TODAY IN VLORË: The Chairman of the SP, Fatos Nano, and MPs Shaqir Vukaj, Namik Dokle, Gramoz Ruçi, Kastriot Islami, Sabit Brokaj, Ethem Ruka, Ermelinda Meksi, Musa Ulqini took part. The people and workers of Vlorë protest against political revanchism, unemployment and rising prices, corruption among those in power, the blockage of local government, and manipulation by RTV. Once again, massive support for the Socialist Party is forcefully expressed, along with the belief that it is the political force that guarantees true democracy. The Vlorë rally once again demonstrated the growing authority of the SP in the eyes of the people. Faced with them, frightened officials have only one shameful option left—police violence, which was not spared in Vlorë either. READ ABOUT ALL THIS TOMORROW IN «VOICE OF THE PEOPLE»

The public has by now learned through the newspaper of the tragic killing of the 20-year-old Romeo Gace, a resident of our neighborhood 18. We are writing about the protest by the residents of our neighborhood, who were deeply indignant after the misinformation about this incident given by the public order spokesman on the 8 p.m. television news. The defamatory accusation made against our boy, portraying him as a thief and a sadist and irresponsibly claiming that he had a knife in his hands, could not fail to outrage anyone who considers themselves a free and honest citizen. On the very night this grave incident was reported, we contacted the public order officials and asked for a correction. In a direct telephone conversation with resident Kiço Qafëzezi, in the presence of a group of neighborhood representatives, the deputy minister of public order promised that an accurate announcement would be made on radio and television within 2–3 days. But no! The correction was made only last night. What are we to make of this silence, when the investigator handling the case himself states in the letter sent to the family and published in the newspaper of 25 May that there is no evidence incriminating your son— - Democracy is born and develops where truth shines in the sunlight - Who is responsible for the killing of the young Romeo Gace, gentlemen of the Ministry of Public Order? Romeo, for appropriating state property or anyone else’s property, and that our investigation has now established that your son had no knife and did not threaten any police officer at the time of the incident? Who is responsible for giving that false information on state television, and who has the duty to clear the way for the truth? By keeping silent, people are not fooled; the residents of our neighborhood 18, who knew the victim, the young Romeo Gace, personally and truly experienced that tragic event, cannot be deceived. It was precisely our insistence on telling the truth that led us to request a meeting with the MP for the area, Mr. Bari Bregu. Unfortunately, and to his shame, he did not deign to meet with his constituents. We want democracy, we want the rule of law, we want to live as free citizens, and we want everyone’s life to be protected. So we must all contribute to democracy, and democracy begins and develops where there is genuine, not merely formal, respect for the world to see, for human freedoms and rights; where truth shines in the sunlight, not lies.

