Thoughts of the chairman of the Manati agricultural cooperative, LLESH PERVATHI. Would you like to know how I envision the new cooperative of Manati? I will answer you. First: immediate revitalization of livestock farming in the village of Velë. So far, about 500 small livestock animals are being kept! It is truly painful to say this, but we cannot escape the facts. So, by turning the village over solely to livestock farming, I think we can soon have more than 2,000 head for milk and other dairy products. We will leave for livestock farming even that little bit of “free” land remaining after the distribution of 2 dynym (land units). What else could I use Velë for? Also for “small-scale” agricultural produce! For example, tomato stakes, small quantities of gourd products, etc. Second: agriculture. I plan to start with rice as the basic crop, which will immediately increase the value of a day’s work. Specifically, the value of a day’s work is now 8.5 lekë. From the rice surplus alone, this year we will raise it to 10 lekë. I will pay an advance of 10 lekë starting now, aiming to reach 14 lekë per workday by the end of the year. A lot?! We’ll achieve it. Don’t worry. Manati needs only work and management from now on, while it will retain other employment for the cooperative’s needs. I thus earn about 2.4 million lekë from selling the chaff! Or, put another way, that amounts to 1 extra lek per workday added to the value of a day’s work. That is how we plan to make the Manati cooperative compete with the Ishull Lezhë cooperative!

In the intense pressure that has gripped the country’s entire political and economic life lately, I do not think there has been a word in the dictionary repeated more often than the word “democracy.” By politicians and others who have never been involved in politics, economists and others who have not even managed their own household finances, health workers who do not even know the effect of aspirin; by… right down to tiny children whose “demo-crat” father teaches them to greet people in the street with two fingers raised, and who still pronounce the word “de-mo-cra-cy” syllable by syllable (!) And I have the right to ask: does democracy come this way? And, I believe, I have just as much right of “veto” to answer categorically: NO! To put it briefly, I think we have made a “mess” with words and fingers, at rallies, interminable meetings, and discussions about democracy.

I have heard of great historical turning points like the one we are experiencing now, when people fought with swords, rifles and yataghans, right up to the modern weapons of today that nobody wants. I have also heard that in Skënderbeu’s time, one of the former Albanians who had left for Italy, because he could not capture the castle of Shkodër, burned all the olive trees that beautifully greened the slopes around Rozafa as he fled. I remembered this one day when, on the road at the exit from Manati, someone who had failed to reach the bus stop in time threw stones and smashed the windows. Not once. Many times. We can call these people anything we like, but I do not believe even the most liberal of liberals could support them in this shameful behavior. I agree with the description given by one of the witnesses to this incident: “These are the champions of democracy”… The cold wind blows through the bodies of the people on the bus without windows. How many panes have been broken and smashed in recent months—in trains and buses, cars and shop windows. Now tell me, you “democrats”: do you seek a fight for democracy in this war

At a meeting in Ungrej with the secretaries of the Party’s basic organizations for the Kashnjet area, one fact that deserves to be published also caught our attention. Everyone raised the issue of the agricultural cooperative with concern. First, in the sense of making the necessary reorganizations and improvements that would help it move forward. But on one condition: that the cooperative not be undermined. In other words, we do not share the opinion expressed on a television program or in the Democratic Party press that the cooperatives should be dismantled. No! The entire population of the Kashnjet area rejects this and is categorically opposed, Dike Kucaj tells us. Ask all the villages if you like; they will tell you the same. In fact, people here have said that they do not want more land than the two dynym. We don’t need it. Indeed, if the issue of the cooperative were raised, many farmers say with conviction that they are ready to keep just one dynym, as long as the cooperative remains as it is. A discussion that is becoming increasingly confrontational in this area. Let others say what they want, they say. Improvements must certainly be made, even here in our mountainous area, but we must not go back to where we were. Anyone who says the cooperative should be dismantled has never tried carrying a sack of grain on their back, nor gone days and weeks with an empty kneading trough. Ask us about this long-standing hardship. That is what we have to say to those “democrats” who want to privatize Kashnjet, put the sack back on our backs, or leave us with no bread at all. Not like this—may it bring us no good, conclude a group of people who happened to be at the center of Ungrej. Koha Jonë correspondent

I am not against political pluralism. On the contrary, I have welcomed it. Let there be different, even opposing, views. There is nothing wrong with that. But, as a young woman, one thing these days has made an impression on me: I heard a young person say, “I am no longer a member of the youth organization.” There is no need for much explanation. They have become a supporter of democracy or a member of it. Let them act as they wish. It is their right to decide. That is their business; we cannot impose anything on them. But I wanted to say that pluralism requires tolerance and a democratic culture. The youth organization is not a political party. It is now an independent entity and has its own program. So pluralist opinion has plenty of room there too, and it does not prevent you from expressing opposing views you may hold. Doesn’t the idea of these young people who want to abandon it sound out of place, then? The very fact that the youth organization is an independent entity means that its members need not share the same convictions, including political ones. I am sorry to repeat this to you: it means you have not understood the ABCs of pluralism. And perhaps not even the first article of democracy, comrade “democrat”! IR​​ENA ZOGU Teacher at Zejmen secondary school

Don’t be surprised at all by what we are about to tell you. It turns out there are also “democrats” of this kind, who have not held back, insulting and destroying people’s peaceful lives. A few days ago, a man around 70 years old was watching his sheep. A young man came over and asked him: — Who are you with? — I’m with my sheep, the old man replied sarcastically. — Hey, I’m asking which party you’re with, the Labor Party or the new one, the Democratic Party? — I’ve always been for work, son, the old man replied, and tried to walk away. But the young man kept at it: either he would make the old man join the Democrats, or else (!). By force, if necessary! — If the Democratic Party had existed earlier, you wouldn’t be watching sheep; who knows where you’d be, a boss in Europe... — Ah, young man, I don’t want to be anywhere else, only here where I am. Don’t put your faith in that idea. Life is long. You and your friends will grow old one day and realize that nothing but this land can sustain you... Now judge for yourselves from what you have heard, which is entirely true, just how democratic it is to threaten an old man simply to impose your own view on him. And tell me: will this land be able to support such “democrats”?!... “Why, are you taking your watch abroad too?” Someone who, like many other citizens, recently visited Yugoslavia was asked by another person why he was spending so much, since he was going abroad where there was plenty... On the day of departure, when he met one of these “somebodies,” he was surprised by the question: “Why, are you taking your watch abroad too?!” He replied: “Yes, my watch and my ring too; I had everything made new just for this visit. I’m going abroad, man, and I’ll go and come back as an Albanian! I’m going to visit my relatives, not to trade. If I’m missing something, there’s no need to debase ourselves; there are many ways to show that one is a person...” These words also contained a “lesson in democracy” for all those who, in the name of the many democratic reforms undertaken in our country, regard going abroad merely as “looting,” as “whatever we can bring back.” I remembered a woman who went abroad without even earrings... Someone in the village called her “mortje,” because she only takes and gives nothing! Even on a trip abroad one should go with dignity; this is how one serves the homeland, honors the nation, and oneself... (To be continued on page 2)