Koha Digest 131

Front Page: THE ARRIVAL OF THE YEAR OF CHANGES

Date: 31 December 1996

EDITORIAL

THE ANGUISH OF BEING RIGHT

by VETON SURROI

THE FEELING OF THE ROOSTER

At the end of the year, Albanians are experiencing a catharsis. Albanian satellite TV, what
was so far considered the official mouthpiece of "both Presidents" (Berisha and Rugova),
started placing distance with the latter. Speeches of famous persons is allowed, and it is said
that Kosova Albanians are hiding in rat- holes, manipulated by their leaders and waiting for
freedom to come from some international airport. And it is not, and it is not coming.

Things that we have been saying in this magazine in the past three years, when we critically
analyzed the Kosovan political life, with all it's deficiencies, have now become the voice of a
majority, thanks to the TV. We had to go through, and we still do, through a forest of the
most denigrating offenses coming from almost all our professional former colleagues
(Serbian collaborationists, the concealed hand of foreign powers, the Trojan horse) and now
from all epithets we can accept only the one that we were the rooster that noticed light much
earlier.

THE BREAKING YEAR

The year we are entering will be the breaking year in many aspects. Inside Kosova, we will
enter a political dynamics that will seek to rise the boiling point: the boiling point for the
clarification what should the behaviour of the majority of Albanians be, the boiling point that
should force Serbia to start the resolution of the Kosova question, the boiling point that will
force the powerful states to give up on their doses of indifference towards this Balkan's huge
problem.

If the first roosters that appeared by the end of the year that is ending are to be trusted, we will
have a new generation of people on the scene that will articulate new requests, a generation
that was brought up in cellars and garages, unfinished houses - called schools.

THE MOUNTAIN CALLED "31"

The last day of December is as the peak of the mountain from where one can see what way
have you come and what way you will be going. It really is not necessary to explain what

The weekly Koha (The Times) was published in Prishtina (Kosovo) between 1994 and 1997. Edited by Veton
Surroi, a young Kosovar journalist and one of the pioneers of democratisation in former Yugoslavia, Koha
soon became a symbol of quality among the region's media. In 1997 it started to be published daily under the
name of Koha Ditorë. W ith the kind permission of Mr. Surroi, Koha digests were originally posted on
http://koha.estudiosbalcanicos.org.
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have we gone through, and from this mountain peak the path that awaits us is neither easy nor
fun.

But, an anecdote about mountain climbers says: when asked why does one climb that
particular peak, the reply comes - because it is there.

In fact, we have reached the situation of our substance: we know what we have passed, we
know that it will not be easy in the future, but if seeking happiness, then we must find it in the
fact that we are walking.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

KOSOVA

THE BIG WINTER

by YLBER HYSA / Prishtinë

What KOHA announced over one month ago as "the other phase" for
Kosova, seems to have turned into a public debate that is being
incited by the media on both sides of the border. The ping-pong
game between Prishtina and Tirana through the media they control,
has reached its culmination.

The boiling point came with the broadcasting of the "Special of

the Day", with Ismail Kadare as guest. He was very harsh and
concrete in criticizing the stagnating Kosovan politics, which
"is not capable of understanding the demonstrations in Serbia,
that doesn't protest against the blockade in education since six
years ago", etc. And Kadare's presentation came only one day
after another "Special of the Day" of Albanian TV: the nomination
of Rugova for Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Paris.
Thus it happened that two totally opposite tones came from Paris
within 24 hours. One showed Rugova as a "little disciple of big
Barthe", meanwhile another Albanian who has been nominated member
of the French Academy this year, was completely open when
criticizing the politics in Kosova, led by the other nominated
Albanian in Paris.

