A few days ago, the trial began against 9 leaders of the strike at the Ballsh oil refinery. This is the second large-scale trial against the trade-union movement, after the one involving Policant. The third trial of this kind is also expected to begin against the Bulqizë strikers, who have been held in cells for more than a month without trial. These are the three largest trade-union actions during the period in which this government has been in power. But what do all three show, not to mention the hundreds of smaller strikes that have been stopped by those in power using force? Their main characteristic is that they have repeatedly found themselves facing the all-encompassing, organised police repression of the ruling authorities. By every means and at any cost, the government has managed to block these movements and condemn their leaders. The state propaganda institutions—RTSH, ATSH and the press of the party in power—have been used as its effective tools. These have then been followed by units of the prosecutor’s office and courts, officials in charge of public order, defence and SHIK, who have been physically present at almost all these centres of trade-union activity. A democratic state, under the laws in force, has the right to demand that those laws be obeyed and to hold accountable those who violate them. This is entirely natural and beyond dispute. But, as we will show below, the government’s conduct so far toward the trade-union movement has been based on a carefully devised strategy to condemn, block and break it up. The ultimate aim of this strategy has been, after paralysing these movements, to instil fear of the government’s power in the wider body of workers. The first step was to divide the trade-union organisations in Albania. In this respect, the campaign of division was not very difficult. Given the turbulent circumstances in which the new trade-union organisations were created after the dissolution of the former … in most of them, careerists and adventurers came to the helm—people who did not care about workers’ interests but coveted careers amid the distribution of positions. As such, they were set against one another, each vying to reach the top of trade-union power. This explains the removal of Gëzim Shima and the rise of Valer Xheka to head the Independent Trade Union. It also explains the disputes between the leadership of the Independent Trade Unions and the Tirana Independent Trade Union, which led to the breakaway and separate emergence of the Independent Miners’ Trade Union and the strike. The establishment of the Independent Oil Workers’ Trade Union as a separate body, and finally the creation of the new Bulqizë Miners’ Trade Union and the divisions within the oil workers’ union, are part of this fragmentation. This division began in mid-’91, after the great, destructive strike, when the appetites of the trade-union leaders grew greatly and when there were not few people who felt fear that divisions had arisen in Albania. (Continued on page 4) …to affirm the natural, historical and cultural rights of the Albanian nation, rejecting every theory of the destruction or self-destruction of the Albanians. For the nation is the Stone of national necessity at which the Lilliputians hurl their Lilliputian thunderbolts. Appreciating highly the books you have written, I see how the anti-Albanian inquisitors writhe; I see the grotesque formulas for enslaving our nation crumble and fall to pieces. In this most loathsome struggle in the modern history of our old continent, you, Professor, have triumphed because you have stood with the nation, and the nation is with you to the end. The enemies of the nation are your most implacable enemies. Indeed, the Serbian Vinists have carried out the greatest and most unbelievable attack against you. Thousands of articles, a genocide against you, the most extreme accusations, all distilled into the phrase “the greatest enemy of Greater Serbia,” formulate the First and manyfold Anathema against you. This is well known. Nothing else should be expected. It honours you and is your historical proof. Blessed is the one who has this proof, and woe to the one who does not. It is proof of dignity and reason, proof of a free person against physical and mental slavery. The Qosja dossier is an open dossier for everyone. As a reflection, indeed a twin and double of the First Anathema, it appeared brutally in recent times, in a painful paradox, and… The Albanian nation has fought with exceptional dignity First and manyfold Anathema against you. Defending the idea of a united nation, you, honoured Professor, defended the truth. You have only one weapon: the word, “the terrible power of reason,” as the philosopher Socrates said. You have neither a pistol, nor TV, nor newspapers, nor the means of the state administration. You have only your books, but that is enough. It is never a small thing to have books like yours. They are testamentary truths, not burlesque games of momentary alibis. Being one of the Albanians, you have always addressed the Albanians. Even when you have polemicised with foreigners, you have still considered it a dialogue with your own Albanians. Honest Albanians have understood you. The Albanian nation overthrew the totalitarian dictatorship and, at democracy’s equinox, from its very first days, carried your portraits, thereby showing respect and love. This happened two years ago. No one can refute the record. But now? Adam, ubi es? The self-proclaimed symbols of democracy and democracy itself do not match; they are not the same thing. Someone benefited by… future becomes present and past; thus, because its name starts with the first letter of the form of a strange Albanophobia. By defending the idea of a united nation, you, dear Professor, defended the truth. You have only one weapon: that of the word, “the terrible force a pistol, nor TV, nor newspapers, nor the instruments games of momentary alibis. As a man when you have debated foreigners, you have still regarded it as a dialogue with your fellow the totalitarian dictatorship, and at the dawn of democracy, from its very first days, it carried your portraits, thereby showing its respect and affection. This happened two years ago. No one can deny the chronicle. But what about thing. Someone took advantage of—

Dear Rexhep, I greet you and embrace you. Don’t be afraid, old man! The blow split the stone and dried up the tree, but the man endured! MOIKOM ZEQO AN OPEN LETTER TO PROFESSOR REXHEP QOSJA Dear Rexhep, I greet you and embrace you. Don’t be afraid, old man! The blow split the stone and dried up the tree, but the man endured! Self-satisfied slander has become a public chimera; it stretches out its claws, howls in triumph, violently dominates the Albanian scene, poisons our consciousness, dehumanises and terrorises everything. Facing this heraldic beast of violence through the centuries stands the ordinary person, who is essentially a Human Being. The attack is extraordinarily savage. Slander revels in the illusion of final victory over the defenceless person; it rules over its own massacre, cunningly and treacherously licking the victims’ sacred blood, yet this very blood is the most terrible poison for it. There is no doubt about that. Rexhep Qosja! Your illustrious name is the name of honour! Slander and [corrupt/unclear] are forever anonymous. A noble person will forget the names of shame. And yet, scripta manent. History is an all-encompassing and supreme memory. A person is wary of History, but not of slander. Death is acceptable to a person, but it is not acceptable not to be a human being. Born an Albanian in the first half of the century, we dare to have you called an Albanian at the end of the century. But why, I wonder? Insults are the great reasons for those who have no reason (Servante). Your exemplary creative and intellectual life is always greater than your age. At the beginning of the third millennium, Albania’s anguish is also your anguish. You, the fearless herald of Hope, are even denied your identity. Thus, paradoxically, you have found yourself between two terrible, polemical anathemas. And I remembered the sadism described in Mirbeau’s “The Torture Garden,” as well as this writer’s unforgettable saying: “I prefer to be a dead lion rather than a living dog.” The First Anathema Is the spirit of the Albanian nation the Forbidden Tree? (“You must not eat the fruit of that tree. Otherwise, you will be condemned to death for it,” Genesis, 2:17.) The spirit of the nation is everything to you, as it is to every true Albanian. The spirit of the nation is very ancient; what matters most is not to say that it was and is, but also that it will be. The present mediates between the past and the future. Yet every future becomes present and past; therefore, in this triumvirate of time, the attributes of the future are always experienced. Time is potentially only future. From this point of view, taken far beyond current history, we are accountable before … The First Anathema is a conceptual platform worthy of cannibals, directed against Albanians. Let us not forget that such a savage, pseudo-secular and political mythology has weighed on the mindsets and consciousness of Balkan and European peoples, spreading the most absurd prejudices and whims. This has not been stated clearly in the text of the-? ... But precisely at this time, communicable with the mind-? ... mja mediated between the past and the future. But every future becomes present and past; thus, point of view, we are more responsible before the history that is coming than before present-day history. This is the grand determination of history, its indelible philosophy. Dear Qosja, you have understood this in essence. The spirit of the nation is within you and possesses every fiber of your being. It goes without saying that you will have to expect every possible public condemnation, and even the unforeseeable ones. First of all, this will be done, as it has been done, by the enemies of the Albanian nation. They have attacked our nation in an unbelievable crusade to deny it entirely. This denial has been carried out by every means and method, to such an extent that in humanity’s Martyrology the Albanian nation stands out right from the beginning—not merely because its name starts with the letter “A” in the alphabetical order. This is our history, which is deeply painful but also deeply glorious, because we have survived for more than merely having drawn breath. I know of no other nation in the world for which there exists a theory of denial and destruction carried through to the very end. Foreign chauvinists, among whom Serbian chauvinism stands out, have published books, elaborate works, academic studies, etc., in which they have outlined a theory for destroying the Albanian nation in the form of a strange Albanophobia— ...of the Albanian nation have fought with particular dignity to affirm the natural, historical, and cultural right of the Albanian nation, overturning every theory of its destruction or self-destruction. which the Lilliputians hurl their Lilliputian thunderbolts. Holding the books you have written in high regard, I see the anti-Albanian inquisitors writhing; and fall to pieces. In this one of the most repugnant struggles the nation stands are your most determined enemies. Just as Serbian chauvinists have carried out the most extensive and unbelievable attacks most extreme calumnies, synthesized in First and manifold Anathema against you. In a dishonorable manner, Albanian Television does not broadcast this letter; instead, it broadcast only the forceful reply to the anonymity that existed at the beginning of a “higher-ranking” person and another of a “lower-ranking” one. But the conventional meaning of the epithets “high-ranking” and “low-ranking” is easily understood, without any effort. Television is the foremost source of information, irreplaceable by anyone. Even the newspaper with the largest circulation is powerless in comparison with television. Thus I am convinced that Albanian public opinion was unable to be informed freely and (Continued on page 9) (Continued on page 4) (Continued on page 9)

