GRAMOZ PASHKO PD BETWEEN YESTERDAY AND TODAY Democracy in Albania was born on soil that resembled those lands scorched and dried out by the 46-year desert of communism. This soil was waiting for nothing but rain, after which life would burst forth with extraordinary force. It was precisely in this fury of history that we gathered and formed the PD. At the time, the ideal was simple: to form a party that should not be the image of the communists, but we did not know what it should be. We called the foundations of an anti-dictatorship system democracy, but, without plans and with ideals alone, we built the new structure hour by hour and day by day. And it is well known that at the outset everything was open, laid bare, without complication—not only for all of us but for the public as well. But democracy is a system, and it is not defined by the name of the political force that leads it, but by how much that force guarantees [text continues beyond the edge of the image] And that is precisely what the PD was like in its beginnings. None of us claimed to embody the truth. It mattered little who was wrong and who was right. The enemy, dictatorship, was before us. The struggle within the party was waged first and foremost over questions of ideas that had to be addressed in order to overthrow the dictatorship. What mattered was that this struggle not turn into a personal one, in which tolerance begins to give way and people’s souls come to be dominated by spite, passions, instincts of revenge, and archetypes of leadership. The PD lost the first elections of March 31, ’91, but it proved that a political force had emerged in Albania capable not only of crushing communism, but also of offering hope that it could play a role in governing the country and build up the democracy whose construction had begun in December. Although the PD lost the votes, it achieved the greatest victory in Albania’s modern history: it crushed fear and opened the curtain of freedom. Pashko, precisely, it was the PD of power [text continues] In this challenge with history, the internal dismantling of the PD also began. Democracy, from being an aim of power, was replaced by its means; that is, from an objective to be achieved through power, it was turned into a means of securing power. The leadership of the PD and Sali Berisha began to think that he was the party and, since the party was called democratic, that he alone personified democracy, truth, and freedom. Every different opinion was called heresy; anyone who criticized was called an enemy, a corrupt agent, and so on—just as in the Middle Ages, when it was said that there was no truth outside the Church. Just as opponents were burned at the stake in front of the crowds, the PD too began to politically lynch its internal opponents with the help of the crowds. The leadership of the PD began to demand unity around its chairman and, likewise, while aiming for 100 percent of the votes, began [text continues beyond the edge of the image] And it is known that, when we began, everything was open, disclosed, without embellishment—not only to all of us but also to the public. but by how much that force guarantees individual freedoms. A regime is not good or bad because good or bad people are at the head of the country. It is good or bad depending on what institutions it builds to guarantee people’s freedoms, how well the regime knows how to strike the right balance between life and hope, how much it promises people and how much of their present it asks them to mortgage for their future. Democracy is an open system of free people, who have the right to believe whatever they wish, think as they wish, and express themselves as they wish. No party has the right to boast that it has a monopoly on the truth. Although it lost votes, the PD achieved the greatest victory in Albania’s modern history: it shattered fear and opened the curtain on freedom. After that, the PD rightly began to seek power—that is, to put to the test what it had promised it was capable of doing, and the project it had in hand to build the structure. The students returned to their schools and gave us the mandate to lead them and secure their future. But from this point on, history burdens you with other responsibilities. Public opinion gives you the chance to be tested on what you have promised, and watches and judges you. Here it tests how well you can build the promised structure. The time comes not for ideals, but for concrete ideas, programs, strategies, and, more than anything, the responsibilities of putting them into practice. THE PARTY’S INTERNAL DEMOCRACY After the March 31 elections, the PD leadership—and also many Sancho Panzas who hover around us—understood that power was not far away, and it was precisely at this point that people replaced ideas. From this issue onward, the PD would no longer cost 20, but 30 qindarka. To give everyone room to express themselves, so they could play a role in leading the country and build the structure of democracy that had begun in December. The PD began to politically lynch its internal opponents through the use of crowds. The PD leadership began to demand unity around its chairman and, likewise, aspiring to 100 percent of the vote, began to demand that the people unite around the PD. And so, from that moment, the ideology ceased to be what it had been at the beginning; it ceased to be one in which people respected others and allowed them their freedoms, even when they might be opponents. (Continued on page 2)

Abdi Baleta among writers and artists [the continuation of the headline and the article are cut off by the edge of the image]

