Corruption thrives among those who control licenses and customs, enterprises and prices, scholarships and jobs, visas and privatization boards. Corruption makes “marriages” with those in power, not with the poor person who has nothing in their hands. Corruption thrives among those who control licenses and customs, enterprises and prices, scholarships and jobs, visas and privatization boards. Corruption makes “marriages” with those in power, not with the poor person who has nothing in their hands. The fight against corruption was used with great success to entrench communism. People spoke of hundreds of tons of gold, money deposited in Switzerland, luxurious villas, costly receptions and send-offs, treatment abroad, while indignant crowds destroyed the “provisions” in front of them. Only two years have passed, and the former bloc leaders are expected to be suspected, but abroad people speak more about today’s corruption, which is flourishing at every level. The trading of companies and licenses, the resale of state goods and the property of former cooperatives and farms; corruption at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in personnel policy, at customs, in privatization agencies, in the agriculture directorate, in bank branches... It makes your head spin... Even where you would least expect it, in sectors once considered untouchable, corruption flourishes and becomes more corrosive: in justice and healthcare. Doctors are paid for operations in state operating rooms using state equipment; medicines are kept in stock while other medicines are sold at high prices. Thousands of people provide such facts, no matter how faithfully Mr. Tritan Shehu rattles off his words like a machine gun. There is talk of corruption in the army. Trading in military-industry materials is more profitable. One company managed, on one occasion and outside the cashier’s window, to hand over 1 million 300 thousand dollars, confusing it with 10 thousand dollars in change. The warehouses have no weapons, but there are weapons in people’s homes; merchants privately possess millions of dynamite detonators. Where are the hundreds of tons of calamines, the artillery shells, the copper and bronze scrap?!... Let the state audit prove it. There is corruption in culture: with passports and artists’ and ensembles’ visas. Remember, selling just one such visa brings in a million. But how many such sales take place every day? We are not even talking about corruption at customs and in privatization, where you hear of sums reaching... [text continues beyond the image boundary] So the others are all lazy and ignorant?! The facts overwhelm you and don’t let you say anything about the problem. Corruption is linked to power. It depends on the level of responsibility you have in the state apparatus. You may be a warehouse keeper, customs officer, director, policeman, or minister, and do your job honestly or become compromised. In other words, it depends on what you control and how you use it. The extent of corruption depends on the strength of the laws. As we know, there is no constitution now, let alone what has become of the laws that derive from it. That is why speculations have time to flourish. Corruption depends on the level of conscience. As is well known, this is called “naltivet,” an anachronism, and above all else there has emerged a thirst for profit, greed, and cynicism. The fight against corruption depends on the level of oversight. Where has anyone ever seen the financial police, the section for inspection and audit, answer to the Ministry of Finance and personally to Genc Ruli? Precisely where the center of corruption may appear—in licenses, excise duties, prices, customs—the person who can ruin you is the one doing the inspection. This is what they call being both master and whip. Corruption is a burnt card when it is used along party lines. A thief or compromised person can be a democrat, a socialist, a republican, or a Ballist. It is not tied to parties, nor even to social systems. There is corruption in America and in Italy too. We need only remember Watergate, the Italian tanks, beside which John Magow is nothing; the Arsidi scandal, the theft of the Savings Bank; the extradition of Hajdin Sejdia; Anxhak’s escape... The danger of corruption is evident to everyone. These days I met up with a musician friend. I had dismissed him from his job because “he had zealously served the Party of Labour.” Corruption came up. “We have all,” he said quite sincerely, “become involved in the confessions, [text continues beyond the image boundary] ... in a high-pressure environment, on the verge of melting down. Let the section be 1 millimeter or 1 meter; the temperature makes you malleable. ‘Look at me,’ he continued, ‘you flatter me when you call me a composer, a creator, but I broker deals in glass and soap; if I get the chance, I’ll broker deals in drugs and weapons. I’ll try to find a way to make a living...’ The market economy has been understood as an organized struggle to make a profit, where everything starts with oneself. Whoever has something to sell, starting with power and a job, naturally comes out ahead. It must be acknowledged that using the corruption card in the fight against socialism, now that it is out of power, is definitively a burnt card. Foreign scriptwriters and films of this kind, however they edit them, are wasting their time, since we know the scenes, actors, and extras in today’s state. SEDAT BRAJA Children, artillery shell casings, scraps of cop-per and bronze[?]!… Let the state inspection prove it. Corruption in culture: with passports, visas for artists and ensembles. Don’t forget, just the sale of of these are issued every day? We are not talking about corruption in customs or on the privatization boards, where you hear about kickback sums that seem unbelievable. You want evidence? It is enough to look at the appearance of some of today’s officials, see the cars they have bought, the restaurants where they eat, the cigarettes they smoke—not to mention the credit cards the foreign press has written about—and everyone understands that these things cannot be paid for with salaries, not in two years, nor even in an entire lifetime. No matter how much he clears his throat and strikes leadership poses, Eduard Selami is said by everyone to be building a luxury apartment with three rooms and a kitchen behind the historical museum, even though he is a bachelor. The Tirana Municipality, despite hiding it, knows the lists of today’s MPs and officials well: although they have been given homes, they have also «bought» plots of land. The state itself, when it auctions hotels and factories costing millions, knows that they cannot be bought with salary money. How did these people become rich within two years—

