IMF delegation: Talks with the government are very delicate page 9

It seems as though politics is shifting aside and other vital problems are taking its place, such as the economy. But even in this field, developments are so surprising and original that they immediately bring to mind the fifty years of Albanian communism. In that world Albania was indeed a fanatically communist state, yet for journalists, observers and scholars it represented something distinctive, which they mostly called Albanian nationalist communism. Translated into Albanian reality, this expression could be equated with the slogan of “creative socialism,” which the Party’s propaganda raised and lowered. This Albanian creative socialism truly worked wonders for at least three decades. In its name Albania was completely isolated from the world, the class struggle reaped thousands of people, and the economy turned into a shapeless monster that sowed hunger. In practice, this “creative socialism” left us half a century behind and rooted in Albanian political tradition the idea of a state party, founded on overbearingness, savagery and arrogance, bullying, pretence, corruption, nepotism, ignorance and the exploitation of international circumstances. The Albanians’ withdrawal from politics also seems like their sad realization that it was very easy to topple the Çarçani government and drag Enver Hoxha’s statue through the streets, but it is proving extremely, extremely difficult to escape the totalitarian mindset. The point here is neither that our president is a former communist, nor that we lack the infrastructure of the European democratic system. Not at all. The president has been an anti-communist convert for at least six years, and democratic structures have been put in place one after another. And yet there is no doubt that we have set about building a “creative capitalism” in Albania, and in every field at that. In the economy, tactics and strategies are being defended which are not only leaving the West open-mouthed, but, unless action is taken as soon as possible, will leave us more than open-mouthed. Albania is currently governed by a Democratic Party Parliament, and has a police force, courts and prosecution service, television and radio belonging to the Democratic Party, thus creating a state whose equal would be hard to find in the West, the East or the Third World. This peculiar Parliament is very likely to try to pass the most important law for the Albanian nation—the Constitution—and also elect the highest representative of the Albanians, the president. Otherwise, this “creative capitalism” will not last long in our country. For months, America has been pushing Albania towards basic reforms, including a new constitution drafted with broad participation and the pressure of the current regime to[?] sign up to reform. They seem convinced of their victory, thinking that Albania is the poorest country in Europe and that “Berisha” necessarily means good relations with America. An error as old as the entire era of “real socialism” of Lula e F[?]të. KJ

page 7 Tirana Mayor Albert Brojka

Valer Xheka accused of taking bribes page 4 Tirana: The Centre Pole votes for the DP page 3 The Kaloshi case: A[t]lan Basha demands an explanation page 2 Durrës, the year of the boss of the “four roads” page 3 Students in conflict with the Medrese