1993 has gone by, the full year of Albania in pluralist democracy, in modern contemporary life. For this reason it will be remembered for a long time, in both the good and the bad ways that happened to us, for what changed and was achieved, for what was begun and left in the middle, for what was touched and what still could not be achieved. The first year of a new era, it would of course be difficult and complex. But perhaps the first conclusion of a balanced and sober mind, now as it is passing away, would be: could we not make democracy better, easier and with less pain? The years to come will provide fuller answers, and also evidence of many things. It showed that the first to enter and move into the new era, even before politics and platforms, reforms and state institutions, before the structure of society, is man: he knows how to free himself spiritually, to value and use democracy, civilization and coexistence more. If we do not stop to look around, there is no family in Albania that has not entered the rhythm of a life different from before, difficult indeed, but with tangible premises for greater well-being and without new divisions over work, property, money, life and woman, we have not avoided violence, and even those who have seen the fewest results so far. The common man does not miss what should not have been had; he values compromise; he quickly understands what is good and what is bad; it is not true that he cannot be indoctrinated easily and cannot be misled again: he can readily do quickly and easily what politics and the people cannot. The work and life of this year and of the people is a reference model for corrections and lessons for politics and governance. Party fanaticism and bitterness are moving away ever faster: in people, understanding of democracy, well-being, the economy and free initiative is beginning to form quickly. We should learn from this. Because it is still not understood in politics what place power has and demands cult; power is considered unlimited and beyond criticism, and opposition is usually often met with police and police solutions. The first full year of democracy still had plenty of remnants of dictatorship. Governing and administering democracy (especially the first democrats) have, more than is needed, become the faults of a clique. Power politics somewhat deformed human values, repentance and reflection for society. In one year and in 1994. We should not forgive ourselves for everything, especially those who have taken power and exercise it, and who according to the way they do this are judged and evaluated, for some things we could have done better, but did not do. Who, in politics with reason, was not self-critical, why did we tell the peasant: sow, since everything was left to everything; who truly gives importance to the economic emigrant and not as a refugee, which social control was resolved in a quieter note by the police. The people will not forget these things about 1993 either. Nevertheless, not everything is there to make us sad and to start polemics. There are days and hours of joy. Let us rejoice, while keeping our eyes more on those who find it difficult to rejoice as much as they want and as much as they truly deserve, the number of whom we can hardly sense[?]. Let us enter the new year 1994 with as clear a conscience as possible, so that we can more easily soften other wounds and pains. THANAS DINO

Oranges 1 kg equal to 80 - 90 lek Apples 1 kg 70 lek Potatoes 1 kg 45 lek Onions 1 kg 45 lek White cabbage 1 kg 45 lek In the last two days of the year just ended, the prices of some produce and fruits traditionally placed on New Year tables rose by 2 to 3 times. Such an increase in prices was a challenge both for consumers, who, under the moral obligation to respect the holiday, were forced to count kilograms by individual fruits, and for trade itself, whose “human” nature means that holidays come with price reductions. It is now a well-known fact here too that serious firms and merchants, in order to clear[?] the media of sought-after goods, but also to raise their reputation, serve customers with price cuts. In 1993, more than ever before in Albania, especially pears, apples and oranges proved to be the most profitable. Customers, who had been caught by the sudden rise in prices, did not know whom to thank for the “gift” they received before the holiday. Without ignoring the merchants’ “cleverness” in entering the market at the moment when demand for the goods mentioned above is high and just as high is the guarantee of selling them at high prices, one cannot fail to accept some other hypothetical reason as well; thus, as has been written and said much, this points to a complete dependence of this country’s market on foreign goods, at a time when domestic production, often quite good, barely reaches the consumer. Greek oranges and apples from Macedonia somehow arrived in the last two or three days of the year. Perhaps to soften the dose of escalation before the holiday, since it is known that crisis moods naturally go hand in hand, especially when salted prices are involved; perhaps as the fruit of some reciprocal cooperation between traders and customs officers, or perhaps as confirmation of official statements that overall national production has increased in percentage terms (especially agricultural production)! But it is likely that the rise in prices before New Year is part of the “originality” of the Albanian market economy and that this will not be the last unpleasant surprise for our consumers. The signals for this are hopeful. / / S. G.

