The DP and the President in a panic in the face of defeat Statement by the Presidium of the Socialist Party The DP and the President in a panic in the face of defeat Our political commitments will be fulfilled through the elections that we will win Statement by the Presidium of the Socialist Party The Presidium of the PSSH makes known to public opinion the PSSH’s position regarding Sali Berisha’s recent attacks against it, as follows: 1. The PSSH has been and remains consistent in its positions in favor of political struggle and fair competition, within the framework of democratic constitutional principles and mutual respect among the institutions of the rule of law, both those of the government and of the opposition. This is particularly necessary in Albania’s current circumstances, where tolerance and civilized debate are primary conditions for free democratic elections and the peaceful rotation of political forces in power. 2. By seriously abusing his powers and presidential prerogatives, Sali Berisha continues to dangerously heighten tensions with repeated, unworthy, uncivilized and irresponsible attacks on the opposition as a whole and the PSSH in particular. In this way, he declares that he is an essential part of the overwhelming majority of the new legislation currently in force, but their commitment and contribution have been systematically denigrated and disregarded by the majority dictated by Berisha, the totalitarian practices of the former communist turned convert Berisha and his clan in Albania. * We consider Berisha’s latest characterization of his political opponents and competitors as “young lads” and “puppets” to be the supreme manifestation of his political and institutional irresponsibility. [the text continues beyond the edge of the photograph] agreements with foreign capital. We are not intimidated by Berisha’s arrogance and speculation to date regarding market value and institutions. We know very well, professionally, the historical and current value of the market and Albania’s national wealth, just as we know and have accurately documented the official manipulations of supply and demand in privatization under Berisha’s regime, whether through the relocation and destruction of inherited core capital or through the distribution, according to political criteria and favors, of movable assets and land, buildings and banking resources, domestic loans and international borrowing. Therefore, our electoral and governing platform clearly distinguishes nepotistic and corrupt business empires from honest, medium-sized and small businesses, which will receive our extensive political support. * We understand very well the demagoguery [the text continues beyond the edge of the photograph] power. 7. PSSH in particular. Under these circumstances, we declare that we cannot respect Berisha as president more than he himself earns through the performance of his constitutional duties and responsibilities in that capacity. 3. We will not tolerate, and will never reconcile ourselves to, the tensions and distortions that Berisha brings to Albanian political life and to the functioning of the rule of law through his actions as a fanatical partisan, an architect of division and an instigator of political apartheid among Albanians, as a wretched politician who seeks to impoverish and dominate the progressive democratic development of society and of civic and intellectual opinion. 4. We denounce Berisha’s authoritarian blindness and political vengeance against alternative views and the opposition, his intolerance and inability to engage in dialogue, his anachronism and self-isolation from the open Albanian society that is rapidly becoming European. We cannot accept the troubling fact that the President of Albania continues to present himself to domestic and international public opinion with primitive and rudimentary reasoning, which continues to deteriorate as a result of totalitarian delusions and a feverish desire for unlimited power. 6. We denounce as unworthy and shameful for Albania the fact that Berisha, while holding public office, continues to appear against the opposition as an ordinary cheat and slanderer, a distorter of legally established and universally known facts, an incorrigible voluntarist seeking to impose on public opinion his own will, dogmatism and political arbitrariness. Thus, we declare, with unwavering political responsibility, that: * The socialist deputies in the People’s Assembly have presented countless alternatives for the complete legal framework of the democratic reforms under way and have voted in favor of the essential and overwhelming majority of the new legislation denigrated and disregarded by the majority dictated by Berisha. * The PSSH was founded and is developing as an Albanian political force, as a constructive and genuine opposition in a pluralist democracy, with firm national, social-democratic, intellectual and professional commitments, strong popular support and extensive international ties, and a clear and independent political and organizational philosophy. * The PSSH