5 January 1991. Before dawn, hundreds of thousands of Albanians would flood the streets with milk bottles in their hands, but not to buy milk. This time, endless queues were forming outside bookshops and stationery shops. “Will it come out today, or not?” “They’ve ordered the bookshops not to open today.” “Ramiz Alia has ordered the publication to be stopped ...” These conversations could be heard in the streets of Tirana. It was four o’clock in the morning. People had been waiting for days for “Rilindja Demokratike,” the first opposition newspaper. No one, except its publishers, could imagine what this new newspaper would be like, as it prepared to clash with the dictatorship. The idea of bringing out the newspaper was born along with the birth of the DP in the December days, but no one knew whether it would be allowed to appear. Until the last night, when eager people took it in their hands, the fate of “RD” was unknown. But the miracle happened. A group of intellectuals and students would become the publishers of the first issue. Their knowledge, printing-press workers, distributors and newspaper sellers would each give something of themselves to “RD.” And “RD,” after many efforts, came to light on 5 January 1991. One lek was the price of the first issue of “RD,” but it reached 15 lekë! The first 50,000 copies were distributed and read like a leaflet in every family. With each issue, hope grew, as did courage and strength. On the other side, rallies and counter-rallies, cheers, greetings, contempt and hatred began to take shape. In the other camp, they said: “The wolves were sharpening their teeth,” and after every issue of “RD” they asked: “Will the next issue come out?” State Security cars had become a constant source of anxiety for those entering and leaving the DP headquarters. No one knew where the microphones were eavesdropping from, but “RD” kept coming out. “ZP” spewed venom, threatened and called for blood, but “RD” kept coming out, hastening the death of the dictatorship and the birth of democracy. The DP’s spokesperson, the voice of democracy, would recount every important event: the students’ hunger strike, the toppling of the dictator’s monument, the 31 March elections, the crime of 2 April, the fall of the communist government, and the consolidation and dissolution of the government of stability, leading to the victory of 22 March. But today, what has changed and what has stayed the same? As in the past, “RD” continues to remain at the forefront of the fight against communism and of the efforts to establish democracy. Almost alone against the red pack, “ZP” continues as before with its perversities and calls for blood, and it is not alone on the path of crime against democracy. Today, the role of “RD” is very difficult. In the face of ... ...from the previous page of “RD.” And “RD,” after many difficulties, side, fear and fury were growing. Behind building 15 in the “Student City”—a two-story building named “Asim Vokshi” in Tirana—was to be the headquarters of the DP and “RD” (the newspaper “RD” still occupies this building today). Broken chairs, crooked tables and two old typewriters were the tools used by those who would bring out “RD” that day. But in truth, it was not the machines that produced the DP’s newspaper, but the people. The unbelievable truth, the truth beyond the imagination of Albanians, would make Wednesdays and Saturdays—the days “RD” came out—truly exceptional. A voice against dictatorship: Albanians were living through the days of a wonderful dream. Hundreds of thousands were the people who would “occupy” the “RD” offices on those days. Devoted people who wanted only to vent their feelings and tell their stories; young people full of hope; elderly people with astonished faces; somewhat frightened intellectuals; hot-blooded and countless heroes. “RD” scattered the sparks of democracy everywhere, sparks that caught fire and became a blaze against the dictatorship. Every day, on the pages of “RD,” ... ...communism, at the forefront is very difficult. The transition period, economic reform accompanied by hardship for a broad mass of people, their limited understanding of these changes and lack of patience—stirred up and amplified by the nihilistic, destructive, manipulative and pessimism-inducing propaganda of “ZP” and other organs that echo it—make “RD’s” mission and commitment extremely difficult: to prevent the rays of hope and faith from being extinguished; to identify, illuminate and promote the shoots of consolidation, progress and modernization; and to instill an unshakable conviction in the majority that we have entered the right path, one successfully tried by Europe and the world; that we are moving forward; and that democracy, despite its inevitable wounds, is a million times more progressive, positive, humane and effective than the Enverian, Ramizian or Fatosian dictatorship and their “socialism.” Many people, terribly tortured and disillusioned by socialism for 47 years, waited and expected democracy to give them everything in 47 days. This is a utopia, as impossible as the birth of a normal child within such a short period. Others, liberated from communism, at the forefront path of crime against democracy. During this period, the work of the “RD” collective is complicated because, alongside the challenges of sensationalism and the falsehoods of the opposition press, it must make the newspaper as readable as possible and also face the challenges of indifference or the depoliticization of a section of readers, the trust and organizations of the DP branches, as well as distribution and sales. This anniversary also gives us the opportunity to look critically and self-critically at our shortcomings in journalism, to understand the objectives and tasks that will make “RD” a newspaper with higher professional standards, thoroughly contemporary, a voice for the truth, accompanied by information about the concerns and problems of our society, and readable by a very large number of readers in towns and villages, in the country and around the world. The beginning and continuation of this article beyond the edge of the image are missing.

