«Miss Albania» faces the shocking Albanian reality Yes, «Miss» as a spectacle, always staged in the form of perfection here, despite the brutal dictatorship. And perhaps the dissident spectacle was among the challenges posed to the dictatorship throughout its life. The young women of the small town, of the big city neighborhood, the artists, students and children of the pen, the textile workers, and even the passengers in a train carriage had each chosen their own local «Miss» and spoke of her in midnight dreams, simple erotic fantasies and lucky encounters, the most fleshy one of all: he kissed the lady and was ennobled along with her. Tadeja sings of Dibra Street, of the young men standing to its sides, looking for morals, the beautiful girls and the girls who live there. Ah, long ago, at the men’s celebrations, in their own way, they too would choose the most beautiful woman in a church ceremony. ... And this showed nothing other than that Albanians, without measure, could admire Albanian women and their beauty at any time. But someone, whose dark mission necessarily also included destroying something interesting, took an interest in this. And to do this, the dictatorship tried to suppress femininity. In the fields, instead of dresses, we wore work clothes. And this happened after the dictatorship had declared women equal to men. Women were absent from the worlds of entertainment, since socialism relegated them to the third shift, yet she would once again know how to display her eminently alluring femininity, despite the farce, the overalls, the exhausting shifts and the absurd people and other things that this sort of socialism forcibly bestowed upon her. Thus, Albanian women suffered for a long time, so long, until their beloved, kissing them and holding them tightly, felt that the dictatorship had achieved its goal. It had brought about the most fragile crisis: that of women. The dictatorship ... The woman emerged from there with a thousand wounds, like a barometer that best testified to the Middle Ages of her homeland. And suddenly, over the Middle Ages of my homeland, the gruff radio announcers and the tedious newspaper columns, through boundless euphoria, broadcast the mocking and hypocritical news at once: «Miss Albania», rising like a pale moon above our desert. This is a bitter irony of women’s fate, as they still lie in the wooden bed inherited from the dictatorship. And now they summon her to the tiring, accelerated spectacle, and she must somehow rise above her toil, from the table where the daily menu does not provide even the vitamins needed to smooth her face and cheekbones a little. The Albanian woman has to take off her third-shift overalls; she has to put down the hoe and the spade, which little by little stole the softness from her hands. She has to leave behind, for just a few moments, the hard life of the dormitories, the dreary rounds and the hopeless waits outside Hotel «Dajti». She has to put down the load of firewood, the muddy field boots; take off her headscarf, her wool sweater... and after doing all this, she will stop in front of the simple mirror and, a little sadly, make peace with her beauty. Then she must pass indifferently by the empty shop windows, on her way to what is called the black market. There she will find a beautiful dress, a bar of «Lux» soap and a pair of fashionable shoes, which will hurt her feet all... somehow. Getting a ticket amid the departure rush will make her sweat a little and tire her, but that is not the end of it. The train, bus or perhaps truck travelling to Tirana will not make any allowances for the beautiful lady, treating her just like the other passengers, who together curse someone or other. Later, she will feel somewhat bewildered in the noisy capital, and from time to time lean on the shoulder of the relative accompanying her, to rest a little. In any case, one of them will be «Miss Albania», who, amid the bright aura of applause, bouquets of flowers, flashes, cameras and endless congratulations, will for the first time sing freely to herself: «I AM BEAUTIFUL BECAUSE I AM A WOMAN!» MARASH MIRASHI

