From the parliamentary week The package of draft laws on the fiscal system was approved Parliament is concerned about the issue of the genocide perpetrated against journalists. From Monday through the Thursday that has just passed, the People’s Assembly devoted its proceedings to discussing and approving the package of 7 draft laws on the fiscal system. These draft laws consisted of amendments and additions to the following laws: “On customs tariffs” “On taxation of small businesses” “On turnover tax” “On excise duties in the Republic of Albania” “On profit tax” (Continued on page 2)

Yesterday morning President Berisha had a meeting at the Presidency with President Rugova. At this meeting, the situation in Albania and the region was discussed. Both Presidents assessed that the situation in Kosovo is extremely critical; the terror and violence of the Serbian occupiers against the unprotected population continue, the silent ethnic cleansing continues, and the social situation is extremely grave. They welcome President Clinton’s statement, which is a serious warning against a Serbian massacre in Kosovo, and stress that, in order to prevent ethnic conflict, it is essential for Kosovo to be placed under the control of the UN or NATO; democratic state institutions must be established, schools at all levels must open, the provision of humanitarian aid to Kosovo must be legalized and made possible, and dialogue must be established among all Albanian and non-Albanian political forces in Kosovo in order to increase understanding among people. President Rugova praised the progress of reforms in Albania. He said that Albania’s fulfillment of IMF conditions, the establishment of privatization and the other changes achieved demonstrate the Meksi government’s determination to continue along the path of reform. * * * President Berisha sent telegrams of condolence to the families of the victims of the Skopje air crash, to President Rugova, and to the President of Macedonia, Mr. Kiro Gligorov. «RD» correspondent

TIRANA, March 5. At the invitation of the President of the Republic, Sali Berisha, NATO Secretary General Mr. Manfred Werner will come to Albania for an official visit from March 18 to 20, 1993. In addition to meeting President Berisha, Mr. Werner will meet Prime Minister Meksi and other government representatives. On the morning of March 19, the NATO Secretary General will address the People’s Assembly. At the end of the visit, the President of the Republic, Sali Berisha, and the NATO Secretary General will hold a press conference. (ATSH)

ON THE FIRST DEMOCRATIC ANNIVERSARY March 8 has come at the right time! — Greetings to Albanian mothers, women and sisters — On the tenth anniversary of the Flag Festival, before the Shkodran delegation, the great Luigj Gurakuqi, among other things, addressed those present: — “Remember, oh …” The March 8 celebrations under the previous regime were a mockery of Albanian women, who borrowed from one another a dress, a skirt, stockings or a handbag. With feet covered in blisters from their “new shoes,” they returned exhausted from the evening’s thematic entertainment. This was an unprecedented and unheard-of enslaving political morality, at a time when Albanian women were being worked to exhaustion in the fields, on farms and in factories… While the ladies of the Bloc bought silk and little dogs abroad with foreign currency, their villas were staffed by servants, in the homes of the “servants of the people”—the propagandists of an order in which man did not exploit man (!). To these mothers, after 50 years of immense hardship, Lady Nexhmije told the “communist truth” at her trial: — “That is how the world is made: some will eat with golden spoons, others the leftovers and what is in the pots…” This is the first Democratic March 8! Let us once again turn to the great men of this nation, who have never been lacking! Appreciating Albanian mothers, they have said: “In a natural and free order, every mother should be made queen of the family. A mother gives birth to monsters; a mother gives birth to saints…” Therefore, with all our hearts, we wish that Albanian mothers may give birth to, raise and educate examples for Albania. With all our souls, we kiss all mothers on the breast and forehead, saying HAPPY MARCH 8. We come to you, the mother of Arben Broci, to bring you a heartfelt embrace; we come to you, mothers of those refugee sons who may be far from you today, longing for you as they set aside a little money for a gift whose arrival date is unknown. We wish all mothers well—Albanian mothers who have given birth to virtuous sons and daughters. Demagoguery and excessive words would be futile. The new reality is speaking and will continue to speak: this year March 8 has come at its proper time, on the threshold of spring; in our time; in everyone’s time; at every… How much we love Albanian mothers, sisters and noble women! HAPPY HOLIDAY! RAKIP SULCE AGIM, DOÇI

