The money provided by the bank is not enough. Bank: Technical reasons Bashkim Driza denies having fled: “My family is in Albania”

The expulsions and mistreatment of emigrants continue Among the truly numerous facts that this century has freely reserved for Albanians, its end forced them to confront a paradox as absurd as it is real. The descendants of the Illyrians, born of a race, labeled (regardless of the moment and the interests of whoever defined it, and of the prevailing interests of those who do not make it public) in order to publicly justify the anti-Albanian storm they have been planning for decades and have rationalized with varying intensity whenever the chauvinism of the “mega-tie” has demanded it. To “excuse” this storm, which reappeared precisely when it was least expected, Athens’s official language has added xenophobia and racism. Indeed, reports served up, as always, by official Greek information sources do not hesitate to say that the Government is making every effort to condemn this hysteria. Nevertheless, if the Greeks are as convinced as they are naive about racism—or if it cannot be discussed—xenophobia is even less applicable. In Greece, people of all kinds and races from the “third world” live and work, from the Chinese and Filipinos of the Far East to the Kurds and Arabs of the Middle East. And not only have they never been victims of any racism, not even at the hands of some isolated terrorist group, but, with the “approval” of the Greeks themselves, they are also officially contributing to changing the genetic make-up of future Greeks. On this very same argument (even if only on this one), the justification based on xenophobia that Simitis’s socialist cabinet serves up for international public opinion also falls apart, in the hope (not entirely unfounded) that, along with the others, Tirana too will pretend to swallow his plum. There is neither xenophobia nor racism, only the tradition of the historical anti-Albanianism of the Greeks and their governments. Mistreatment Continued on p. 5 absurd enough to be nonexistent. The descendants of the Illyrians, born of a race described as Aryan (regardless of when and by whose interests it was defined, and of the current interests of those who do not publish it), are now caught in the scandalous dilemma of nonexistence or pity, as victims of their neighbors’ racism. Racism is fundamentally shameful, however and whoever it may be directed against. But it becomes more revolting than deserving of pity when practiced by a nation that is certainly no better—whether in origin or in character—than the “victim” of its xenophobia. If we were to speak of racism in the true sense of the word, it is being played more as a political card by the Greek government against its counterpart in Tirana than as a psychological argument. In their traditional hatred of Serbs, Croats, for example, seeking to sever every kind of connection with them, prefer to be called Illyrian rather than Slavic. Today’s Greeks, meanwhile, falling no further behind the other Balkan peoples in their desire to be considered brotherly themselves, and unable to prove this, use all kinds of scribblers to try to convince their people that Albanians do not deserve to be of their own origin. Those who today hold the reins of their government are using the… declarative clothing of their vocabulary…

“On Christmas Day, in the “Saint Mary” church in the city of Elbasan, the “Protection of the National Albanian Autocephalous Orthodox Church” Committee was established. The program states that this Committee was established to fulfill the wish of thousands of Orthodox believers from Elbasan and across the country.

Yesterday afternoon, at around 17:00 our time, the American television network CNN (see-en-en), in its sports program, mentioned Aust in Okoça, Olympic Champion in Atlanta with Nigeria. “Okoç has had problems with Fenerbaçe coach Lazoroni, and the Brazilian is not wanted on the team. For Okoça, the road to the small Albanian town of Lushnja is almost certainly over. Lushnja’s president is seeking Okoça,” CNN reported, and after also giving Sebastiano Lazoroni’s statements, showed Okoça wearing the shirt of the Turkish champion club. N. D

The students’ strike with the Commission Starting Monday, the strike organized by the Commission p. 3 Football: The first quarter-final matches of the Republic Cup p. 8

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