…your name, in order to bring you down when it was no longer useful. This is as shameful as it is ominous. At a press conference, President Berisha called you “romantic” and not “realistic.” Up to that point, there is nothing wrong. The President has the right to state his opinion publicly, just as every ordinary Albanian has the right to do, and to be free in thought. But the presidential label was a euphemism! In an open letter to President Berisha, you defended three principal concepts relating to the Albanian national question. That is your right. In a Kafkaesque metaphor, adventurers translated your “romanticism” into “enemy.” From a great man of the nation, you became a Herostratus?! Suddenly, in the information sphere, there was “a change in the weather”; sulphurous thunder and lightning were felt. The President’s Cabinet responded to you (what a Jupiterian flash!) through an anonymous spokesperson. Berisha did not consider it appropriate, or a matter of dignity, to answer you himself—that is, to address Qosja directly. Why? The spokesperson commented that Qosja was suggesting acts of terrorism by accusing the so-called revolutionary movements of carrying out terrorist activity based on Marxist-Leninist platforms in various parts of Europe … terrorist methods used by the Basque, Irish or Corsican movements, etc. “We hope this was a moment of despair for Mr Qosja,” and so on. Immediately after this public, condescending schoolroom lecture, the PD press and other “Yellow press” leaflets hurriedly published derivative articles, among the most repulsive and filthy, operating through the machinery of printing and the machinery of [unclear]. The sclerotic factotum of communism and, at the same time, anti-communism, alias “kriesia frankeshta­jë,” Bujar Hoxha, “forged”…

FROM THE COURTROOM SEASON Yesterday the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Albania, composed of 9 members and chaired by its chairman, Mr Rustem Gjata, examined the matter of bypassing the list of members of the People’s Assembly. As has been reported, on August 25, 1992, the People’s Assembly, through an agreement of the Democratic Party, decided to deny the next candidates on the Democratic Party’s multi-name electoral list the right to take up a parliamentary mandate, giving it instead to other individuals and thus bypassing the list. The members of parliament in question are Mira Kacni, Napolon Roshi and Arben Lika, who took the places of the candidates Preç Zogaj, Shahin Kadare and Arben Demeti. In connection with this matter, the parliamentary group of the Socialist Party, considering this act of parliament unlawful, submitted a request to the Constitutional Court on 4.1.1992 to declare this decision of the People’s Assembly unconstitutional. A similar request had also been made to the Constitutional Court by the three candidates on the list, Preç Zogaj, Arben Demeti and Shahin Kadare. It was submitted twice, but independently. The Constitutional Court decided to consider their requests together as one case, although they have the same subject. Yesterday, the opposing party presented its legal arguments before the Constitutional Court in support of its decision. At the same time, it argued that the decision of the People’s Assembly was unconstitutional... No. 7556, dated 4.2.1992, on elections to the People’s Assembly, states: A deputy’s mandate ends before its expiry: when the deputy resigns; when the deputy is declared guilty by a final court judgment of committing a crime; when the deputy refuses to take the oath in accordance with the requirements set out in the regulations of the People’s Assembly; or when the deputy dies. The representative of the three former parliamentary candidates, Spartak Ngjela, in arguing their request, referred to Article 4 of Law No. 7491, “On the Main Constitutional Provisions,” which states: “The Republic of Albania recognises and guarantees the fundamental human rights and freedoms and the rights of national minorities, as accepted in international documents.” In this case, he said, the three persons in question had been denied the right to be elected to the highest body of state power. After hearing the arguments of all the parties, as well as the questions put to them by members of the court and their answers, the Constitutional Court decided to consider the examination of this case concluded and to announce its decision next Saturday. It is striking that almost 6 months and three months have passed between the People’s Assembly’s decision to distribute the seats and the date on which the Socialist Party parliamentary group submitted its request to the Constitutional Court, demonstrating the Court’s delay in making a decision on this matter. Korean | “Zëri i popullit”

Yesterday evening, at the “21 Dhjetori” intersection in Tirana, something unexpected happened. Some bandits (about 4 people) stopped a car, seeking to abduct a person who, apparently, had “gotten on their nerves.” When the driver tried to get away, they pulled out pistols and fired at the car. The people nearby were alarmed, but fortunately nothing bad happened. The police who gathered there did not intervene. In fact, one of them hid. A. Ç.

Yesterday television announced a government decision to increase taxes. The information was quite simple, as if it concerned another planet. It was accompanied only by the clear emphasis: “for the benefit of the State Budget.” Nevertheless, wherever this increase is felt, it is a burden whose cost will be brought to our table by prices.