— Writes Xhimi Karter, former president of the USA — For Mr. Sali Berisha. I have read with very great interest the news concerning the elections planned to be held in Albania on 31 March of this year. I am greatly pleased to see your country taking this step toward democracy. My experience monitoring elections in Nicaragua, Panama, Haiti and elsewhere convinces me that democratic elections are the best hope for leading a country toward peace and stability. For a very long time, Albanians have suffered without being free to choose their leaders or decide how their country should be governed. The March elections represent not only a promise of democracy, but also a responsibility. It is up to a country's citizens to demonstrate their desire for democratic processes by having the courage to vote on election day. While in some countries the act of voting may in itself carry personal risk, it is only when many citizens of a country are willing to take that risk that fear and apprehension can be overcome and democracy guaranteed for all. Although our team is unable to arrange to carry out this mission within such a very short time, I strongly encourage all Albanians to take part in the 31 March elections. Regardless of political convictions, the cause of democracy must advance if every person exercises the privilege of voting. I send my best wishes for complete success. The world will be watching you with sincere hope that all voters will participate freely and honestly in the elections. Sincerely, XHIMI KARTER Former president of the USA 21 March 1991

— Message to the Albanian people on the occasion of the 31 March elections — LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BROTHERS AND SISTERS 31 March has arrived, the day of victory. In two days, for Albania and the entire Albanian nation, the springtime of democracy will begin, the springtime of undying hopes. On 31 March you will vote, and without doubt you will vote for democracy. — You will vote for the Democratic Party because you want to save Albania from the Bolshevik communist dictatorship, from the pull of the tragic social experiment called socialism. — You will vote for the DP because you want to vote for Europe; you are convinced that only its program will bring you out of deep isolation and unite you with civilized Europe in dignity. I say “in dignity” because our virtues—besa, manliness and honesty—which are our millennia-old heritage, are highly valued by the civilized world. — Tomorrow you will vote for the Party; voting with you will be all the geniuses of this nation’s intellectual parliament: Buzuku, Bardhi, Barleti, Naim and Sami Frashëri, Fishta, Fan Noli and Ismail Kadareja. — You will vote for the DP because tomorrow the fallen men of these lands will vote with you: Skënderbeu, Abdyl Frashëri, Ismail Qemali, Hasan Prishtina, Bajram Curri, Avni Rustemi and hundreds and hundreds of others. — You will vote for the DP because in this way you will express civic remorse for the spirit, pain, suffering and torture of all those who endured it, who were punished for lack of freedom and conscience during these 47 years. — You will vote for the DP because tomorrow Albanians all over the world will vote for it. Albanians will vote in their lands in Yugoslavia, Greece and everywhere; the Albanian diaspora will vote. The policy of national unity, for the young… You will vote for the Democratic Party because you have complete faith that only it will bring you out of poverty, destitution, misery and ration coupons, and will quickly solve all the great troubles and hardships socialism has brought upon you—this failed totalitarian order. — You will vote for the DP because its program will fulfill not only your democratic dreams and ideals, but also those of all our sisters and brothers who are fighting to build up the Albanian lands. They all fought and were killed for a democratic Albania, not for dictatorship. — You will vote for the DP because… — diaspora will vote. The policy of national unity, known and forgotten for 47 years, will be transformed by the Democratic Party into a fundamental issue of its policy. The Albanian nation will unite within a united Europe. — You will vote for the DP because it is the only party of national reconciliation. We want democracy to have neither martyrs nor victims, and for everyone to enjoy it—not only the young but also the old; the joy of freedom can be savored at every age. — You will vote for the DP because all the great friends and well-wishers of our people want a democratic Albania, in our duty toward our friends and… — You will vote for the DP because Albanians everywhere vote for it. — You will vote for the DP because it expresses the will of the people, the will of God. God is for democracy and peace. — You will vote for the DP because it will surely win. No one will be left with the loser. — You will vote for the DP because today, throughout Albania, raised hands forming a small V, voices call out: grandfathers, parents, sisters and older brothers—“we cannot vote; you will vote for us, you will vote for democracy.” LONG LIVE DEMOCRACY! LONG LIVE ALBANIA, THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH. Dr. SALI BERISHA

