From the Democratic Party’s election chronicles Citizens are waiting. Until when?

— Letter from 31 students living in the dormitories of the “Studenti” city Perhaps this title may sound a little harsh, but it is the truth. We are students and live in the dormitories of the “Studenti” city. We are writing this letter because of the difficult situation created for us by some hooligans, who have turned the premises of our student city into what seems to be their own home. Our concerns have been raised repeatedly in the press. We have been promised a great deal, but nothing has been resolved. Not only that, the situation has continued to worsen. The roads leading to the “Studenti” city are always blocked by hooligans, who harass every visitor. And as if that were not enough, it has become fashionable for them to enter the girls’ rooms, too. They do not come in through the windows, but straight through the door, thanks to the carelessness of the receptionists, so that we cannot tell which building they are in, or whether they are inside or outside. Anyone can enter our buildings, student or not. Someone comes to spend the night because they cannot find a hotel; someone else comes to test their strength by breaking down doors, to steal, to rape, and for other things of this sort. We students, who were the first to rise up and fight for democracy, should also raise our voices against profiteers, criminals and thieves. We appeal to you, gentlemen deputies, and to you, Mr President, to take our troubles seriously. Promises and statements are of no use to us. We need law and order. A short time ago, just before the 22 March elections, a policeman from Vlora was brutally murdered while on duty. The criminals killed him. That day, strangely enough, the concern was whether one of the people detained by the police was or was not one of Berisha’s relatives from Tropoja, but no one has said what happened to him. Who is that person? Did he kill the policeman? The policeman was a young man who fell while doing his duty. The other detainees, their friends and acquaintances, and public opinion at large are waiting for the law to take its course, while the competent authorities remain silent. Parliament is silent, and so is the President, who spoke so much in support of students during the events of December 1990. The “Studenti” city continues to be in the hands of hooligans! What should we do: organize a protest together with our parents? Or should we go on hunger strike?! FROM 31 STUDENTS, RESIDENTS OF THE “STUDENTI” CITY

PAINFUL WAIT — Remembering the letter from 10 girls and women of the “Partizani” neighborhood in Elbasan — PAINFUL WAIT A female citizen has been raped! — Remembering the letter from 10 girls and women of the “Partizani” neighborhood in Elbasan — On 9 May, “Zëri i Popullit” published a letter from 10 girls and women who live in the “Partizani” neighborhood of the city of Elbasan, addressed to the President of the Republic and the Minister of Public Order. Two criminals had forcibly raped a woman, a mother with children. The report made by those 10 girls and women is public and is supported by facts and the names of specific people. The letter is dated 18.4.1992, with postal money-order number 358370; Nos. 249, 249, 250. He[?]... ... the explanation torments that woman, her family and her kin. The disregard weighs heavily on her as a woman in the eyes of public opinion. Is the rape of a mother such a small thing?! There are ten girls and women who have raised their voices in protest. They are our ten sisters, demanding that the law be applied honestly, because you swore to uphold human values, Mr President! They are waiting, as we all are, for the promised “24 hours” to bring about law and order. THE OBSERVER

— A PAINFUL REFRAIN — On the road to Ponçarë in Korçë, four foreign vehicles loaded with 16.2 tons of copper scrap attempted to cross illegally, evading customs checks. The drivers were: Mbeturina Diamantis, Thanas Diamantis, Dimitris Kamberia, accompanied by citizen Bashkim Fortuna, born in 1956, of neighborhood 10 in Tirana. Border guards at the Ponçarë post stopped the convoy, which was trying to cross by smuggling, and immediately notified their superiors and the district financial police, which took the appropriate legal measures.

Yesterday in the government Yesterday morning, a meeting of the Council of Ministers was held, at which the draft cooperation agreement between the Republic of Albania and the International Monetary Fund was reviewed; it will soon be discussed in Washington. The meeting was chaired by the President of the Republic, Mr Sali Berisha. At the same meeting, as ATSH reports, the President of the Republic informed the government of the decision he had taken to abolish the 80 percent levy. He said that abolishing the 80 percent levy—which had been intended to prolong the life of the former regime, had created contradictions concerning the enrichment of enterprise managers, and had damaged Albanians’ image in the world—was a very important decision. By eliminating it, we are taking the most urgent step toward cooperation with the IMF, encouraging assistance from Europe and the USA, and creating favorable conditions for foreign investment. President Berisha said that he had also obtained the consensus of the parliamentary parties and trade unions for this decision. At this meeting, among other things, the President of the Republic added that steps would be taken to encourage our country’s relations with the European Community, the USA and several other countries, including opening the way for their citizens to come to Albania. The editorial staff of the newspaper “Zëri i Popullit”, considering this decision closely connected with the vital interests of thousands of workers throughout the country, will try in the next issue to provide as much information as possible about when the 80 percent levy will be abolished, and especially about the preparatory measures taken by the government and central departments to deal with people’s employment.

