- 7 admissions in one day - With a heavy heart, we dare to inform you of some unwelcome things from the first days of the New Year, some familiar things—admissions—but on an unprecedented scale and with an intensity that shows how this PS seed is multiplying, which we do not praise and which our anathemas condemn. On January 4, a veteran activist, who had not been a member of the PPS but joined the PS, Muço Karagozi, they say, went to the PS offices to wish them a Happy New Year and said: “I’ve come to offer my greetings too, but I’ll play a different game: I’ll make four admissions.” He took four documents, and that same day his city organization accepted four new members. Also on January 4, admissions took place in the village of Lazarat, near Gjirokastër. On January 5, a young person was accepted in Valarë, a village opposite the city. Who knows what is happening in the remote villages, where crossroads are not easily reached, since we have no reports from there. We inform you that we must be careful about these rates. Five days into ’94, and already 7 admissions. It is enough to put your hands on your head—especially if you use the other calculation: the first four days of the year were non-working days, according to the government’s rule; that would mean these people made 7 admissions in a single day. Good grief, our whole population has left us and gone over there—how are we supposed to hold on to it? Forgive us for passing this sorrow on to you too, but we want to share it together, just as we have shared the … and the properties. After all, we did not warn you for nothing. Health and regards. Gjirokastër, 5.1.1994. PD - Gjirokastrit.

On January 5, 1994, hundreds of citizens and villagers had gathered at the station for the Korçë–Maliq route, to get to their jobs. But the buses did not open their doors. The reason? The rate has reportedly been raised this year by 6–7 times. So, whereas up to December 31, 1993, the tax for each bus was 8 thousand new lekë, this year it has risen to 50–60 thousand new lekë, depending on the capacity of each bus. For this reason, in protest, the drivers have closed the doors. There is no announcement about how long this will continue. In the last days of the year and at the beginning of this year, official propaganda trumpeted the raising of salaries more loudly than anything else. But it did not say a word about how much it would take from citizens through taxes. ERGET CENOLLI

Partnership or vassalage? At President Berisha’s latest press conference, he wished the left “a good year” and invited it to “partnership in democracy.” In a serious sense, this statement should carry more weight than any other words of the President in determining Albanian public opinion, so much so that the word “partner” is given another meaning: someone who dances with someone, plays tennis, gambles, or plays some other game with someone, etc. Believing that neither the President of the Republic nor the left in Albania currently has time for dancing evenings or games of chance and tennis, we are left to believe that the President means … because he has said the same things before and not put them into practice. For example, the President may once have said, “I say ‘good morning’ to the opposition every day.” Yet a few days after that, people saw the opposition leader in a cell. Then, people say that what the President says … the President says … opposition leader in a cell. This time, it had a real impact on public opinion. First of all, it must be clarified who the left is in Albania today and who the left is according to the President. In our view, the left as a political party is represented by the PS, with 26 percent of the members of Parliament and more than 50 percent of the seats in local government. This party is now an undisputed reality at home and abroad. The July 30 demonstration in Tirana showed that several thousand people responded to its call within a single day. people responded to its call within a single day, both at home and abroad. At his latest press conference, President Berisha congratulated the supporters of the left sense, this statement should have been more telling than any other words of the President, who has decisively shaped Albanian public opinion and has been so popular over the past two years, during which the words “partners and partnership” have been the rarest words in the political vocabulary. The President, then, introduced a new idea, previously unknown. According to the Dictionary of the Albanian Language, the word “partner” means someone who takes part together with someone else, or with several others, in a joint activity. The English dictionary (Hornby), in addition to the above meaning, also gives the word partner another meaning: someone who dances with someone, plays tennis, gambling games or another for an evening of dancing, or for games of gambling or tennis, we are left to believe that the President’s invitation to partnership has meaning only in its political sense. However, the President’s statement about partnership with the left had no effect on public opinion. This fact should concern the President himself as well. When his words have no effect, it means that something is wrong with what is being said and with what he is doing. For instance, people may no longer believe those… another may no longer believe those…

Nevertheless, firewood distribution is delayed Some time ago, for several days in a row, our newspaper published a notice from the director of the fuel enterprise in Tirana, stating that the price of kerosene would not rise and that firewood would be delivered no more than three days after the invoice was issued. But this deadline for firewood distribution is not being observed. Someone may ask whether we are making this up. Here is a fact: Yesterday, around noon, we received a phone call from the family of Llazar Niko, who live on “Budi” Street; all the households in this block of flats still have not received their firewood. Since we are talking about fuel, let us also say a few words about the kerosene problem, although a great deal has been said and written about it lately. As far as kerosene is concerned, the situation is unchanged. People wait in line for days to get the 20 liters of kerosene allocated to them by those in charge. But those in charge should bear in mind that with 1,000 liters of kerosene distributed per day at one local unit, only 50 people can get any, while there are more people in the queue, and all the other residents of the neighborhood cannot get any. They are forced to come back again tomorrow, perhaps even the day after, and in all this what we mean is: is it not possible to increase the quantity supplied to a local unit so that people can get enough to last them for a day? It seems to us that this could be sorted out, because, as they say, there is plenty of kerosene, but distribution is the problem. K. B. Only three days from the date the bill was issued. However, this deadline set for the delivery of firewood is not being observed. Someone may say, “What basis do you have for saying this?” Here is the fact: Yesterday, around 12 Llazar Kuko, a resident of «Budi» Street, building 61/1, apartment 7, in Tirana. He told us that he had ordered a load of firewood on 1 December 1993 and that, as of today, 5 January 1994, it still had not arrived. The bill was issued at the offices of the enterprise’s directorate. So, as it appears, the deadline for delivering firewood in the capital is not being observed by the enterprise in question. On the phone, we were told that bills had also been issued for two oth— …ers, and that the firewood was not supposed to take more than a few days from the date the bill was issued to be delivered. 12 bills had also been issued for two oth—

