This great undertaking we had begun is now over: the tumultuous struggle to win democracy. It has been a long time, about a year and a half, since we did all sorts of things: we took to the streets, cheered, founded parties and newspapers, toppled monuments and governments, cheered the overthrow of communism, made peace, made war, modernized our slogans, made mistakes, and filled others and ourselves with enthusiasm. And finally, we arrived here; we achieved a great victory: the people of Albania voted democratically and independently for democracy, pluralism, and the Democratic Party. We celebrated, too. This great undertaking is over. Now what should we do?! Now, precisely now, there is so much for us to do. Now we must go home. That is the most important thing we have to do. We must go home. We must return to find the warmth and gentleness of home. Home really softens you, matures you more than anything else. We, especially we, in these circumstances, need to be truly softened. We must go home precisely to enjoy what we have won; we must go home to enjoy ourselves, to become children, to become fathers, to caress our wives, to be stern too, to become the sons and daughters of mothers. Let home love us and cherish us; let it fill with friends and companions who come to visit, and let us walk the streets with them. Otherwise, what distinguishes us from those who came back from the streets in ’45? They, too, were sons and daughters of mothers, full of longing for home, full of dreams for their loved ones, with notebooks full of poems. Only the ideology of not returning home separates us from them. From the very beginning, communist ideology said that we belonged to the whole, that we belonged to communism, that we did not belong to ourselves. They said that a good communist was not someone who caressed his child and wife, someone who met his sweetheart in the park, but someone who, in the middle of the night, left his warm bed, abandoned his mother’s home, and joined the collective, the revolution. Honored, according to that ideology, was the one who stayed away from home, the one who “buried his son” for the cause. And it taught us the psychosis of sacrifice. Now each of us must turn away from the street and head home, to stop there. Personal work and desires, inclinations, opportunities, and interests await us there. Bolshevism educated us in permanent revolution. Revolutions, so valuable for overthrowing a discredited social system, are precisely so harmful if they are not halted as soon as possible. The sooner a revolution is stopped, the better it is for people. Now, fortunately, the revolution is over for us Albanians. Now, in place of revolution, there is our “small” life, but the best thing in the world—our life. Bolshevism had taught us badly: not to know how long enthusiasm lasts and how long human pain lasts, or where celebration and work begin and end. Now let us begin to learn; let us begin by going home. Returning home is not easy, first and foremost for the heroes, for those who stood at the head of the mass movement for democracy, for those who mounted platforms, spoke through megaphones, and were carried on the shoulders of crowds and crowds of people. It is not easy because it seems to them a petty thing to return to the child at home, to the elderly mother who has no political vocabulary, to the unwashed dishes in the kitchen, to the lunch waiting to be served. Of course, they deserve great praise. But no more than praise, because then we would become their accomplices, encouraging them to remain in the streets and “in the sky,” and we would lose them from among us. Or something worse would happen: they, the leaders and heroes, would draw us into a showy life, an unreal life, a life outside ourselves. The rule of leaders is a very bad disease. So let us go home as soon as possible. Now is the time. — FRROK ÇUPI And let us go home. We must return to find the change and beauty of home. Albania really softens you, cherishes you, and makes you feel as if you are in her embrace. softened. Let us return to our children. Let us return to our parents. Let us return to ourselves. How can we return home and to ourselves? We need our home and ourselves to be built up; we need them to be beautiful. So let us make them that way, let us return to them with our hands full. Thus, to return with our hands full, we must come home from work. We must therefore go to work. Because without doing this, we have still not won freedom. The political freedom we won is not yet true freedom unless we also win economic freedom. How can we return home and to ourselves? By turning back from the street. No more staying in the street. The street yields no harvest. The street does not lead you to the future. There is a paradox here: one travels toward the future along the road, but not by standing in the road. The street is not a [unclear: kri], the street is not an institution. warmth and gentleness of home. Home if you are in her embrace. ... the one who caresses his child and wife, the one who meets his sweetheart in the park, the one who is in a warm bed in the middle of the night, abandons his mother’s home and joins “buried his son but did not shed a tear for him,” the one who left his child burning with fever and went off to carry out the Party’s duty. Anyone who thought of living a comfortable and easy life was branded a bourgeois and almost an enemy. Sacrifice was honored. What sacrifice, for nearly 50 years. It must have been a generation and more that spent its life in sacrifice... By now we must turn away from the street, from sacrifice, and head for home and our work. And why should we not go home? — Only if we do not understand what Bolshevism is and what modern life outside Bolshevism is, only then might we fail to understand this and something might hold us back. For now, something really is holding us back, something from Bolshevism. Bolshevism taught us collective life in that who waits for his beloved bed in the middle of the night, leaves his mother’s home and joins and went off to carry out the Party’s duty. The one who thought of leading a comfortable, easy life was declared bourgeois and nearly an enemy. Honor was given to sacrifice. So much generation and more that spent its life in sacrifice... Now we must turn away from the road, from sacrifice, and turn toward home and our work. And why shouldn’t we return home? — For now, indeed, something to live collectively ... and who waits for his beloved home and joins sacrifice. So much return home? — For now, indeed, something to live collectively

