With SPIRO DEDE, Deputy Chairman of the Albanian Socialist Party — You are among the leading democratic reformers from the ranks of the Socialist Party (the PP). Do you think the PS grassroots supported pluralist democracy, or did everything originate from the PP? — For some time, the grassroots of our party had been calling for change. They wanted something different; they were fed up with monotony and poverty. That is why the movement took various forms and approaches. But it was the PD that shook up and finally shattered the PP bureaucracy. That is one of its merits, and anyone who denies it is making a grave mistake. — You arrived during turbulent times and spent a month as secretary of the PP Central Committee. What happened when the PDP appeared publicly and openly on the scene? — To be completely honest, the entire leadership was frightened. What was going on? They were talking and cursing. — How is the youth explaining the bread it has been given? — and on the other hand, it does nothing to give up its positions for a while; without going on, what they did. It found them. In fact, not completely. — What is your opinion of Enver Hoxha? — Enver Hoxha was the main leader of the state and the party; he was the one who designed the system we failed with; he was the one who degraded people through class warfare; he was the one who thought of shutting Albania inside a shell; he was the one who cut off and shortened many intellectual heads; it was he. — What name would you give him? — — Why was Enver Hoxha not discussed more openly at the 10th Congress? — Something was said. Something was undertaken. More is needed, and it must be brought into the open with publicity; nevertheless, Enver Hoxha is a complex figure. — Is it normal that all those personalities were liquidated, beginning with Ymer Dishnica, and especially after the Liberation with the group of deputies? — It is a crime. Before the 10th Congress, I expressed some views in “Zëri i popullit,” including on rehabilitation. — Why were your ideas not included as the basis of Xhelil Gjoni’s report? Were you afraid, or were your views elbowed aside? — I spoke publicly at a time when the PP conferences in the districts were due to begin a few days later. It was like a signal to reflect, not to be influenced by the “Enver Volunteers” association. But the Congress did some work in this direction: Dritëro Agolli and Moikom Zeqo spoke frankly, and the election of Dritëro Agolli showed that reflection on the figure of Enver Hoxha had begun. — There is talk that someone from the official opposition has a document proving that Enver Hoxha sold Kosovo during the War—that is, handed it over to Tito. Do you think it could be true? — Since it has not been made public, I don’t know what to say; but if someone really has that document, they would do well to publish it as soon as possible. Enver Hoxha’s figure would be illuminated better. — There are members in the ranks of the PS who say the “m-l ideal” (*) is being betrayed; they even criticize the new leadership of the PS. — A person is free to think and choose their ideal. If there are such people, no one is stopping them from forming their own m-l party. If anyone follows these kinds of people, let them continue. We have a different ideal: the socialist one. We tried M-L. — If an m-l party is to be formed with (Continued on page 3) NIKOLLË LESI

For 46 years, no one dared to call for the destruction of this “Berlin Wall”; no steps were taken to bring the two parts of the nation together as one; no one spoke openly in defense of Kosovo at the UN, except Ramiz Alia last year; never... To be even more precise: people have spoken about Kosovo, spoken about their rights, criticized Serbia, but only up to that point. Nothing more, nothing about a political, diplomatic and national solution. Fear, unwillingness, or something else suppresses and prevents support for it. But now Kosovo must be recognized as what it has declared itself to be: a Republic. And, within the framework of international rules, bilateral talks must begin to discuss how, in what way, and so on, this “BERLIN WALL” between parts of the same trunk should be brought down. The provisional Government should feel no fear, nor distrust the resolution of this delicate but important problem. Perhaps it will not manage to resolve it during its time in office, but at the very least it should bring this just, pan-national issue forward. AUTHOR OF THE 200-MILLION-DOLLAR FINANCIAL SCANDAL RETURNED TO TIRANA After criticism in the press, Dhimitër Gazha must respond publicly What is the burden for what happened? We are witnesses to many events taking place in the world in recent years, especially in Europe, of which we are seeking to become a part economically, politically... Many issues have been and are being resolved through talks, in a peaceful and diplomatic spirit. In this context, we can recall the intense struggle, on every front, waged by the Federal Republic of Germany to unite with its eastern part. And after a relatively short time, the two Germanies were united. In my opinion, this was the most important political and diplomatic solution of this half-century. Not forgetting the resolution of the Persian Gulf War during this year. Will they call us nationalists, Serb-haters?! Will they call us Greater Albanians?! Let them call us whatever they like and chatter as much as they want. All day and all night! The “BERLIN WALL” needs someone to take a pickaxe to it; it needs someone to find a political and diplomatic solution for the two parts of our nation. It is Kosovo’s own right to remain a Republic on its own or to unite with Albania; this is something to be resolved in time, within the framework of the European integration process. The border between them must be removed so people can come and go freely, so people can feel free as they do in their own homes, so that the voices of the students of the University of Prishtina do not remain ... ...of it. and diplomatic solution of this half-century. Without year. American merit deserves the highest pedestal. George Bush deserves the greatest honor. Talks have also been held, and are being held, about the unification of the two Koreas, Taiwan with China, Cyprus with Greece or Turkey, and... Only Kosovo has been left an orphan, with its mother standing at the door of its house. It is like a child who cries and suffers while its mother, right in front of it, only talks to it, without deigning to take it in her arms, comfort it, and hold it to her breast. Kosovo Republic! How afraid people have been to say this during this process of European integration. The border between them must be removed from time to time so that people can come and go freely, so that they can feel free as in their own home, and of Prishtina do not remain voices in the wilderness. Something must be done; some of the injustices of the past must be remedied. The “BERLIN WALL” must come down! Kosovo and the Republic of Albania should be either two sister republics facing one another, with free passage between them, or... without fear, another solution must be considered. We should draw on Helmut Kohl’s experience in Germany. Let us not be afraid that they might call us Greater Albanians! ALBAN MATI

End dictatorship. End discrimination. End oppression. End destruction. End dënverism. End humiliation. End internment. End communism. End interment. End dynasty. Oh God, so many! And after all these relentless horrors, the colourless Albanian person raises up freedoms. How could it be otherwise, when above all the terrors of the human world, the end of the century rises majestically and defiantly? The heavy, black curtain of the final act of the Albanian tragedy is falling. The walls that kept a bestial dictatorship standing for half a century are collapsing. Albania, once a “modern” prison for its citizens, is now... Oh God, is Albania free? A new bondage is being born on Albanian soil, but it is not very visible. A new slavery, dressed in new colors of courtesy. The terrible bondage of children is being born in Albania! The fragility of life: children are row, have suffered enough under dictatorship. New Year, March 7, June 1, and November 8 never brought joy to Albanian children. Freedom for children! Dear reader, summon the unrestrained nostalgia of childhood! The childhood that parted from us with the heavy steps of a grown man. The childhood that suddenly grew old one autumn morning and left. The childhood left by the roads in the heat and dust, smeared and humiliated by dictatorship in its gloomy mission to destroy the child. How deeply dictatorship has entered children’s hearts. Even when we dreamed, we were advised to dream only of our “father and spirit,” Enver Hoxha. Oh God! What about the doves? The angels? The toys? The new shoes? The girls in the neighborhood? At the roadside, where the slogans—the farce—have been torn down like the rotten molars of a monster, I watch today’s children sadly. Far from toys, far from the wonderful characters in books, far from the world of marvels, drowned in a dark world of sadness and anxiety. When will we emerge from dictatorship? But they still do not know that dictatorship has worked for 47 years to enslave them and has achieved its aim. It has enslaved them. Dictatorship has given children livestock instead of dreams; toil instead of toys. How could it be otherwise today, amid the great chaos into which misguided totalitarian politics has plunged today’s village? The monist state has (Continued on page 2) MARASH MIRASHI

A friendly letter to Mr PREK MIRAJ. First, I want to thank you for resigning. Not because your resignation is justified, but because you are fulfilling for me a request I have expressed for two or more years, when you became cooperative chairman, and in “Rilindja demokratike”: “Sir, you did not refuse that duty; on the contrary, you began it like so many cadres of the PP-type socialist system; now we will allow it in the press and [you] resigned, at least one... one horn...; sword... And there you have it, at last with the sword at the beginning, after which we read that a cooperative chairman, Qulli, said: ‘Wait, he still hasn’t resigned.’ You have drunk too much water... You too, still looking good. A little more and they will learn that he had not drunk Balldreni’s water, and the big heads. Before the sword was waiting for you to convince ... of Balldreni and cooperatives in general, I want to say ... you should not have chosen exactly this time to resign. All the arguments you are using today could also have been used two or more years ago, when you were cooperative chairman and but with the sword at the beginning, after which ... I would say that the problems have accumulated because of you and that you “were capable of solving them.” The truth is that there are problems not only in your cooperative. They are now emerging in all the cooperatives and throughout the Republic. But the fact is also that Albania was not brought to this point by God, but by people, by the leadership. Likewise, the cooperative was brought to this point by its chairman and leadership. I do not want this letter to deal only with you, but also with other cooperatives, since their chairmen too may resign tomorrow. The people stormed the livestock barns. Why? Because of your poor work, you cooperative chairmen. You cooperative chairmen were the ones who took the cows first, even though... I would say that many problems have accumulated in the economy because of your fault and that you are incapable of solving them. (Continued on page 2) GJOVALIN GJELOSHI

In 1951, in the village of Shënkollë, we lived in our own house, which we had built through the sweat and hard work of all the family members. Strangely, that year, like a bolt from the blue, an order came from the DBP for us to leave our home and be interned! We were astonished, but what could we do? The whip was waiting, even with the children. So we left. Our house, measuring 16x13 metres, was taken from us without right and without compensation. No one even deigned to recognize our rights. We were interned in the livestock barns of Beg Kadri Keci. In our house, first the DPB and someone else brought the families of Osman Jonuzi and Maliq Jonuzi. They left us at Beg Kadri Keci’s until 1960. We were not “fortunate” enough to have our own house as a shelter. Ndue Prendi and Zef Prendi lived in it. Later Zef Gruda came. In 1955 they brought the families of Gjin Fufi and Pren Çela, occupying the house measuring 8x13 metres. Around the first months of 1960, they vacated several rooms in our house. The people mentioned above kept the main part. They still continue to keep it. The house was and legally remains ours. We have asked, and continue to ask, that the houses unjustly taken from us be returned to us. Moreover, the rent for the residence should be paid, either by those living inside or by the state. Let the court decide. Any other solution will only make the resolution and the situation created by this problem more complicated. There are 28 of us in our family living in misery, while other families live in the rest of the house, families who have not shed a single drop of sweat for it. We are addressing you as the newspaper’s editorial office, since we will also pursue the matter in parallel with the court and prosecutor’s office. But I thought I should make it public, since there are other families in the district whose troubles are more or less like mine. LUIGJ NIKA Shënkollë

IN THE NAME OF A LOST CHILDHOOD. End dictatorship. End discrimination. End oppression. End discrimination. End Nderverism. End humiliation. End internment. End communism. End internment. End dynasty. Oh God, condemned to suffer the consequences of dictatorship longer than anyone else. But Albanian children, for dozens of generations in a row, have suffered enough under dictatorship. Neither New Year nor seven mar- In the name of today’s childhood. At the side of the roads where the slogans —