. But the 73,780,000 lekë he stole—who will repay them? “I want to break off all relations with the trial panel. I will return to the prisoner camps to continue the political struggle to liberate people,” Fatos Nano declared at the end of the first day of his trial. Thus occurred the most unprecedented case in the history of Albanian justice. A man refuses to be tried. And he was no ordinary man. He had been prime minister twice; they say he is also a party chairman. So former Prime Minister Nano, accused of responsibility for the sum of 73,780,000 lekë, rose abruptly, at once with notes of emotion and despair, and tried to play the political-prisoner card. Such a request undoubtedly leaves every responsible person in Albania speechless. Fatos Nano, a political prisoner?! Comrade Fatos, a prisoner of conscience?! I do not believe former political prisoners in Albania have ever been subjected to a greater insult. What irony?! And so plainly, too. He has no other option; he can only play a role. Play the role of the first and last political prisoner. That is how the first day of Fatos Nano’s trial began. Its prologue opened on Friday evening, when dozens of former State Security employees, among them some unfortunate, pitiful old men, tried to stage a rally. During one of the recesses, they put these two questions to Namik Dokle, chairman of the PS parliamentary group: “What would you say if Fatos Nano were released in the courtroom?” “I would say, ‘Long live democracy!’” “And if Fatos Nano were sentenced to at least seven years?” “I would say, ‘Long live democracy!’” The trial began at 9:00 yesterday morning. The panel was presided over by Agim Bendo, while the prosecution was represented by prosecutors Arben Qeleshi and Genc Gjakuta. Former Prime Minister Nano is being defended by lawyers Përparim Sanxhaku and Agim Tirana. It should be noted that, at the moment the hearing opened, the prosecutors were unable to read out the indictment. For this reason, lawyer Sanxhaku repeatedly requested that the investigation be returned, citing procedural violations. Fatos Nano’s intentions became clear even before the indictment was read: as we said, he demanded that all relations with the trial panel be broken off. What had been expected then happened. In the strangest manner, Fatos Nano refuses to be tried. To sit in the dock and refuse to stand trial...?!?! ..., subjected to a greater insult than this. What irony?! Even Enver Hoxha, if he were alive, would envy the courage of his descendant. In any case, let me turn to the simple truth. Fatos Nano now has 73,780,000 lekë weighing on his shoulders. They do not come from the past of the persecuted politician Fatos Nano, but from the blood and bones of this people, killed by the Party of Enver Hoxha and Fatos Nano. This money is stolen. That is what the indictment says. And anyone with even a little sense, all the more so someone who claims to be a politician, someone who claims to be the leader—the head—of a party, must first answer this charge. He himself must face it. But could Nano really have lost his mind to that extent? No, Nano does not lose... Photo: Armando Babani

Photo: Armando Babani

. The “national question” is the greatest wound on the injured body of the Albanian nation. The very naming of the problem reveals the wound’s symptoms. Our politicians talk about economic, educational, political, ecological issues... and the national question. The economy, politics, education, ecology... are nothing but national issues which, together with the territorial question, make up the vital national interest. The very phrase “national question,” which politicians have inherited from the “intellectuals,” reveals the wretchedness of the “question” or of the “intellectuals.” Albanians had a national question and a national movement at a time when they were not yet a nation. Today the Albanian people are a nation with a state (two states). They have territorial problems, like most Balkan states—not only the former communist ones, but also states with a “democratic tradition,” such as Greece (with Macedonia and Albania). The Albanian “National Question” (we will use this term, without promoting a new one—out of spite toward the author of the term, it also seems to fit the “question” directly) continues to be one of the favorite subjects for criticizing politicians. And in this instance, they can hardly find a way to defend themselves. The situation is nothing to be proud of. You cannot find one, because, first of all, it is not their job to defend something that intellectuals have not concretely elaborated as a vital national interest. Politicians do not trust (as a rule, considering what sort of intellectuals they have “over their heads” ...). The latest victim of Neshat Tozaj’s “intellectual judgment,” discussed in “ZP” in the article “When We Talk about the National Question,” was... “the national question.” For Neshat Tozaj’s information: Anton Çetta is not Martin Çettë; he is Anton Çettë. The Minister of Information deals neither with espionage nor counterespionage; he deals with the two-way exchange of information between the government, on the one hand, and citizens and the outside world, on the other. Where is Albanian intellectual thought, which should precede national political action, when Neshat Tozaj, in his (theoretical) contribution to the “national question,” shows that he does not know what a ministry of information is (he does not even know Anton Çetta’s name); has not heard that negotiations can form a government even under occupation (the most recent example is the Palestinian government in exile, with embassies throughout the world); calls entry into the Serbian parliament illogical; or, like Rexhep Qosja, calls his own work, advertised as a “National Program,” “POPULLINDALUAR” (imagine if Meksi called his economic program “Albania Bankrupt”). The degradation of the criteria for what is and is not intellectual goes so far that even the most elementary logic is ignored. Under his intellectual scrutiny, Neshat Tozaj sheds tears because Kosovo is occupied, and then laughs at the proclamation of the Republic. Only a “republic,” a state, can be occupied. From the intellectuals down to the politicians—and with the latter, with even less mercy, because becoming a politician requires only a few votes. Intellectuals, meanwhile, are not made by votes, as those in Kosovo were. When a European intellectual (or an African one) writes, for example, that a Muslim state should not exist in Europe, does he lose his job? Does he stop smoking Marlboro? Or have you made a mistake by granting political asylum to a [?] from Paris, or by changing the mosque in Frankfurt? (That is the job of journalists and opposition figures.) He simply tells them how to destroy Bosnia as a state, in what he calls a “disagreement” in the policy of the day. When communism was brought to the brink of collapse, America’s greatest intellectuals discussed whether it was in the American national interest to deliver the final blow or not. One argument raised in those discussions was this: if democracy does not enter communist states, they will become consumer societies, and the goods (products) that will be “produced,” together with those from the West, will... [text unclear]. America—truly intellectual America—would finance the maintenance of communism without hesitation, and today we would be discussing Lenin’s theses on self-determination. Should intellectuals answer these questions for us: Is there corruption in Albania? Are the courts independent? Should someone be released from prison or put in prison? Which politician is good? What cigarettes do they smoke? Where should the Kosovar minister of information (the head of the intelligence service) be stationed? NO! Arben POPOCI

