Paradoxes of democracy “Why did you ask me such a question?” asked the man who had just been released from prison, taking a key—a wrench—from his friend. “To lock your mouth,” came the reply. In the face of agitation and propaganda—the terrible article of the Penal Code—people endured their pain even with humor. Can we say that time is gone for good? Can the ominous saying “The walls have ears” be forgotten? Yes and no. Everything good has been achieved thanks to the great democratic steps we have taken. In this sense, I fully agree with the statement that one of the greatest victories of the time we are living through is that fear has been overcome. But there is fear, and there is fear. Which fear was overcome? The fear of believing in it, of travelling (despite the obstacles posed by the offices of some air agency, which arbitrarily raises ticket prices, or by the indifference of some embassy, even when there is no reason), the fear of setting up a private business on the street by honest means, and so on. At the same time, changes are being made to the legislation—fundamental changes in a democracy, where the state is the citizen’s night watchman, unlike a dictatorship, where the state was his nightmare. Nevertheless, as we take steps to set aside legislation, and then an entire state mechanism, that served the dictatorship, a new mentality is still taking shape before our eyes. At times it takes the form of collective hysterias, previously unknown here, which, if they do not paralyze those caught up in them, paralyze others; in other words, they are afraid. Certain forces, with no ideals or programme but with extreme radicalism, want to turn everything upside down, openly displaying violence and revenge. Many enterprise managers, even storekeepers and guards—in other words, the lowest level of the administration—think the sea has turned to milk and, believing their days are numbered, rush to steal themselves and knowingly incite others to steal, so that the miner will be left with the mess. Extreme poverty, when there is a risk of being left without the children’s daily bread, drives some to demolish even stairs in order to seize a few chairs and some beams. Add to this the fact that weapons are circulating everywhere, without anyone knowing where they came from or where they were stolen; cars without license plates are driving around; the communications system is not working; and darkness has fallen over towns and villages. As the people say, “the wolf likes the dark,” and the citizen feels not merely fear, but panic. One asks: so, which fear has been overcome? It is very good that fear of the dictatorship has been overcome. But overcoming fear of the law and punishment is a grave danger to democracy itself. In a democracy, we should all be afraid—not as we once were of the Sigurimi or the unjust order imposed in the dark, of class warfare, party rule and personnel offices, of office-holders and the corrupt—but only of the law. The proper enforcement of the law is the true face of democracy. A. SHALA

— Letter to my family and fellow villagers — It has been a long time since we saw each other or heard from one another. We miss you terribly, and I believe you miss us too. We miss you, but we are also worried about you. Worried about the many troubles you had during this winter of democracy. I know whether or not you got the land. Did you? We didn’t get any. You seem to be asking for it and breaking things impatiently; poor things, what has happened to them? Over here they say the ministers and the “socialists” are getting in your way. Is that really true? The SP’s programme clearly states that the land should go to the peasants. It said so in parliament too, when it had a majority for that vote. Then the Ministry of Agriculture says it has sent the title deeds to the districts. And there in the districts, the Democrats are in power... We are worried about many other things too: food, planting, supplies, and household expenses; worried because things look bad even in the city, indeed in the capital, and look what state we have come to. What a mess it could be there in our village! But I am sending you this letter with good news. I don’t know whether you saw it on television or heard it on the radio last night—the DP programme. They gave us lots of happy news. But I immediately thought of you. Did you hear Professor Rexhep Uke, the “expert” on village affairs and parliamentary candidate, say that your joy is our joy too? If you didn’t hear him, ask around: he left the village people wide-eyed and delighted—or rather, I should say, in a springtime mood. How wonderful! So soon you and I will be connected directly from Tirana by telephone. He didn’t say whether it would be an automatic or manual line, but never mind. It’s enough that “you’ll have a telephone.” Think about where you’ll put it, and I’ll think about getting you a push-button set. It doesn’t matter that I don’t have a telephone at home here in the middle of Tirana. I don’t even have one at my neighbours’ homes. Tirana has several telephone offices, and I’ll ask you from there. I understand that the DP is very concerned about the village during this electoral campaign. That’s why a flood of grand promises about modernization of every kind is pouring your way. Then, unlike the ruralism of the monist era, they will remove from their programmes the slogan “Let’s make the city like the village.” Yours, NIKOLL LINZA Tirana, 16. 3. 1992

