The Party of Labour completed its mission after 47 years, while the Democratic Party is sensing its end after 47 months. Berisha’s failed referendum is nothing other than a foretaste of the results of the coming elections; the sooner they are held, the better it will be for the DP as well. Albanians showed that they no longer trust Sali Berisha; they showed that they no longer want him to be President of their country, which is not lacking in capable men. The NO vote in the November 6 referendum was, above all, a no to Sali Berisha, a no to his politics and all his actions. It was also a vote against the disastrous governance of Albania and the Democratic Party’s politics. Attempts to interpret it otherwise are deception, a great hypocrisy that cannot possibly be swallowed not only by the nearly one million Albanians who rejected Berisha’s version of the constitution and, along with it, his prestige as a dictator and as the instigator and executor of an unlawful adventure, but also by the Democratic Party’s supporters, its honest and incorruptible people, who were nowhere to be seen during the campaign for the referendum on Berisha. The latest meeting of the Democratic Party’s leading forum clearly demonstrated the serious crisis being experienced by its leadership, which, besides the sins of certain leaders such as Edi Trisani, Spahia and others, is also forced to put up with Berisha. Of course, scapegoats will not be lacking, but people are accustomed to such practices. A minister or even the prime minister may be blamed, as if that were a full and final accounting before the people. The Democratic Party is incapable of governing the country, not because it lacks capable people, but because it has become Berisha’s backdrop and acts on his orders. The Democratic Party is not incapable of fighting corruption because it lacks the ability, but because it is not allowed to. Saliu has the ministers under his control, not the party. The more than 2 million dollars spent on the Berisha-style referendum weigh on the DP too, although nobody asked it, just as the dollars from Arsidi weigh on the DP, along with the courtesy medal Berisha still wears, and the dollars lost at Zhulali’s ministry and many other cases like these. Albanians know that the honest members of the DP did not take Arsidi’s dollars, just as they know that Saliu received his medal, but what can they do about the Democratic Party when it will not separate itself from Berisha? Nobody is under any illusion that the DP can change Berisha, because that is impossible. He is what he is and will not become someone else. So he is not to blame. We ask him to be a democrat. But how can a man be a democrat when, despite suffering a heavy defeat, he appears on television and talks about victory? How can a man be a democrat when, from Friday, November 4, he addressed Albanians from Tirana in his characteristic hoarse voice, telling them to say Yes to the new constitution, that it was the salvation of freedom, joy, unity, and so on, and not to listen to the opposition’s No, because that was the voice of division, of turning back, etc.? No, certainly not. A man who uses power to eliminate political opponents, restrict the opposition and impose himself on the people cannot be a democrat. A man who puts the majority down in order to elevate the police to the role of locomotive, just days after publicly declaring that when the sovereign speaks, everyone else must be silent, cannot be a democrat. A man who does not know how to listen to others, who cannot orient himself in concrete reality, who does not know how to communicate with them as an equal, who cannot say “sorry” when he is wrong or fails, and who does not know how to be silent when he loses, can never be a democrat. He spoke for two weeks, day after day; he wore us all out. He spoke and said all sorts of things. “We are together, the majority; they are the minority”; “we are tomorrow, they are yesterday.” “The constitution of freedom is the constitution of virtue, of faith, of honor, of unity, of reconciliation,” and many other things, while not forgetting to attack the opposition, even accusing them of wanting to vote for their own little carts. Television has recorded it all well, and it would do no harm for it to rebroadcast, under the pretext “at the request of many viewers,” the leader of the Albanians’ folkloric march, while reminding viewers not to laugh. Because he will speak again, wherever he goes; he cannot keep from talking. Didn’t he also speak two or three times at each rally? Although the sovereign shut his mouth, he does not know how to keep quiet. There’s nothing to be done. That’s the kind of person he is. Will the DP put up with him any longer? And will it agree to become a target of attack on his behalf? demonstrated the serious crisis being experienced by the Democratic Party leadership, which, besides the sins of certain officials such as Edi Tritani, Spahia and someone else, scapegoats will not be lacking, but people have grown minister himself may be accused, and they may even be removed from office, but everyone knows they have no power in their hands, since above them stands the all-powerful Sali Berisha, “the leader of the Albanians?” Didn’t Sali make a mockery of the DP when he put forward the idea of an appointed Constitutional Assembly at its National Council, and then backed out of it? The DP was discredited, but for the sake of [p?s?]ejësit, it also backed Berisha’s version of the vote, an unconstitutional referendum that bypassed Parliament, along with another one. The DP was discredited yet again because it followed Berisha, spoke in his hoarse voice, addressed the people in his dialect and not in its own language. The question arises: will the honest members of the DP agree to embark on yet another adventure solely because the President has understood it that way? Certainly not, if they do not want to declare the end of their party, which has so little support among the Albanian electorate. Let us draw a parallel. Not much time has passed since the end of the 1980s, when the Labour Party was struggling through its final days. Its leadership, cut off not only from the people but, first and foremost, from the honest mass of Albanian communists, was preoccupied with coffee, extra rooms and the odd television antenna. As it became the target of attacks and pressure from behind, willingly or unwillingly it became a symbol of evil, against which the Albanian opposition also launched its attacks from the moment it emerged. And the outcome is well known: 31 March 1991 was the prelude to 22 March of the following year. The same thing is happening with the DP, except that it is not after 47 years, but after 47 months. Berisha’s failed referendum is another prelude to held, the better it will be, first and foremost, for the DP. Because this is the only way to save it from discredit.

