A family sleeping in the poor shelter of NPA Berat. It is the family of former political persecuté Pëllumb Strumi. This photograph was taken a week ago. With him (he is the seventh member of the household) are his married son, a little granddaughter aged one and a half, and a sick mother suffering from sciatica. Some of their other clothes have been put in the tunnel-like corridor of a nearby building, where his cousin, Hekuran Strumi, and another family also live. There are at least these two families who have been wandering for three years in search of a home. This wandering, politically speaking, began in 1947, when his cousin, Hysen Strumi, was sentenced to 101 years as an anti-Communist. In 1949 he was branded a kulak and expelled from the village. It continued in 1967, when the family took refuge in a church in the village. In 1991 they came to Berat. For eight months they slept in a tent. The “story” of the tent reached as far as Tirana. By municipal decision, they were removed from the tent and housed in some NPA offices. Two years ago they were removed from there too, because the enterprise was to be privatized. In 1991, when many people rushed to occupy warehouses, nurseries, offices and kindergartens, and are now their owners, these people waited for the law to be implemented. We could add to this case that of Bajram Hoxha, who has served 30 years in prison. Although he has a letter from his fellow sufferer (continued on page 3)

An unexpected storm, caused by very familiar circumstances, has revealed the dictatorship’s most subtle and at the same time most cruel sins—the files. They are now, without question, the ether in which Albanian politics and politicians drift—as the darkest category. The first confessions and shocking revelations are fatally bound together by a common virus: the collaborators’ spiritual deformity. In the great basement of the dictatorship, where the use of human beings was fermented, this virus coagulated everything. Instilled in some and inherited by others, it managed to weave that great web around human freedom which terrorized our society for so long. Now, as freedom has burst through this web, that great virus of the dictatorship wanders in its ether. The people who made the files are in the streets, in the press, in politics, risking infecting everything. Imitating dissent Taking up the banner of the new opportunities that have arisen for people, those who made the files, those who constructed them and those who filled them, are trying to create another hierarchy. Now we have other people before us: on one side, the people in the files and the victims, and on the other, those who, having been outside their upheaval, try to judge and understand them. The aggression of people with files against those uninvolved in their tragic history now resembles a generational war. A person who himself admits to having been an accomplice in crimes is now jealous of the purity of a thirty-year-old who is becoming a public figure. Trying to imitate the model of their victims’ movement during the years of dictatorship, they have declared war especially on the people in today’s state. But it is now too late to become dignified by fighting the state, just as it is futile to think one loses dignity by supporting it. The model of the dictatorship’s victims and dignified people can no longer be repeated in this era. The instinct to proclaim evolution at any cost now seems to drive the desire to imitate the model of their victims. They want to show everyone that they have changed, and this is precisely where they fail again. Now we have other people before us: the people in the files and the victims, on one side, and others who, being loses dignity by supporting it. tragic history now resembles a generational war. Their pre-emptive measures for a ceasefire are once again mediocre. In a battle to which no one invited them, except their overly burdened conscience, their dignified adversaries will once again be absent, their dignified victims will be absent, and, naturally, so will the others who have nothing to do with their crimes. A new moral pact with society Crises usually begin with confessions. The “files crisis” seems to be beginning with half-confessions. In trying to reconstruct part of the deformation of their character, confessions nevertheless cannot restore the original image of dignity. Our two colleagues, Zogaj and Vaqari, inaugurated this civil act. To get ahead of a public confrontation, confession is a great moral act. But this moral potential, whose value is highly predetermined, cannot sponsor a new career. This is primarily for the simple reason that the idea must not be created that those who… MERO BAZE (continued on page 3)