A VICTORY MORNING Tomorrow, for the first time in almost two generations of elections, no one will bang on your doors before dawn. Tomorrow you will get up slowly, like gentlemen. Then, like gentlemen, you will go to the polling station. You can go to the polling station whenever you want, until 8 p.m. No one will follow you, as they used to: “Where is he going? Surely he isn’t going to vote for the Party?” No one—not even you, the voter—will be followed by the head of the Front, the Party secretary or the State Security operative. Nor will the Party secretary and the head of the Front be followed by the chief secretary of the Party committee, or the operative by the Minister of Internal Affairs, asking why all the voters did not vote first thing in the morning. Everyone is at ease—the voters, officials and functionaries—because tomorrow their biographies will not be blackened. Tomorrow, look, we have all won and are free of one another, though we have never been free… Tomorrow the radio will not blare at six-oh-five that 99.98 percent of voters in this district have voted because it is a patriotic district, while “that other district is full of Ballists.” Tomorrow the only “dissidents” may be members of the families of former and current leaders of the PPSH. They may be angry with their parents over an airline ticket, or because demonstrators and opposition newspapers are bothering them; or their parents’ positions may have become so compromised that they are forced to mind their own business; or they themselves may be dissatisfied with the new social order and, out of spite, refuse to give their vote to anyone. Tomorrow the world will be turned right side up. THE LEADERS HAVE SET OFF FOR THE CLINIC. Many members of the Political Bureau of the PPSH, or former members of the top leadership, have packed their belongings and are ready to go to the clinic. But they have their villas in the Block, and are setting off. The clinic is near the Block and was called the leadership clinic. This is the most symbolic act: for 46 years the “Block’s illness” dragged on, and it had to end, at all costs, in care at the clinic. But this is precisely what saddens them: the word “clinic.” So, as their own servants report, they have ordered everything connected with its being a clinic to be destroyed; all the equipment is being demolished. This is happening even though we are living in a time when the PP is loudly denouncing vandalism and the people’s need for a clinic is very great. Even so, this act still contains a measure of humanity: they left the Block. They have only made it as far as the Block’s courtyard, but even so, it is good. Little by little, perhaps one day they will come a little closer to the people. But apparently they will not move into a room and kitchen. Apparently they are putting it off until democracy and its new state build spacious, beautiful homes where they can settle, right under democracy. That would be very good. FRROK ÇUPI (Continued on page 2)

The days of this March were as beautiful as the weather. The atmosphere of the election campaign—with its meetings, rallies and posters—made them even more beautiful. In the historic square “Democracy” there was not only Tirana, but all of democratic Albania, from Vermosh to Konispol, from Lezha to Ersekë, from Kavaja to Dibër. Those who had fallen were there too, the true martyrs, though never proclaimed as such by decrees: those who fought for democracy. Also there were the thousands of sons and daughters of this land whom the regime in power forced to disregard even death and hurl themselves at the barbed-wire border fences, to cross the sea even on foot, to storm ships in order to flee to foreign lands. In mind and heart, all our compatriots were there too—in Kosovo, Switzerland, the USA, wherever violence and unemployment have scattered them. The first martyrs of the struggle for democracy were there too: those who were left in prisons and camps for a mere word, and who are still languishing in prison these days, while the PP and ZP are shouting themselves hoarse together. … their program offers and will bring about the fullest democracy. Among the tens of thousands of people were also the three students who were savagely beaten on Thursday by the “legendary” men of the infamous unit 326, offspring of the despotic eastern spirit. Their wounds hurt greatly, but they forget them, swept up by the enthusiasm that has gripped everyone, by the slogans and cheers that have emerged during these final months of the first year of the era of pluralism. FRROK ÇUPI (Continued on page 2)

We rightly earned the status of initiators of democracy, which the PPSH and Ramiz Alia tried so hard to snatch from our hands. We can rightly be called the most sensitive and enlightened part of the nation, and we can have our say on its most pivotal issues. This is also the judgment history will make. If our wishes happen to coincide with those of some party, that does not mean we should stop wishing; on the contrary, we are glad that a party has supported, or will support, our wish. In this election, our wish is to end the communist monopoly on power; in reality, this is what has driven our movement from beginning to end. From that December night when we set out from the buildings singing “Enough of living in bondage,” we made this clear. Many Albanians shed blood and tears under the heavy burden of the Stalinist dictatorship, suffered torture and all manner of massacres, but the most terrible torture and the most horrendous spiritual abuse inflicted on the youth was inflicted on us students. Under the guise of implanting the communist ideal, the most macabre surgery was performed on a part of… … our youth; To attack young people in the most delicate areas: freedom of thought and taste; to attack their intimate world and love, replacing them with love for distant China or the nearby Soviet Union; to attack our literature and poetry and replace them with bureaucrats’ speeches; to attack musical groups, from Biçikletat to Pink Floyd, and replace them with dilettantes trained in Party schools; to attack dresses, trousers, hairstyles and shoe heels and replace them with military uniforms; to attack dance evenings and fill life with voluntary work campaigns; to attack lenjfelizmi, enverizmi and the student’s aesthetic mutilation—and then say: vote for me! No, gentlemen of the PP! We will never be with you again; we will vote against the socialism you promise us! The PP forgets that the people will continue to live after 31 March, and so will its most passionate and idealistic part: the students. And since we have been and will remain the barometer of democracy, our arrow can point only toward the road to freedom. ARBEN LIKA ALBAN PICI

