Feeding with the sweat of the people
DIFFICULT TRANSITION Feeding with the sweat of the people Will the “tap” be turned off completely from this source? It is never too late to understand what is understood, in the spilled bed. Perhaps the failures, as it seems, were not such. In the bloody whirlpool the real winners have been created. Today no one can deny that they are neither the old nor the young. The new fashions were born out of the nation’s guilt. The new political class today, with the greatest shamelessness, became the owner of the country’s wealth. In these days the government is appearing with much fanfare, with auctions and privatizations. This word is becoming everyday, yet no one tells us what will happen to the ordinary person. In the name of reform, new inequalities are being created. On one side poverty, on the other sudden enrichment. The people ask: who created this wealth? With what sweat? By what means? And when the answer is missing, the great suspicion arises that much is being done on the backs of this people. Bread is missing in the shop, justice is missing in the market, while speeches about democracy multiply in offices. But democracy cannot eat on its own, nor can it be dressed in promises. It needs law, equality and responsibility. If privatization means giving to the powerful what they obtained through influence and deceit, then we do not have reform, but legalized plunder. Look at the factories, cooperatives, shops, warehouses — everything is being divided in haste. Who is taking it? Who will answer tomorrow? Will there be a state to oversee it, or only paper and a stamp to justify what has already been done? This transition is asking the people for endless patience. The people have endured. They have waited. They have sacrificed. But patience also has a limit. And if that limit is exceeded, disappointment will turn into moral revolt. Reforms must be made, but not with the sweat of the people for the pockets of a minority. If we want a market economy, we must first have a fair market. If we want democracy, we need a state that protects the weak as much as the strong. Otherwise, the word reform will remain a thin cover for great injustice. (Continues on page 3)
An opportunity for the city of economic reform
: An opportunity for the city of economic reform Areas planned for privatization and urban development must be accompanied by clear social measures. Only in this way can economic reform retain citizens’ support. If prices are liberalized and wages lag behind, great inequality is created. This is felt more strongly in cities, where unemployment and the lack of housing increase. Economic policy cannot be measured only by figures, but also by the daily lives of families. The state must provide protection for vulnerable groups, assistance for the unemployed and functioning public services. Reforms without social balance produce only tension. If a free market is the goal, it must be accompanied by rules, transparency and public oversight. Otherwise, reform will be perceived as injustice. The city needs an opportunity, not new blows. (Continues on page 3)
REFORM: the only development alternative
The strong key and the bathroom
Agriculture in the wind of a foreign socialist expectation — the need from getuuen? Anastas Angjeli —
With June 30 and the entry into the market, reorganization of production became necessary. On 1 July the new price system and the free market for agricultural products entered into force. Under the conditions of a market economy, new forms of organization of production and distribution became indispensable. Agricultural enterprises, cooperatives and the old structures could no longer continue in the same way. In practice it became clear that production had declined and market supply had become uncertain. For this reason the need for a profound reform in agriculture was raised. The aim of the socialist reform in the field of transforming ownership relations and land use was to create conditions for increasing production and raising the peasant’s interest. The economic program of the PS provided for decentralization of production and encouragement of private initiative, without harming public interests. Part of the debate focused on how land would be divided and how the productive base would be preserved. It was requested that the reform not destroy common assets, but put them to work for development. The experience of other countries was taken into account, but it was emphasized that Albania had to find its own path. According to the author, agriculture remained the key sector for emerging from the crisis and securing the country’s bread. (Continues on page 4)
Party chronicle
Meeting with representatives of PASOK of Greece
A REMINDER ON THE EVE OF 5 MAY
Ana can no longer protest
Statement by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The ruler as a politician’s horseshoe
A horse for having thrown the river...
(Continues on page 3)
