- Speech delivered yesterday in Parliament by Prof. Dr. Sali Berisha - During the proceedings of this parliament I have been optimistic, and as a deputy and intellectual I have felt that the wind of democracy is truly blowing in Albania and that democratic institutions are being born. Look, gentlemen, let me remind you that instead of the ideological pamphlet we had on the constitution, we now have a set of laws that faithfully express the Helsinki Final Act. They are profoundly democratic, and both peoples in the West and our entire people can be proud of them. We have also achieved many other things, but, looking back at the proceedings of this Parliament, it appears that we have all made one mistake. This mistake consisted in treating the people as an electorate and not as the people as a whole, as we should have done. It is wrong to speak of an electorate, because we are—and must feel ourselves to be—representatives of the people, equally responsible for the miner on strike in Valias and for the children in Tropojë who have been left without bread by forces that have nothing in common with democracy; for the farmer in Mallakastër who has wandered across the desert he traverses, and for the one in Tepelenë. All the decisions we make do not concern my electorate or that of another deputy; they concern the people as a whole. Therefore, I beg you, let us no longer talk about an electorate. On the other hand, I want to assure you that the pressure you feel is pressure that is reflected on us too, and that we feel as well. There is no reason to distinguish between the pressures; I am absolutely against any form of pressure on Parliament and consider it illegal. Albania is groaning. It is sick, so let us not add to its suffering. Do not forget, gentlemen, that we are holding this meeting while it is building a system; it is not building a shirt, but something much greater. Therefore, all of us must bear this in mind. Anyone who forgets this is not helping Albania today, but contributing to its destruction. It was precisely with these circumstances in mind that the political forces agreed last night on a political solution. But now we must face the situation that has arisen openly: an urgent solution is needed. This urgent solution is the formation of a technical Government, or a Government of National Unity or National Salvation, one that takes the entire Albanian people into account. The election results under the majoritarian law produced an electoral map unfavorable to Albania in the first steps of democracy, and it seems that the majoritarian system is extremely harmful and unsuited to our low level of political development and not very advanced democratic education. Thus, the issue of elections under the proportional system has emerged; it seems vital for easing the contradictions that are becoming apparent. Our people truly voted this time according to the proportional system as well. Under these circumstances, the Democratic Party is pursuing its ambitions for power, but solely in order to resolve this grave crisis threatening the country. Please, gentlemen, do not accuse the Democratic Party: if I made these suggestions, I did not make them for the Democratic Party, but for Albania. Finally, I have to say that the strikers’ demands here have been considered fair by almost all of us. But the Government’s position was disastrous: before appearing here before us, it should have obtained the approval of the Independent Trade Unions, or it should have told Parliament that it had these major problems and sought its approval, informing it of the burden it faced. THE PARLIAMENTARY OBSERVER

- REPORTAGE FROM VALIAS - Not only from the underground of Valias, where, for seven days now, miners from the Tirana coal basin have been barricaded in, staking their lives; not only in Shkodër, Elbasan, Durrës, Korçë, Pogradec, Berat, etc., where tens and hundreds of workers are enduring hunger strikes; pain also wells up from the depths of people’s souls, from the exhaustion of their patience. The pain is no longer confined to particular places. It is nationwide. 