Following the special decision of the Council of Ministers concerning the company «Iliria Holding», several European television stations reacted, saying, «... When Albania drives away its own compatriots who want to invest, what can it do with foreigners?!». RAIUNO, RAIDUE, the main TV channel of Denmark, Finland, Denmark and other countries, is connected with that part who may not have benefited from a bribe from you?! ... etc., etc. To clarify this matter further, our journalists will interview the following officials, who can and should shed light on the «ILIRIA HOLDING SA» case. ... Rustem Gjata — Deputy ... They called it a «bad sign for Albania’s future». To shed a little more light on the darkness surrounding this company and the Council of Ministers’ decision, they approached Mr. Sejdia for an interview. He declined to answer during this week. Among the questions awaiting answers: 1 — Do you have connections with Ilir Hoxha? 2 — Is it true that you do not have a bank in Switzerland, and that you are showing us documents to convince us? 3 — Is this a company war? In that case, is another powerful company seeking to enter Albania behind it? 4 — Have you bribed government officials? Government reaction— ... «ILIRIA HOLDING SA» case: 1) Rustem Gjata — Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court 2) Ylli Qabiri — Minister of Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries 3) Gjergj Sauli — Legal adviser at the Prime Minister’s Office 4) Vilson Ahmeti — Prime Minister 5) Gavrosh Pogace — Director of Tourism 6) Agron Saliu — Director of the Commercial Bank 7) Dalip Hysi — Chief Inspector at State Audit 8. — Sabri Koteci — Director of the General Directorate of Control at the Ministry of Finance. After they have made statements to the press, you will also read the interview with Mr. AJDIN SEJDIA, president of «Iliria Holding SA».

— Work must begin immediately, without many words and without political-style statements. Action is needed. — Parliament must organize its internal operations so as not to waste time in the process of passing laws. It must urgently elect and appoint the president, appoint the government, and pass a set of essential laws relating to economic reform and institutional reform. — The executive. The government’s first task is to organize itself. The powers of the ministries and their areas of responsibility must be clarified; bureaucracies must be reduced; ministry teams must be improved according to ability, willingness, and capacity to carry out reform; organic laws for 10 ministries must be drafted. The new local elections must be prepared. — Economic reform must begin—that is, privatization and a strong economic policy, which will also require cooperation with «katat», securing raw materials for the enterprises that are to enter the game, stimulating agricultural production, and intensifying ties with international economic organizations. Foreign policy must be completely reformed, as must its team. New people with new ideas, representatives of our culture and science, must be brought in; they will be able to unblock Albania’s relations with the world. — Law and order is the most troubling problem. A series of legal and administrative measures must be taken in this regard. Reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs must necessarily be linked to judicial reform and the reform of removal. — I believe the main objectives of these obligations must be fulfilled within 100 days. or of failure. I am confident in our total commitment, as well as in the success of this undertaking. ARBEN IMAMI

The Director of the Administrative and Public Services Enterprise in Tirana, Mr. SOTIR SALUSHI, offers the following clarifications: — Our enterprise was established on the premises of the former Higher School of the Party of Labour. — Before our enterprise was set up, Tirana police had entered the premises of this building in October of last year. They have occupied the building’s two upper floors as well. The police officers are young men who were mobilized during the extraordinary circumstances that arose last year. — In January, as soon as the enterprise was established by a special decision of the Council of Ministers, we signed a contract with the Tirana police authorities. The contract states that they may use our premises until the end of March. The premises were used as a dormitory. The rent was symbolic. — These offices and premises must be vacated so that they can be used by local and foreign companies that come to invest in Albania. The volume of requests for offices has increased considerably in recent days. All available premises have been contracted. Only the rooms and offices occupied by the police remain; they continue to hold them without a contract and in violation of the law. (Continued on page 2)

1 — Now is the time to go home. By FRROK ÇUPI 2 — These will be the 100 days of glory and success or ... of failure. By ARBEN IMAMI 3 — The era of intellectual servants must end. By AGIM ISAKU 4 — The new politics will require new political structures and figures. By BLENDI FEVZIU 5 — BERISHA AND I HAVE A PAST THAT DOES NOT MATCH. THE NATIONAL INTEREST HAS BROUGHT US TOGETHER. Interview with the diaspora personality Mr. IDRIZ BASHIA, given to the editor-in-chief Mr. NIKOLLE LESI and deputy editor-in-chief Mr. ALEKSANDËR FRANGAJ.