The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.61/No.13           March 31, 1997 
 
 
Albanian Rebels: `We Are Not About To Give Up'

Imperialists continue to probe for intervention  

BY ARGIRIS MALAPANIS AND TONY HUNT
SARANDA, Albania - "During a rebellion there is dislocation, there can even appear to be chaos for a period of time until the question of power is resolved," said Gjevat Koucia in an interview here March 18. "But at least we have avoided bloodshed so far and we are beginning to restore order in this town. We are not about to give in. We will not order people to surrender their weapons and we will not negotiate a political solution to the crisis until [President] Sali Berisha resigns. There can be no free and fair elections or transition to normalcy until he is out of office."

Koucia is the de-facto president of the defense council of Saranda, a port town of about 10,000 people near the Greek- Albanian border. The council was formed at the beginning of March to organize self-defense units as antigovernment protests turned into an armed revolt. The entire command of the army and navy here was dissolved and most officers and soldiers have joined the rebels or abandoned their uniforms and gone home.

On March 18, Militant reporters disembarked from the Kalliopi - the little boat that still does daily trips between Igoumenitsa, on the northwestern coast of Greece's mainland, the Greek island Corfu, and Saranda. Civilians with Kalashnikov rifles were guarding the port here. Later that day we saw old Russian tanks guarding the town's electric power station, as well as the city's entrance. The volunteers who man them get a stipend disbursed by the defense council. On the other end of town, the former army base on the rocky heights of the north side of the bay is abandoned and some of its buildings dismantled. We saw a couple of people taking bricks from one of the barracks' walls. Down below the cliffs overlooking the Adriatic, the naval base is also deserted. The four navy gunboats, decades old, are in the hands of the rebels, though one is sunk and only one of the rest is operational.

Except for some sporadic gunfire from people shooting in the air, the towns and villages in this region are fairly quiet. In downtown Saranda, there was evidence of the unrest at the beginning of the month. Most of the shops were closed, some with their windows broken and a couple burned. The police station in the same area was also torched and police officers have left their duties. The council Koucia organizes is now trying to deputize new police officers, including some from the previous police department, to enforce order and put a stop to looting and burning of shops and government buildings that took place the first days of the revolt. Koucia said he is opposed to foreign military intervention, which is now being debated by Paris, Rome, Washington, and other imperialist powers. "This is for the Albanian people to sort out," he said. "Most Albanians want Berisha to go," referring to Albanian president Sali Berisha.

"This is also the position of the National Front for the Salvation of the People," a coalition of defense committees formed by rebel forces controlling 12 cities in southern Albania, said Minella Bala, a truck driver who is also on Saranda's defense council. The Front issued a statement to that effect on March 16, after its second meeting in Gjirokastra, a city of 32,000 people 60 miles east of here.

A stalemate with government forces
"Only half of our demands are met," Bala said. "Berisha appointed a new government that includes opposition figures and agreed to new elections by June. But he is still the president and there are no guarantees that people are going to get compensated for their losses from the pyramids." The collapse of the pyramid schemes in January -fraudulent investment funds into which many Albanian families had deposited their money - sparked the two-month-old rebellion.

In a concession aimed at ending the revolt, Berisha named Bashkim Fino of the opposition Socialist Party as prime minister on March 11 and announced new elections within three months. Soon afterward, Berisha released and pardoned SP leader and former premier Fatos Nano, who had been serving a 12-year sentence since 1993 on charges of embezzling state funds. The parliament, controlled by Berisha's Democratic Party since what everyone interviewed here described as fraudulent elections last year, passed a law giving amnesty to all those who would turn in their weapons by March 20. The new cabinet includes other SP members and ministers from the Democratic Party. Fino has called on the rebels to turn in their weapons and "abide by the constitution."

On March 18, the publishers of eight Albanian dailies demanded that the new government end censorship, imposed with the state of emergency Berisha declared on March 2.

Over the last few days, a stalemate has developed between the government in Tirana, the country's capital, and the rebels who control the southern third of the country. According to several news reports here, government forces remain in control of the capital. CNN showed several thousand people in what was dubbed as a "peace rally" on March 16. The Albanian state news agency ATA said hundreds of civilians have begun to return weapons taken from armories - over 3,000 rifles, five missiles, dozens of hand grenades, and 3 million bullets were reportedly turned back to authorities in Tirana by March 18. Even if these reports are true, the weaponry described is a tiny fraction of what has been seized by civilians, and no return of arms has taken place in the south so far.

On March 19, Fino postponed indefinitely a meeting with representatives of the National Front for the Salvation of the People that was to take place that day in Gjirokastra, where the SP official was mayor from 1992 to 1996.

Isuf Cepani, a former army officer who is on Gjirokastra's defense council, said in an interview the same day, that National Front representatives from throughout the south will meet in Tepeleni, southern Albania, on March 21. "We've given Berisha a deadline of March 21 to resign," Cepani said. "We'll discuss what to do next if he's still in office then." If the president capitulates, Front leaders propose that the presidency by replaced by a committee that would include insurgents.

Asked by a reporter for BBC television if rebel forces would consider a march to Tirana to oust the president, Cepani said the idea is under consideration. No obvious preparations for such a move can be detected in this area, however.

Debate over imperialist intervention
On March 17, an 11-member European Union (EU) delegation led by Dutch diplomat Jean de Marchant et d'Ansembourg arrived in Tirana and met with Berisha. The Albanian president reiterated demands for imperialist financial and military aid to his regime. "I think that European police units are a necessity so that together with our units they can distribute aid and contribute to re-establishing order and reforming our police," Berisha said, according to ATA. Prime minister Fino also backed the call for EU intervention.

The EU visit followed a two-day debate at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in the Netherlands, which was marked by deep divisions between Paris and Bonn. French foreign minister Herve de Charette argued for an initial military force of up to 3,000 soldiers and police to be dispatched to Albania swiftly to take control of the Tirana airport and government buildings. The military operation, if Paris had its wishes, would be under the auspices of the Western European Union, the EU's embryonic military arm that the French rulers have been trying to prop up as their alternative to Washington's NATO. "We are not in a civil war," De Charette stated, "it's total anarchy." The Italian and Greek governments were among the strongest backers of the French plan, with Rome floating proposals for a force as large as 7,000 troops.

But the French plan ran into strong opposition from Bonn and London. German foreign minister Klaus Kinkel rejected what he termed that "something-must-be-done" school of foreign policy, referring to Paris's proposal. "This is no time to plunge into a new adventure," he said. "You know best what happens when you send soldiers without a clear mandate."

British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind underscored London's opposition to any military role for the EU in Europe, which could undermine Britain's special relationship with Washington. "The EU as such has no defense role, no military role," he said.

Meanwhile, Washington, which until a couple of weeks ago had backed Berisha with economic and military aid, rejected the Albanian president's call for NATO intervention and called on Berisha to resign. In that way, the U.S. rulers give the appearance taking the moral high ground and position themselves to best take advantage of the outcome of the revolt. "The main problem is that there is lack of trust in the [Albanian] government," said NATO spokesman Jamie Fhea.

On March 14, the U.S. government suspended efforts to evacuate most of the 2,000 U.S. officials and other personnel in Albania, supposedly after gunmen fired on two helicopter gunships waiting to pick up diplomats outside Tirana. The same day, German troops fired on Albanian protesters, injuring several people, as a German helicopter was evacuating officials from Bonn's embassy in Tirana, according to Reuters.

The imperialist powers, especially Rome and Athens, vying for different forms of intervention with the ultimate goal of re-establishing capitalism in the Albanian workers state, are using the exodus of thousands to win acceptance for their aim. As of March 18, over 10,000 Albanians had crossed the Asiatic to Italy, mostly from the Port of Durres, west of Tirana. Another 3,500 have arrived in Greece, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The Italian government suspended its policy of immediately sending back Albanian immigrants with no proper papers, and is now giving "temporary humanitarian residence" for three months to those fleeing. At the same time, Rome has sent back to Tirana 250 Albanians it branded as "criminals." According to an article in the March 17 Financial Times of London, almost three-quarters of the Albanian navy has taken refuge in either Brindisi or Otranto in Italy, including 250 military personnel.

"Many of the military officers who fled to Italy must have their hands dirty against the people," Minella Bala told the Militant. "They could have stayed here like thousands of others to fight Berisha."

Several thousand Albanians have camped for days at Durres, waiting for the opportunity to board a ship to Italy. "I have been here for four days and nights," said Samir Paja. He had been expelled from Italy in 1991, after 40,000 Albanians fled across the Asiatic when the former Stalinist regime of Ramiz Alia tottered. "We want our government to calm down the situation. If Berisha resigns, we would stay." On a hill overlooking Durres, Albanians carted away bathroom fixtures and other items from the remains of what used to be the summer palace of King Zog, who fled Albania in 1939, a few years before the workers and peasant revolution of 1944 - 46 that successfully defeated the Nazi occupation and overturned capitalist rule. "I don't care about the royal family or the president. They are all scum," said a woman who identified herself as Mimosa. She took away a door that she said would make good firewood. Many people complained of lack of electricity, bread, and water in Durres, which still reportedly remains under the government's control.

In southern Albania, opposition to imperialist intervention runs deep but is far from unanimous. Most of those we interviewed said they are against foreign troops coming into the country. Some even said they would resist any such military force. "Any army coming in will face an armed people," said a farmer in his 30s, who identified himself as Christakis and asked that his last name not be used. Interviewed on a field outside the village of Frashtame, on the road between Saranda and Gjirokastra, he said he was one of the few relatively young farmers left in the area. Most young people from these villages have immigrated to Greece. But two older shepherds there, Thodoras Kazaais and Panayiotis Argiris, both 67, expressed a similar opinion. "We can take care of Berisha ourselves," Argiris said, "like we took care of the Nazis and their lackeys here back in the 1940s." Both of these shepherds fought with the partisans at that time.

"If Europe and other countries come it will be to serve their own plan, not the people," said Christos, a delivery driver for the main supermarket in Gjirokastra, who asked that his last name not be printed, "you don't know what they will do. We've seen what they've done in Bosnia," he said, referring to the NATO occupation of that Yugoslav republic. "Nobody will give up our arms."

"When your donkey sinks in the mud, only you can pull it out," said Sotiris, a mechanic at the Rekor shoe factory in Gjirokastra. He offered only his first name, as the company manager stood near the plant gate where the workers gave the interview. "Only the Albanian people can solve our own problem, and not any foreign power."

Every day that goes by with Berisha still in the presidency, however, and with insurgents having difficulty organizing some functions in the cities they control - like putting an end to looting and robberies going on at night, or ensuring proper supplies of food and other necessities - the arguments for imperialist intervention are gaining ground. This is more common among shop keepers and other small businessmen frustrated with their stores being closed for more than ten days now.

On March 18, Yiannis Kranidiotis, the Greek deputy foreign minister, came to Saranda as part of a three-day tour of southern Albania and met with members of the town defense council. Offering "humanitarian aid," he raised again the idea of an international police force, for which Athens has already committed several hundred officers. After the meeting, a raging debate took place outside the city hall between Gjevat Koucia and others who were arguing for "law and order" to be established immediately by any means, including foreign troops. "This is anarchy, not revolution," said Yiannis Mglaris, a store owner who is also in the middle of building a hotel. "We need order."

What sparked rebellion
On the boat to Saranda on March 18, Stavroula Meniou told us he worked as a housecleaner in Greece for two years and had put all his savings in two pyramid schemes, one of which was operated by the state bank. "I lost everything," he said. "I'd like to see Berisha hang." All workers interviewed by Militant reporters blamed the president and his Democratic Party for promoting this capitalist scam, profiting from it, and then lying in an attempt to absolve the regime from responsibility in the fraud.

