The very aim of making peace with communist republics implies the idea according to which the multiparty system and democracy cannot last very long, because the crises of liberal society and of the market economy themselves will make it possible for the country to fall back into chaos and despotism. This idea also feeds the thesis that democracy in Albania is a transitional phase. It is precisely these allusions and these nostalgias for the old orders that lead part of the communist mentality to preach the inevitable failure of democracy. In reality, regimes that rely on violence, censorship and the denial of freedoms fail, whereas democracies manage to correct themselves through institutions and civic participation. The history of recent years in Eastern Europe has shown that peoples do not easily turn back. Even when the transition is accompanied by hardships, shortages, disappointments and mistakes, the fundamental orientation remains freedom. That is what depresses the communists: not only the loss of power, but the impossibility of easily bringing back the old world. This idea of the "transience of democracies" is therefore at once an expression of a political desire and of an ideological failure. Those who do not believe in democracy, in truth, do not believe in human freedom. CHIEF THIEF Nano is throwing the party of thieves into jail The political council of this party, under the orders of the red falcon, is trying to send Sejfulla Myftari, director of the Shijak refugee camp, to prison in connection with the scandal and the exposure of the cattle massacre. Sejfulla Myftari is one of the figures who fought against the former regime and who also publicly denounced corrupt affairs linked to people from this party. The preparation of fabricated dossiers to strike inconvenient witnesses is taking place at a time when public opinion expects the full exposure of the Shijak scandal. This shows that the old instinct of political punishment has not disappeared. CHIEF THIEF Nano is throwing the party of thieves into jail? Was Muntaz Dhrami arrested? "ZP" reports the protest of the sculptor painter? against the imprisonment of a prominent artist. The article continues with ironic questions and political accusations against the leaders of the left opposition. BBC arrests the government As if yesterday were not enough, the government no longer needs another blow to its prestige. The BBC presents our country in its programs as an example of weak institutions and lack of transparency. On 27 July, Colin J. Taylor of the BBC asked: has the government been stopped yet? E.P. (To be continued on page 7)

THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION - A PERMANENT DUTY OF THE DEMOCRATIC FORCES A question right at the beginning of our analysis, understandably popularized by the anti-democratic opposition, is how Islamic corruption can be in the government of the Democratic Party. It matters little whether the question is posed sincerely and for sound purposes, or whether it is served up in an effort to smear the criminal past of socialist corruption with the color of corruption. More than ever, this question requires a true, objective answer from the position of the democratic forces, which are the first and most interested in uncompromising struggle against corruption. Less than a year has passed since the Fifth Plenum of the Central Committee of the PDSh, which made the fight against corruption one of the fundamental directions of its activity. And from then until today, steps have been taken to confront and keep it away from our work. There are many concrete acts in the fight against corruption and its punishment, but apparently it still needs to be emphasized that corruption is an unavoidable phenomenon for a relatively long time in former socialist countries, as a result of the heavy legacy of their past, even more so in Albania where communism was the most savage, the harshest and the most destructive in Europe. Here, as in every other country in the world, this phenomenon does not spare our country either. Within this framework, in an effort to clarify the importance and the paths of the fight against corruption, one must also examine the path already taken in public opinion regarding the scale and punishment of corruption in our country. It would be illusory to think that corruption could be eliminated overnight. The fight against it is a long, complex process with legal, moral, economic and political dimensions. It requires strong institutions, transparency, public oversight and, above all, a high civic awareness. Therefore, for the democratic forces, the fight against corruption is not an occasional campaign, but a permanent duty. Any evasion, any tolerance, any compromise with corruption would ultimately be a compromise with the past that the Albanian people have overthrown with so many sacrifices. (To be continued on page 2)

Very clearly, at the last meeting of the KPD of the PPSH in 1991, in the minutes and in the speech I delivered at the meeting, I said and it was written that, with the tactics of tradition and with actions contrary to the morality of the politics and society we are building, the real left is being destroyed and isolated. Later, in other conversations and writings, I repeated that the main leaders of the party are turning it into a shield for narrow group interests. Today it is becoming even clearer that part of the leaders of this party are using its name for purposes that have nothing to do with the interests of the left electorate. This path is leading the PS toward political and moral criminalization. In this sense, the group "Nano-Ruçi-Broka" bears the main responsibility for the deformation of the PS’s public image, for its distancing from constructive opposition and for its rapprochement with forms of political behavior that damage pluralism. (To be continued on page 2)

"ZP"—according to the news in se? — is struck by one state voice? socialist across the country is leaving and abandoning this party. Some grassroots officials have declared that they can no longer accept bearing responsibility for affairs and scandals linked to its leaders. Above all, anger has increased after the publication of facts about abuses, the political use of structures, and attempts to manipulate public opinion. This is bringing a visible weakening of the party in many areas. In connection with this, in many districts it is said that militants and sympathizers are seeking deep reform or departure from the current organizations. The phenomenon is seen as an honest reaction of socialists who do not want to be identified with corruption and with compromised figures. (To be continued on page 4)

Satirical illustration "The resurrectors of the Socialist Party" or TOMORROW YOU WILL READ: READ: ● KRASJEDI OF FUSHE ARREZIT - A MACABRE WORK OF THE "FORCES OF THE DAY", SOGLLA-COMMUNIST? - 38 YEARS FROM JUSTICE SHFIPTIM LUKU Satirical illustration of the Socialist Party