31 May 1991. On the road to Valias, I wondered how I would face meeting the miners lying on the cold floors in the heart of the earth, how I would endure the chilling sight: those pale faces after seven days without food, those heads drooping onto their shoulders, those exhausted looks... But when I arrived, I learned that the miners had decided that, from 8:00 today, they would no longer agree to meet anyone—not government or political-party representatives, nor journalists. They agreed only to speak with some of them by telephone. Even so, the pain underground came through clearly over the wire, through the unfed, trembling, faint voice, breaking off from time to time. The miners have barricaded themselves in three substations and one gallery. Each of the four groups bears its own burden of suffering and pain. We got through to the central substation. “Hello, how are you, brothers? How are the others?” “This is Adnan Peshkëpia. The others are in a very serious condition. We are on the borderline between life and death. We all have unbearable headaches, general weakness and dizziness, vomiting and bleeding. Almost complete silence has fallen among us. We do not have the strength to communicate with one another. Morally and psychologically alone, we are holding up.” “Are you following the parliamentary proceedings? What do you think of how they are going?” “We have followed them with great hope, hoping that an agreement would be reached between the political forces to meet our demands as quickly as possible. We are outraged by the stance of some Labour Party deputies who speak irresponsibly, in extreme terms, and take advantage of the miners’ suffering to sow division. This is not fair. Our country needs stability and unity today, not division. The bureaucracy in power wants to remain in power again so it can continue exploiting the Albanian working class. This is how they want to keep us isolated, so we will not know the reality, just as they have kept us until now.” “Hello, would it be possible to speak with another miner as well?” “Apparently not. I spoke to you because I have the telephone in my hand and still have a little strength, but the others cannot move, they have no strength to speak... Thank you!” • • • I know what it means to be underground: to spend an entire day buried alive beneath the earth, to eat nothing, to have no air to breathe, to be swallowed by the cold, the darkness and the damp. That is why I feel that this conversation over the wire is a hundred times more harrowing than one face to face. The switchboard operator, Bakushe Mamo, has the hardest job these days. She is the intermediary between the great pain rising from the earth and the suffering on the surface, between us and what is happening down there. Deeply moved, she tries to connect me with the other group at substation 28 as well. A voice comes from below: “Hello. This is Gëzim Kalaja. Thank you, Madam Journalist; you will write about us, but I am very sorry that we cannot let you speak with us underground or meet us. We decided not to meet anyone today at 8:00. At that time we were expecting an answer from Parliament, as we agreed with the group of deputies who came among us. Since we had received no answer by then, we were forced to make this decision. I also had something else to say: through your newspaper I wanted to make an open criticism of the other press outlets. They have been observing us these days...” “The others’ condition is serious.” “The situation is serious and is worsening by the minute, but we are determined to go to our deaths. If the government cannot meet our demands, then it should resign.” “Hello... I am... excuse me...” “Hello, my name is Stavri Koroveshi. I am a miner from Mushtaqe. What impressed me about the parliamentary proceedings was the stance of Fatos Nano, who seems to be waiting for the scales to tip in his favor. We are sorry, because we respected him as an intellectual, but he is proving irresponsible.” “The person speaking to you now is Dulejman Çuka. I am from Mati, and I want to recall a curse: ‘May I bury you alive beneath the earth!’ We have been experiencing this curse for a week. The government’s silence amazes me, and I am just as astonished by the stance of my fellow villager Hysni Milloshi. Whom do he and his organization serve today? National unity or national division? I believe that all writers, journalists and intellectuals should call on him not to embark on adventures at the expense of the workers and the people. Future generations will curse this man.” “Hello. I cannot speak for long... I am Agim Kasmi. I want to say this to the gentlemen in government: Justice in the future will curse you for what... even friendships, and tragic too, that ... [?] be cursed for that ... toward the group of miners from the Tirana coal basin. That is all... Thank you...” After that, nobody picked up the telephone again. Then the voices were lost in the darkness of the earth, from where they had come. But their voices still ring in my ears, even though they were tired, even though they could barely speak. They were voices of immense pain. MEHILL TANUSHI ... of the Labour Party who speak irresponsibly, in extreme terms, and ... us. Although ... we had received no answer by that time ... I want We are very sorry that no correspondent from the newspapers “Zëri i popullit,” “Bashkimi” and “Puna” has come to meet us. Perhaps they are held back by party interests, but we are human beings and are sacrificing ourselves for ...

