— Interview with Mr. FRROK ÇUPI, former editor-in-chief of the newspaper «Rilindja demokratike», given to NIKOLLE LESI, editor-in-chief of the newspaper «Koha jonë», and to MELAIM ZEKA, an Albanian journalist working and living in Stockholm, for the European press. Currently there is a great deal of talk about your departure from the post of editor-in-chief of the newspaper «Rilindja demokratike», where you were its first editor-in-chief and one of its principal founders. Others are speaking, while you have remained silent. Why? Silence is not always stupidity. Silence also has its own language and philosophy. My silence, it seems to me, is meaningful. First of all, it speaks of pain. Whatever I said at the time you say I was silent, I would necessarily have told the truth, and that would have caused pain. It has only been 7–8 months since I, wholeheartedly, together with several comrades such as Saliu, Preçi, Gramoz(i), and Mitro, entered a fire and a struggle together. More people joined there. So what am I to talk about now? Against myself? Against my comrades? The truth is against some of them. This human pain kept me from speaking. But sometimes a person gets beyond the pain. Should I have spoken then? Often, in these troubled moments, I found myself faced with something I could not believe. I could not believe that it had happened exactly like that: that my close comrades, with whom I had set out to sacrifice everything, now, after the clouds had dispersed, had attacked me from behind. I could not believe it so quickly. Those were the first days of my silence. Later I remained silent again, but with a cooler mind. I waited for my comrades to say something about what had happened or what they had done. A few days later, some newspapers also asked for this in their pages. Then they spoke publicly, as you read in the newspaper «R D». But unfortunately, in language that I would call just a little over the top. I might have continued to remain silent, perhaps, had you not asked me for this interview. These days, both speaking and not speaking have tormented me greatly. I thank you for getting me out of this predicament. Various people came and said to me: What are you doing, why don’t you say a word? What they write in «RD» and say at meetings doesn’t seem to convince us. Others came and said: Hold on, hold on until the end; we know you are right, but don’t say anything. Because if you speak, democracy will be harmed, the order will be harmed! Meanwhile, meetings of democracy activists were being held in these districts, and they were asking the Democratic Party delegates to explain why this had happened to the editor-in-chief of the newspaper «Rilindja Demokratike». As far as I know, a variety of explanations were given. Here and there it was said that we had promoted him, elsewhere that we would send him as an ambassador, somewhere that he did not listen to us and that we did not have control of the newspaper, and in other places that he had not sacrificed enough. One thing was said at meetings, another at Hotel «Dajti», another on the sofa in a reception room, and yet another in a low voice into someone’s ear. All of this obliges me to tell the truth myself about what happened. I am convinced that this truth, too, will only help democracy and will not harm it. The public has rightly expected you to explain the reasons for your departure, because you are the one who can best know them. I would sincerely have liked to have a reason, even one against me. I only needed to have a reason and tell people: this is the reason. And I would quickly part ways with them, they satisfied and I at peace. Nothing is worse than having nothing to tell them, because you are forced to chew words in your mouth in order to hide the truth. But this torments you terribly. It torments the other person you are speaking to as well. It seems to me that I was not the only one in this difficulty, but also my comrades, the leaders of the Democratic Party. What they said once, they did not say another time; what one person said, another did not say about this issue. At the meeting of the Steering Committee of the Democratic Party, when this matter was discussed, all that was said was that «the newspaper is weak». But the next day other things were said; this was not said in the newspaper at all, while at «Dajti» the matter of the newspaper’s headlines was raised. Truly, what a predicament—chewing over words and repeating the reasons. But there is a truth which, unfortunately, is not being told: the way some Party leaders conceived of the newspaper «Rilindja demokratike». They had imagined it and wanted it to be merely their tool. In the most vulgar sense: I leave my house, and the newspaper should write that Mr. So-and-so left his house at a time when the sky was full of clouds and heavy rain was expected; I get out of my car, the leader-manager, and the newspaper should write that when the car door opened, it was as if true happiness had opened on people’s faces; I appear on the platform—the newspaper should take photographs and publish big news that a new program was launched from this platform. But I, as one of the newspaper’s leaders (just as we had also made the newspaper’s program so that it would not become a mere Party tool), cannot allow this. That is the real reason. The newspaper is neither to set itself against anyone nor to serve anyone, except to serve the movement for democracy and the truly democratic press. But why should this reason not also be stated openly by the leaders of the Democratic Party? That would relieve them, and me too. Because, after all, it is the truth, and truth helps and relieves. Still, if they have another truth that they are not saying and are hiding, even with the thought of protecting me, then I tell them again today to say it openly if possible, in the pages of the newspaper, the bulletin, or on the radio. But tell the truth. It is said that the organized lynching against you lasted only three hours. How was that? Yes, only three hours. And the most difficult hours of the day. It was 15:00, three in the afternoon. I was getting ready to leave the office when I saw a certain Napolon Rroshi heading toward the door. A little twisted, with a somewhat drawn face, with hope—as if his skin were twitching—with a voice like an old woman’s, he said to me: «Here, Frrok, this is the material prepared for the newspaper’s review. The meeting is today at six». And he began to leave. I was taken aback: «What review?» I said to him. «Nobody told me about this, nor asked for my opinion…» (Continued on page 2)

GENTLEMEN OF THE GOVERNMENT OF STABILITY! DO NOT GIVE PEOPLE REASON TO SAY... In recent days, many districts of our country, especially Lezhë, Dibra, Tirana, etc., have faced an increasing shortage of bread. Everyone knows very well what it means for there to be no bread at home. Every hour, this district would be… It is a question of a crisis of confidence and the causes of this typically Albanian crisis. Enver Hoxha’s general policy lies at the root of today’s crisis. Do you link the Albanian, inextricably, with poverty, and his whole life was spent… bread. Yes, yes, the crisis of confidence is deepening. A shortage of bread can lead to an unforeseen catastrophe. Hunger clouds a person’s reason. It makes him a tool of the rebellious fantasies of the moment and shuts off every prospect. Anyway. Let us return to the subject of this article: the shortage of bread. How can there be no bread? people ask. And they are right. Indeed, how can there be no bread! People have grown used to the catastrophic shortage of water (which was once given priority to be solved, at the time of the 8–10 PP) but one “cannot get used to” a shortage of bread. He dies. And in the midst of his agony, in a revolt addressed to no one in particular, a person says: “At least in Enver Hoxha’s time, we had bread.” I said above what kind of bread Enver Hoxha served the Albanian: plain bread. People are aware of this, having suffered on their own backs the dictatorship he imposed on them, but they can find no other words to express their longing. And this is the peak of the crisis of confidence. The government of stability in the country must make this problem its central concern. Without solving this problem, every other problem, however important, is destined to remain unresolved. (Continued on page 4) MARASH MIRASHI

Innocence is a crystal-clear name that tolerates no additions or other words placed beside it. Only in this way, pure, can it accept the notion for which we have formulated it. It is this innocence that is knocking more than ever on the doors of our lives, waiting with hope, pain, and patience to cross the Albanian threshold, to ease somewhat the pain in the souls of the prisoners of our nation, massacred to the point of being disfigured. They are thousands upon thousands who have been imprisoned, executed by firing squad, tortured, interned, and humiliated, and who fill long chapters in the “glorious” history of the dictator Enver Hoxha. These are human souls who hope finally to touch the tentacles of the dictatorship. (Continued on page 4) LUAN PENGILI Year IV of publication Friday 9 AUGUST 1991 Weekly No. 52 (174) 1 LEK