“FOR A GOOD YEAR” BROTHERS AND SISTERS, ALBANIANS FRIENDS AND WELL-WISHERS, wherever you are! In the name of the Socialist Party of Albania, in the name of all those persecuted by today’s state[?], from the heart: Courage, endurance and hope for a good year 1994! These are the fundamental virtues that Albanians have known how to develop for centuries in the face of adversity and historical fate, and therefore have been able to survive and assert themselves as a nation! With these virtues, and by valuing them, we can build the future, we can build a modern civilization! I am sure that inherited poverty and injustices cannot defeat your noble spirit, do not let them weaken you; we can build the future ourselves! The year[?] opens promisingly toward the future for the full affirmation of our national dignity and identity, for Albania, in its entirety, the place it deserves in the community of civilized European nations. For a long time, the gates of European civilization, with all the iron curtains, continue to remain closed to us Albanians; no one, as has continued to happen, is able to prevent this because of the cultivation of intolerance among Albanians, due to the inability of those in power to educate. Today’s Albanian society, above all else, suffers from the prejudices and old-style strongman mentality of the past, which are manifestations of present-day mental illiteracy! These are the product of communism, but also of the traditional isolation of Albanians from open communication and interchange, where borders turn into ramparts, into enclosure. And to our European civilization, therefore, in 1994 we too must reach it by cultivating understanding among Albanians, without turning work into a war of Albanian against Albanian, without compromising national unity, as a condition of peace and good neighborliness in the region. This is a message of hope and not despair. Nevertheless, cruelly and unjustly, like many others, even today, I forgive our state persecutors[?], if their tyrannical acts can defeat the fevers of revenge among Albanians. We Albanians, even in 1994, will continue to put national interests first; this is the alarm signal: ALBANIANS MUST NOT BE DIVIDED![?] A Europe of closed borders must finally cut the bridges of communication! This will happen only thanks to our abilities as Europeans to hope and to fight to oppose them! Happy New Year! FAT[?], chairman of the SPSh and deputy of the People’s Assembly Bur. Cell 47 31.12

Mr. Sali Berisha On the basis of the proposal of the local government bodies, the Ministry of Public Order, the Court of Cassation and the General Prosecutor’s Office, President Berisha, on the basis of his constitutional powers, signed yesterday the decree pardoning the remaining sentences of 81 different prisoners, mainly for criminal offenses with low social danger. The decree enters into force immediately. Press and Information Office at the Presidency