On the afternoon of 5 July 1994, at the Central Headquarters of PRSH, the chairman of this Party, Mr Sabri Godo, the deputy chairman, Fatmir Mediu, and the editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Republika”, Ylli Rakipi, received the representative of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Ms Hiro-Yamane. Ms Yamane outlined the important assistance provided by the European Bank to the countries of Eastern Europe to encourage and develop private enterprise, as well as the political conditions required for this assistance, namely respect for the pluralist system, freedom of the press and of speech, and the development of the free market. Mr Godo gave an overview of the political situation and democratic reforms following the overthrow of the communist dictatorship. Turning to economic issues, he stressed that development to date had been based on emigration, trade, and loans and aid (continued on page 3)

So that people may always say: “A peaceful old age!” The days will come when our state, which has only just begun to become capitalist, will give up welfare work, but that will take time... In the last days before that day comes, the State will undoubtedly concern itself with the affairs of the elderly, children and women. Especially the elderly. But the fact is that, however independent you may be, or however impartial, whether in coalition with or in opposition to the State Government, it seems that our state has already begun to show a desire to give up on THE ELDERLY. From time to time, elderly people come to the editorial office of “Republika”: veterans of the last world war, former partisans, former Ballists or former Legalists, elderly people from the PD-PR-PSD coalition, elderly people from the Right Front, elderly people from the progressive Left Front (!) and many more, who want to be reconciled with one another. They are old people—I cannot understand why they want to make peace now, on the eve of the end of their old age. We have told them, not wishing to spoil their very good mood, that in a pluralist system unity is achieved by separating, not through a Union, but the old folks still insist... What is striking, as everyone acknowledges, is that they love the Government, they love the State. It is understandable why. They no longer have the strength to work, they no longer have the energy to get involved, they cannot. Old age has taken its toll and completed its work; they cannot even get their legs to take them where they want, nor their hands... Anyone who has happened to visit the city newspapers cannot have failed to notice the wound, nor failed to be moved by another series of two or three tearful occupations. From the colitis [?] ... [part cut off and illegible]

Berat: At long last, lawyers have entered the Albanian justice system. If you want to see the “heights” of justice in a democratic state, you must undoubtedly measure it by its legal profession, their working conditions, and so on. But what are their actual working conditions? Look at this photograph illustrating the article! Today, you will find this situation in every district of the Republic. You will find lawyers working in ruined shacks covered with cardboard. The shacks give you the impression that inside you will find a seller of chewing gum or caramels. A typewriter or a telephone is out of the question. There is no room for a typist-secretary. In some official wooden desk in these shacks, you may or may not find a Civil or Penal Code (understandably an old one, since a new one has not yet appeared). It gets worse: some others, itinerant lawyers, have only a bag and consult with their clients in the street or in cafés. There are few lawyers who, with great effort, have set up a new kiosk with minimum facilities. In a letter, the Minister of Justice asks local authorities to create conditions that facilitate the normal functioning of lawyers’ work. Although in principle people continue to have a good opinion of them, nothing has changed yet. Everyone knows that lawyers are a kind of “opposition” on the other side of justice. Some people may even feel financial or professional jealousy toward them. If we take this view realistically, the state and justice must be protected by the competence, objectivity and honesty of prosecutors and judges. What solution should there be to the situation? This could be achieved through a possible agreement with the Municipality or district for a shared building, in return for rent or another financial obligation. This would also save the plots of land that have been and are being occupied by the many lawyers’ shacks. Finally, we do not want to believe that the fragile conditions in which lawyers work in these shacks affect the fragility of Albanian justice.

Thanks to an initiative by the Albanian Chamber of Commerce, it became possible for Albania to be represented at Europartneriat “Polska ’94”, held in the city of Gdynia, Poland. Europartneriat is an event organized by the European Commission within the PHARE programme to encourage small and medium-sized businesses. Twenty-six Albanian companies, both state-owned and private, took part and exchanged work experience with representatives of European firms from Poland, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Russia, and elsewhere. The objective of the Albanian firms was to hold these meetings, which resulted in the establishment of contacts. Around 5,000 company representatives from all over Europe took part in the event. The second meeting for 1994 will be held in November in Spain. “Republika” correspondent