To make it more illustrative, Albanian TV retransmitted Kadare's

interview the next day, on Christmas, meanwhile simultaneously
KIC dedicated an extremely unkind counter-criticism to Kadare.
KIC's comment stated that Kadare has done "many services" while
he used to be a public, (para)political figure and writer in the
dictatorial Albania, whose MP he also was. Kadare has since some
time now started talking about Kosova from his home in Paris. The
man of marvellous literary constructions falls into propaganda
constructions", says KIC, reminding him of the fact that the

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Kosovan writers were the ones that defended his right to seek
asylum (some said that "Kadare escaped") in Paris in autumn 1990,
when he was feeling the end of dictatorship. Adem Demaçi, then
in favor of the Enverist government, was one of the few that
sought the public and collective accusation of the writer,
whereas Rexhep Qosja then referred to Ramiz Alija as "prophet of
democracy"!

KIC's comment that tries to denigrate Kadare, not concentrating

only on the object of criticisms - the politics in Kosova, in
fact reflects a clear position towards the media that contemplate
the official postures of the Tirana government. Moreover, KIC's
comment mentions the "Special of the Day" that is referred to as
"special war" and "propaganda of the day"! On the other hand,
"Albania" has started to open files and it doesn't spare quite
some Kosovans that were active in the eighties in its comments...
It could be said that the "other phase" has entered its advanced
phase and that the things will hardly be as they used to - the
passive official reflection of Satellite TV that used to radiate
the postures of "both presidents". The public realized that the
whole thing started with the demonstrations in Serbia, after the
November elections. UÇK has been quiet since then, but the
propaganda artillery has become strong and is coming from all
sides. And while the dilemma remained whether the cannonade was
directed from the other side of the Atlantic or were only local
"Made in Albania" products, a comment/posture of Voice of America
(that reflects the position of the US government) came as a
thunder. Among others, it says: "The actual situation in Kosova
should be solved. The US strongly condemn the brutal and
repressive politics of Milosevic's government in Kosova. The US
particularly condemn the latest incidents of police brutality...

The United States of America call for democratization and respect

of human rights in Serbia and Kosova, as well as for the
implementation of the agreement on education. During this period
of tensions in Serbia, the United States of America call upon all
parties to show restraint and to ask for changes with peaceful
means... The United States of America encourage the dialogue
between Albanians and Serbs aiming at decreasing the tensions,
and encourage Kosovans to join their efforts to promote the
democratic changes wherever in Serbia... the United States of
America continue supporting the autonomy for Kosova, but not
independence or UN trusteeship. The opening of USIS in Prishtinë
in the first semester of this year, in an expression of the
dedication of the United States of America".

So, the US supports a movement of the Kosovan leadership towards

cooperation for the democratization that should come after in
Serbia.... It seems that this (strategic?) posture has been
understood earlier by Tirana or it was conveyed to it, but this

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thing is being told to the officials in Prishtina now (or has not
been listened to earlier). And now, everything must be said in
public. This definitely shows the "other phase" about Kosova,
both in the strategic and tactical aspect. And normally, it is
Prishtina's turn. Official Belgrade, has said it's opinion about
this issue, from Milosevic's statement on the "internal and
external enemies".

In the meantime, let's go back to Prishtina's pronouncement.

President Rugova didn't attend the press-conference on his way
back from Washington and Tirana. The explanation given to the
journalists was that the president couldn't come because of the
bad weather... Really, Kosova is expecting the Big Winter!

ALBANIA

"THE PEACE OF THE DEAD"

by REMZI LANI / Tirana

After the initial hesitation, official Tirana has declared itself

publicly in support of the demonstrations of the Serbian
opposition. President Berisha declared without any hesitation:
"I can't avoid supporting those that struggle, that protest
democratically for their human rights and freedoms". In the
meantime, the state TV and main newspapers in Tirana, have used
an almost pathetic terminology in their comments about the
demonstrations in Belgrade.

A bit more restrained, but again supportive of the Belgrade

demonstrators, was the opposition, excluding some parties with
nationalistic orientation, who have treated the post-election
crisis in Serbia as "a Serbian conflict" and Albania has no
reason to take sides, "because none of the sides have shown the
minimum of a different posture, a bit more positive towards
Albanians". But, the most important parties of the opposition,
starting from the socialists, are far away from the government's
posture.

Official Tirana has hastened to reject Milosevic's accusations

that the "Serbian opposition is playing the game of the Albanian
government and that of the USA".

The Albanian foreign minister Tritan Shehu considers the

accusations against Albania as "absurd and vague". "The recent
movements that have captivated Belgrade and the main towns of
Serbia are totally democratic and were initiated by local
intellectuals and students. Any attempts to give them other

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attributes are absurd and conceal the fear from the democratic
movement and the fear of calling things by their names".

In the meantime, the vocabulary of the epithets towards

Milosevic, modified and mild after the agreement he signed with
Rugova in September has disappeared and has gone back to the old
terms: "Saddam of the Balkans", "the last Stalinist dictator",
etc. which implies that Tirana is interested to see a weakened
Milosevic, i.e., his loss to the opposition.

Very much concerned with the events in Belgrade, Albania didn't

hesitate to spectacularly criticize the OSCE for sending its
mission headed by Gonzales, to Belgrade.

Tirana looks the events in Belgrade, without any doubt, through

the Prishtina prism. The hesitations and silence in the first
couple of days were attributed to the doubts Tirana has about the
leaders of the Serbian opposition for their posture about Kosova,
and the later support of the demonstrations is grounded on the
concept that the democratization of Serbia will have positive
effects on Kosova too.

On the other hand, the hesitations can also be linked to the

inertia of the climate of illusions created by the Rugova-
Milosevic agreement on education which was fully supported, as
well as the fact that it was still supposed that Milosevic could
be the adequate partner to end the initiated negotiations on
Kosova.

But, the unexpected happened when the state media used the
events in Serbia to start criticizing the so called Ghandian
politics in Kosova. "Kosova Albanians should take, among others,
the resistance of the Serbian opposition as a lesson for their
political clan and political self-organization", stated "Albania"
in one of its daily comments, a newspaper known for its support
to Rugova and his close links to Berisha's cabinet.

"Albania's" comments have been further enriched by those of the

state TV, which states that Rugova's politics is considered to
be archaic, amateur, as "humiliating pacifism" or as "peace of
the dead". In a way, Tirana's last posture could be considered
as criticism against the Kosovan leadership to move, to use the
moment when Milosevic weakened by the demonstrations in Belgrade,
could make a concession in regard to Kosova. The choir of
criticism has been joined by two personalities: Demaçi and Kadare
who used the interviews in Albanian TV to harshly criticize
Rugova's politics. Kadare, who was not hesitant to criticize the
Rugovian style even before, severely criticized the politics of
silence which has made the people fall asleep. The observers in
the Albanian capital have not kept silence in regard to the

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simultaneous visits of Rugova and Demaçi to Tirana. Regardless
of the reserved tones of the communique from the Berisha-Rugova
meeting, the positions of the newspapers that articulate their
postures, prove that Tirana is actually closer to Demaçi than to
Rugova. Tirana insists on the constitution of the Parliament of
Kosova and supports all those who insist on it too, and one of
them is Demaçi.

"No one has asked the Kosova Albanians to take arms and solve
their problem by force", says "Albania", "but no one has stopped
them from preserving their dignity, to resist so they can be
Albanians, partisans of their freedom and dignifying citizens,
so they can build their state on their own".

In the meantime, an unusual "cold war" has captivated Prishtina's

and Tirana's media. Some of the comments made by Albanian TV and
newspapers have been received with a lot of reserve in Kosova.
While the Prishtina media has considered the exaltations of the
demonstrations in Serbia as a wrong move, and accused the Tirana
media of being the transmitter of Serbian theses, the Tirana
media has also made an allusion to the "Milosevic's old cards in
Kosova". In fact, the point of separation is that the media in
Kosova considers the events in Serbia as "something that is
happening in another state", meanwhile the Tirana media see the
events as a necessary step towards the creation of the
preconditions for the solution of Kosova's problem. As never
before, at least since the annulment of the autonomy, the
politics, diplomacy and the media in Albania have been discussing
the issue of Kosova. After five years of support, Tirana asks
Rugova to apply the Ghandism of Mahatma Ghandi and not the
Ghandism of Ibrahim Rugova. This means that he should go onto the
streets. Could the man with the scarf do this?