«PD of Albania and «Rilindja Demokratike» The Albanian Community of Detroit (USA) supports and backs the democratization of life in Albania, and, as a political party, fully agrees with and approves the program of the PD of Albania, seeing in it a happier future for the entire Albanian people, so that all may live and enjoy the rights of freedom, self-determination, and parliamentary democracy. The Detroit diaspora, in its various circles, wishes the PD of Albania victory in the free elections of March 31 of the current year, for the good of Albania, for the good of all the freedom-loving Albanian people and nation. Mr. Gjovalin Gegaj, chairman of L.D.SH, in Michigan Mr. Ekrem Bardha, chairman of the «Albanian American National Council» of Detroit. Mr. Kujtim Qufa, director of the radio station «Voice of the Albanian Community in Detroit» Don Anton Kqira, parish priest of the «St. Paul» Catholic Church in Detroit. Mr. Bala Rexhepi, chairman of the «Bektashi Center of the Tekke» in Detroit Imam Dr. Vehbi Ismaili, chairman of the «Islamic Center» in Detroit

Electoral Paradoxes — What is the Prime Minister’s theory about suits based on? Mr. Fatos, after dressing it up with economic stability, is now lecturing us on spiritual stability. Who made the «White Check» mysterious? On Wednesday, the Prime Minister of the working government appeared on television as the spokesman for the Party of Labour. He spoke a great deal. In such cases, people say: too much of a good thing. He also used a metaphor. At first glance, an ordinary one, if Fatos had used it as a former employee of the Marxist-Leninist Institute. But it is a sharp one when Mr. Fatos uses it as Prime Minister. The Prime Minister said: Our fathers stitched the economy’s suits! Extremely bold! The architect (read: tailor, according to the Prime Minister’s logic) of the Albanian economy was Enver Hoxha and nobody else. At least Comrade Rami Alia has also stressed this. So what is this supposed to be? A slip? I don’t believe the Prime Minister is young. A rebellion against Enver Hoxha? No, certainly not. Mr. Nano’s government, contrary to the law, allows the «Enver Activists» association to be praised. I fear, heaven forbid, that the Prime Minister is very much in love with the word «suit». In an election discussion he said: «I don’t change my father like suits». This expression was also written down in a leaflet distributed throughout Tirana, in which Hosannas were sung to the Prime Minister! But years will pass, and people will say: what was the name of that fellow, the Prime Minister who, while in power, closed the University? I can’t remember... Hey, that one who had a line about suits in one out of every ten sentences... During the discussion, the Prime Minister also spoke about spiritual stability! More precisely, he mentioned some kind of vaccine... «Let’s not use a vaccine to create spiritual stability»! I hope I’m wrong, but as far as we’ve heard, governments and prime ministers around the world deal with economic stability. They say religion deals with spiritual stability. Could it be that the Prime Minister, having dressed up economic stability, has moved on to spiritual stability, since the conditions for this have not been created either? If so: Amen! The Constitution says they should be able to carry out their activities! If so: Amen! I only fear he may raise the whole issue of the Party’s basic organization. Because, as the late Comrade Enver taught us, in the organization we are all equal; the Prime Minister becomes an ordinary person here, without titles or insignia! The Prime Minister reminded the people that Albania has certain conditions that will soon take it into the family of developed nations. He says we have a cheap workforce. That is true. But he did not say who made the workforce so cheap (read: poor). The PD, with three months of existence, or the PP, with 45 years in power?! He mentioned that Albania has a favorable climate. In this climate, organically clean produce can ripen, rather than produce from greenhouses. Then these products will be sold to Europe. Bravo! But why weren’t these things done for 45 years in a row?! I don’t believe that four months of pluralism changed the soil, the sun, and the sea! Perhaps it would not be a bad idea to take this opportunity to make a Bolshevik-style self-criticism, as the late Enver taught us! The Prime Minister also explained the path to a market economy. Well done! But, I hope I’m wrong, it seemed to me that he spoke against his own convictions. The Prime Minister is a man who reads in several languages and is also well-travelled: he has seen many countries. He mentioned why the «Shock Therapy» the opposition talks about has consequences. It has come to ruin our economic stability! I don’t know what he means. The Albanian people have no economic stability anywhere around them! Otherwise, they would not be sending so many emigrants out into the world relative to the population! Argentina, in many countries of Eastern Europe, the transition quickly… MITRO CELA (Continued on page 2)

TOMORROW IS THE CELEBRATION OF DEMOCRACY. VOTE FOR THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY!