“ESMERALDA JONE, ROZAFË, PLAY” On page 2

Only 10,000 people in the square On page 3 Besnik Mustafaj with Sali Berisha during yesterday’s rally in “Skënderbej” Square.

ZHEGA: BUT WE PLAYED WITH DIGNITY On page 23

paradox Edmond TUPJA I am not an ety-mologist and, consequently, I do not know where the word “bashki” comes from in Albanian, but I would guess that it must have something connecting it to the word “bashkë-sis” [together-ness]; the truth is that, from a purely administrative point of view, according to the dictionary of contemporary Albanian, a “bashki” is, among other things, the self-government body of a city responsible for its maintenance, cleaning, lighting, etc. But a city is precisely a community of people who have common interests. However, if we dig deeper through dictionaries, we will discover the word “bash,” which means 1. the front part of a ship, 2. the best part of something (the cream, the forefront, the flower), and 3. the head of a place. It seems to me that, in this case too, there is a certain connection between the words “bash” and “bashki,” since the municipality is what should be at the head, at the forefront of the city’s affairs; that is why the best, the most capable people are elected to it—or should be—namely, the “bash” [best part] of those who do not think, or should not think, only of themselves. But beware: in the dictionary we also find the word “bashibozuk,” meaning “one who kills and loots,” so the “bash” of the municipality (or, more clearly, the mayor) must beware of the bozuk(u) (wolf’s foam), or else the work turns into a mess and his work becomes foam. The dictionary also contains the word “bashkë” in the sense of “the whole fleece of wool shorn from a sheep,” as well as the expression “i marr bashkën dikujt” [I take someone’s fleece], meaning “I exploit someone to the core, fleece them thoroughly, skin them.” Continued on page 3