These days, the Tirana Court issued its verdict, sentencing a gang of privileged, ignorant, benighted people who had turned discrimination and inequality into the fundamental law of Albanian society. This was a trial long awaited by our public, which had suffered all the merciless consequences of their arbitrariness, arrogance, contempt and violation of every human right—even the right to live as human beings, the right to live with honor and dignity. These twentieth-century feudal lords, who shamelessly trumpeted the construction of a new society of equality and freedom, a just society—as a distinguished Western statesman also says—created unlawful privileges for themselves, for their red clan, which had sucked the blood of the Albanian people, and for their court, isolated from Albanian life. They legalized these privileges by force of dictatorship. They created for themselves a princely life, unmatched even by that of the great business owners in the West or the sheikhs in the East, while forcing the people to live in poverty unparalleled in their history, to say nothing of gratitude. Their lives passed in luxurious villas, stolen or built with the sweat of a people reduced to extreme poverty. They gave their clan the right to surround itself with unbridled luxuries that knew no limits, to spend the years on vacations and in gyms, in some of the most expensive surroundings—especially for a poor country like Albania—while confiscating other people’s houses and villas to satisfy their insatiable appetites, whatever the cost. These red discriminators and pashas would parade demonstratively through our cities, beaches and tourist resorts reserved exclusively for them, in limousines and Mercedes, while ordinary citizens were not even allowed to dream of owning a car or catching a glimpse of their paradise; they were not even allowed to whisper anything about this paradise, built by turning all of Albania into a prison. These demons killed people in cold blood, like animals, to fulfill their mad, cannibalistic desires, and did not even care about the human lives they had extinguished, while someone involved in a road accident would rot in prison for years. They kept special farms for raising calves and growing food intended only for their own kind, while hundreds of children and elderly people in Albania died from hunger and lack of food, and the Albanian people spent years standing through freezing nights in long ration-card queues to get a liter of milk or a few grams of butter. These criminals, whom world history would scarcely recognize, closed the borders to Albanians and forced them to live in a vast concentration camp, while they and their children, using the sweat and toil of an entire enslaved people, indulged in unrestrained orgies and travelled from one continent to another. These hypocrites and unrepentant Lucifers, unrepentant to the very end for their monstrosities, were as savage, heartless and contemptuous toward ordinary people as they were insatiable and immoral in their privileges. These unlawful usurpers of power, who trampled on the dreams and blood of the martyrs and banished entire generations for a spoken word or the most ordinary, most natural dissatisfaction, were sentenced by a democratic order according to democratic norms—norms they neither knew, could have known, nor can know. The punishment of these great discriminators and leeches of the people is the justice of Albania’s irreversible democracy, a requiem for them and for their human world.