The reference is to the turn of 1990-1991. It was a New Year unlike any other, with things never seen and never imagined, with borders open to the point of tearing open and with a people that was leaving, and leaving; with families too, and with cars. What was being experienced in Sarandë and Gjirokastër was the ambiguity of a particular kind. It is still not known exactly how it began, who organized and incited that dramatic exodus (in a small car, it was seen from afar, on the seashore, and from it came, in ashes, the border was opened, leave, what are you doing and still staying), the unknown and the mystery will perhaps live on for a long time, but the drama, accompanied by many other later dramas, would hang over the life of this people for much longer. I remember that on 4 January 1991 we went to Sarandë, to see up close and to find out about emigration. We lived through a scene I had never seen before: people crying in the street. Tears in the street, perhaps that should be the title of the chronicle of all those years. Then refugee camps grew in Greece, but none was expected to be so and in the past. They started to come day by day, and Paris-style propaganda said that the mountains were black with people returning, but the truth was small and lasted very little. The wound does not close, on the contrary. We can call it exile and emigration, and people through it found something to escape to, security and well-being, they became richer, more civilized, opened up new horizons for themselves. Wretchedness remained from them; the money sent back from there is one pillar of the citizens’ economy, an aching, unresolved Albanian question. If we look at it more broadly, this new exile made them Balkan and European, compared with being trapped by dictatorship, returned to them the natural tradition of becoming so and secured their well-being. Thus those who say: exile did us good were right. But we must not close our eyes to the dramas that flow from this haemorrhage that is still continuing, and also to the human suffering that comes from them and whose effect and consequence reaches the ground far away from us. Hundreds of people are forced to change nationality, religion and name, to reinvent themselves and present themselves as something they are not. These things are done by human beings; in misfortune, the state and society make them real. Those of J. P. Beh[?] with pity[?] appeal to our dignity and freedom, and it is not a small thing to defend law, dignity and the people together. How could we accept a disfigurement, a kind of violence in a black theater, as if. And it is bitter even though it did everything. Let us lower and bring the camera even closer. We once wrote: our prisoners across the world. But one of the last arrivals, a friend my[?] who was returning home late in the evening, told us when we asked where he had been: he had gone from Athens, we had a death now, a funeral and we buried the man, now I am returning. From the prisoners, our buried ones were moving across the world. Bones and foreign soil, with clatter and emptiness. The Albanian has known exile, but not the exile of his wife and family. And legally too; the sale of young girls and small children has begun, a pain that must pass through the people from end to end at every moment. Yet very few are caught, very few are reported, very few are punished. Things that should be shouted about are kept silent. It is said that a dirty business is being done, but no one acts, except for one, as if for this life with a killed conscience. For the third year by itself, with such a state and other events of the world standing on their feet, shall we keep silent and not want to know about the goosebumps that happen to some from our own people? Who are those who return to bad treatment after barbarity, the girls forced into prostitution, those insulted until they condemn themselves? Which state do they touch, of which people are they members? These are the wounds of exile, more dramatic even than the epics never sung. And yet, for a visa, one suffers and pays, pays and is insulted, blows and is beaten. The line is unbroken, nobody knows how much has been left for me, nobody knows how much road I still need. This is an unfinished wound that keeps flowing. It began when 1990 changed into 1991, but it continues also in this turn of 1993-1994. Until when still, until which turn?! D. TH.

New decisions of the Council of Ministers The Council of Ministers discussed and adopted several decisions: The decision “On temporary financial support from the state of the sum of 500 million lek for employees of N.Ve that are being privatized”. The decision “On the approval in principle of the fund of 10 million DM that the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany will allocate to the Republic of Albania within the framework of technical cooperation for 1994”. The decision on “The creation of the General Roads Directorate”. The decision approving the agreement[?] between the Government of the Republic of Albania and the Government of the State of Israel on cooperation in the field of education, culture and science” which provides for cooperation between the two countries at all levels of the educational system and various branches of science and technology, exchange of teachers and students, acquisition of scientific literature, and promotion of the spiritual and folk values of one country in the field of the fine arts. Press and Information Office at the Prime Minister’s Office.

All persons responsible who deal with the sale of tickets of[?]ri i Popullit in Sarandë, Memaliaj, Krahës, Fratar, Fier, Skrapar, Mamurras, Krujë, Fushë-Krujë, Rubik, Bilisht, Maliq, Fushë-Arrëz, Gjegan, Përrenjas, Librazhd, Qukës, Shupenzë, Maqellarë, Bulqizë and M., are informed that on 6 January 1994 they should present themselves at the newspaper editorial office to collect the necessary contracts for the new year. EDITORIAL OFFICE

This material ish[?] due to lack of electrical power in the printing house,

Children who do not from[?] independent transitions, in the confederation of inter[?]union syndicates in autonomous, inde-pendent, free federations, to rise, to merge[?]. As is known, with the composi[?] of the Professional shiz and parents await a package and may God grant you.