A thirty-year-old from Pogradec, now in Germany, writes to Fatos Nano Dear brother Fatos, I am a thirty-year-old from Pogradec writing to you. I completed higher education in the field of special mathematics at the University of Tirana and for six years worked as a mathematics and informatics teacher at the high school in my town, while for one year I was head of education in the district. As I write to you, I am in Germany attending a school funded by the Christian mission “Youth With a Mission”. I am here with my wife and my little son David. Dear Fatos! The reason I am writing to you is to ease your sadness a little, which I feel; to strengthen your conviction that many people love you, and to take a few minutes of your time, however briefly. I know you have many friends who write to you and perhaps [text unclear]. I had wanted to communicate with you before, when I was in Pogradec, but I wished for us to meet and talk, and I could have arranged that through a mutual friend of yours; after all, I have written very few letters in my life. Now that I am far away and have started writing letters, I thought that one of them should be for you. Dear Fatos! I find it difficult to identify the real reason for your imprisonment, but I think it must have something to do with revenge, fear and, undoubtedly, the ignorance of those who ordered it. I spoke with an American friend of mine about your imprisonment, and his answer was: “To tell the truth, God is greater than the mistakes of our persecutors; let us believe in God and not in them; let us forgive them, and we will be more at peace.” Please believe this; this dictatorship will be the shortest-lived in the history of our country. My dear brother Fatos! I know that now, more than ever, you need our support and our warm words. I could write at length and include many things in my letter, but I don’t know whether this letter will reach you. So let me try briefly first, and then I will try to write again, trusting that your address for the second letter will have changed. I would convey the same feelings of friendship to your family as well. May God bless you. Artan Xh. Shkëmbi sends you a hug from afar.

— We must free the people from fear and anxiety about the police — At the Court of Cassation: PRESS CONFERENCE The racket struck the boy to knock the black ball out of the game. [Text unclear] — Zef Brozi declares: If the evil in the Ministry of Public Order is not uprooted, my rights as a citizen, your rights as a citizen and the rights of all citizens are threatened at every moment. — It cannot be otherwise when the uncle is a minister and the nephew is the Republic’s deputy prosecutor. The fierce attacks continue, accompanied by an outpouring of painful testimony, directed at the Ministry of Public Order, Minister Musaraj and the Republic’s deputy prosecutor, Mr. Fatos Dervishi. The president of the Court of Cassation, Zef Brozi, is not backing down. That seemed to be the purpose of his press conference yesterday. But while the attacks on Musaraj and Dervishi maintained the same pace, the attack on Berisha—which had previously been couched in the press in very polite terms—[text unclear] ... This is how he sees it: “the minds of people massacred by the police on November 6 in Berat, Mallakastër and Lushnjë.” In any case, Brozi struck directly at the Ministry of Public Order and Minister Musaraj, who, according to him, has brought back the black shadow of the former Ministry of Internal Affairs. “The constitutional article requiring that people held in custody be brought before a judge within 24 hours, who decides whether to release or arrest them, is being violated at the very least ... The impression has been created that the Ministry of Public Order is everything. “In my presence, Musaraj was shouting orders over the telephone to the Prosecutor General, asking what my driver and escort, and the building’s police officer, were doing in his office; they were being questioned about the incident. ‘He’ll deal with them, and so on,’” Brozi said, to support his subsequent statement that Mr. Musaraj does not know either his place or his own duties, because he thinks he can order judges, prosecutors and [text unclear]. Asked what to do if Minister Musaraj does not resign or is not removed, the president of the Court of Cassation gave the simplest answer: “Then watch out, or the police will get you.” His answer best illustrates the scandalous standard of human freedoms and rights in Albania. To make this clearer, or to [text cut off] (Continued on page 5) of the Republic, attack on Berisha—which had previously appeared in the press in very polite terms—disappeared completely. Although Brozi wrote to Mr. Berisha on 25 April 1994, expressing serious concerns about the work of the Ministry of Public Order, he still hopes that Berisha will respond appropriately, even though many months have passed. Brozi also said this about his personal meeting with Mr. Berisha, but, revealing yet another position, added: “I told the journalist that fact, so to speak, to make the conversation more detailed.” It is difficult to believe this and expect a proper response from Berisha when, on 7 November, he thanked the law-enforcement agencies at a time when [the sentence breaks off: shty-] Kastër, Lushnje. Public Order and at dark article requiring that people detained be brought before a judge within 24 hours, who then decides whether they should be released or arrested, is being seriously and continually violated,” Brozi said. “I have asked the judges to put an end to this practice, but the police continue it,” Brozi went on, declaring that “we must free the people from the fear and anxiety caused by the police.” But it seems his request has remained just a request, or perhaps has also turned into an observation. “I have been confronted with many figures falling sharply in the [unclear: rrëfthë], and the Minister of Public Order himself, under the law, does not appear before the prosecutor in connection with the complaint filed against him; he does not appear before the judge,” Brozi says. The reason why