THE PARLIAMENTARY OBSERVER - THE CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE DICTATES CONSTRUCTIVE POLITICAL CHANGES. - - DIVIDING THE PEOPLE ACCORDING TO POLITICIZED VIEWS LEADS US TOWARD CIVIL WAR - - PRESIDENT RAMIZ ALIA DOES NOT TAKE A POSITION - The opening of Parliament’s proceedings this time was accompanied by a tense political, economic and social situation. This was no coincidence. The Prime Minister’s fruitless visits to England and Italy, which raised the hopes that the developed countries might offer us some concrete assistance, and the reluctance of their governments and citizens to attract foreign capital quickly, further deepened the masses’ distrust. In these circumstances, the demands of workers and many other groups deepened the government crisis even further, and it was soon followed by a parliamentary crisis. Thus, quite naturally, the problems that had arisen converged into a political crisis. In these circumstances, the most appropriate solution was a political one. But although both sides agreed on this in principle, the right solution was still not found. Many Labour Party deputies raised this issue in their speeches. Some called from the parliamentary rostrum for workers to end the strike, even though they are convinced that nobody will listen to them, since the unions are in opposition to the one-party government. Others claimed that Parliament’s proceedings could continue only once calm had been restored. As the sole solution, they proposed only the approval of the proper status of public order. Illegal rallies, destruction and acts of vandalism by anarchist individuals or groups, which have nothing to do with democracy and are condemned by the Democratic Party and every other genuinely established party, were escalating. The Labour Party deputies’ demand to do this as quickly as possible was justified and was supported by opposition deputies, since it is an effective measure that would help stabilize the situation. However, today’s situation is complex and is also burdened by peaceful strikes whose scale of harm is even more appalling than that caused by the vandals. Calm, then, will come through a political solution. But how can calm be restored if no concrete solution is presented to the people? “The declaration drafted in the assembly was abstract and did not inspire any concrete hope,” B. Mustafai said, among other things. “Indeed, demonstrations in central Tirana broke out immediately afterward. Calm can be restored only through political wisdom. Deputies D. Agolli, B. Kopliku and another speaker” explained this very well and added that calm must first be secured among the people, and only afterward in Parliament. In addition to these empty alternatives that were served up, there were also extremist proposals, such as that of Z. E. Naska, who called for a state of emergency to be imposed in Tirana. Thank God the other Labour Party deputies did not agree with him, because it is not inconceivable that approval of such a proposal might turn “Skënderbej” Square into “Tiananmen.” The political polarization caused by the majoritarian electoral system raised its head more than ever before in these sessions. The speeches of some Labour Party deputies about their electoral districts, as if they were fiefdoms and as if Albanians of the same blood did not live there as in other districts, only sow the spirit of national division. It is

REFLECTIONS FROM THE ASSEMBLY EUROPE, THE ENEMY! With their Enverist hatred and allergy toward Europe, three or four PPSH deputies accused the leaders of the Democratic Party yesterday in the People’s Assembly of having organized the recent strikes according to scenarios prepared in the “chancelleries” of Europe or the USA. Not a single fact was offered to support this accusation; and since that is so, we can say that the deputies in question were drawing on the phantoms of the book “The Anglo-American Danger to Albania,” and so on and so forth. That is their right! But here a “tiny” problem arises: Europe—the very Europe to which the PPSH also aspires to go with a market economy, the Europe on which the current government has pinned great hopes of obtaining aid and loans—turns out to be deceitful, turns out to be hostile. So where should we turn, gentlemen deputies? Eastward? To Asia? Where? Where? Where? The phantoms in your heads are a great misery for you. More than 300,000 people on strike are not puppets, but human beings! And you have the nerve to insult them! BUJAR LEZHA

Ismail Kadare THE FATE OF A PEOPLE IS IN ITS OWN HANDS - CONTINUED FROM THE PREVIOUS ISSUE: NOTES BY THE WRITER IN RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS AND A CONVERSATION WITH PREC ZOGAJ - ON THE RE-ELECTION OF PRESIDENT R. ALIA I have always believed in the emancipation of people, including the president. I believe that this president, who was re-elected during such an important and exceptional period in Albanian history, has learned something fundamental from what happened recently. The first lesson is that, in the face of the destiny of the Albanian people, Marxist-Leninist doctrine, the Enverist tradition, nostalgia, busts and all the other absurdities are nothing but a shadow, a bad dream that must be erased from our minds once and for all. The second lesson is that the Labour Party no longer has a dominant place in Albania; regardless of the election results, it no longer has either the historical or the moral right to rule this country. Thus, after taking the important positive step of separating himself from the party (something Gorbachev has long been unable to do), the Albanian president must, in order to consolidate this step and lend weight and seriousness to the presidential office—which the country needs today—be independent of the Communist Party and not be a communist. The third and most important lesson is that the president must be concerned with how to transfer power to the democratic opposition as quickly as possible. The future of this country, the fate of this people, and the whole world expect and demand this. A peaceful separation, a peaceful farewell, would be extremely important for our country. President R. Alia would be the first Albanian president to do this, and that is no small thing in the history of a country. The Albanian people are waiting for the Communist Party to apologize to them. To apologize for their poverty, for those who rotted away, for those who left life without ever being able to enjoy it, for those who abandoned the country amid darkness and despair. This party has one last chance: finally to do something for this people—to leave it in peace. Let the two sides part in peace. With today’s words, because today’s words: Peaceful apologies to you too. ON ALBANIA’S NON-PARTICIPATION IN THE EBRD The EBRD, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, is today the principal instrument for helping the integration of former socialist countries into Europe. It is the first institution of its kind, unique to this day[?], established on the basis of a new idea for Europe. Non-participation in this bank would be fatal for any European country. (Continued on page 5)