ELBASAN The incident took place on Wednesday evening, around 9:00 p.m., when the police minibus hurriedly arrived in the courtyard of the student dormitory of the University of Elbasan. The police officers got out in a rush and, shouting and swearing, ordered the male students living in the dormitory to go immediately to their rooms. As student SH. L. recounts, this police arbitrariness has occurred on other occasions as well. Indeed, some students who were engaged or in relationships have often been subjected to pressure from police patrols. One night, in an indescribable manner, a student was ordered (!) to take his hand off his fiancée’s shoulder (!). On Wednesday evening, the police’s arbitrary conduct was completely unmotivated and arbitrary. According to another student, D. N., there had been no provocation (?). “It hadn’t happened. After having dinner in the cafeteria, some students were passing the time in small groups or playing cards in the lounge on the first floor of the dormitory, while some others were— [text cut off] (Continued on page 4)

For all this, we have programs, ideas, abilities and people prepared to put them into practice; the programs of social democracy, tested especially during periods of major socioeconomic change An unrestrained conversation in Bënça prison with the chairman of the Socialist Party, FATOS NANO, by journalists Erion Braçe and Alfred Dalipi . Naturally, in prison conditions, I lack the necessary information to make a full and up-to-date analysis of economic processes in Albania. This also means that the official data being published are not only inadequate for serious analysis, but contain contradictions, inaccuracies and inconsistencies that only the logic of the presidential “specialists” can present as unparalleled historic achievements (over three years, thirteen days or 100 days) throughout Eastern Europe. (!?) You ask about concrete figures for growth, investment, inflation or unemployment, which Berisha and his naive and arrogant propaganda use forcibly in isolation from the general economic context, just as in the past it used quotations from Enver Hoxha in the forms of education! Thus, economic growth (GDP)—especially when calculated according to monetarist schemes (I do not know whether these indicators are calculated by the agencies, our institute, or delivered to us ready-made)—is devalued in the face of the decline or stagnation of indicators [text continues beyond the edge of the image]. In the social-democratic concept, the latter ensure not only the real transition to a market economy, but are also means of achieving macroeconomic stability with less pain. By contrast, placing emphasis only on the latter, as the Meksi Government does, has brought economic inertia and agony in other countries too, as a consequence of fiscal and credit constraints on public and private enterprises. Does the banking system, state corporations, or the extreme concentration of private capital and small Albanian businesses in the retail trade not reflect this situation? The key to the transition to a market economy in Eastern European countries, as well as to economic growth in the industrialized countries of the West, is the processing industry, based on the country’s primary resources and imports. In Albania, however, during Berisha’s 100 days, no serious program was conceived or implemented for the acceleration, renewal and replacement of industrial production capacities, nor for the retraining and development of new skills among the workforce. [text continues beyond the edge of the image] … [social-democratic] to correct and continue democratic reforms, people in Albania too have overwhelmingly understood that there is another path of transition and a different way of governing to overcome the crisis, stagnation, corruption, lack of public accountability, unemployment, people’s poverty and the paralysis of enterprise that have brought the country to a standstill today. On 6 November, the electorate expressed its confidence, irrevocably, in the ideas, abilities and determination of the progressive opposition to stop the degradation of the state, the economy and the standard of living of Albanians. What do Albanians want, and why are they disappointed and dissatisfied with Berisha’s regime? Albanians want a social market economy in which the private and public sectors coexist and the state honestly and with public accountability undertakes to implement policies for development, sustainable employment, equal opportunities for enterprise and social justice in the distribution of income. [text continues beyond the edge of the image] They have now understood once and for all that Berisha’s policy is unjust and economically and socially unproductive, since those who bear the severe consequences of the reforms (the vast majority) receive little or no benefit from them. And we are capable of changing this situation in accordance with Franklin Roosevelt’s principle: “The measure of progress (for us) is not to increase the abundance of those who have much, but to meet the needs of those who have little.” The priorities here are employment, health care, basic social insurance (against unemployment, old age, disability, etc.), the foundations of education and vocational training and retraining, and ensuring the protection of law and order. What do Albanians want today? They want public institutions to be rebuilt, so as to turn them into effective instruments of an honest policy (Continued on page 3) (Continued from the previous issue) — Mr. Nano! There is an opinion about us Albanians that we concern ourselves too much with politics, when we should also be concerned with the economy. To challenge that opinion, we should have started with the current economic situation. In any case… Is the Albanian economy really in transition, or is it in stagnation? Eleven percent economic growth for ’93, 8 percent growth in ’94, 6–7 percent forecast for ’95. Nine billion dollars in investment over three years. A stable currency, a deficit controlled within the 8–9 percent range, inflation at 15 percent. What do these figures mean? First, you said that all Albanians would be owners and have an equal starting point, but you have called privatization a failure. Why do you think so when Albanians are being given securities? What solution do you propose while you are seeking to come to power? The concept and indicators of economic growth differ across different models of the market economy. Under the (distorted) monetarist scheme applied by the Meksi Government, priority is given to achieving macroeconomic stability (inflation, the budget deficit, currency stability, etc.), at the expense of structural and microeconomic reforms that would genuinely create functioning public and private market institutions and sectors. The presidential “specialists” need not rummage even through citizens’ bathrooms to collect “government investments” (Blerim Çela’s investments cannot be representative indicators even for his own palace, let alone for the country as a whole), because both in economic theory and in practice, investment must aim to create jobs; it does not mean reclassifying (or downgrading) workers into various categories of “social assistance!” create functioning public and private market institutions and sectors. In the countries of Eastern Europe, but also of Eastern Europe, [the key and imports. In Albania, however, during Berisha’s 1,000 days, no serious program was conceived or implemented for adapting, renewing and replacing industrial production capacities, nor for retraining and developing new skills among the workforce. Under these circumstances, boasting in every language in the world (badly spoken) that “Albania is a country rich in minerals, oil, tourism potential and human resources” remains “Leifenist”-style propaganda, not commercial advertising! As a result, foreign direct investment remains at 70 dollars per capita, compared with 7,000 dollars per capita in Hungary, which attracted half of the foreign capital invested in the East over the past five years. I repeat, these are the consequences of the “monetarist model” of “shock therapy” reforms chosen by the PD, implemented mechanically and amateurishly by the Meksi Government (which resists government changes because, even while in opposition, he was and remains “Berisha’s cashier”!). But, as in most Eastern European countries, discussions in Albania about “shock therapy” versus “gradualism” are no longer relevant. What has happened, has happened. The question now is: what should be done next? As in Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, etc., the electorate has now chosen the left (socialis-