• Former chief investigator ALI ORIZI, prosecutor ZEF DEDA and investigator THOMA SEMA pass the case from one to another. • GUILTY: The victim who does not accuse the murderer. ... February 2, 1991. Weekend. ... (The child) aged 12 ... ... wandered about laughing. That is how children laugh. But with that laugh he ended the week of his life. Grief overwhelms ... relatives, friends, dear ones... ... GJERGJ BALA. 12 years old, ... Malecaj of Lezhë, found ... brutally. From the ex- ... it appears that the victim was ... (drowned) first, then ... was cut across the throat. And ... in a position ... There is also evi- ... hanging ... something from ... ... as a child he had done a ... CHILD, AS SUCH he ... a word. HE WAS NOT ... Like no other child ... murdered in the most ... Today, October 18, 1991, the cri- ... (of the criminals) continue ... Because: IT IS NOT KNOWN ... WHO THE PERPETRATOR WAS, NO ONE IS ACCU- ... NO ONE, THERE ARE NO FACTS- ... THERE ARE WITNESSES OCCU- ... Some ... that the in- ... prosecution, criminal police- ... ... GIVE THEM A WAY OUT. The father of the child GJERGJ BALA: I have the feeling that the authorities know who is guilty, but they do not want to provide a solution. District Prosecutor ZEF DEDA: I can accuse him of mishandling the case. The first investigator on the case, THOMA SEMA: At moments like these, a person is not able to make a sound judgment. GJ. BALA: I have doubts. The law-enforcement authorities were notified at 9 p.m. on February 2, or around 6 a.m. on February 3. ILIR OSMANI (now chief investigator and the fifth investigator on the case): Investigator Thoma Sema arrived at the scene late. TH. SEMA: We were notified at 7:30 p.m. We have no car. The chairman distributes the vehicles unfairly. We do not even have a camera; we always borrow one. Nevertheless, at 3:30 we went to the scene and carried out the actions prescribed by law. Document No. 98 (Prot.) states: Information to the General Prosecutor’s Office ... ... PROVIDE A WAY OUT. ... the investigations directorate. The investigative unit arrives at the scene five or six hours after being notified. Whom should one believe amid all these contradictions? Why has there been so much talk about how the investigation was conducted from the very beginning? Prosecutor: Two points: the investigative unit’s failure to treat the case with due seriousness from the outset; the second point: passing it from hand to hand negatively affects the discovery of the truth. Chief Investigator OSMANI: It was considered appropriate to assign the investigation ... by the then chief investigator Ali Orizi. Investigator SEMA: I handed over the file voluntarily myself. In fact, I was angry. An examination of the documents shows that from 12/2/1991 to 27/3/1991, Mr. Thoma Sema carried out no action relating to the case. The only item on record is an illegal popular investigation by the then chief investigator Ali Orizi and another colleague. After that, no further action was taken until April 23, 1991. The chief investigator (continued on page 4) EDMOND KAÇELI

Rain in Shkodër is completely ...; it rarely comes, [it is] ordinary. The confinement of people is entirely ordinary. The cold is biting. Nevertheless, people live. I live too, a student who came late to the University of Shkodër. I had got used to the wind and am getting used to the rain too. I had got used to poverty, to the monotony of suffocating days that shut my dreams in their cells. I am getting used to hope too, to the long wait. Forgive me, dear reader, for I do not intend this article to be an expression of disappointment. But the officials’ indifference is suffocating me, and my spirit cannot reconcile itself to it. Ninety-one first-year male students in the dormitory of the former trade school live as if in soldiers’ barracks: bunk beds, 28–32 people together in one room, without a single chair or table. There is another dormitory in Shirokë. It is a little better, but it is a two-hour walk, since the bus... The library doors also remain open. You can study there only in the morning; in the afternoon they close so that people can stay «comfortably» in the ... As I said above, it rains in Shkodër, and it seems to follow the road to the «private hotel» where, these days, together with many other students who cannot accept the miserable condition of the dormitories, nor the abandonment of our studies, we have been forced to go every day. Where on earth did the promises that the gentlemen of the Ministry of Education made to the students go? Where did the calls «We are with the students!» go? We are with the students!? The anger is justified and calls for a student protest to be organised. FERDINAND NIKA student, language and literature

• Interview with Mr. DRITËRO AGOLLI, given to journalist ALEKSANDËR FRANGAJ. • Ahmet Zogu imprisoned him and Enver Hoxha executed him. (By KOLË KUNORA and MARASH MIRASHI).

a special issue of the newspaper on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of the birth of Father GJERGJ FISHTË. • The newspaper will be sold at the same outlets as always. So, until Sunday, dear readers, when we shall meet again through the newspaper «Gjergj Fishta»!

Fourth year of publication Weekly No. 39 (184) FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1991 1 LEK PUBLISHED IN LEZHË