PRISHTINE. Adem Demaci’s hunger strike, joined by journalists and writers, as well as the general strike by 15,000 “Rilindja” employees, enters its second week tomorrow. Following Adem Demaci’s call to end the hunger strike, 22 journalists and writers remain on strike. Mr. Demaci has called on these strikers, too, to end their strike as soon as possible. He and the strike council, after considering the many demands of the journalists and employees, are in favor of going on hunger strike again. As was announced at the press conference, the hunger strike should not be expanded to include new participants, because efforts must be made to keep Albanian-language information operating. (ATSH)

A gathering of Albanian intellectuals living in Germany was held. At the end of the gathering, the participants adopted a declaration in support of Mr. Adem Demaci and the journalists of “Rilindja”, who have been on hunger strike for six days. The declaration states: The gathering of Albanian intellectuals living in Germany follows with deep emotion the sublime act of the distinguished humanist, recipient of the “Sakharov” Prize, writer Adem Demaci, who has been on hunger strike for six days in protest against the Serbian violent measures against Albanian media in Kosovo. We also highly value the participation in this hunger strike of Albanian-language information workers, the journalists of “Rilindja”, alongside Mr. Demaci. Adem Demaci, a man who has sacrificed so much for the triumph of human rights and for the victory of freedom and human dignity, shows through this act that he is ready even to sacrifice himself in their defense. We stand by his side and call on German and world public opinion, institutions, legal bodies and international organizations to raise their voices together with us so that the violence and barbaric violation of these fundamental human rights may come to an end. (ATSH)

Nano’s idea of spreading the blame for his corruption across the entire PS has been a criterion by which he has tried to create a defense for himself. He has done this by propagating the claim that uncovering and punishing corruption would supposedly lead behind the scenes to the elimination of the PS, always according to the old logic of equating the individual with the party. To make this propaganda hypothesis as credible as possible, Nano, besides the compromised figures of his rank such as Ruçi and Brokaj, has also drawn young PS leaders Dokle, Legisi and Ulqini into his propaganda machine. The latter have turned into Nano’s pitiful town criers, swearing allegiance to Nano and proclaiming his innocence. Apparently, the blind recruitment of these young politicians into the role of town criers, defending Nano’s multiple thefts with his associates, serves several purposes: First, a corrupt establishment needs to keep the party under its control, to ensure complete protection for this dictatorial clan in the future (as in fact happened), and to prevent the reformist wing in the PS from building a new party of a European dimension. This led to the expulsion of Spiro Dede, Ismail Lezhit and other well-known intellectuals from PP(S). Ruçi, a former Party secretary who prepared the people of Tepelene to march toward Tirana against the P.Democratic Party and democracy in 1991, and a former Minister of Internal Affairs directly implicated in the April 2 killings in Shkoder, apparently is compelled to defend Nano and his corruption as an act of self-preservation, but also because he belongs to the conservative Hoxha clan from which he comes. Likewise, Brokaj, an offspring of the red nomenklatura, has every reason to be on Nano’s side in this disgraceful affair. His past, present and future tie him to his supporters, and he is not entirely alone in this act of self-defense. Third, what matters to Nano is that, being accused of theft, he could not appear on the scene only with the corrupt figures outlined above, since the people know their thefts and posthserite better than the state audit does. Therefore, Mr. Nano hurried to give Dokle, Legisi and Ulqini places on the platform and microphones before the people. Anyone who has followed their advocacy in defense of Nano has felt sorry for them, because their role as town criers is entirely misguided: a) Because they are not implicated in the Nano case, or, in other words, in the theft of 8 million dollars. b) Because politically they have no connection with old or new communist corruption. c) Because the State Audit’s examination of the Nano case has never been confused with the Socialist Party; moreover, Nano’s people have already made their calculations for what comes later. The only ones who will be forced to leave the PS after the Nano case is judged will be Dokle, Legisi, Ulqini, and others. Since honest people have never prevailed in the PS, they are needed only as decoration, only as rally town criers, only as pawns... We, who follow Nano’s political game with cool heads, a game that seeks to draw as many people as possible behind him, see a party It would be far more honorable for these gentlemen to expose the thief who is bringing shame on them and on the entire PS. But even if they do not have the courage to rise above the communist principles of their party, they should at least not lose face by becoming the town criers of a thief. The shamelessness of these young politicians in company, has several purposes: First, a corrupt stable needs such scoundrels, because it needs their honesty. As is known, Nano came to head the PS quite unexpectedly, in June 1992, imported from the Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies at the wish of the Hoxha clan, with the aim Likewise, Brokaj, a scion of the red nomenklatura, has every reason to be tainted and to stand by Nano. His past, present, and future tie him to Enverist conservatism; therefore, he must repay many times over what he has gained from this affiliation. Second, Nano needs these town criers to create the impression in his party that he is still the Hoxha conservative from whom he descends. Because the investigation of the Nano case by the State Audit has never been confused with the Socialist Party, much less with its honest members. Only F. Nano is confusing the matter and destroying this party, utterly tainting it with theft. Because the gentlemen mentioned above have taken on a difficult role: that of self-exposure. The theorem of