MACEDONIA

MACEDONIA SOMEWHERE IN THE MAP OF THE WORLD

by KIM MEHMETI / Shkup

Much later will historians answer the question whether Macedonia

came out from the dark tunnel, in which some of the states
created after the disintegration of Yugoslavia found themselves,
without big traumas because of "its wise politics", or it was
saved by the conviction of the "master of war" that there was no
need to waste energy on it, for it probably will end up in that
tunnel, until "big brother" will come to save it. In other words,
was it saved by clear political concepts or by casual
circumstances that were not well planned? Anyhow, it escaped the

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worse, and the price it paid for its independence is minimal.
Macedonia would hardly be found in the maps of the world by
foreign politicians, if it weren't for two important moments
after the proclamation of its independence: the Macedonian-Greek
disagreement and its multi-ethnic composition. And something that
is worth mentioning is the excellent usage of these two moments
by the state administration. With its absurd insisting on not
recognizing the name of Macedonia, Greece made this state a huge
propaganda favor. Meanwhile the inter-ethnic misunderstandings
were turned into a huge capital by the rulers by which they
alarmed the world that any local conflict in this crossroad of
the Balkans would be the beginning of a regional war. The world,
fearing from a Third Balkans War reacted with panic not asking
where or why. There was a need to prevent any inter-ethnic
conflict. They had no time to decipher that the Macedonian
nomenclature was perceiving this threat from the prism of the
Macedonian ethnicity and not the interest of the whole
population.

The world was doing all it could to convince the Albanians to be

"patient" and to wait for better times to come. Albanians were
not believed that this was not a matter of time but the old
stereotypes that are stuck deep in the political conscience that
considers Albanians as real enemies.

...Today when the West has it clear that when it regards inter-
ethnic relations Macedonia remains in the same place it used to
in the first years of its independence, it is hard to discover
a new formula that would result with buying time while the just
Albanian requests are discussed. But if someone believes that
this can not be achieved with different manoeuvres to run the
OSCE mission from Macedonia, the mission that has helped the most
in the difficult years and which is now joked with as "the monkey
that has stayed the longest in this region".

So it happened that several Albanians died (and no Macedonians)

in this period of Macedonian independence. Bit Pazar and Reçicë
e Vogël are not the only incognitos. It is also unknown how can
it be that the formation of the civic concept implies the
constituent nation and the "citizens"? It it still unclear how
can people still claim that the sovereignity of the state depends
on the citizen regardless of the nationality, when the preamble
of the Constitution clearly stresses whose purpose does this
state achieve.

In this political reality, Albanians faced the wish to achieve

their national and individual purposes in the state where they
live. However, it seems that every Albanian request, must have
"it bottom line" analyzed. Moreover, this is done by a Government
in which five Albanians participate. It is not known how many

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more years will the latter need to understand that they can be
where they are regardless of who their partner will be and not
because of someone's wish, but because their presence is utmost
necessary for the legitimization of the rulers in the eyes of the
world. If this presence was maybe understandable in careful
times, then today's PPD's presence in the government can be
justified as much as ATSH's comment that discovered to the local
Albanians the "traitors" and thus politically divided them, in
times when no one was expecting this kind of "help" from the
"motherland".

If the first years of sovereign Macedonia were full of fog and

unclarities, especially in the past days we leave behind, many
things made it clear to those who can see and listen. It revealed
that the difference between VMRO and other parties in regard to
Albanians is absolutely minimal. And that the Albanians with
their two dominant political parties will have it more
complicated in the future. Not only because they are split and
waste a lot of energy in their competition, but because the
"young lions" are convinced that nothing can shake this state.
Or, that they can play with the Albanians much calmer and without
the pressure they once had. This illusion could cost everyone in
Macedonia too much. Especially those who don't understand that
without the harmonious solution of the inter-ethnic relations,
all other solutions could be considered provisional. Macedonia
is a just too small "rug" to cover all the "dirt" below. And the
"misfortune" of Macedonia relies on the fact that a "small"
people with state-constituent ambitions coexists with a "big
minority" that can't be calmed down with donations in
"instalments".