- “Coincidences” of Albanian democracy - What did not happen during nearly three and a half years of political pluralism in Albania happened the day before yesterday at the Tirana court. “What a minute brings, a year does not,” as the people say. And the minute of Monday recorded the first sentence for agitation and propaganda during this brief period of democracy. Such is one way to assess the court’s decision to sentence the chairman of an opposition party to six months’ imprisonment. In truth, the court’s decision is legally “well stitched together.” It is based on laws, articles and paragraphs of a criminal code from the communist era. Even the communist regime that issued this law can hardly ever have used it. Of course, the communist regime had Article 55 on agitation and propaganda against the people’s power to liquidate its political opponents. That is why it did not need Article 118. Meanwhile, today’s government, which does not have Article 55, turns in the same way to Article 118: “Insulting a high state official.” The state has laws, courts and articles; the articles have paragraphs. This was stated by Migjeni in a sketch entitled “The Forbidden Apple,” in the thirties of this century. Today, sixty years later, all we can do is recall this expression, while also remembering Migjeni’s time. The sentencing of Hajdet Begiri took place only two days after Milosheviç issued a decree freeing the Serbian opposition leader Vuk Drashkoviç. This may be a coincidence. But this fact does not stop me from placing the events side by side, just as they actually happened. Because many things are happening in our country “by coincidence,” and we do not know how to connect these “coincidences.” “By coincidence,” an Albanian officer was killed at the border with Macedonia on the very days when relations with Greece began to freeze. “By coincidence,” a Greek priest was expelled from Albania two days before the price of bread in Albania was increased tenfold. “By coincidence,” quite “by coincidence,” Albanian official propaganda used the vocabulary of a declared war with Greece. “By coincidence,” these events are taking place while the Albanian Parliament is crippled because three parties are boycotting it. And all these “coincidences” are happening as the world is “washing its hands” of the tragedy in Bosnia and, having saved the Balkans, three hundred American rescuers are arriving in Macedonia. All this, then, is happening “as if by coincidence.” That the Tirana court’s decision to sentence a party chairman is completely absurd from a legal point of view is not at all difficult to prove. The seams have been stitched so crudely that the threads are easy to see. The prosecutor takes the initiative to defend the president’s prestige. Wonderful indeed, this is democracy. Dignity must be defended. But it is worth asking: How often has the prosecutor taken such initiatives to defend the trampled dignity of the citizens of his republic? Because it is a fact that during this brief period of pluralism, human dignity has been violated many times. Has the prosecutor never read the newspapers? If he has not read them (that is his business), at least he could have heard in Parliament how rivers of insults and slander, some of the most unheard-of ever, are poured out. Why did the prosecutor not take the initiative? Where has he been until now? If he has never listened to Parliament either (that too is his business), at least he could have seen on one of the Albanian television news broadcasts the unlawful action organized in Shkodër, directed not against an individual but against a political party that has half the electorate in Albania. Could the prosecutor not read those slogans and see what they said about a member of Parliament and a party chairman? There were also eight other members of Parliament with him, including the Deputy Speaker of the People’s Assembly, who were unlawfully prevented from carrying out their lawful activities. Where was our esteemed prosecutor? Did these people not have dignity to defend, and did Article 118 not apply to them? All this, and a thousand times more, shows that the prosecutor’s “initiative” is not the prosecutor’s initiative, but that of the person who directs him. It is the wish of the person who has brought Albanian justice to a “zero” state through threats, blackmail and pressure to take away the bread of its children. It is the initiative of those who want to perpetuate their power through fear. It is the initiative of those who call the lawful unlawful and the unlawful lawful. It is the initiative of those who have taken into their own hands all the “initiatives” of the people’s power in our country. The only irony will be if the judge and prosecutor are left to sign the sentence against a party chairman in a pluralist system. (Pity them.) Meanwhile, the “honor” may go to those who (it would not be surprising) will take the “initiative” to release the convicted man. The sentencing of the chairman of PUKSH is a sentence against free speech in Albania. It is an attack on freedom of speech under the conditions of a democracy that we pretend to be building! Idajet Beqiri is the scapegoat, meant to frighten all the “disobedient” into coming to their senses. By this act, today’s government tells them: “Shut your mouths; you’ve talked enough. I still have the laws, and I’ll put you in prison.” And this logic has been evident for some time. As soon as the Socialist Party demanded the government’s resignation, its chairman was accused of corruption. Was Fatos Nano the first? No, before him there were Frrok Çupi, Gramoz Pashko, Neritan Ceka; Prec Zogaj, Maksim Haxhia; the motionists, as well as those who show something but are enjoying assistance because of their disobedience. Idajet Beqiri may have crossed the line of disobedience further and suffered the consequences. But we do not know what answer our esteemed prosecutor could give if asked why he did not take the initiative to defend the president’s dignity when Sali Berisha, then leader of the PD, accused Ramiz Alia of being a Serbian agent. Why did the very guardian of the defense of citizens not take the initiative? And when this same Sali Berisha, now President of the Republic, accused the motionists of being agents of the State Security? Why does this prosecutor not take the initiative when the president calls the unlawful actions in Shkodër lawful? There is no answer, because our prosecutor is not free. (Continued on page 4) the price of bread in Albania. «By chance», quite «by chance», Albanian official propaganda used the vocabulary of a war declared against Greece. «By chance», these events are happening at a time when the Albanian Parliament is paralyzed because of the boycott by three parties. And all of this… All of this, and a pattern that once again goes beyond all this, but that of the person who directs the prosecutor. Albanian justice to a «zero» state through threats. (Continued on page 4)

