drums of war! VEHBI SKËNDËRI

A group of journalists departed for Warsaw, comprising Ylli Rakipi (Republika), Edi Paloka (Rilindja Demokratike), Sokol Gruda (Zëri i popullit), Skënder Minxhozi (Aleança), Fatos Kongoli (Drita), Sami Neza (Rilindja), Mark Marku (Zëri i Rinisë), Arjana Kokobobo (TV), Denada Bare (Radio Tirana) and Asht Metla (Radio Tirana). The visit was organised by the Soros Foundation in Tirana and its counterpart, the Stefan Batory Foundation in Poland. During their visit to Warsaw, the Albanian journalists will hold a number of meetings with their Polish colleagues and will also make contact with ministers, representatives of political forces, well-known politicians, intellectuals, clergy, etc.

The editorial staff of the newspaper “Republika” wishes the Muslim faithful of the Albanian world: Happy celebration of the Holy Month of Ramadan! We wish you an easy fast and peace!

Albanian drama and the politicisation of history Skënder SHKUPI p. 3 The state is not the civil servant; the state is the law Interview with economist Kasëm SEFERI p. 2 Abraham Lincoln, a “dishonest” politician p. 4 If BSPSH is dead, what is the point of trumpets at a funeral? Arben BLLACI p. 4

On Friday evening and yesterday morning, the madwoman in the capital, utterly distraught by the dramatic events of recent days, was seen on the steps of the amphitheatre by the artificial lake, whispering with a group of foreign faculty members about some matter known only to God. In admirable English, she spoke quite clearly: “The end of the world is approaching. I have three sure signs of this: the rats on the move, the row against Greguese at ‘Koha Jonë’, and this newspaper’s jealousy of my chronicles in Republika. “Look, two lost rats. Male rats. The first is a widower. A widower... His wife left him. She left at night. She went to Spain. He is an orphan. Luckily, he won’t have problems in his files. His real father is an alcoholic, poet, politician, scientist. Only now he has become a journalist; not on TV, though—he also worked in Gramsh. The intellectuals of Gramsh called him incapable, useless in Gramsh!!! “Before the end of the world, a football match will be played between the townspeople and the emigrants. If the townspeople survive, the world will be saved. The main giant of the match will be Neritan Ceka, assisted by the linesmen Begji and Dudi... My goodness, another rat! “This one is a journalist too. Yes, he was born in the city, then moved to the Gjirokastër region. During the dictatorship he tied a scarf around his head and recited poems. He’s a widower too. His wife left during the day. He suffers from an illness suffered by one of Chekhov’s characters. From the red ones on his head. Nevertheless, he is more Bujar... than the first rat. “Excuse the interruptions,” she said to the tourists who had stopped to eat hamburgers. “Another time I’ll tell you the full names of the wives too. I could tell you now as well. But I don’t want to. “The PS’s duty chairman for the entire month of Ramadan will be Lush Përpali. THE CHRONICLER