Just as expected, the worms began moving after the steady rain that fell the night before last. The first worms of spring, unlike in other years, appeared toward evening. Their movement was the same, except that this time they appeared in the capital too, even on the asphalt. According to specialists, a mass emergence of worms is a good omen for the hot days of summer. The worms that appeared in the capital were reddish in color. The way they crawled showed their aggressiveness, so there was no need to use pesticides. So the old worms began to move, the young worms... Photo: Armando Babani

Once again, human rights are on the Albanian political scene. On the front pages of newspapers, in reports by organizations specializing in this sensitive field, on rally platforms—the political card of Human Rights is indeed being held aloft as a banner of hope for political change. Emphasized by the tragic fate of Albanians over the last half-century, human rights are undoubtedly a wound that has yet to heal, but also a deep scar for Albanians. They bring to mind prisons and dictatorship, internment and class persecution, political violence and the orchestrated confrontations and repression. But they naturally bring to mind the people who inspired these crimes. They also bring to mind the days of great changes on the political scene, when pluralism gave everyone a political and moral chance to escape the past. We remember the communist tribunals, Enver’s volunteers, the cases of [?], the democratic face of the Presidential Court... all burdened by the painful efforts ...[?] to escape dictatorship. Albanians rallied against them along ... political paths and roads pursued, but the political road followed by Albanian communism. The political opposition made the political card of Human Rights its dominant moral factor. It showed Albanians the crimes of the dictatorship and offered them a different future and title. Now that political tension has risen again, the Albanian political scene looks barren and absolute. Today’s political opposition, especially its most powerful component, the Socialist Party, has taken up the Human Rights card again, hoping to repeat the great overturning of two years ago. A few days ago the newspaper “Zëri i Popullit” published a calendar which, without much effort, made clear to Albanians the fatal character of today’s political power in Albania. It lists dates and terrible events in whose name Albanians are urged to forget and to reject this political power, so as to imagine something different. That is for the Albanians to decide; but one leader of this party, Gramoz Ruçi, former first secretary of the PPSH and the last minister of the communist dictatorship in Albania, now considers, in his speeches, imprisonment and life to be an act of self-imprisonment. Every opposition has a duty to fight to take power and to undermine its opponents’ successes, but it has no moral right to use political rhetoric that has objectively been discredited by those in power themselves. If Gramoz Ruçi, Ramiz Alia, Fatos Nano, or someone else was removed from political power after being accused of violating human rights—of political imprisonment and politically motivated killings—this happened because that was the political power they represented at the end of their communist careers. Such was the situation in Albania under communist rule: such were the limits of human rights, their economic standard, relations with the world, private property, and everything else a person needs in order to live as a human being. They may not have been the principal people responsible for the dictatorship, but they were among its chief enforcers. For reasons of political expediency they may escape political judgment, but they cannot lead politics. Their reappearance before Albanians with the Human Rights card recalls the dark past far more than the dates listed by “Zëri i Popullit.” Today, Albanians are not all rich, not all happy, and not all well-paid or traders. Dissatisfaction is part of every government. It is an actual part of every government. It is part of everyone who experiences differences in life—in other words, part of being human. It is part of all social groups, workers and others, while in that governing machine they are the ones who suffer. There are others troubled by the governing machine, envious of their jobs, petty-minded in wanting to return to those government cars... Politicians under the present political regime must, reluctantly, turn to realistic politics. An Albanian who earns 16 dollars a month and is naturally dissatisfied with the government cannot be given hope by calls for its overthrow, but by renewal. A village that needs water will not cease being dissatisfied with the government by joining people at rally squares who are not asking for water. An Albanian who spent his life in prison and still has no home cannot set aside his resentment by listening to his persecutor speak about freedom. The political card of Human Rights is valid for every opposition to use, except for that political class which has used it cruelly. Today in Albania, human rights are being violated by the person directing state power, thanks to ... who has ... a state apparatus still unfamiliar with the democratic game. There are Albanians who feel insulted by the government, by the minister, by the boss, by the judges, by the prison guard. Others are troubled by the lack of housing, their wives’ employment, their children’s bread, high taxes, customs duties, and so on. Others are troubled by government cars, envy of those who get to ride in them, and pettiness about returning to those government cars. But there are others who have been disfigured by dictatorship and the absence of human rights, and who still have not