FROM MR. HAJDARI’S CONVERSATION WITH THE NEWSPAPER’S EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, MR. ALEKSANDËR FRANGAJ — Accusations have begun to be made against you. What do you think? — After power was taken and positions were secured, the accusations began too. This means that people have not settled their accounts and affairs. In politics, you do not fight the person who gives you power. I was asked a question in «RD» about not losing the people. But I say out loud: After the people! I will not give up anything from the undertaking, good for politics. But the time has come for me to pursue an honest policy, a policy that shows the people the country’s future. (We need the cooperation of) the country’s political forces to support a government of stability and economic reform. Anyone who uses power for bloodshed, to attack someone else, will not triumph. Argument rules in a democratic state. If they continue insulting me again, what happened with Zëri i Popullit will happen. I am ready to submit my private life, my political life, and my future in politics to public opinion. — Had it ever occurred to you that, as a servant of democracy, you would be criticized precisely in the press you created? — I had thought that there would be criticism in the political life I embarked on. I would analyze all criticism in order to determine my future and work honestly. But unfortunately, so far these have not been criticisms. What am I supposed to analyze? They insult me without a single argument! — «RD» has now written that the time has come to open the files. Why was this said precisely these days, when you have been calling for this for a long time? — The files must definitely be opened. The time has not just come now. It came long ago, on the very first day of the victories. The question is: Whose files will be opened? Will the files of the former socialist MPs be opened? Will the files of the chief criminal Ramiz Alia be opened? Will the files of Farudin Hoxha and Ciril Pistoli be opened, when they are still directing political life today? What position will Hysen Shahu have?... I have seen that for more than four months now nothing has been written about Ramiz Alia. I have only read an article by Petro Dhimitri in «RD», in which he tries to portray R. Alia as having done a great deal for democracy. He is the head of the red mafia. I absolutely disagree with how the matter was discussed in the People’s Assembly and with the way it was written about in «RD», including on the opening of the files. The time to open the files did not arrive when Arbën Imami’s motions were put forward; that time came earlier—the time is every day. They must be made public as soon as possible.

On Tuesday, Albanian television reported a meeting of independent writers and artists. Among many gray-haired heads, surely gray from the years of dictatorship, we also saw the head of Abdi Baleta. I laughed, but I was not surprised to see him there. Why should one be surprised? Abdi manages to get into a meeting of the National Council of the PD without being a member of that Council—not even a member of that party—so a writers’ meeting is nothing unusual. But what was Abdi doing among the writers? We should bear in mind that those gathered there were writers whom the dictatorship had not allowed to write, people who had been censored for years by the communist nomenklatura. But who prevented Abdi from writing during the dictatorship? Who censored him? I was surprised that many of those present had not managed to publish a single work, while Abdi, who spoke to them about communist censorship, had published his works about Enver even in 1990.(.) Surely, among other things, Abdi must have said: The dictatorship did not let me write literary and artistic works, because if it had let me, I would have destroyed the red nomenklatura long ago. KOL SADUSHI

As we have been informed, these days two talented journalists from Tropojë, Messrs. MUJO BUÇPAPAJ AND AFRIM KRASNIQI, have joined the team of journalists at the newspaper «Rilindja demokratike».

I appeal to my friends, Messrs. Berisha, Pashko, Hajdari, Zogaj, Imami, Ceka, Demeti, Meksi, Arbnori, Rulit, and several others, who in the first days of the fierce struggle against the communist dictatorship stood together and put their lives on the line: come to an understanding with one another and do not fall victim to the neocommunist games of the Baletas, Cëlas and their associates, who want to set you against one another and, step by step, seize power—that power which you won with blood. The people of Shkodër love you as they saw you in the first days of the struggle for democracy; they want to see you together on the platform, not divided. Your division will also divide the democratic Albanian people, and all the more so my Shkodër, for which I have tried to spare nothing. For the sake of democracy, I want to see you, the initiators of Democracy—the first heroes of Albania—together.

We are not at all happy about this price increase, dear readers, since it is not our decision but the result of increases in the price of paper and printing. In addition to the high price of paper, the Lezhë factory has also added (of course, in accordance with the latest laws) a 15 percent turnover tax on the price of paper. Thus the price goes up by a further 15 percent. But that is not all. The printing house has raised its prices by 40 percent because it is obliged to pay wage supplements to compensate employees for food costs, now that the prices of sportswear have been liberalized. We are not counting the 300 percent increase in the price of gasoline, which affects the cost of transportation. These, then, are what have raised the price of the newspaper. May God grant that they do not raise them again. So today, readers, you are buying the newspaper for 5 lekë—the price of a single egg. But why only «Koha jonë», someone might ask? It is true that we were the first to raise it. This is because most of our newspapers today are printed on paper donated by various international organizations, and «Koha jonë» has not had that good fortune so far. NOTICE TO NEWSPAPER SELLERS All sellers of the newspaper «Koha jonë» in every district are hereby informed that, starting with this issue, the payment for each newspaper sold will no longer be 20 but 30 qindarka.