HUNGER STRIKE IN PRISHTINË — According to telephone conversations with Prishtinë and other information HUNGER STRIKE IN PRISHTINË For freedom of speech, against the total blackout of information in Albanian — According to telephone conversations with Prishtinë and other information 250 journalists and writers join the hunger strike of resistance fighter Adem Demaçi. The President of the European Parliament undertakes to organize a pan-European action until the strike’s demands are implemented. Solidarity in Kosovo, Europe and America; the world’s largest agencies report on it, as do «Le monde» and other newspapers; only the Greater-Serbian press remains silent — Hunger strikers say: Ali Podrimja: — Tragedy follows us like a shadow... At this moment, our effort follows a slap in the face once again from Europe, which, in a theatre of the absurd, takes part in the Balkan tragedy without batting an eyelid. Zenun Çelaj: — I joined Uncle Adem in the hunger strike for freedom of speech, to defend freedom of speech in Albanian, exhausted and tormented, insulted and humiliated so inhumanely by this regime, which has left civilization somewhere beyond the Carpathians. The Press Palace stands in the middle of Prishtinë. They watch it from every side. It is the first to feel the windows shake when military aircraft take off from Sllova airfield, fly threateningly over Prishtinë, and then head for Bosnia. Journalists are the ones who feel the occupier’s violence every day. On the seventh floor of the Press Palace, where the «Zëri» editorial office is, in the large lounge divided by partitions. It is now five days since the writer, human-rights fighter, symbol of resistance and editor-in-chief of «Zëri», Kosovo’s Demaci, began his hunger strike. Immediately after him, 250 other journalists and writers also went on strike. With the five demands they have presented, they are prepared to make sacrifices to halt the onset of the total information terror in the Albanian language that is engulfing all of Kosovo. At first, the Serbs in the publishing enterprise changed only its name from «Rilindja» to «Guacanica». Now everything has been turned into Serbian property under the name «Panorama». This will also be the end of the few remaining Albanian-language newspaper pages published in Prishtinë! More darkness means more terror. The strike goes on. It is nearing 100 hours. And Faqit Hima monitors the health of the strikers as Demaci calms down, interru- Tragedy follows us like a shadow... down, interrup- the world’s largest, write “Le Monde” and other newspapers, while the Serbian nationalist press remains silent— Hunger strikers declare: Albi Podrimja: “Tragedy is pursuing us” The Albanian language. Tired and worn out, insulted and humiliated in every human way Carpathians. Visits from people. The doctor himself must be the familiar speaker on Pristina television. But with Demaçi there is also Ali Podrimja, the well-known writer. “Tragedy is pursuing us.” At this moment, what particularly horrifies me is Europe’s hypocrisy, which takes part in the Balkan tragedy with an absurd theater, without batting an eyelid,” the poet declares. Meanwhile, Zenun Çelaj, a journalist and teacher who has been imprisoned several times, a defender of human rights and now of the Albanian language, accurately describes the situation of a people under the violence of the occupier, “who has left civilization somewhere beyond the Carpathians.” Ali Jakupi is the elected director of the enterprise and also chairman of the hunger strikers’ council. The names of the other journalists and writers are all well known. There was an attempt by students from Pristina to join the hunger strike as well. Solidarity. Publicity. Letters and telegrams are arriving from every direction. Albanian political parties in Kosovo fully support and back the demands of the hunger strikers, led by Adem Demaçi. All the world’s mass-media organizations and international press forums have been informed. Support— (Continued on page 4)

Reform or destruction — «I am the president for Shkodër, so you will no longer work at the NB!» — They are residents of the village of Oblikë in the Ana e Malit municipality of Shkodër. They came to this village 30 years ago, mainly from remote mountain areas and from hydroelectric power stations. They were the first to begin work on establishing Oblikë’s olive-growing area, pouring their sweat for more than 25 years into 1,600 hectares of terraces. The Oblikë agricultural enterprise (NB) was established on this basis. It may seem unbelievable, but it is true: today, after the destruction of the NB, all these people have been left without support, with only social assistance and nothing more. Without attempting to analyze the destruction of this NB, one thing is quite clear: the destruction was carried out deliberately and openly. In other words, it was not restructured, as was trumpeted, but completely destroyed. A minority benefited from this destruction, at the expense of the years of hard work of all the workers. The cows were looted, nearly 50,000 plum, cherry, apricot and other trees were cut down. The buildings were [??], and land was given to people who claimed it had been theirs. Thus all the enterprise’s property disappeared without a trace or ended up in the hands of a few individuals. The 1,300 residents of Oblikë village received nothing from this property. From a meeting we held with some residents, we learned that they had not been able to put a stop to this destruction over the past two years. They have held numerous meetings with senior government officials. They were promised that the NB would not be dismantled and that work would resume. They met with the President of the Republic, Mr. Sali Berisha. According to them, he said that if necessary, we would put one police officer by every olive tree, just so that you could work and the enterprise would not be dismantled. They met with Mr. Aleksandër Meksi, who promised them that the government was doing everything possible to restart work. They also met several times with the former Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Rexhep Uka. He too told them that the NB would only be restructured and they should continue working. After all these meetings and promises, they received their final answer from the former chairman of the pluralist committee of Shkodër, Fatos Gjyrvelli, who apparently said: «I am the president for Shkodër, and you will no longer work at the NB.» MUSA KURTULAJ