WHO ARE THE DP DEPUTIES? — The Bey Emanuel Heba — The great Bey of Durrës, Emanuel Heba—a gift from Sali Berisha to the peasants of the Peza, Vagarri, Ndroq, Kavaja and “17 Nëntori” agricultural cooperative areas. Amid great enthusiasm, the right-wing opposition’s supporters—the usual squads of DP rally-goers, who had arrived in buses in Peza—welcomed their leader S. Berisha, who had come to announce the DP candidate for this area, Dr. of Veterinary Sciences Emanuel Heba. Who is Emanuel Heba? The oldest and most accurate designation is: the great Bey of Durrës, owner of the Heba estate and the entire surrounding area. How did this surviving bey manage to last? After the last four or five decades, does he want to become a bey once again? A very crafty fellow, a real rogue of a Bey. He made a pact with Agim Pona (his sister’s husband), a senior official in the leadership of the PPSH, who spent his whole life as Director of the Foreign Directorate at the Central Committee of the PPSH. That goes without saying and needs no comment. What should one mention first—that he arranged his career so easily, or his endless trips abroad as a leader? One small “detail” draws attention: his specialization. While specialists and teachers in veterinary science, through sacrifice and dedication, defend their first dissertation to earn the degree of Candidate of Sciences, Emanuel, with a “bey”-style dissertation, went straight to Dr. of Sciences!!! And so he enjoyed privileges and prestigious titles all his life. The people don’t say for nothing: a bey remains a bey. (Emanuel is a typical case: a bey yesterday, a bey today, a bey tomorrow—and he will be a bey again tomorrow.) But in this case something especially stands out: the new embodiment—the bey-blokman and the now-elite strata of all the par-

Was it really so bad to have deputies who were peasants like dogs? The village baker, the shepherd or the agricultural cooperative worker? Could this be a political manoeuvre, or an attempt by the opposition to capture this splendid hearth of national and social liberation, especially from beys and agas? No—absolutely not. The revanche of the privileged class of beys, capitalists, big merchants, usurers and great landowners—its return to ownership and power—is an unchanging line of the opposition, the fundamental aim for which it fights today in the name of “democracy,” the true class basis on which it rests. Demagogy is reaching its zenith: while the opposition parties’ electoral programmes endorse the property claims of the powerful, the exploiters and the beys, from the RTV screen Sala, Sali Berisha and the candidate in Kavaja say that they will not bring him back to power. Awake people! Do not be deceived; look reality in the eye. As soon as you step outside your home, on the wall or in the square by the shop, the posters and photographs show Emanuel-Bey, Sabi-rigjifari, Dylber Vinçoli—these are everywhere—Sadedin Balla, and so on: the real faces of the “democratic opposition’s” patrons. SHPEND PRADENA

MUÇO WAS NOT WELCOMED BY HIS FELLOW VILLAGERS The DP parliamentary candidate in Skrapar, Mr. Mustafa Nano, plucked up the courage to organize a meeting with his fellow villagers in Stërnec. “You’ve come too soon, Muço; there’s nobody around here we can gather for a while for you and the village chairman of the DP.” The shopkeeper greeted him at the shop. “I’ve come as a parliamentary candidate so we can sit down and talk about the problems we have,” Muço intervened innocently. Then the village elder, with his usual “innocent” manner, persuaded the parliamentary candidate to return to Korovodë as soon as possible, because the people there didn’t know where the DP had come from. LIPE OSTERVICA

Mr. Sabri, you’ve really let one fly... In recent days, news spread in a village in Tepelenë that some traders would come to sell things, but not to buy. The poor people told one another and gathered at the village school. Quite a crowd assembled. The speakers who wanted to take the platform began a “political debate.” “They aren’t traders selling goods,” people said to one another, “but petty dealers in nonsense.” There were promises aplenty. The chronicler, Mr. Sabri, took notes word for word, waiting for the “republican sword.” An old woman from Kurvelesh, dressed in black, listened intently to the thunderbolts and jewels of the “Progonat” type of traders. S. Godo, after being welcomed by the people, delivered a few “Sabrist” (not Sambist) blows, ribs against ribs, yesterday with the SP, in the “spandresk” style. He approached her and said: “Grandma, who’s that at your side, and whose head is that on your shoulders?” The Republican leader was pleased and, smiling, replied: “He’s a stranger, Grandma; he’s my friend.” The old woman couldn’t hold back and repeated her question: “But which one are you: are you the master and he the dog, or are you the dog and he the master?” The Lab woman’s second question did not sit well with the stranger. “You can’t get away from this damned lot and their jokes,” Mr. Sabri muttered to himself, a little too loudly. An ironic people. And then you say that Mr. Sabri doesn’t deserve a seat in parliament. FLAMUR ISLAMAJ