The year that we are leaving behind will carry with him the stamp
of the local elections and will not be able to conceal the "feast
of primitivism" that was expressed in the series of the most
denigrating offenses exchanged between Albanian parties. And
could eventually evolve in the former syndrome of the "Turkish
democracy" when people would close their doors to the "political
activists" that would come to convince them at gun-point. While
the Albanian parties offended one-another, for the first time,
the Macedonian political bloc had no need to waste time in the
propaganda against Albanians. All those offenses, for what? To
become the "old men" with the competencies of the former local
communities. The spite expressed in the competition for the post
of mayor of Tetova was actually a race to win the title of
"representee of the interests of Albanians". The spite brought
them to the situation in which none of them has legitimacy.
The deterioration of the relations between Albanian parties needs
a thorough expertise. In this context, the role of official
Tirana should also be analyzed. Some day, the present
commentators will have to read again the comments, but it will

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be maybe late to change anything. In the same way the times have
passed, in which PPD could have justified its presence in
government. Unless the leadership of this party thinks same as
one of its members who declared in one electoral meeting that PPD
will make up the government even if Macedonian parties would
leave it?! And he was warmly applauded! Because the ones that
listened to him maybe don't know that not even Macedonians can
form a government without Albanians in Macedonia, not to mention
the contrary! However, while local parties remember the people
only in times of elections, then what is happening today will
continue happening: that both leaders of the parties continue
faking that they don't notice that they are leaders of groups of
"impatient" individuals that wish to be the "first among the
people" and become part of history. Not noting this, they are
consoled with the conviction that the people have it not yet
clear that their influence in their respective parties is not as
big. Or, that their presence is in the service of individuals
that get all their force from the party emblem, not giving
anything in exchange. Therefore, by (mis)using the situation that
the local electorate has only one conviction: to give the vote
to an Albanian.

The people living in present Macedonia don't experience it the

same way. It's "fabricators" seem not have had the intention to
make it "as comfortable" everywhere. For them, it was important
to appoint those who will set the house order and those who will
be forever grateful for having been given refuge. The only thing
remaining for them is to express their dissatisfaction with the
house order, even to those who some years ago came and asked them
to join. There are many more Macedonians that believe that
stability can't stand any longer. On the other hand, the number
of Albanians that feel "manipulated" is also increasing. Even in
times when the central government has five Albanian ministers.
because time will come when these ministers will start
representing only themselves. The same as when Abdurrahman Aliti
will understand that the participation in the governmental
coalition is more helping the SDLM than the PPD. Or in other
words, time when he will decide to either save the party, or his
people that was very hard to make ministers and will be double
the hard to take them out from their cabinets.

KOSOVA '96

THE YEAR OF LACK OF CONSENSUS AND THE BLOCS

by YLBER HYSA / Prishtinë

To recapitulate a whole political year in Kosova, especially in

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the one we are leaving behind is not only ungrateful, but it
resembles the work of a chronicle writer that looks through the
non-systematized files in times when things still happen and when
there is no distance from the object.

It has been almost one year since the consultative meeting

between political subjects, initiated by the Parliamentarian
Party, was to be celebrated. Many political subjects had accepted
the invitation - but the President of the Republic, Dr. Ibrahim
Rugova. This happened on 15 January and as if the calendar year
of the non-consensus of political subjects in Kosova had started.
Immediately after this meeting, the open dilemmas "between blocs"
that could potentially be created, was announced by KOHA as
"National team or national championship"...!