SHKODER Kimete Curri, who graduated a year ago as a construction engineer; Fatmir Rama; and they notify her not to report for this post anymore because the position has been cut. What can Fatmir complain about? During the referendum campaign recess, he openly expressed his reservations. That is why the position was cut. What can we call these absurdities? President Berisha himself said that the referendum [text unclear] and [??] families known for supporting the Socialist Party. He had called November 6 a day and a sign of reconciliation and understanding. Now, however, representatives of segments of the authorities are initiating a campaign to dismiss people for their party affiliation. The pretext? A cut in the number of positions. Those who were considered indispensable up to November 6 have, since November 7, begun to be declared surplus. In this particular case, the irony is shameful. Kimete Curri was a representative of that army of students who openly encouraged and spread the word and spirit of political pluralism in Albania. And today they are being dismissed from their jobs—those who at that time understood and gave meaning to the word “pluralism.”

Only one telephone line connects the PTT of this district, based in Koplik, with the Shkodër PT. However, the many requests for telephone service from the residents of Malësi e Madhe cannot be met with just one line. The willingness of the Koplik PT staff to provide service at all times only highlights the lack of even the minimum capacity for this service. From Koplik, people have to connect to another district through the Shkodër telephone exchange. The latter is also known to receive many requests from the citizens of Shkodër; meeting them becomes considerably more difficult when it must also serve those from other districts. As a result, most residents of the Malësi e Madhe district travel to Shkodër so that they can speak by telephone with their relatives in other districts. But this way of operating is particularly troubling for those whose relatives live permanently in other countries. This cannot be done from Koplik, not only because the Shkodër exchange cannot respond to all requests, but also because the telephone line has a weak [unit/metre?]. Thus, the Shkodër PTT [sentence cuts off]

— Deputies Dritëro Agolli and Ndre Legisi among the Kurbin eurosocialists — What has made the young eurosocialists of Kurbin so happy and enthusiastic? The admission of the Albanian Eurosocialist Youth Forum as a full member of the Socialist International has sparked joy and enthusiasm among them. And not only among them. FRESI is the only forum in Albania to be accepted as a full member of such a high-level organization. For this, not only the eurosocialists but everyone would feel proud. And here many of them have gathered to share and preserve this joy together. The large hall of the servicemen’s club in Laç was packed the day before yesterday. It was far too small for the young eurosocialists, who had come from all the towns and villages of the Kurbin district. Among those present were also People’s Assembly deputies Dritëro Agolli and Ndre Legisi, as well as the chair of the district PS, Shpëtim Cami. Gentjanas Luka, a member of the executive board of the Kurbin district Eurosocialist Forum, welcomed the participants. There was joy and enthusiasm in the hall when Dritëro Agolli congratulated the young people on the great honor bestowed on the Albanian Eurosocialist Youth Forum. More joy when deputy Ndre Legisi greeted the euro- (Continued on page 2)

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