Across the ministries —Chromium, oil and copper operating efficiently —432.3 million lekë in new investments —103,507 workers employed Across the ministries ANOTHER YEAR OF GROWTH... —Chromium, oil and copper operating efficiently —432.3 million lekë in new investments —103,507 workers employed Many experts from the country see the past and future of Albanian minerals in the underground, agriculture and tourism. Their development, together with the concepts of a capitalist market economy, will be a priority for the country’s economic future, without denying the more positive role played by trade and enterprises. And now, in the second year of democratic government, there are definite indications that this area of economic development is growing. More than any orator’s propaganda, the mathematical figures speak for themselves and do not allow us to stray from reality; even in words, that reality points to Albania’s development along the program of the PDSH. THE VOICE OF PROGRESS FROM UNDERGROUND The figures for the end of this year, compared with 1992, are higher for all minerals and processing industries. Thus, compared with the same period in 1992, the Chromium Corporation sold goods worth 455 thousand lekë in the first 10 months of 1993, or 677,558 thousand lekë more than in 1992. An increase of 1.47 times. Before the year has even ended, the Copper Corporation has sold goods worth 1,295,822 thousand lekë, or 167,043 thousand lekë more than last year. An increase of 1.15 times. Work continues without interruption. Following the same pattern of growth, the Oil Corporation sold oil worth 635,541 thousand lekë over the period from January to the end of October 1993. The value of production sold was 2,082,745 thousand lekë more than in ’92. An increase of 1.48 times. The Electricity and Energy sector enters the New Year with 735,521 thousand lekë more in sold production than in the first year of democracy, and thus stands as a challenge for democracy, where democracy has helped discoveries and a free, prosperous life. Statistical recording, the complex of placement. The beginning of therefore 27 democrats; naturally, this was the will of the Albanian people, which began after half a century under dictatorship. Furthermore, in 1993 oil processing was 24,889 tonnes higher than in ’92; 7,882 tonnes of lubricant oil, many times more; and 13,162 tonnes of gas oil, or 1.26 times more than ’17. Positive trends were also seen in other petroleum products, such as petroleum bitumen and petroleum coke, processed at 6,444 tonnes and 7,895 tonnes. This year has also been a good one for chromium ores, which, together with oil and copper, are the treasure of Albania’s underground. In 1993, 51.56 tonnes of rich chromium ore at 41.6% were produced. (Continued on page 4)

Yesterday, at the headquarters of the newspaper “Rilindja Demokratike,” International Medias Fond formally donated the “Demokracia” printing house to the Albanian foundation for the protection of the newspapers Alternativa SD, Republika, Bashkimi, Sindikalisti, Drita, Zëri i Rinisë and Rilindja Demokratike. On this occasion, the editors-in-chief of the seven newspapers listed above and the IMF representative signed the deed of donation and other legal documents accompanying the transfer. At the donation ceremony, the boards of the seven newspapers thanked IMF for this extremely valuable gift to the free, democratic and pluralist Albanian press, made two years earlier than provided for in the previous agreement between the parties. Under the relevant Deed of Donation from the Government of the United States of America, IMF financed the construction of this printing house, including all its equipment, annexes and necessary facilities, as well as training and construction on the site. The Albanian foundation named “Agjencia Botuese Shqiptare-Shtypshkronja Demokracia,” organized under the laws of the Republic of Albania, now becomes the full owner of the printing house. The value of this gift is over one million U.S. dollars.