In Durrës As we reported four days ago, for 10 consecutive days the workers of the tobacco and cigarette factory took part in a general strike with economic demands. The only newspaper to cover this important moment in the trade-union movement of the factory workers and their legitimate concerns was «Voice of the People». We are informed that all the demands presented by the workers through their union have been met. It should be noted that the deputy director Stefan Hercéku was suspended from his post; it was decided that all work norms would be reviewed, workers’ wages would be increased, the enterprise’s revenue would be distributed to workers more fairly and fully, and the problems related to corruption involving the enterprise’s managers would be pursued to the end. It should be noted that these measures have been taken and communicated to the enterprise’s employees while the state inspection continues; it is hoped that it will see through to the end the resolution of the problems raised by the workers. This success by the cigarette factory workers once again demonstrates that, despite the manipulation attempted by the leaders of the district’s independent union, with the support of Vllason Qendro, the workers did not for a moment abandon their legitimate demands and were not broken by the pressure exerted by those in power. VILSON XHEKA

Mr. Massimo Robino is an Italian citizen, a representative of “Kimital”, based in Rome, who a few days ago injected around 20 thousand dollars into the revival of the Albanian economy. This concerns the joint Albanian-Italian company “Kimikalb”. The company was established with a 51-to-49 percent share of the capital in favor of the Albanian side, represented by gentlemen whose names Mr. Robino did not make known to us. Under the agreement, the company will operate as a subsidiary of KEMITAL and will present Albanian customers with a new line of entirely natural products: Herbafill, consisting of four types of shampoo. From our conversation with Mr. Robino, we learned that the subsidiary will have mainly commercial functions, and its activities will be carried out by Albanians: 10 employees on the production line and 20 sales agents in the district. In response to our question about the modest investment, Mr. Robino first cited the Albanian side’s inability to meet a larger investment. Secondly, he said, “Sometimes the weight of brains is worth more than the amount of money.” Perhaps we would not be wrong to take this answer as a lesson for our new capitalists as well. The number of those who today circulate thousands and millions of dollars, mainly through commercial operations, is not small. But very few—extremely few—of them think about investing that money. Their unfamiliarity with firms and the lack of knowledge in this field are real, but the greatest obstacle is occasionally the insufficient legislation concerning investments. In any case, the example we gave at the outset could serve as a spur for Albanian capitalists to learn to take greater risks in investing. In this way, the money invested will also be able to generate profits here, without having to “trouble” itself by taking the roads of the world, as it has until now. S. GRUDA

MR. ARBNORI VIOLATES THE TEMPLE OF DEMOCRACY 1. For some time now, as is well known, RTV has not broadcast the most important parliamentary sessions to the public, as this institution did before 22 March 1992. Thus, the public is deprived of its right to information about laws that are of vital importance to it. 2. Parliamentary delegations headed by Mr. Arbnori do not report to parliament on their visits, and Mr. Arbnori holds private tête-à-têtes with his counterparts. MPs have been forced to read the ATSH bulletin or follow the news on RTV to learn anything about Mr. Pjetër’s “highly successful visits” around the world. 3. For months, during the non-parliamentary Monday sessions, where the agenda is discussed, the many petitions and letters addressed to the Presidium of Parliament have not been read. This is apparently because the petitions and letters speak of people’s concerns caused by the bad governance of today’s officials. They are therefore kept secret from MPs—or, more accurately, kept secret from the opposition and the local and foreign journalists present in the parliamentary galleries. 4. Several important agreements signed by the Albanian government, such as those signed with Arab countries, the Black Sea Shipping [??], the Islamic League, etc., are not submitted to parliament for approval. In no genuine parliamentary republic would governments dare to act this way, because the parliamentary leadership would not allow it. It should be stressed that the parliament’s commissions established to investigate the problems created by Greek chauvinists in the south; corruption in the banks; the scandal involving 1.6 million dollars of Harëve; Italian aid; and the destruction in Pukë, Lushnje, Pogradec, etc. have, to date, not been allowed to function. Consequently, they have never reported to parliament. They have thus failed to shed light on the truth about the troubling issues for which they were established. 6. In the past, regarding the issues raised in parliament, the Presidium informed the relevant state authorities and, after a few days, MPs were informed of the measures taken. But this working practice, too, has long belonged to the distant past. For all these anti-democratic positions, which seriously compromise the Albanian parliament as an institution where the truth is made transparent, the principal person responsible is Mr. Pjetër Arbnori, Speaker of the People’s Assembly. Today, the People’s Assembly is effectively run by Mr. Pjetër Arbnori, who hardly consults his two deputies or, at best, does not even make use of his own time, using them only at critical moments, as has happened several times with Mr. Malasi. MUSA UQLINI, MP