This is the second time that aid for poor families has arrived in our village of Arapaj, in the Durrës district. But do families in truly difficult economic circumstances actually receive this aid? The people best placed to answer are the commune chairman, Mr. Gëzim Copa, and the village headman, Mr. Besnik Abdyl. The commune chairman distributed the aid at the wine cellar’s interclub, issuing authorizations to those who had earlier forcibly taken livestock or a brick house when the cooperative’s buildings were demolished. In addition, those who received aid also have other sources of income from family members employed elsewhere and from relatives working abroad. Other people should have received the aid, not them. There are truly poor villagers in our village, such as Bajram Kacmoli and Ymer Kacimoli, each with 10 unemployed family members, but nobody gave them any assistance. Why not help villagers who have little land, have medical certificates, and have many children? But enough of these remarks about the commune chairman and the village headman. They do as they please and answer to no one. The problems these two people have caused in the village are not few or isolated; the time will come when the villagers themselves will testify to their heartlessness and lack of conscience. Democracy means justice, not acting the way you do, gentlemen. We demand that the project be reviewed again. SELIM BREGU

The director of the State Archive, Luan Malttezi, and an employee of the institution, Nevila Nika, reportedly told BBS in Albanian, tried to leave Albania with a large quantity of documents. These secret materials, around 2,500 pages, mainly belong to the secret archives of the former Communist Party from 1942, 1943 and 1944, including materials from the Italian embassy that it had been unable to withdraw, as well as other documents. The incident occurred yesterday, but according to some information, they managed to leave Albania the day before yesterday. “It has not yet been clarified whether they managed to take the documents in question when they left. There is still no official confirmation as to whether this was corruption or, as we might call it, ‘the large-scale theft of history.’”