We are living through days in which government officials and former government officials have been placed under arrest at the request of the Italian justice system on corruption charges. Among them are highly prominent figures with considerable influence in Italian and European political life, including leaders of parliamentary political parties. What is striking is that there has been no panic or unbridled fury. None of them issued the alarm: “The party is in danger! Everyone on your feet!” Nobody drew parallels between the accused individuals and the parties they represented. Identifying a leading individual with the entire party is an old Bolshevik practice, just as dismantling the “bloodline” is a Bolshevik practice. is a Bolshevik practice. None of the accused, taking advantage of their leadership positions in their respective parties, went around Italy’s cities with the aim of rallying party supporters or the electorate. Nobody issued the call: “We are all accused, so let us all become one group, united in a fist, and plunge Italy into a parliamentary crisis. United in a fist, let us form a barricade against the government and the bodies ... millions of dollars.” In my opinion, the accused should have been the first to seek the help of the justice authorities if they considered themselves innocent. The opposite gives reason for suspicion. Millions of dollars are equivalent to thousands of tons of grain and other food products taken away from our people at a time when they needed them more than ever. Something has been taken from the table of the child of that ordinary socialist who attends rallies, just as something has been taken from the child of a democrat, a republican, a nationalist, and so on. I cannot understand why some ordinary people, at least in terms of their economic circumstances, take on the role of defenders and guarantee that the accused are entirely innocent. And if the accusations are proven, what will you say then, sir—or, as you might prefer, Comrade VIKTIME? What will you call yourself? What will you have done to bring the truth to light? Will it be enough just to hang your head and mutter: “That’s all we knew”? A former government official accused in the SKHSH report has gambled with millions, buying tourist hotels. I remind you that, according to the Constitution of the RPSSh, the ratio between the lowest and highest salaries was 1:2. Read that in the cosmetic articles of this Constitution. Many familiar names from the old nomenklatura have become company presidents. These new capitalists, until yesterday zealous communists, like to call themselves “partizgjuar”. Enriching themselves with the people’s money while impoverishing the people as those in power—that is the graphic representation of corruption during the disintegration of the social-monarchist state. All the youth forums, at a gathering on the theme “Youth Against Corruption,” demanded that everyone implicated in corruption be brought before the justice authorities. This generation has the right to find the road to its future clear. Everyone is demanding this. Italian justice acted without hesitation on an issue that directly affected us in material terms. Italian justice gave Albanian justice a good lesson. In this modern example, we have repeatedly proved very slow. These delays have cost us dearly. The only time we were not slow was when we embraced communist ideology without knowing anything about it. In this, unfortunately, we outdid the developed West. While Italian justice has had the green light on for some time, our justice system still has the red light on! Until when? H.KRESHNIK they did not go out with their entourage to the cities of Italy to rally party supporters or the electorate. No one all, as one body, united in a fist, plunge Italy into a parliamentary crisis. Let us all, united in a fist, become a barricade against the government and the judicial authorities as they uncover corruption. Party activists did not disperse to gather crowds and put the slogan into practice: What the party says, the people do. Italian political figures have the democratic culture to understand that no matter how large the number of rallies, they do not refute the accusations. For example, those accused by the Albanian State Audit Service defend themselves by saying that the Italian side chose the company Levante Co, but documents held by the Italian side, according to their press, say the opposite: the Albanian government requested Levante Co. Are rallies capable of answering even this one question? Certainly not. It is the judicial authorities that weigh the facts and have the right to question witnesses in order to verify the accusations made. Whereas in Italy, regarding the corruption involving aid allocated to our country, the accused have been placed under arrest; here, our inertia is unjustifiable, as though this matter had nothing to do with us! The passage of time has consequences: those accused, while at liberty, may destroy or tamper with documents. In the television program “Corruption versus the Law,” documents were shown that the working group did not have. In the past you would be convicted for 200 lek, whereas in the claim filed by the SHKSH the amount is

Kurban Bayram, one of the two greatest festivals of Muslims throughout the world, was celebrated magnificently all over Albania. In the mosques of our country, Muslims gathered to pray to God for cooperation and kindness toward one another, regardless of religion, for turning away from evil, and for continual moral improvement. Thousands of worshippers, men and women, gathered at the Namazgâh grounds (near the meeting hall of the People’s Assembly), the traditional place for celebrating Bayrams in Tirana. Among the many people present were representatives of friendly Arab countries and Islamic charitable associations active in Albania, as well as Mr. Jusuf Islam, a Muslim from England; Dr. Rexhep Boja, chairman of the Meshihat of Kosovo; Mr. Sherif Ahmeti, a talented translator of the Holy Qur’an into Albanian; and others. At the end of the ceremony, His Eminence Haxhi Hafiz Sabri Koçi delivered the prayer for the occasion. Afterwards, congratulatory visits were made at the headquarters of the Albanian Muslim Community by senior state officials, representatives of political parties and organizations, associations, and various individuals.

From the “NUDO” series by the PS A drawing of a man shown naked from behind, wearing underpants with “PS” written on them.