The second dilemma won with the contribution of mentioned

factors. First of all, the shaky relations between the Presidency
and the Government were the ones to announce the fraction and the
definition of two channels, that seem to have become very clear.
And it was precisely January '96 that had started with the
meeting between Kinkel and Rugova without Bukoshi! At the same
time, in his interview in KOHA, Bukoshi criticized the "non-
institutionalization of life in Kosova" further saying that
"information by KIC was catastrophic" and that "we should move...
we should get mobilized, we should revive our spirits, because
we are the same Albanians as we were in 1981 and 1989. We must
defeat this defeatism which has been imposed to us by our
opponent". One issue later, LDK's vice-chairman, Agani, replies
to the premier: "The colleagues from the government have shot too
faraway", and as it regards the non-constitution of the
Parliament, he says "it is not an accusation. Because no one
accuses anyone. But, there are different opinions about the
(non)constitution, because as we know, Serbia, although it didn't
allow the May elections, it didn't prohibit them either, but it
seriously threatened when it came to the constitution of the
parliament. There were opinions that the constitution should take
place, regardless of Serbia's threats. This was the opinion of
almost all elected MPs. The other opinion was that we shouldn't
put the people at risk, especially knowing that it would be hard
the parliament to work normally after the constituting session.

This is the reason why this didn't happen, and it is hard to know
what was better". In regard to Demaçi's engagement in politics,
Agani said: "...he is engaged in politics - this can be felt and
heard. Any form of his engagement...would be an enrichment...".
In fact, Demaçi's candidacy for MP of the Kosova Parliament (a
the vacant seat), had created the resistance and support, which
proved the fractions within the political subjects in Kosova and
the deciding mechanisms even stronger. Thus, in another
interview, MP Selatin Novosella, accused the LDK "of having

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absurdly monopolized the political life"! The LDK, on the other
hand, had stated that Demaçi couldn't be even candidate for
member of this party, and thus, by the end of the year, Demaçi
became member of another party. Then in May, came Rugova's
decision to postpone the elections for one year (to be celebrated
on 24 May 1997). Thus the MPs were extended their mandate for
another year and 1997 was projected as the year of the
presidential and parliamentarian elections!

This brought a new adjustment in the positioning of the

people...It was said that the untouchable position of President
Rugova was now being questioned and in crisis, which was in a way
saved with the opening of the USIS in Prishtinë. This happened
on 6 June, and on that day, Rugova, between Cornblum and Perina,
was really feeling happy with the political victory. This was
a very interesting situation when the Americans used their
"hammer-diplomacy" to put Rugova and Jokic together in one place.
This was evaluated as another "injection of American optimism"
for Rugova! And it seems that this ampoule absorbed the doses
till the end of the year. But, gradually, Kosova came back to the
old fashion, challenging the ampoule of optimism for just one
moment. It was 1 September, and the signature of the agreement
on education by the two leaders, Milosevic and Rugova. The
people, the parents, students and the exhausted teachers in the
past six years outside the schools buildings were very
enthusiastic about the agreement, hoping that it would finally
enable the normal education. For Rugova, this was a success,
meanwhile his criticizers considered it "a mistake", even
"capitulation". In fact, the agreement was not implemented so
far. First, it was the because of the technical reasons, the
principled ones, meaning the need to have the presence of the
third party present in the meeting, then it was the fact that
Albanians had not appointed their delegation and finally the
Serbian elections which could have endangered the position of
Milosevic's party... The agreement has not been implemented yet
and Albanian students still go to school in private buildings.
Nevertheless, education is again becoming a problem not because
of the Serbian repression, but also as a moment of different
interpretations, on how should it function as a political
movement in Kosova. This was the case at the end of this year,
as the massive one-month long demonstrations in Serbia were going
on, Serbian policemen tortured to death teacher Feriz Blakçori
from Prishtinë. A minute of silence was observed for him in
Belgrade, and Kosova protested only one class-hour. And all of
this happened when Demaçi and official Tirana amounted their
requests to move ahead...in times when Milosevic's intestines are
mixing up from the almost Bucharest-like protests and when the
OSCE is knocking on his door!

If we wish to analyze 1996, we can't skip UÇK (The Liberation

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Army of Kosova). The year started with the actions of UÇK that
caused no mortal victims. But actions went growing after the
murder of Armend Daci, and caused deaths of mainly policemen but
also of Krajina refugees. The actions were often coordinated, in
time, they were fast and has a clear target. The dilemmas remain:
who commits the attacks and who stands behind them? In October,
the police arrested the so called Drenica Group, i.e. only three
people from the 15 identified, as the Serbian organs pretend. But
another dilemma arose: if the soldiers that are not identified
with a name of an organization were caught - then "where is the
Army"? So far, their trial didn't end... UÇK was very active
during nine months of this year, but there were no such actions
since the elections in Serbia and the tense situation there. And
this seems to ascertain the previous ascertainment made by our
magazine on the existence of the political wing of this
organization!