After the bountiful season of promises

THE SHADOW OF CENSORSHIP LOOMS: It seems that we now have two realities, two worlds. Completely different and far removed from one another. This description is by no means accidental. It is fed by the press, and also by information sources on radio and television. Someone tries to tell the truth plainly; someone else seeks to calm things down, either by hiding it or by exaggerating it. “Do we have evidence of this? Plenty. You need only follow the way information is presented in the newspapers carefully, even for a single day, and you will find many contradictory examples. Are we not dealing with two realities when one news outlet reports that efforts are being made to resume work in district X, while another says that a strike is taking place in that very same district? What is an Albanian citizen to do when information about a demonstration in front of the TV building differs on television and in the newspaper? When one person says one thing and another says something different about the same event, do we need a third person, an arbiter, to judge who is telling the truth? Should one believe whoever reports on everything, or should one believe both—the information from the first and that of the other who reports after him? In any case, the worst impression is unavoidable. It is caused, no more and no less, by information that cannot be called information. When information begins to be distorted, it shows that something is wrong. Could it be that censorship has appeared as a threat for some, while another party enjoys complete freedom of the press? I do not want this to be so, but one cannot help thinking it when one encounters incidents that are both “strange” and entirely without any clear character. Someone might call this the true freedom of the media and the press. But I do not believe this is freedom. The first measure of the degree of press freedom may be the degree of truthfulness. Otherwise, it turns into an unbearable press and information system, something even worse. (Continued on page 2)

Who is playing with the workers’ nerves The strike by workers at the “Adelchi” shoe factory in Shkodër has been called off. After 10 days, the workers’ demands were recognized. Should this delay have been allowed? At last, on Wednesday, the strike by workers at the “Adelchi” shoe factory in Shkodër was called off. As announced, the independent union and the factory management reached an agreement to hold talks, which also marks a first step toward meeting their demands. More or less, these are the points of the joint agreement, and the change is welcome in any case when a dispute is resolved—especially when it is so much in the workers’ favor, helping improve their well-being and that of their families. This is welcome also because about 300 workers are employed at this enterprise, and these families will be supported in the future and kept connected to work at the factory. Likewise, workers at the factory will be able to enjoy better working conditions, and the union says it is ready to provide assistance, as there may be [?]... Ten days on strike! Should a strike like this have been allowed to last so long? Should it have been politicized or maligned? So much of it, when (Continued on page 2)

A chronicle of everyday hardships A work team from the Gjirokastër Socialist Party spent two days in Zagori. The “stories” they heard show that our politicians and government officials, old and new, seem estranged from the people’s real lives. “We have produce,” say the farmers of Zagori in Zhej, Lliar and Topojë, “but what good is it? It’s no use having it.” A strange paradox, something that apparently concerns no one. Here is why: “We take our milk and gjizë to the center in Gjirokastër, because a round-trip ticket costs 800 lek (old lek). It’s true that gjizë sells for 200 lek in the city market, but just try getting it there. It isn’t worth the expense. And as if that were not enough, the dairies are closed; the one above Zhej did not open this year, and neither did those in Oshtëvë and Ehezë...” “We have to let the milk turn into cheese, and most of it goes bad. But this makes the milk we produce even cheaper.” “We also have lettuce, onions and herbs,” the farmers there say. “We don’t sell them for 130 lek like in Gjirokastër; we would even sell them for 40 or 30, but where can we sell them, and who will buy them?” “I slaughtered the ram,” said a farmer from Poliçan, “and sold the whole thing for 5,000 lek because I had no choice.” A ram costs as much as five foreign [ones?]. ... These are the calculations made in the village, voices coming from there that go unheard. From the very place where an abundance of clean drinking water, push-button telephones and multi-lane highways have been promised! THANAS DINO

Yesterday in Brussels, the ministers of the Twelve officially approved, without discussion, aid of around 30 billion lire in favor of Albania. The aid is linked to the import of raw materials and products that will bring Albania’s industrial system back into operation. The general commission from Tirana [unclear] on the 13th during April with 30 billion lire, as well as from 10 lire.

— The government plays the “deaf” — It is natural that a new government’s program cannot include, nor can it be expected to make room for, every problem, hardship and difficulty facing our country and economy. Economic reform occupies the central place. Despite this, everyone is asking: “What will happen to the people’s deposits and savings?” And the question is truly pressing: who protects the people’s savings? These matters are understood by anyone with even a basic knowledge of finance and money, of the mechanism that determines the value of money—the lek. People entrusted their money and monetary savings to the bank, to the savings bank that until yesterday was the savings institution. In other words, they placed their trust in it. And rightly so. When people had spare money, a third party (the state) collected it and used it. But what happened to it? Given the economic situation developing in our country, and the economic reforms that have been discussed and are continuing, deposits have been [announced?]; yet people have no guarantee whatsoever for their deposits. At present they continue to lose value, and are losing it even faster. The terms of the deposit agreement with the institution that safeguards deposits have now been violated. The Savings Bank undertook to safeguard and guarantee deposits. As we can see, the opposite is happening. Money placed in bank deposits has lost value several times over. Since there is no more carefully studied and accurate exchange rate between the lek and foreign currencies, with rates set in the budget, to calculate how much money held in deposits has depreciated, we will start from the lek-dollar exchange rate at two points in time. Today, one dollar is worth 105 lek, compared with 15 lek two years ago. This ratio shows that the people’s deposits have depreciated by approximately seven times. Whoever had deposited... (Continued on page 2)