Sotiris said most of the 400 workers at the Rekor factory took part in the antigovernment rallies demanding the state compensate them for their losses. Many of these workers had put some of their wages of about $60 per month in the pyramids, hoping to increase their meager pay. The largest demonstrations in Gjirokastra swelled to 15,000 people on February 28 and March 1, nearly half the town's population. On March 2, small groups of people torched the town's police station and courthouse. Prisons were also thrown open and inmates released. When Berisha attempted to send in commanders with helicopters to reinforce operations of SHIK agents, the secret police, working people broke into the armory, took weapons, and chased government agents and troops into the mountains. Sotiris said all workers at Rekor now have rifles or pistols.

The hatred for the secret police is widespread. Skender Arapi, a taxi driver, showed us the charred remains of four cars outside Saranda. "That's where a SHIK agent was burned alive in his car as he tried to flee town," Arapi said. Minella Bala said Saranda's self defense unit caught one of the SHIK agents sent to town by the government the first week of March. He had a "blacklist" of 15 people with orders to kill them. "We had him tell the story in front of 4,000 people in the main square," Bala said. "The citizen's committee then sent him to Vlora, where he is from, to be tried and punished."

It is also noteworthy that the main targets of attack at the beginning of the revolt were the police agents, courthouses, prisons, and some of the army barracks. "The police were thieves themselves," has been a common comment. Some other installations, like the large state-owned hotel in Saranda, were also burned and looted before any semblance of order was restored. But the city halls and the prefectures in both Saranda and Gjirokastra were left intact and are now being used as meeting places for the citizens' committees.

`Market reforms' = economic collapse
More than 500,000 Albanians in a population of 3.2 million deposited as much as $1.5 billion in the pyramid schemes, nearly half of Albania's GDP in 1996.

But this financial fraud was only the straw that broke the camel's back. A deep economic crisis has been mushrooming since early 1996 as the result of the "market reform" measures of Berisha's administration. Berisha was elected to the presidency in 1992 after the shattering of the former Stalinist regime of the Socialist Party. The SP is the former Communist Party or Albanian Workers Party, which was renamed following mass mobilizations by workers and students for democratic freedom and better economic conditions. The Democratic Party favored attempts to more rapidly integrate the Albanian workers state into the world capitalist market, which included heavy reliance on loans from the International Monetary Fund in selling off some shares of state assets to foreign investors. The initial rise the rate of growth in the GDP and lowering of inflation in the mid- 1990s has been quickly reversed in the last 14 months.

The outskirts of Gjirokastra, one of the main industrial centers in this region, are now dotted with decrepit buildings of clothing factories, dairy plants, and steel fabricating shops that closed after state subsidies were cut. Some 7,000 workers toiled in these factories until 1990. The industrial workforce that is now employed has been reduced to less than 2,000. In fact, 90 percent of industry is now shut down throughout Albania. The Rekor show company, a joint venture between the government and Greek capitalist Spiros Papafotiou, was opened three years ago. Workers there make $20 less per month than the average wage of $80 in the public sector. According to Thanasis Dinou, a journalist for Zori Topoli, the daily newspaper of the Socialist Party, it is now cheaper to import household items such as pots, pans, and utensils from neighboring countries than fabricate them in Albania, where the technology in the state plants is obsolete and the productivity of labor is nearly a quarter of what it is in capitalist Greece.

Most workers interviewed said the economic situation did improve for a couple of years between 1992 and 1995, as many more stores opened, offering consumer goods previously unavailable under the Stalinist regime of Enver Hoxha, who ruled dictatorially from the time of the degeneration of the Albanian revolution in the late 1940s until his death in 1985. Prices now are out of reach for most working people. Inflation has jumped to 18 percent since the beginning of this year. A loaf of bread, for example, costs 75 cents, while the daily pay of an employed industrial worker ranges between two and three dollars.

"The Greek, Italian, and other capitalists who come here to invest are here to rob us, not develop our economy," Skender Arati said. In addition to offering lower wages, like at Rekor, merchants from Greece often sell farmers equipment "that doesn't work, that is worse than the old Chinese busters that we have," Arati added.