been granted those rights. They are victims of a large part of today’s opposition... a large part of the opposition and of today’s political scene. They are still uncompensated, unintegrated into political life. My childhood friend Zylfo Veledi, whose father was executed, whose family was interned in four concentration camps, whose house was razed, and who was denied a normal life for 25 years, has still not been given even a room in which to shelter with his mother and unmarried sister. They are living in a shack on the outskirts of Tirana, together with their homeless in-laws. His persecutors go to rally squares demanding human rights, while he asks for a home in which to find shelter, to lay his mother’s coffin across the threshold of a house on the way to the cemetery, and to provide his sister with a dowry for her wedding. This Albanian’s human rights have been violated, as have those of dozens of other families who cannot find the remains of their loved ones, and of dozens of other families whose homes and property have been taken away; and on the same level are other families who were persecuted politically in Albania. Those who can still use the political card of Human Rights are all the parties that, in the name of Albanians, demand the restoration of human dignity and property, and the creation of a new class of property owners and bourgeois; all those who put forward new political alternatives. They are all those politicians, including the most constructive part of the Socialist Party, who have never trampled on another person’s freedom. But those who denied Albanians their freedom cannot use this card. A person does not feel persecuted by the calendar published in “Zëri i Popullit,” but by the fact that the president has gone to Malaysia or that a correspondent, in a speech, now demands before him, at rally squares, the freedom to return to power. The pain in the homes of those who speak at rallies is the pain of Albanians’ unhealed wounds. Scratching them is more criminal than placing a myth over them. Mero BAZE In this case, it would have been difficult even to find a way to defend oneself. The situation is nothing to be proud of. I am not lying: first and foremost, it is not their duty to defend something that has not been concretely elaborated by intellectuals as a vital national interest. Politicians are not trusted (in principle), because a “politician” is capable of doing the impossible. He can even become patriotic in order to keep his position, as a great man once said. It is the intellectual’s duty to force the politician to become patriotic if he wants to remain in office. Because the intellectual is trusted more (in principle), and knows the true national interests better (also in principle). But if an intellectual comes forward and, in an article about the “national question,” writes about Kosovar students who give bribes for a kiosk and a bakery owned by Kosovars, as Neshtat Tozaj writes, in a way somewhat resembling Rexhep Qosja’s “intellectual” observations about Kosovar politicians who smoke “Marlboro,” then our politicians are much more politically incompetent. They are still immature, unprepared for political life. My friend from youth, not been given even a room where he can live with his mother and unmarried sister. They have taken shelter his homeless in-laws. His persecutors go around rally squares demanding human rights, while he is looking for a home where he can live, a front door through which to carry his mother’s coffin to the cemetery, and a dowry for his sister to take to her wedding. This Albanian’s human rights were violated, just as they were for their relatives, while dozens of other families whose homes and livelihoods were taken away, and on the other hand families whose persecutors ... is ...

Wearing a pink diaper-like garment, the Madwoman, whose name you already know, climbed onto the pavement opposite the court and began speaking to the crowd of pensioners waiting for the Nano trial to take place: “...the party has betrayed us... oo let’s choose another party. My request to be Mr. Nano’s lawyer was not approved. They didn’t approve it because they’re afraid Nano might be released. So who will be elected chairman of the PS? Pellumbi, Dokle, and Ruçi have rejected my candidacy. By consensus, the PS leadership decided that I should be only the spokeswoman for this trial... Long live the Party!” Dle, the pensioners and the State Security men did not show up at the designated place for the lawful naming/appointment. And how could they have shown up? The prostate does its job. The toilets have been flushed, and so has the Çeliku Partisë metallurgical plant. Nobody thinks they suffer from prostate problems. Today the toilets cost money, whereas back then a pensioner could go into the public toilets seven or eight times. You could do whatever you wanted, and you could read ZP too, and nobody said a thing. That was democracy. Down with dictatorship! Fatos Nano should be elected president. The Central Election Commission will include Papandreou, Milosheviçi, Zhirinovski, and the democratic journalists Frok Çupi. Jaçen Beqiri will count the votes. As of today, President Nano has started work. According to well-informed sources, he has severely criticized judge Bendo for meeting the defendant Berisha several times. That was the beginning of the hearing. And what business does the judge have meeting the defendant Berisha? That was the beginning of the hearing. Gëllçi, Dokle, Fevziu, and Keko will protest about this. Fatos has put on a good amount of weight, weighs more than 20 Hoti, and with the same song the character of the Tirana Court... “Long live democracy,” he has made his move. Congratulations, Dokle, tomorrow you’ll be taking off your clothes to defend...