1996 was also interesting because of one anniversary - the 15th

anniversary of the 1981 demonstrations. Our magazine covered this
dossier with different voices: some saw it as the "Kosovan spring
that uncovered the Yugoslav crisis" (Mehmet Hajrizi), others that
"The (Yugoslav) evaluations of the events were anti-Albanian"
(Mahmut Bakalli), whereas the then Minister of Interior of
Kosova, Mustafë Sefedini who spoke to the public after 15 years,
among many interesting things, he stressed his evaluation about
the duality of (il)legal channels... Which maybe we are lacking
now?

While the year that we are leaving behind started for Milosevic
with the propaganda enthusiasm after the lifting of the sanctions
in his affirmative period as the Dayton signatory, now it seems
that the end on '96 will be most difficult period in his
political career. The New Year will carry on his back the
opposition as well as the problem of Kosova together with the
"outer wall sanctions". But will and how will these problems be
placed on Milosevic's neck is a question that upsets not only the
new inhabitant of Dedinje, but also the Kosovans and their
leaders. And not only them. Tirana is ever more louder, meanwhile
the international factors, especially the Americans are conscious
of the duality of the problems Milosevic has. The New Year has
promised to be the electoral year (not only repetition of Serbian
elections?!) but also for Albanians in next May. Will it really
be so, no one knows, but the pressure of the electoral campaigns
have started, also through the Kosovan students' petition
directed to President Rugova. Can the Prishtina students move (as
the Belgrade ones?) - is only one of the problems that will hang
over Rugova's neck...in 1997!

Happy New Year!

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ECONOMY

MONEY FLIES...!

by IBRAHIM REXHEPI / Prishtinë

On Christmas Eve, it was almost impossible to find a free seat

in Prishtina's cafes. Everyone was celebrating. But, this is not
a usual characteristic of Prishtina. It enlivens every time there
is a holiday: Christmas, New Year, Bayram, Flag's Day, even 1 May
and Saint George's Day. It is anachronic to celebrate Labor Day
knowing that the number of the ones working is really very small.
It is hard to understand even how can it be that so much money
is spent on "luxuries" having in mind such poverty in Kosova.
Maybe it is not good that we are complaining about the economic
situation in Kosova. Maybe the achievements can be listed. The
number of private enterprises is increasing; 43 banks function;
the teachers were paid 10 salaries each; the Kosovan yields are
bigger than ever; the construction of the Lezhë-Prizren-Prishtinë
highway remains actual; Albanians seem to always have the money
to buy any shop being constructed in Kosovë, be it even in
prohibited sites; the birth-rate seems not to stagnate nor do the
people seem to become old; although the hard-currency reserves
of individuals go decreasing, nevertheless there seems to be
enough for survival; and the students' bags have never been
fuller of books and other teaching aids. This situation suits
Serbia, because the tax-collection level in Kosova is the
highest; the most expensive squared meter of apartments or shops
(in construction) is in Kosova, meanwhile any hard currency to
fall in the hands of Albanians, has the real chance to end the
central bank of the so called Yugoslavia.

The year that we are leaving behind brought nothing new in the
area of business. Regardless of how patriotic our businessmen
are, nevertheless they are one of the most important elements in
spending the money that comes to us from abroad, by buying
articles that are imported and that we can produce ourselves.
Over 130 gas-stations that have been opened, will soon produce
ecological problems; further on, Prishtina alone has 47 print-
shops, which even for a town such as New York are just too much.
However, a stabilization of the relations in the market, things
became more reasonable. Out of 18,534 enterprises, 13 thousand
are trade firms, 678 are hotels and tourist firms and 476 are
transporting enterprises. Their growth depends on the situation
in Kosova. They didn't ease much the unemployment problem - only
20 thousand people work there, meaning that besides the owner,
there is one more worker, and the two of them together, fill up
the shops with different articles. At the same time, in a very
short period of time, many investments were made in production -
they promise new employment and a new structure of consumption

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in Kosova.