Who should “calculate the realities,” Mr. President? Prejudices are in the head of the state ... Who should “calculate the realities,” Mr. President? Prejudices are in the head of the state ... The euphoria of last year’s March elections still fuels the intolerance and political jealousy of today’s rulers. This attitude is not a whim of this summer season; it prevailed before as well, and has led the majority to respond to every opposition alternative with a storm of abuse. According to the majority, in these circumstances it had, and still has, the backing of 60 or 70 percent of the former electorate, which has not broken away or split off, and which is supported by the winds of “wrongheaded policies,” as they keep repeating, clinging to the shoulders of the path of migration. They say the ostrich hides its head in the sand from its opponents, while the PD, for the first time, dresses itself in the euphoria of “March.” We should not take this as a lack of feeling on their part. On the contrary, they feel it more deeply: this time of dictatorship, this burden on the mind and on interests? ... The interests behind this attitude, in the interest of the press, President Berisha, at one moment ...

On 22 February, the meeting and discussion said that “political parties must calculate the realities.” Of course, everyone must calculate the realities, because otherwise they will be left behind. And if this is not taken as something said in vain, but as a wise word from the President, the question arises: do the ruling party and government calculate the realities? Let us recall the recent fact that in the local elections, after four months of PD rule, the ruling party split the vote, so to speak, about evenly with the opposition. Why? Out of compassion for the PS? Certainly not, but because people who had entered the difficult path of transition saw an incapable leadership team at their head; because they felt the heavy blows of the reform whip; because they were driven into the streets by poverty and exposed to revenge and reprisal; because they sensed the demagoguery of the promises made by those in power; because they understood their dishonesty in judging “happiness”; because they saw their intolerance of every alternative opinion. In short, some of them were disappointed. Given the message sent by the local elections about the policy being pursued, did this result influence the ruling party to correct anything on its part? Not at all. Having already filled the central administration with its own people, the party-state filled the local administrations with its own partisan loyalists ... And the “March” euphoria unlawfully blocked local governments elected by the people’s will, intensified the blows of the reform whip, driving people into the streets; after raising the price of bread last summer, this summer it raised it fivefold by 2 ...; it increased inhumane attacks on political opponents, approved anti-democratic and unconstitutional laws, openly fraternized with collaborators of fascism and killers of ordinary people, paralyzed the economy and turned a people into refugees ...

Meeting with representatives of local government - Prof. Sabit Brokaj, a member of the PS Presidium, attended. Last week, the Socialist Party Committee of the Vlorë district organized a working meeting with its representatives in local government. The aim of the meeting was to improve the effectiveness of local governance. Despite the deliberate obstruction that the central government continues to impose on local government, representatives of the Socialist Party are fully committed to solving people’s problems and difficulties. Our representatives in local government, whether they form a majority or are in the minority, have set out a clear platform for governing. Applying the law and committing themselves to solving people’s problems are the two basic directions of their daily work. The proper functioning of local government continues to be hindered by a lack of revenue and by the absence of a complete budget in the broad sense of the word. The division of property between the commune, municipality and district has still not been completed, and consequently the expected revenues from the use of pastures, stone, timber and water resources are not being secured. The sooner this situation ends through the passage of laws, such as the law on pastures and other properties, the sooner local government will become effective through the establishment of its own budget. At the meeting, particular attention was paid to the difficulties faced by the farming population in coping with ... (Continued on page 2)

Private press agencies and persons authorized by the Steering Committee of the Socialist Party in the districts who distribute the newspaper «Zëri i popullit» are to report to the Administration during the month of July with the relevant documents, in order to register the newspapers added up to 10 July 1993. The Editorial Board.