... of the government of which he is not a member had dinner with the chairman. - Bringing to the fore, as a goal for foreigners, the Albanian civic primary force over party passion and the tendency to seek an unchangeable solution and the consequences would create voices about a new ideology. Here the point is to judge a political feature up to the representativeness of the so-called independent public opinion. Comments and television debates of various kinds have made it clear that the representatives of independent opinion feel the need to appear on the stage of social life as if in a special status. Since they were not part of the new government, it seems that at times they have seen themselves as guests in the neighborhood where the fate of the country is decided. In short, a kind of opposition to politics in the name of public opinion. But what is this public opinion? Does it exist as an organized force or as a diffuse sensitivity in the civic public? If it is the latter, then who authorizes anyone to speak in its name? This question becomes essential whenever, in television studios or roundtables, you hear people proclaiming judgments about society as a whole, without having any mandate or proof of representation. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that there are prominent individuals, intellectuals, researchers, journalists, artists, who, through their personality, exert influence on the shaping of the climate of public debate. But this is completely different from claiming to take the place of political institutions or forces that emerge from the vote. Representative democracy rests on the vote and its mechanisms. Outside this, any claim to be the sole voice of the public risks becoming artificial, especially when it is dressed in moralizing tones and technocratic alibis. All the more so when foreign influence enters this mix, or the desire to appear acceptable to foreigners, as if that were enough to be called legitimate. In this sense, the problem is not the freedom of expression of public figures. On the contrary, it is essential. The problem arises when this role is confused with a political status that no one has granted you. It is enough to see how some of these figures, as soon as they moved away from proximity to government, began speaking as the nation’s moral arbiters. What gives weight to thought is responsibility and coherence, not self-proclamation. Public opinion is not represented like a ministry; it is read, heard, measured, but above all it is earned on a daily basis. Whoever claims to represent it must first show whom they answer to and in whose name they speak.

By bringing in specialists, a war can be fought with slander, appointments and dismissals, with wandering up and down the stairs of various offices. It is better to let people work in the tasks they have taken on. Honestly, this new fashion of opposing everything at any cost is getting on my nerves. Apparently, there is no government that is not received with suspicion, even when it has taken responsibility in difficult times. Instead of having a period of observation, a civic wait-and-see attitude, the political trial begins immediately. Mr. Meksi’s cabinet has only just started work. No one is asking that it be given a blank check. But it is proper to judge it by the first results, by the way it organizes the ministries, by its ability to keep up with the pace of reforms, by its handling of the supply crisis, the market, and public order. If everything is brought down from the first day, then all political energy goes into polemics and not into construction. And our country today needs construction more than ever. We need work, relative calm, responsibility. Criticism, yes, but criticism in moderation and at the right time. So let Mr. Meksi’s cabinet work. Let it prove itself. In the end, those who have been persuaded by the elections must also respect the winner’s right to govern. Only in this way will the success or failure of this government be seriously measured.

DQC GOVERNMENT XHATO Sin. For 20 jobs in the [illegible] and [illegible] at the end of the [illegible]. Agriculture has for several years been an area where political experiments have been more numerous than concrete results. Instead of building a clear strategy for property, the market, credit and technical support for farmers, only the words and slogans have often been changed. In many rural areas, people are still waiting not for declarations, but for roads, irrigation, seeds, chemical fertilizers, spare parts, collection points, indicative prices. This is the real corruption: a lot of administrative noise and little concrete help. And when this dragging on continues, the small producer suffers first. The government has a duty to establish clear rules and not change them every time the climate of polemics changes. Agriculture is not sustained by conferences; it is sustained by season, timing, planning and service. Every delay in this field eats away at the year’s production. (Continues on page 2 )

“For the construction of a church in Berat” Such would he call circumlocutions and long flights in a [illegible] [illegible] conversation of the poet [illegible]. As part of the charitable activity, it is announced that a fund has been allocated for the construction of a church in Berat. The donor is mentioned as Mr. Athanas, while the purpose of the fund is linked to aid for the community and the revival of religious life in the city. This act has been received with gratitude by believers and other citizens alike, as an example of private contribution in a time of economic hardship and major social changes. Berat 5 September 1992 Jani ATHANAS

Invitation for a return of the pesto On Thursday, 3 September 1992, in the afternoon of the [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] [illegible]. Tirana and [illegible], [illegible] [illegible]. I. Jani ATHINON ATHANAS