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By Genc Tirana Fatalism and hope, tragedy and triumph, love and hatred ... Albanians have encountered so many such contrasts in this millennium, this century, these ten years. Now, in the final days of this period and on the eve of this one, in the waves of history. It is quite true that the fate of Albania’s geographical location at the center of Europe has existed alongside the fatalism of others, who have always decided things for us as a small nation. Five centuries under an empire ... an emerging new national era perhaps see themselves more broadly in the context of a history that has been repeated more often against them than in their favor. Dozens of thinkers and people of letters have repeatedly said that the Albanian nation has had no luck and has not deserved what it has experienced over the centuries. Many others have analyzed the internal causes of the internal situation and the breakdowns of ’97 from another perspective, while the country remains the poorest in Europe. The great Noli’s synthesis, “At the table, still hungry,” seems likely to remain unchanged for a long time, as long as we are aware that our pace of progress is much slower than that of the nations of the continent to which we belong. It is not at all right for Albanians to greet the year 2000 with their feet in puddles and mud, even in the middle of their capital, with entire residential blocks without electricity, fallen and dilapidated, with water and sewage systems that bring to mind Black Africa, with wages and pensions that do not promise a life of dignity... centuries under a semi-Asian empire are no small thing for the millennium we have passed through. The same can be said of the fatalism of the fateful decisions at Yalta, where Albania was considered part of and left in the Eastern bloc, falling behind the broad developments of the century’s second half and European democracies. Albanians experienced many other fateful events and hardships in the final years of the transition, such as during the bankruptcies of ...

HAPPY 2000

A century of paradoxes for Albanians I have three De Agostini Statistical Calendars in my library. The first was published in 1937. The second in 1986. The third in 1995. The data on Albania change over time. One thing remains constant: the poorest country in Europe! During the 20th century, Europeans living on Arbëror soil consumed several times less sugar, meat, cheese, oil, fruit and vegetables than other Europeans. Albanians are also at the bottom of the list in the number of cars, telephones, computers, hospitals, doctors, electricity consumption and tourist hotels. Out of curiosity, I leaf through De Agostini. I go from one country to another. P. 10

Tirana celebrating

Compatriots at the end of this century

At the close of this century, people from Kombas will in their favor. The fate of Albania’s geographical position at the center of Europe has existed alongside the fatality that others have always decided the fate of us, a small nation. The great Noli’s synthesis, “At the table, yet unfed,” right for Albanians to welcome even in the middle of their capital, with entire blocks of housing without electricity, fallen into disrepair and grotesquely run-down, with water supply and sewage systems that bring to mind Black Africa, and of dignity...