THE DEMANDS OF THE ELECTRIC POWER STRIKERS WILL BE SETTLED IN COURT As we reported in previous issues of the newspaper, the independent trade union of the electric power system has announced the start of a general strike. Whether the strike will continue until the entire Albanian electric power system is boycotted—that is, until Albania is left without electricity—will be decided only in the courtroom. Two sides will face each other there: the general strike committee, defending its four demands, and the other side, the employer, namely the state party, the governing board of the electric power system. The trial will take place in Tirana. The case went to court because the stri- the right, as they put it, that the law grants them but the government does not give them. To resolve their four demands, the strikers have contacted Deputy Prime Minister K. Plaku, Minister of Mineral and Energy Resources Mr. Xhaja, and Minister of Economy and Finance Mr. Ruli. We add that the strikers’ demands have been deemed justified by the President of the Republic. One of the workers’ main demands is the signing of employment contracts, for which there is a specific law approved by the Albanian Parliament. The strikers insist strongly on this point because of the uncertainty the future may hold for them.

At the Party’s headquarters of the General Steering Committee, Socialist Party Chairman Fatos Nano and MPs Maqo Lakrori and Kristaq Islami held a meeting with Messrs. M Rolet and J. Keiles, representatives of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, based in Washington. The American guests were interested in the SP’s views on the current development of the political situation in our country and also asked for suggestions about specific sectors where their institutions could contribute to enriching democratic culture. SP Chairman Fatos Nano thanked the guests for their interest and emphasized the great value of the experience of countries with developed democracies for a country like ours, which is carrying out its transition in a Balkan atmosphere and tradition burdened by ethnic and ideological conflicts and major shortcomings in pluralist culture. After the dictatorship was overthrown here, he said, particular importance was attached to creating democratic institutions and the relevant legal framework. But in this process we encounter intolerance, black-and-white judgments and actions. The results of the votes of March 31, 1991, and March 22, 1992, were also significantly determined by passions: the former by the desire to defend the past, the latter by the desire to test a new alternative. In neither case did we have the chance in the respective parliament to create the balances necessary for stable cooperation among all political forces. On July 26, 1992, the people, by voting around 50 percent for the Socialists, sent politicians a message of cooperation and balance. We consider cooperation a necessity, especially during the transition period. Unfortunately, however, the climate of intolerance, which comes mainly from the majority and its leadership in the DP and Parliament, has led to the sidelining of most of the intellectual potential our country has, in all parties and beyond them. The purges of Socialists and other opposition members under Article 24-1 are also an expression of this intolerance; under it, not only are political critics dismissed from their jobs, but individuals are even denied the elementary right to appeal to the courts. The problems in the economy remain monumental; nevertheless, to date the government continues to present no kind of economic program for discussion and approval in Parliament. Instead of taking planned measures at the macro- and microeconomic levels to reactivate productive capacity and carry out serious reform, many important economic activities are being shut down by administrative decisions. Meanwhile, while prices have risen tenfold compared with wages, which have risen only three or four times, half the country’s active workforce is unemployed, receiving assistance at the level of impoverishing social aid. We Socialists support the ownership of all Albanians, and, in accordance with laws that take into account the sectors to be privatized, their valuation should be completed and shares distributed through securities to every citizen over the age of 16. Instead, around 500 small and medium-sized enterprises are being privatized without a law. Moreover, this process is being carried out by privatization boards formed not with representatives of local government elected by the people, but with people appointed by the center; even representatives of public order and SHIK have been included. The laws passed in Parliament on the restitution and compensation of property, based on two principles—one for the city and another for the countryside—have created conflicts among former owners themselves, between former owners and new owners, and between the minority who own property and the majority who possess no property at all. These contradictions are further exacerbated by conflicts among lobbies and the spread of nepotism at every level of the administration. A not insignificant number of yesterday’s former privileged people, having joined the DP and even presenting themselves as persecuted, have left the real persecuted with nothing—those who suffered injustice. In this process, where revanchism is also present, expressed not only through individuals’ revenge against Socialists and the opposition in general but also increasingly institutionalized through the appointment of judges trained in (continued on page 4)

- The workers insistently demand a share of the factory’s profits, which they have not received for 9 months - Yesterday morning, about 860 workers at the shoe factory organized a two-hour strike, the first signal after many efforts by the unions and the workers themselves to receive the profits generated by the factory under the contracts signed. The enterprise’s administration and the representative of the Italian firm apparently have not been interested in sharing these profits. In this context, indignant at the dismissive attitude, the workers tried to send the first signal, which could be followed by an ongoing strike if the problem is not resolved. Yesterday at midday the union chairmen had gathered to consider further action. Nevertheless, the workers who had started work displayed marked dissatisfaction, and it is not known what measures and pressures might follow against the representative of the Italian firm and the administration.