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A concern for everyone Albanian public opinion cannot help being deeply shaken by the shocking news published by the media and newspapers almost every day: children being abducted from their homes and communities in cities and villages, while law-enforcement authorities and government officials sleep their heavy “democratic” sleep. Two children, E. SH. and A. K., have disappeared in Tirana; they were abducted near their home. Avni Rrustemi, as they were on their way to the Islamic school where they study. Two weeks after the tragic, gruesome ordeal, which resulted in the loss of a child, only part of his body was found in a distant field. How many other children will so many parents have to report missing? How many reports has the police filed? Silence brings pain and fear. People ask: is this really the democracy and freedom for which the struggle was waged in Albania? Nobody believes it. Freedom and democracy mean the freedom of the citizen’s personality, his complete security and guaranteed peace of mind—which have been entirely demolished—and the citizen’s peace of mind has been destroyed along with citizens’ freedom. But the Ministry of the Interior, the Government of Mr. Meksi and even the Presidency have not understood this truth; that is why they make pompous statements and stage parades of success, while organized crime has taken over every corner of Albania. What more are the Albanian government officials waiting for, beyond the desperate resolve of mothers who send their children out to play in the streets by the thousands, with just a piece of bread and cheese in their hands, only for a child to be snatched by a Mafia hoodlum who can quickly disappear into the lair of the beasts? Do they not hear of gruesome laboratories for organ transplants? Do our government officials not hear the mothers’ wailing? Do they hear such complaints when we “wipe out” Albanians without a care, and you can read that someone attempted to abduct minors at the monastery, someone who had been tried for the same crime only a short time earlier (O.K.), and the corrupt justice system, by releasing him, feeds crime and encourages it. And it is well known: In a state where crime has become master, homes and people are swept away. Let the government officials shout as much as they like about the December Revolution and the Victory of 22 March. But you, Mr. President, and you, Government, if you have not ensured peace and quiet and the protection of the most precious thing—our children—I cannot love you. In the language of democracy, this means: I will not give you my vote, Government; I have broken the Contract I made with you, PD. Let President Berisha write as much as he likes about this Contract; he should listen more closely to the cries of mothers. F. C.

Yesterday, 40 families in the village of Laknas, in the municipality of Bërxull, Tirana, entered the fourth day of their hunger strike, with 34 people remaining barricaded inside. Only after four days did the municipal mayor go to meet them and agree to their demands, promising that the issue would be considered on the 5th, Monday. Their health is deteriorating, and last night three of them were given intravenous fluids. Likewise, 12 other villagers are in a difficult condition because of a lack of food. Despite the appeals made by the municipal mayor for them to end the hunger strike, the strikers are determined to continue it until the demands they submitted to the government and other state institutions are met. Correspondent of “Zëri i Popullit” Read on page 4

FEATURES Prime Minister Meksi was in Fushë Milot on Thursday for the ceremony marking the start of work on the Mamurras–Milot highway. He was accompanied by his deputy, Shehi, as well as the Minister of Public Order, Musaraj. For the ceremony, the Greek construction company had been asked to send a representative, Mr. Kostas Sarandopolos, who has undertaken to carry out this work. Voices from Fushë Milot, who do not wish to be identified, say that in Fushë Milot, with Meksi’s help, [someone] had severe pains in the head and stomach, but the response in Fushë Milot was that there was no doctor, no pharmacy and not even an aspirin to be found there. The desire of senior government officials from Tirana to visit several families in Fushë Milot has become a source of many problems and reasons for concern. Among the main ones are that residents of the apartment buildings in Fushë Milot live amid sewage waters, while a family living outside the conflicts is facing problems over the division of land. Add to this the fact that 30 people live solely on assistance and around 40 percent rely only on social support. Even a visit to the municipal offices proved impossible, since all the [unclear] and workers could not be there; they had gathered on the road near those offices. What could Meksi and his companions do after hearing all these accounts of their efforts? They had no choice but to inform Tirana that they would stop briefly in Laç and head to a luxurious restaurant, where preparations had been made three days earlier. But even that did not happen. In Fushë Milot there was not a single telephone with which to notify Tirana. At that point Meksi [unclear] and set off for Tirana, accompanied by a long motorcade. The people waiting at the restaurant booked in Laç were left with a bitter taste by the furious sirens of the police cars. BESHTASA ZENELI