The “Bujku” journalist asked Dr. Agani for his comments on an article by Frrok Çupi, previously published in the magazine “Koha Jonë” in Albania, which was translated and published these days in the Serbian newspapers “Politika” and “Borba.” “My description is that we are dealing with a wretched article, for which the author ought to congratulate himself. It is vulgar, since it is completely lacking in facts, characterized by ignorance of the situation, and so poor in thought. The text seems to have been written with the sole purpose of showing that there is no way out for Kosovo other than Serbia. The article casually dismisses the possibility of Kosovo’s independence and then of its unification with Albania; it also claims that, in that case, Kosovo would be organized as an uncivilized society incapable of surviving. The author concludes that there is no solution other than for Kosovo to be in Serbia. All this is supposedly done in the name of realism, but this realism of accepting thresholds is characteristic only of those committed to capitulation. The people have freed themselves from these kinds of justifications; this defeatist realism does not answer their demands, but merely tries to justify the author’s capitulating position. In connection with this article, we can recall the statement by representatives of the Socialist Party of Serbia on the occasion of a delegation from Albania’s Democratic Alliance Party visiting Belgrade. When asked whether the representatives of the Democratic Alliance agreed that Kosovo should remain under Serbia, the representative of the Socialist Party of Serbia said they had been received for a visit to Belgrade only on that condition. Therefore, I think this article expresses the views of the Socialist Party of Serbia and the Democratic Alliance, and as such it is even more wretched. Our positions have been stated regarding the Democratic Alliance Party’s visit to Belgrade and the positions it expressed during that visit. Naturally, our positions and criticism are not binding on others. Nevertheless, we thought the Democratic Alliance had had time to consider why it was invited to Belgrade and could not visit Kosovo (?!), why it so dishonestly went to Belgrade, why it appeared on television screens, why it met the principal officials responsible for crimes against humanity; why it met Dr. Danilo Zh. Markoviç, who, as a Serbian minister, banned Albanian-language schools in Kosovo. If it was not allowed to visit Kosovo, that fact alone should have been enough for them to reconsider their position. If they had the opportunity but did not take it, that is sufficient reason for us to tell them what we think. If they have Kosovo as their only issue and speak only about Kosovo, yet had the opportunity and did not want to visit Kosovo even once, then there is something else at play; otherwise, they would be acting in Kosovo’s interests. (Reprinted from the newspaper “Iliria”)

...from the previous page of “RD.” And “RD,” after many difficulties, came to light on 5 January 1991.

A SLICE FROM “ZP” —Nano sends greetings in the name of the persecuted— “On behalf of the PSSH, in my own name and in the name of all the persecuted ...” This is how the greeting from the former communist prime minister, today a prisoner at the head of the PS, F. Nano, begins. In his “greeting,” Nano expresses sympathy for Albanians who “are suffering” under the “dictatorship” of the DP. “Do not lose heart,” he writes. The former prime minister surely cannot even imagine that it does not occur to Albanians to remember what the former prime minister used to do on New Year’s Eve. “We will not build the future ourselves,” Nano continues, and imagines that Albanians have lost their minds and will once again leave their future in his hands, after he deprived them of the benefits of socialism for 50 years! It is well known that prison is not good for one’s health or brain, so it is understandable why Nano writes that Europe will finally close the bridges to us. Nano talks about tolerance. It is very easy to speak from a prison cell about tolerance without commitment. But this was not Nano’s language when he was prime minister (Nano was prime minister even on 2 April 1991), on the podium in Ulqin ... “Children get tired and look for their parents.” The “ZP” article is very “moving.” “Children who do not understand the change of systems” want the system back that gave them packages! The distinguished journalist who raises this explosive issue “forgets” to mention that the “packages” were, in most cases, a few plastic dolls “of the gogol type,” paid for by the parents and not by the Trade Unions. The “privilege” in this case was that children could at least hope to get a toy at NISH Goma Durrës, since in shops you might not find even those. And today? It is ridiculous to argue about these things, but when you are dealing with a clown, this is the only way to respond. Today, the toys found in shops are so numerous and varied that the imagination of those who call for “the system of packages” cannot encompass them. In any case, they have one point: their minds are too untrained to understand how to play with electronic toys, so they want to return to the system of packages and “gogol-type” dolls. —Italian humor in the pages of “ZP,” and “ghost-type” dolls. “Italian humor in the pages of ‘ZP’.” A “brilliant connoisseur” of Italian (as good as a worker at “ZP” can be) has taken humor (according to him) from an Italian newspaper about “Albania hanno zero.” In reality, the newspaper about Albania—and above it is written: “Albania hanno zero.” In reality, the Albanian newspaper “ZP” combines Van Gogh with Gauguin. Whoever made this “discovery” must be one of those who, until yesterday, praised the victories of socialism to the skies, “victories” that brought Albania to zero, even 100 years before Christ, and [unclear] the DP. E. PALOKA