But, business still remains at a low level. Albanians can't

understand that only if they create normal relations among
themselves, they can make real miracles. For example, if two
businessmen would join and build a factory. It is interesting to
mention that Kosova consumes ice-cream worth 5-6 million German
Marks a year. It comes from Serbia. This means that Serbs are
selling us water. But, it is also known how Albanians work: when
two brothers start working together, by the end of the year they
call in a third one to mediate in their contention.

It has been four years since the financing councils were

established. This means that this issue was advanced to the level
of statal organization - in other words, Kosova created its
budget and fiscal system. Around 23 thousand people are paid
their salaries from this source, all teachers in the four levels
of education, some health-care workers, but also employees of the
statal and party organs. Two segments are important in its
functioning: the collection of a larger amounts of contributions
and a better organization. Were these achieved?

In average, teachers were paid ten salaries during 1996. In some

municipalities more, in some other less. For example Suharekë
will be paying the 13th salary to its teachers, but this is not
the fate of the teachers in Viti, Pejë, Podujevë or Mitrovicë,
where the delays are considerable. The blame is of the tax
payers, a large a number of which, would rather not pay a thing
ever. Now the teachers have become part of the cashiers' game,
by telling the children that they can kiss school good-bye if
their parents don't fulfil the obligations. There are even cases
when elementary school kids are told so. Is this a violation of
the Kaçanik Constitution which guarantees free education?

Opinions are different. However, the stronger conviction is that

regardless of the constitutionality, all possible mechanisms
should be used to increase the cashing-in level. Let's say that
in the first nine months of the year, the plan was fulfilled 74%,
while the total of the cashed-in sums is almost 40% higher than
in the same time last year. Next year, corrections in the budget
are expected. There are several variants, but it is more
important to have a more precise list of tax-payers. If the
salaries of the teachers will increase (the value of the point
will probably increase 0,10 DEM) then the cashed-in amount should
be 20% bigger, and if the point will become worth 1 DEM, then the
amount to be collected would have to be 25% higher.

And where does the problem of the tax-payers' list appear then?

According to previous data provided by this Council, the list

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contains the names of 4,770 enterprises, 5,667 shops, 4,898
artisans an servicemen, 45,808 families with an employed abroad,
145,518 familial households, 28,500 employed in state enterprises
and pensioners, 3,160 renters, and 1,455 taxi-drivers and
transporters. The innacuracy of the list is proven by a survey
that was recently conducted, it came out that there were only
some 40 thousand people working abroad! This is only one of the
reasons why one third of the needed amounts is paid by the Fund
of the Government of the Republic of Kosova. However, this is
still not enough, especially having in mind that teachers have
warned that if salaries are not paid on time, they will stop
working.

Kosova is again forgetting the losses and pains. It is dressed

solemnly, waiting for the New Year. All, those who have and those
who have not, will separately celebrate. Someone will be able to
spare 13 thousand German Marks for a TV set, while others will
wait to see what will "Mother Theresa" bring them. The statement
of a cigarette seller in Prishtinë was very charming: "I will not
get drunk, but I have saved money enough to make happy everyone
at home". This could be an illustration of a happy Kosovan - but
what could around 50 thousand families at the edge of starvation
say? They could maybe only envy those who will choose to go to
"Show", "Dora", "Breta", "Syri", "Dea", or any other restaurant
and choose whatever music they like, starting from average
Kosovan singers up to well known estrade "stars" from Albania.
It is clear why this category, not that big, of Kosovans can
always celebrate New Year's. They live at the expense of the time
and misery. As in the world, here too we have those who grow
richer and richer and the others that drown more and more in
poverty. another category, that of the intellectuals, remains
somewhere in the middle: they are always closer to the poor, but
have no courage to say so. There are no signs that 1997 will be
better in that sense and that we will live a better life.

Political games about Kosova go on, meanwhile the Albanians still

keep the dream that the EU will solve their material problems.

Even without working.

So, once again, Happy Poverty!

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