The PSSH is currently the country’s second-largest political party in terms of weight and strength. The results of the last two votes, which were genuinely free and democratic in Albania, as well as subsequent developments, proved that the PSSH is a political force that can neither be underestimated nor, even less, ignored. At the outset, I want to emphasize that I personally consider a genuine and powerful opposition essential to the existence of a functioning democracy. The Democratic Party, as a powerful anti-communist front that decisively defeated its opponent on March 22 and won the majority again on July 26, seeks—and will continue to seek in the future—an equally powerful opposition, so that it may make fewer mistakes on its path toward pluralist democracy and Albania’s recovery. Imagine if, facing this hurricane that shattered communism in Albania, there had been one of the small Albanian parties. Undoubtedly, pluralism and democracy would have functioned much worse. But while offering today’s democratic developments this advantage, the PSSH also becomes a serious and, at times, malicious obstacle on Albania’s road to the future. This may seem somewhat contradictory, but on closer inspection it is not so at all. The PSSH program is indeed an ambitious one. In its main pillar, it resembles the choices offered by the ruling DP. The differences are negligible and concern mainly terminology, such as “market economy,” “social market economy,” and other word games. The PSSH, too, supports private property, a market economy, pluralism, and opening up to the world (although its leader is afraid the door might be torn off its hinges), etc. So far, so good. These things bring Albania nothing but good and no harm. The harm lies in the questionable composition of the PSSH ranks. This party has genuinely good and admirable young people, young people who have embraced the socialist ideal and have nothing in common with the past; they love Albania and work for its good, such as P. Majko and Petro Koci, and many, many others throughout Albania. I believe they have a future. I am certain that their group will form the genuine socialist party in Albania, and that will be a happy and hopeful day for Albania. There has also been, within this party, a group made up of former members of the PPSH, honest and idealistic people who worked and struggled throughout Albania for the homeland and its future. These people deserve respect and appreciation; they and other idealists in the party and in other groupings are the nation’s foundation stones. The evil afflicting Albania, and the PS itself, comes from the third grouping, which is not small and should not be disregarded either by the PS or by the other political forces. This grouping includes those former communists who are connected by a thousand visible and invisible threads to the past; former senior officials of the red nomenklatura; other people who served it zealously in the basest ways, becoming tainted and compromised in genocide and anti-national, inhuman crimes; members of the red nomenklatura who benefited from family connections; former employees of the State Security; prison criminals, cell informers and thugs; and, finally, a small number of extremist fanatics, of the kind found in every party, who bring nothing but harm. This fairly cohesive grouping within the PS, which has nothing in common with the European socialist ideal and has, indeed, been corrupted of every kind of human ideal, sees the PS as a powerful political force (which it cannot create on its own, for reasons already known). Within it, they can not only hide but also achieve their secret and diabolical goal: to regain the power they lost. By keeping this contingent within itself, the PS does great harm not only to itself but also to Albania. First, it harms itself, because it thereby becomes scarcely credible to both Albanians and European socialists. This is why the PSSH today has no allies in Albania (despite being in opposition), nor in Europe. Second, this group, being so tainted itself, also taints the party to which it belongs. What is more important is that many representatives of this grouping currently hold key positions in the PSSH and act as a shield for all the others who operate at every level of this party. Within the PS, they also feel protected from the wrongs and crimes of the past. The truth is that, until now, the PS has consistently and jealously protected this grouping, directly or indirectly, both in “ZP” and in sessions of the People’s Assembly. It has protected this grouping jealously, the People’s Assembly. But the main harm it causes is by being the chief opponent of democratic developments and reform in Albania. It stirs, mobilizes, curses, and sows panic and fear, distrust of every government action and every law passed in Parliament. And it does this perfectly, because it operates according to the former organization of the State Security, which remains wholly intact within this PS grouping. Unfortunately, “ZP” too has been placed entirely at the service of this grouping. This proves that this publication, too, is under the control of those PPSH leaders who are inextricably implicated in the past. This is the source of all the primitive aggressiveness and anti-national venom that appears daily in the pages of this newspaper against the democratic state, against reform, and against democratic forces. It was this grouping that discredited the PS in the eyes of the people during the year of transition; it was this grouping that, holding key posts in the three governments formed by the PS—the Nano, Bufi, and Ahmeti governments—turned Albania into a ruin; bankrupted it and burned it down, without a tremor and without caring about anything, proving absolutely and conclusively that the PS cannot govern Albania, either now or for some time in the future (unless it rids itself of this filth). This is not because it lacks intellectual potential, but because it cannot escape the corruption and ties to the past that it inherits precisely through this grouping. It is understandable that if the PS carries out this operation now—that is, completely and entirely distances itself from Enverists, corrupt doctrinaire communists, and former State Security employees—it will shrink somewhat as a party and lose some of its electorate. At first glance this would seem a loss for the PS, but it would only be a “temporary loss,” to be followed by many victories. It would give Albania a genuine socialist party, with a healthy and moderate alternative, an honest and patriotic opposition. By purging its ranks of this foreign, anti-national and inhuman element, it would strengthen itself—the PS. This would leave this grouping exposed in the eyes of the people, who have the right to judge them morally—a judgment this people, who know how to forgive, can deliver. These people must answer to history and to their own people. And let all these servants of evil go, met with contempt, disgust, and collective rejection; this is a right from which no one can deprive the victims of violence. I hope and believe that the day when the PS carries out this necessary operation is not far off; then another alternative, this time realistic and sincere, will join the paths of democracy and prosperity. LLAZAR LENGU there had been one of the small Albanian parties. Pluralism and democracy would undoubtedly keeping this contingent within itself...