At the top of the pension booklets of former cooperative members, the stamp COOP. AGRICULTURAL is written. This note would not be a bad thing if the former cooperative member were not then burdened with a meager pension based on contributions alongside those of his peers. Let me make a comparison. Two pensioners who lived in the same village: one, before the start of the regime, had a pension of 450 lekë, while the other had only 280 lekë. Today, one pensioner from an agricultural cooperative receives 2,400 lekë, while the other, from the cooperative, receives only 528. Thus, the figure for the cooperative pensioner has increased 18-fold, while that of his peer has increased about fivefold; or, compared with the earlier ratio, the state pensioner’s pension is now about 1.6 times higher. In other words, the two live together in the same place with the same economic rights. It is clear that, just as with these cooperative members, former cooperative members today remain second-class citizens when it comes to pensions. Why is this? Whose interests are served by this part of society, whose ranks diminish every day, being discriminated against by the Social Insurance office for no reason?

The Association of the “Politically and Economically Persecuted” and the “Property with Justice” association of Mallakastër are protesting indignantly to the institutions of the Mallakastër district, the municipal and executive authorities of Ballsh, as well as government institutions, regarding the following: The Ballsh Municipality continues to issue building permits to the detriment of legitimate owners in Ballsh and its surroundings. By violating the Government’s instructions prohibiting construction on vacant plots claimed by legitimate owners, the local authorities continue to persecute former owners and the persecuted, occupying their land with illegal buildings. Through their tricks, they protect former socialist owners and harm their declared opponents on every occasion. Having failed to achieve socialism for everyone, local officials have thrown themselves, by every means, into building “Socialism for themselves” at the expense of other people’s property. Their pragmatic principle, “Do whatever you can with what is in front of you, act according to circumstances, think of yourself,” will not only set an example but will also lead to unforeseeable social conflicts. You gentlemen must understand clearly that the property of residents was entrusted by your predecessors to be administered jointly, and not so that you could take it for yourselves whenever you wanted. You will hardly get away easily with this wrongdoing. You cannot casually trespass on and steal someone else’s property. We warn you: do not continue to violate our rights. Haven’t you had enough of plundering our properties for 50 years? The head of the Mallakastër Court, I. Çelballi, has joined the local officials’ position; he closed the cases according to orders, preferences, or something else, through his own practices. Thus, while Anje Keramiti was killed and left without support—he has not pursued the land-property case since the notary. Muhamet Myrseli, [continued on page 3]

High temperatures are bad for everyone, said the madwoman. In the capital on Tuesday, in front of the building of the League of Writers and Artists of Albania, the Colombians killed their defender Escobar for scoring an own goal, but there are also people who, after scoring an own goal (even if the fans do not kill them), think of heading straight to their deaths. O God, hurry up and take away that part of life that sustains these people! Or at least do not snatch that life from them. Pellumb Vladi, former head of the PS in Tirana, will go to prison, to Fatos, and complain to him about the post he lost. Nano will stop working for a moment, his gymnastics or reading his book, and, smiling, will say to him: “Go, Pellumb, go; Servet Pellumbi knows what he is doing. Musa Ulqinaku will do the job better than you. Because you weren’t in Lis-bosthë. Musai was...” Who are those moderate leaders whose files were put together by the progressives of the PS? The left front is all files, too. They have always been underprivileged, and no files have been opened on them. They are not among the champions of the files either... The magazine Hosteni is not with the right-wing front. It is not with the left-wing front either. Nor with the center pole. It is not with the Meksi government... but it is not against it either. The 400,000 Albanian economic refugees in Greece have demanded autonomy for themselves, within the framework of minority rights. The 10,000 Greeks came here the same way at first, they say, as economic refugees. Why shouldn’t we win autonomy too? Pangallos declared that there are a full 400,000 of us. We want schools, a university, and PBDNJ in the Greek parliament. Independent Albanian newspapers have begun publishing against one another. This is not a good sign. Two brothers each have a pseudonym, but first they were born brothers, and only later took pseudonyms. than you. Because you weren’t in Lis-bosthë. Musai was...”

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