While «Kruna» breaks into the market, the Tirana beer factory is forced to put another contingent of workers on assistance. The Tirana beer production factory (proof that beer was once produced locally), located on the outskirts of the city, is at risk of bankruptcy as a result of its difficult financial situation. Last week a new contingent of workers was put on assistance. A series of causes and factors threaten this factory, the only one in the country with its capacity (there is also a factory in Korçë, with one-third to one-third of its capacity) . A series of causes are driving the workers away from the enterprise: deliberately or otherwise. The factory is supposed to start operating, the raw materials are secured, the technical and technological parameters are checked, work begins, and suddenly, quite by chance, the water supply is cut off by the waterworks from 8:00 to 12:00. The technological process is disrupted and work stops. After efforts and more efforts, water finally comes from the waterworks (and the factory even has to pay for the quantities of water stolen from the factory, including through the pipes supplying the factory), and work begins. In the morning, the water is cut off again. This time the water is cut off for hours, [unclear fragment] by the waterworks director. The boiler supplying the factory with steam breaks down. Steam prices rise without end, almost every month. And the result is that the boiler workers (the boiler used to be an annex of the factory but is now independent) have received bonuses three times, while the workers at the beer factory are out of work. And yet production continues, although as a result of “dumping” and “competition,” output has fallen drastically from 5,000–6,000 crates a day to 300–400 crates a week. As if the cost consequences of water and steam were not enough, there is also an excise duty of 30 percent, later raised to 40 percent, because beer was recently reclassified from a soft drink as an alcoholic beverage. That is where the discrimination against domestic beer ends. «Kruna» pays 40 percent excise, and domestic beer pays 40 percent too. That is what a good-neighbor policy means. But apparently it does not end there. There was a sales outlet in Shkodër that consumed a considerable quantity of the factory’s production, at a price of 8 new lekë, matching the market price of 8 new lekë. But that outlet existed in the past, because quite by chance the financial police shut it down, since domestic beer was not preferred by sales outlets competing with it!!! And there is more. The factory sends workers to sell the beer it produces at various outlets, with permission from the municipality. But the police are doing their duty. In record time they shut everything down with fines and the convenient excuse that the beer is substandard, even though it is accompanied by proper analysis sheets. Well, that is what they call competition. And then they say that the laws of the market economy do not operate in Albania. No, gentlemen, they do. Because these laws operate, water prices go up; because these laws operate, steam prices go up; because these laws operate, tariffs are high; and naturally, because these laws operate together with the economic policy that the Albanian government always pursues, some workers receive 2,000 new lekë in wages, others are put on assistance, and what is most important, as we wish by the million, some regardless of the package. ERION BRAÇE

The day before yesterday, Health Minister T. Shehu gave Parliament the “good news” that another case of AIDS had been discovered. Now that this “disease of civilization” has entered Albania, it is no great surprise that this second case might have been the fortieth. What matters is the fact that the second infected person is also a blood donor. Since blood donors are monitored by the health service more closely than the rest of the population, logic suggests that the number of AIDS patients in our country must be much higher. The minister pointed out that screening among blood donors has so far been carried out to the extent of 60 percent. The cost of conducting tests on a single person is 70 dollars. The fact that both infected people identified so far are blood donors, combined with the state’s limited ability to conduct ongoing examinations of blood donors, makes the use of blood by those in need uncertain when a transfusion is required. This means that, to achieve a high level of safety, we must move from paid blood donation to voluntary blood donation. This practice is followed today almost all over the world. B. S

London 16,000 police officers protest in London against the government’s reform of their institution As news agencies report, on July 20, 16,000 police officers held a protest demonstration in London against the measures in the United Kingdom Government’s reform of their institution. Such news will make our reform-minded government officials break out in a cold sweat when they think about the consequences their reform has brought to the police force, to SHIK, or to the entire structure of the Army. But, since our government officials—against [cut-off fragment] DEPUTIES [cut-off fragment] supplies steam to the brick factory. Steam prices rise endlessly, almost every month. As a result, the boiler-room workers (which used to be an annex of the factory and workers at the brewery a result of “lower prices” and “competition,” production crates a week. But as if the consequences of the cost an excise tax of 30 percent, which later becomes 40 percent as a result of beer recently being reclassified from a refreshing drink to an alcoholic beverage. This is where the discrimination against domestic beer ends. A 40 percent excise tax for “Kruna”—and a 40 percent excise tax for domestic beer, too. That is what a good-neighbor policy means. But it is not meant to end there. There was a point of sale in Shkodër that consumed a considerable amount lek per unit, the market price being 8 new lek. But that police…

From the PD’s boxing ring! From a source who did not wish to be identified, we learn that some time ago a brief but highly spectacular and fierce duel took place in Berat between PD deputy Afërdita Zere and Mr. Zdrava, head of personnel in the Public Order Department in Berat. An angry out- [cut-off fragment] …calmly replied to her: “If my family supposedly has a security-service spy (according to you), do you know that your family has five?” After that, Zere shut her mouth—in other words, she was knocked down. That is all the source quotes. We ask: if this really happened like this, who could have witnessed the words? Zere, who sits in Parliament and in the Guard, or Zdrava, head of personnel in the Public Order Department? [cut-off fragment] Shiku-Shiki Java

— The archive theft scandal apparently does not concern the Attorney General of the Republic. The theft of the archive by Luan Malltezi and Nevila Nika rightly drew the attention of the entire public and rightly worried honest people, since we are dealing with the blatant theft of property of immeasurable and irreplaceable value. Yet, in contrast with this concern, the competent state authorities remain silent. Why?… On July 21, we went to the General Prosecutor’s Office to meet the Attorney General. However, we did not find him. According to his secretary, he is in the office, but cannot see us because he is busy with some work; once he finishes, he has a meeting with the President of the Republic. As we were unable to speak with him, we wished him a speedy rest, but are addressing him publicly about the issue that concerns us: Mr. Prosecutor, the case of the archive theft has now become public. Do you think there are grounds for opening a criminal case, even without a formal complaint, in order to uphold the law—as was done, without dignity, by the President, but at the prosecutor’s own initiative, in the case of Mr. Idajet Beqiri? If you are tired again, you may simply not answer. Otherwise, either send your written reply to the editorial office, or call 200-77 and we will come to the Prosecutor’s Office to collect your answer. THE EDITORIAL STAFF

BOTH PATIENTS