- Interview with academic Rexhep Qose given to the newspaper “Bujku” Question: In the parliamentary elections in Kosovo, you did not stand as a candidate. More than a year has passed since then. The Parliament was not constituted, on the pretext that you did not want a measured conflict with Serbia. The elected Parliament remained in exile, and on December 4 its four-year mandate, for which it had been elected, expired. With that four-year mandate, the mandate of the bodies elected by the Assembly, including the Government of Kosovo, also expired. The situation seems somewhat absurd. In all kinds of events, members of the Kosovo Parliament take part. The parties hold press conferences even though the media have long been seized. Evaluations, positions… The masses themselves find explanations for the difficulties, denial and despair. Where do you see the cause of such a situation? — The parliamentary and presidential elections were held because of disagreements, and especially because it was clear that his constitution would not be allowed by the Serbian occupying regime. The elections were held to reduce our movement to a single party, indeed to a narrow group of people, and then to leave them with various governing titles, which would also secure a certain degree of power and interests over our people, already ruled at several levels of authority. To say that explanations for the difficulties are being found is to talk about our awareness, our reasoning and our morals. We had a parliament and some part of an assembly; through … some norms and universal legal and moral laws, without which our political and social life would be very difficult. We have been occupied by Serbia. What can one call an Albanian deputy who lives under the occupier and submits to its norms, laws and Constitution? Until now we have swallowed it all, and everywhere this has been seen as submission! Naturally, I do not consider any effort made in those elections to be voluntary submission, but legally and morally their only position is one of … occupation! Why? Because the people were brought out to vote so they could elect people who would secure their sovereignty, lives, families, property, honor, and so on. Have they secured these things? Perhaps they have secured something for themselves, perhaps they secure something for someone, but the people have secured nothing! Tomorrow, when Kosovo becomes independent, it will be clear beside whom those who are being imprisoned in Kosovo stand, regardless of the fact that they elected their “legitimate” representatives. For four years, the leadership has been …, and people have been forced to seek refuge in foreign lands. And although they elected their “legitimate” representatives, someone among them—or more than one—may rise up and demand that the representatives they voted for, who have continued to live safe and sound under Serbian rule, be brought into a room and tried for collaboration with the occupier and capitulation before the occupier. One might say: this applies to every Albanian in Kosovo! No. Those who were not voted for were not bound by the sacred act of popular elections to defend the sovereignty of the people; therefore, they are not subject to the political responsibility to which those elected are subject, and to which the people’s trust holds them accountable. The situation in Kosovo has remained like anarchy, when someone falls into a pit with a … and they pass it from one to another… What steps, in your view, should be taken internally and externally to resolve the Kosovo question…? — Neither in individual life nor in collective life can much be done unless principles are accepted—principles that imply clarity and sacrifice, and an understanding of sacrifice in the universal sense of the word. Where the people are the source, but no party leader is, little can be done for independence. — One of our politicians once stated that, so far, none of the international actors has ever supported Kosovo as a Republic, or Kosovo as a State. (Words and so on?) — In most cases, foreigners I have met ask me: “What are you telling us—how can the Albanian question be resolved?” Some do not— …give a short answer; some say, “You will be informed about this by the institutions on behalf of the …,” while others do not set out a position determined by autonomy and expand on it. Our press, and «Bujku» in particular, has on a number of occasions created the impression among our public that recognition of the Republic of Kosovo was a matter of days, but unfortunately not a single state has yet shown the slightest sign of such recognition. In its diplomatic conduct, even Albania has revoked its earlier recognition of the Republic of Kosovo. This may also be the reason why we have been left behind. Politics has made an impression on me as something broken. For the support of our own people. And this does not happen easily or quickly. — How do you see the division of spheres of interest in the Balkans? In this context, the war in Croatia, in Bosnia? — The American military presence…

At his latest press conference, President Berisha congratulated the supporters of the left and invited it to “partnership in democracy.”

(Continued on page 4)

NATIONAL LIBRARY TIRANA Who will have the most precious thing? They say that one New Year’s Eve, Ahmed Zogu gathered his ministers and they celebrated together. Once they were in high spirits, someone suggested holding a contest to see who had the most precious thing, something they had never shown anyone before. They all began taking turns bringing out their curiosities. At one point, everyone—including His Majesty himself—was struck speechless. Fejzi Alizoti took a very beautiful watch from his inner pocket, made entirely of gold. Everyone began asking where he had found it, but Alizoti would not say. At last, the king himself asked him. The minister could not refuse the king and replied: “Your Majesty! Forgive me, but I’ll tell you: the waters of the sea and the king’s money never run out. Now you figure out for yourself where I found this watch.” M. VARFI