The plains between the mountains on the way to Gjirokastra are now bare land used mostly for sheep herding and cattle raising. Very few farmers grow wheat or barley as they used to do until 1990. "It is now cheaper to buy flour in Greece and pay to transport it here than grow our own wheat," said shepherd Panayiotis Argiris. Berisha cut most state aid to farmers. "In the last three years we have had to buy feed and fertilizer for the little we grow for our own use from Greece through the remittances of our sons and daughters who work there as immigrants," Argiris added. This shepherd spoke highly of the agrarian reform that provided land to till to most landless peasants by expropriating large estates. But he condemned the forced collectivization of the peasants under Hoxha's reign, which was carried out between 1956 and 1960.

"Now we went from one dictatorship to another," Argiris said. Under Democratic Party rule, the government has attempted to privatize agriculture by dividing up former collectives and giving parcels of three to five stremas [one acre = four stremas] per family member. "For example, I got 23 stremas," Argiris said. "But the land is divided up in four plots, all away from each other, making any rational cultivation impossible unless we form cooperatives again." At the same time there are no incentives for such cooperatives or state aid for loans to get seed and equipment. Farm machinery is antiquated and spare parts are hard to find. Everyone we spoke to in this rural area told us that agricultural production in the region has collapsed.

Ruling caste fractured
While these dire economic conditions, which by all account are worse in the more mountainous northern part of the country, affect working people most, the pyramid fraud brought financial ruin to other layers of society as well. These include small and medium businessmen, bureaucrats in the state administration, and officers in the armed forces who had all sunk money in this scam, lured by the fantastic prospect of tripling their investment within months.

This is reflected in the massive desertions of army, navy, and air force officers. In some towns in this region, local officials participate in meetings of the newly formed defense councils. Saranda's mayor, for example, sits in on some meetings of the town's citizens' committee. Elsewhere, the fractures in the ruling caste are more complex. In Gjirokastra, the mayor's office is used for meetings of representatives of the opposition political parties, which in their majority are repelled by the uncompromising stand of most on the city's defense council, organized by Agim Gozica, a former army officer.

Isuf Cepani, another former army lieutenant in Gjirokastra's citizens' committee, insisted that the demands of the group he leads are the resignation of Berisha and guarantees of state compensation for losses in the pyramid fraud. These committees, though, are organizing not only defense but other functions a state government would carry out.

Cepani also said the National Front for the Salvation of the People had recently received a message of solidarity from a citizens' committee in Shkodre, the largest city in the north.

Thanasis Dinou, the SP reporter, did not have much sympathy for the council's insistence on the resignation of Berisha.

"This is not a time for armed revolt and guerrilla movements," he said. "We need to restore order and respect the constitution. There is a new government that includes the opposition and new elections have been called." He also stated that the aims of the Democratic Party are not that far apart from those of the Socialist Party. "Capitalism is the only avenue today. We just have to do it in a humane fashion. The pyramids were false capitalism." Dinou praised the "market reforms" of the Chinese government.

Ajid Gioni, a construction worker who belongs to one of the defense units in Saranda, expressed a different view. "The only capitalism we've seen from the Italians, Greeks, Berisha, and the others is robber capitalism of the worst kind. It doesn't sit well with me."

Bobbis Misailides and Natasha Terliexis, airline workers in Athens Greece, and members of the Federation of Foreign Airlines Workers, contributed to this article reporting from Saranda and Gjirokastra.

One More Reason To Give To The Militant

As we traveled to Saranda, three motor boats with several armed men on each approached the boat Kalliopi, which was transporting dozens of sacks of flour donated by the government and other institutions in northern Greece. The armed men took the flour that was allotted for their village, Xamili, which has no port.

Militant reporters translated this exchange for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reporter Mike Hornbecker. They later overheard him transmitting a falsified account of the story in his live CBC broadcast from the safety of his hotel. Hornbecker said the flour had been "hijacked in high seas by armed robbers." He also described the few sporadic gunshots as we approached the Saranda port as "a hail of bullets," the young people carrying rifles in the cities as "young thugs," and defense council President Koucia as the "local warlord." So much for facts from the capitalist media.

- A.M.  
 
 
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