Oh, my goodness... A certain Zymbyl tells me that Comrade Enver said that communism cannot be destroyed (RD, 15 March), and whom does he tell this to? Me, Grigor Qerfozi. My family is well known in Tirana, but perhaps not in Kavaja. It is a simple Kavaja family, among whose members there has never been a member of the Party of Labour. Many members of that party have been opponents, and it is quite possible that you, Zymbyl, were one of them too. My family is known as an honest Albanian family, with character; we are not like the many “Democrats” who sold themselves piece by piece for nothing, even though all their lives they swayed from one side to the other to obtain personal benefits. So, if I became a candidate for the SP and for “the monist era”—that is, here I am, not a member of the PP, to which some leaders of opposition parties once belonged—I did so because today this party includes ordinary, sincere and honest people. (Good heavens, not everyone is able to notice this.) Being what they are, they will do everything they can to bring the people out of the situation we have found ourselves in. If I agreed to stand as an SP candidate, I did so to change the mistakes and the monist oppression of certain people in Kavaja, who do not want more SP candidates. Are there no people with socialist convictions in Kavaja? Should I bow to such opinions and ideas? If they were followed, then in fact we would be doing politics and— There is something else too, Mr. Zymbyl. My family appears to be more enthusiastic about the DP. But ideals are neither sold nor bought, as some oppositionists do. The Party of Labour confiscated my family’s heirloom gold coins, took its land and demolished its house in Kavaja. (Go and ask there.) There is no need to elaborate further on this. So, Mr. Zymbyl—or Karafil, if that is your real name—it was not “material interest or some other interest that drove certain intellectuals (once loyal to the PP) to do the same”—otherwise I too would have sided with the DP. But my socialist convictions are the ones that currently prevail in Europe. Go and read the programmes of the European socialist parties, Mr. Zymbyl. What matters today is not to let the people continue suffering for the past. Do not confuse things or politicize them further; do not try to play games and offer specious explanations today, as if democracy were identical with a DP victory (where are you, Enver!). As for the 400 signatures, I am tired of the SP’s supporters in Kavaja, and not a single signature was obtained from me! And may you live long enough to see the truth. You are insulting and deceiving your own people! GRIGOR QERFOZI Parliamentary candidate in district 33 - Kavaja

Albanian socialists call on all members of political parties to raise their voices against the monist and dictatorial practices employed by the divided leaders of the right-wing electoral coalition. The alternative, “More freedom or more dictatorship,” demands a solution. How will the elections of 22 March respond to it?

OF THE ALBANIAN OPPOSITION

Report the buying of votes with dollars! Report the psychological and physical pressure being exerted against free, secret and democratic voting. Do not agree to vote without entering the secret booth; report everyone who pressures you to vote outside the secret booth. Socialist members of the committees and socialist observers should be extremely vigilant because: 1. DP representatives have insisted on printing the ballot papers, preparing them in the ballot boxes, and bringing pens from America with the help of the American Embassy in Tirana. The SP has documents concerning this and will publish them if necessary. 2. Various manipulators want to use fountain pens or ballpoint pens whose ink fades over time; this is intended to invalidate votes for SP candidates. Take strict measures to vote with pens and ink that have been checked. 3. Various methods are being sought to enable DP supporters to vote twice. Every voter must present a passport; the passport number and the voter’s signature must be recorded on the voter list, and the passport must be stamped on the last page after voting. 4. DP members and supporters are pressuring people not to vote in the secret booth, but openly for the DP. No voter must be allowed to vote without entering the secret booth. 5. Every method may be used in the committees to falsify ballot papers. Check that the committee members’ stamps and signatures are in place on the ballot papers, and check their number before voting begins. 6. Every method may be used in the committees to falsify the voting records. Insist that the results be written into the voting records and that they be signed with fountain pens using permanent ink. A copy of the voting record must be signed by the committee members. 7. In districts where the SP is certain to win, they will try to disrupt the voting or use physical pressure against those transporting the voting records and other documents from the polling station to the district centre. Take very strong measures to secure them and all the other documents. 8. A clever way of changing the ballot boxes is also being sought. SP committee members and observers must be very vigilant during voting; the number of votes must be recorded from the documentation and the ballot boxes securely transported from the polling station. Verify the seal (its markings) on the ballot papers and the signatures of the committee members who receive and hand them over. All SP members and observers on the committees, SP members and their supporters must be vigilant about every possible method of manipulation, and report them in the press, at meetings, at conferences and by every possible means. In every case, let us be alert and expose every form of falsification. The result of victory in the 22 March elections is in our hands.