has genuinely committed itself to making Albania like the rest of Europe as soon as possible and integrating it into all Euro-Atlantic structures. It has not conformed, and will never reconcile itself, to demagoguery and the presidential policy of accommodation and exclusion; to flagrant violations of human rights and the imprisonment of the opposition and the free press; to political apartheid and clientelism; to corruption protected by the state and its violation of international embargoes; to the turban of the Islamic Conference and the failure to ratify fundamental European conventions and agreements, etc. Anti-Europeanism in Albania to date has been the result and product of Berisha’s amateurism and clientelism in foreign policy. * The PSSH’s distancing from the past, its principled and realistic stance toward the values and anti-values of national history, its condemnation of the crimes of the communist dictatorship, and its insistence that those responsible be punished individually on the basis of the principles of the rule of law have by now established the PSSH as a balanced political force capable of achieving national reconciliation. To Berisha’s empty attacks as an “anti-communist,” this time we answer simply and clearly: the clearest current indication that the PSSH has no affinity or connection with communism, the PPSH or the party-state is its distance from, and firm opposition to, the totalitarian mentality and clan in Albania. * We consider Berisha’s latest description institutional irresponsibility. This is the fatal degradation of the political logic the President of the Republic has adopted to date in treating the opposition as an enemy. This degradation of institutions in Albania makes them wholly incapable and unreliable as guarantors of free elections and the peaceful alternation of political forces in power. * The PSSH is convinced that its intellectual potential stems from the support its political alternatives receive from the overwhelming majority of the most progressive part of the Albanian intelligentsia. We believe that neither Albanian democracy nor the political forces aspiring to govern the transition—least of all the modern socialists (social democrats)—need to become tutors to genuine intellectuals, and that progress cannot be made with fabricated or ciphered intellectuals of the Elez Ajaz or Lei Fen type from the Presidency, who find it difficult to survive outside the shadow of its banner. Our political and intellectual superiority over Berisha’s clan stems from and is expressed in our constant and fruitful partnership and cooperation with the most progressive intelligentsia of all Albanians. * We will not retreat from our political and professional commitments to building a market economy with justice and social solidarity in Albania. Those who have been widely denounced by the opposition over the past 3–4 years will be punished by the rule of law as soon as the Presidency’s primitive tutelage and arbitrary protection of the oversight and justice bodies are removed. The opposition, and in particular socialist deputies and members of privatization boards, have documented the thefts and manipulations by Bellsha’s clients in privatization, in the use of public finances and in national. corrupt entities extensive political support. * We understand very well Berisha’s demagoguery and posturing when confronted with progressive global developments and experiences wherever his presidential visits take place, thanks to the generosity of poor Albanian taxpayers and the opposition’s inability to exercise institutional oversight over Presidential spending! We understand very well that Berisha is bluffing when he praises the “perestroika” of Ten Hsia Pin, because he not only failed to seek a meeting with Prime Minister Li Pen to apologize either for his follies as DP chairman in 1991 or for those he committed as PPSH secretary at the height of the influence of Lin Blaose Cian Çini’s Cultural Revolution in Albania. Above all, he is failing to understand and reflect on the functional links between political stability and the progress and success of market-economy reforms. Otherwise, as President in Albania he would put into practice something of the spirit of the peace process between Israelis and Arabs, of the tolerance and fair relations between government and opposition even in tiny Malta, or of the maturity and principled break with the past and national consensus on the future demonstrated by progressive leaders such as Peres, Ten Hsiao Pin, Gorbachev or Bill Clinton, throughout the civilized world. Therefore, neither the PSSH, nor the opposition, nor Albanians as a whole any longer believe Berisha’s demagoguery or the “villager” Shehu’s blathering after visits to Italy about building the future and integrating all Albanians on equal terms into contemporary civilization. We will fulfill our principled political commitments through the upcoming elections, which we will win. Berisha must guarantee their freedom and must not threaten them with the scepter of violence! Tirana, 10.02.1996