A week of scrutiny for ATSH journalists ON PAGE 4

“False alarms are ordered by Arapi” ON PAGE 5

An Albanian is killed by Greek police ON PAGE 4

The new government: neither a coalition nor Ulivo. The little ones are thrown in the bin like squeezed lemons

The rain does not stop the protest. Tirana against the spinach government

Pollo, Minarolli and Starova in Pogradec and Përrenjas ON PAGE 2

Senior leaders of the Union for Democracy meet with residents of Berat Hundreds of residents of Berat expressed their full support yesterday for the Democratic Party, condemned the political and economic adventures of the communist government, and called for new early elections to put an end to the deep misery that has engulfed Berat and all of Albania today ON PAGE 2

By Bardhyl LONDO “It is a bad time for lyric poetry,” the great Brecht would write, and immediately afterwards he would set off into exile, not to return to his beloved Germany for a long time. “It is a difficult time for the intelligentsia,” the report said in one of its issues about the intellectuals of present-day Albania. Many of them have fled, others are getting ready to leave, while the rest can only grit their teeth because they cannot go for various reasons. And, in contrast to all this, the Albanian state today, with glacial indifference and composure, does nothing to stop this disastrous hemorrhage. Can Albania do without its brains? With what will Albania be “rebuilt,” as our President says in every speech, without making clear what kind of Albania is meant to be created? Since the President wants to “rebuild” Albania, he should know very well—or, if he does not, should learn—that no country, and Albania least of all, can be “rebuilt” without its intellectual brainpower. Postwar Germany began rebuilding the country so often mentioned by our President by gathering together the German intellectual brainpower wherever it had been scattered around the world. America, Israel, Japan... did the same. It seems the Albanian state intends to “rebuild” Albania differently: by driving its people away or handing them over to other countries without the slightest concern. No state in Europe, or even in Africa, treats its intelligentsia this way. The current government’s economic discrimination against the intelligentsia is unprecedented. This vital stratum of the population has been driven so close to starvation, while muddle-headed ministers receive in one month as much money as a scientist, professor, surgeon, and so on, earns in a year. But worse than all of this is the moral discrimination. An entire army, reminiscent of those of dictatorships or the infamous days of the communist cult of revolution, has unleashed itself against cultural figures, against writers, artists, and others. Even if the state itself is not the organizer of the attacks, it dares to sideline them; it is principally responsible for and the instigator of this atmosphere, directly encouraging a monstrous campaign of persecution, when its appointed and supposedly highly qualified directors attack and dismiss outstanding artists, true jewels of the Albanian people, whom other peoples and countries would cherish. History will record a fact as bitter as it is shameful: in today’s Albania, amid corruption on a gargantuan scale, the directors of Radio-Television, appointed and selected by the leaders of today’s state, accuse poor and destitute artists of corruption—artists who are now also left undefended against anonymous figures cloaked in state power. When many of today’s ministers were at the head of mobs carrying Kalashnikovs and posing without a shred of dignity in front of foreign cameramen, and when those images were broadcast throughout the world, making the noble Albanian people appear even more dishonored and disgraced, the director, mocking with his orchestra, went before the world and presented it with another Albania: cultured Albania, true Albania... And today he has to shoulder a whole load of slanders manufactured in state offices. Could it be that today’s Albanian state does not need these people, but needs only the enthusiastic crowds of party militants? The state should know that if it does not need them, Albania does. It should know something else, too: Albania does not need a state like this. Intellectuals do not want privileges; they want only justice. They want not to be robbed by the state or by private individuals. They do not want to be made a plaything and prey for the vulgar mob and anonymous figures any longer. And this is entirely in the hands of the state, in the hands of the laws it approves. But the current government has not only drawn a black line through the rights and morality of the intellectual community, which had been established during the fifty-year period; one of the first acts of today’s cabinet was to abolish the Council of Ministers’ decision under which leading figures in science and culture qualified for service passports. Under today’s government’s law, such a passport is issued to ministers and senior officials (even though ministers themselves travel by plane), while Kadare now has to wait in line for a visa? It seems the state today does not need writers, scientists, doctors, teachers, or artists. Or, more precisely, it needs them only when they are useful to it—when it wants to show off in the front rows at concerts, dancing with someone and drinking “Xhixhillëne.” But are our great artists really partygoers?

Division XXI denounces Arben Malaj is hiding the smugglers A list of 83 smugglers’ names was sent to Malaj by Division XXI several months ago, but he has remained silent. Malaj is now using this list as a means of pressuring other officials ON PAGE 3

Creditors now seek a political solution

PR defends the judiciary against the clique’s attacks “Today’s government must observe the limits set by law, because otherwise it will bring about political authoritarianism with dangerous consequences” ON PAGE 3

Shoppers are afraid of the market Easter brings price increases A somber holiday in the memory of Christians ON PAGE 5 The lists were concocted in the Prime Minister’s offices Cameron: Farudin Arapi made up the “Sinners”

Message from the Chairman of the PD, Sali Berisha, addressed to Catholic believers on the occasion of Easter To the Albanian Catholic believers in Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and the Diaspora, I wholeheartedly wish you “A very happy Easter, for many years to come.” This great day is the day of the resurrection of hope, of spiritual eternity, of tolerance, devotion, love, understanding, and harmony among people, among all those who believe. The great message of Easter is one of sacrifice, divine and human devotion, even to the point of self-sacrifice. Catholic believers commemorate Christ’s crucifixion tonight, while we, all Albanian believers, together honor and remember the great deeds of the martyrs of the Albanian Church and of all Christendom who were “crucified” for Christ the King and did not surrender; we honor the great singers of our national soul, Pater Gjergj Fishta and Ndre Mjeda, the future saint of our nation, Mother Teresa, the martyrdom of Dom Mikel Koliqi and Dom Frano Ilia, and that of hundreds of Albanian clergy; the suffering and sacrifices of hundreds of thousands of Albanians on the Calvary of dictatorship, who sacrificed and gave up their lives in the name of faith in God, His love, love and respect for human beings, freedom of speech, and the dignity of our nation. The message of this holiday is the message of hope and rebirth, the most beautiful human values offered by sacrifice, even the most sublime. Therefore, let us all devote ourselves together to restoring our hopes for a reborn, peaceful, and prosperous tomorrow. Once again, I come! Glory to God!

Healthcare workers protest in Shkodër ON PAGE 4