On the tenth anniversary of the raising of the Flag, before the Shkodran crowd, the great Luigj Gurakuqi addressed those present, among other things: “...Let the old saying come to mind, O Albanian mothers, which says: the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world! Remember that the founder of independence in the United States of America, George Washington, said that for a nation to be free and democratic, it must be virtuous...” And, paraphrasing this pioneer of national awakening, O Albanian mothers, with all the strength in our hearts we say to you: “If you want to celebrate this YOUR holiday forever, so that it may become ever more flourishing and beautiful, ever more beneficial to the nation, see to it that you fulfill YOUR duty to the Homeland by caring for the younger generation with national awareness and love, so that those virtues may grow and adorn the generations—virtues without which life has no reason to exist, and without which no mother would want her own child. March 8 is celebrated everywhere in the world. We remembered to celebrate it, too, even after the 50-year night, trying to rejoice with even a bouquet of flowers when we lacked the money to buy a simple pair of socks. And the mother of the children, when mothers and sisters had their holiday, went beyond the limits of human endurance; only in Albania did it happen that a child would say to his mother: ‘...Forgive me, Mother, I have no money; if I have no other gift for you, today I have brought you a 10(-?).’ Those families were happiest who could find 25 lek for something so beautiful, or a pair of slippers. This happened at a time when, like all mothers in the world, our mothers deserved so much more. As characters in the “songs of Enver’s realities,” or to bring about Enver’s “socialism,” they were even turned into poetic figures, like those in the apocalyptic verses: Saturday at work, Sunday you got married, Monday you went back to work. And Monday you went back to work... And this reality, set against the tragedies of the Bloc—who, would you believe it, celebrated March 8 abroad, in the bosom of their families, giving and receiving gifts—shows that our mothers could have done the same... The demagogic speeches, the coercion and orders to celebrate March 8 from the ...

Imagine if, facing this hurricane that shattered communism in Albania, there had been one of the small Albanian parties.

It is a people-wide celebration, because we are all connected to school, from childhood until we grow old. In this hearth, we learn the ABCs of the alphabet, culture, education; art; science; politics, life… In this cradle we become more human, more patriotic, more valuable to ourselves, our families and society. With their minds, hearts, hands and sacrifices, teachers make sacrifices in the name of a better future for everyone, in the name of a more cultured, stronger and more prosperous nation. For all these and many other values that we feel in our minds and hearts, and which we could never include in a short article, teachers have been, are and will remain a precious treasure of the nation; people loved and honored by all. We are and will forever remain indebted to them. Even at this historic stage that we are experiencing, teachers are playing a decisive role in achieving complete victory and consolidating democracy, and in reforming our education on contemporary foundations, modern in structure and content. Through their commitment and dedication, great achievements have been made in less than a year. The Democratic Party, the Democratic Government and our entire society are grateful to them for everything they have done and are doing. At the same time, we feel the greatest obligation to support and reward them increasingly. With the salaries they currently receive, teachers are among those who feel most keenly the hardships of this difficult transition phase. But, with the deep democratic convictions that characterize them, they are showing admirable tolerance and patience, setting a good example for everyone. Nevertheless, the Democratic Government has among its most immediate objectives an increase in state compensation for the very valuable work of the army of teachers. And still, we will remain indebted to them. We close these few lines with a greeting which, we are convinced, comes from everyone’s hearts: HAPPY MARCH 7, YOUR HOLIDAY, TEACHERS EVERYWHERE!