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Title: Albania: Laboratory of Subversion Author: Anonymous Date: 1999 Language: en Topics: Albania, history, uprising, post-soviet, 1990s, subversion, capitalism Source: Retrieved on 29th May 2006 from https://web.archive.org/web/20060529021317/http://geocities.com/cordobakaf/albania.html Notes: Translated by Jean Weir in collaboration with John Moore and Leigh Starcross
In Albania, just two years ago, a sudden explosion of popular rage
eloquently demonstrated that the state only persists thanks to the
gracious complicity of its subjects. When this complicity
ends,structures that appeared invincible disintegrate overnight...
Incontestable in its spontaneous and destructive extension, the
insurrection in course has taken everyone by surprise. Not least the men
and structures of power When such a profoundly subversive movement
surges forth and spreads, the instability and precariousness of State
order becomes quite evident. Suddenly appearing at various points it
spreads like an oil stain and, fruit of so many contradictions, cannot
be stopped as some good people maintain with simply a few well-aimed
gunshots.
People find it hard to grasp what is taking place in a world where
everything has become uncertain. Will they be able to take a bus? Find a
post office open? Get to work (anyone who has a job)? Continue to wait
patiently in the food queue at the door of some church? Anarchists are
also taken by surprise. They are elsewhere, spread throughout the world,
busy going into theories or distinguishing themselves from each other on
the basis of metaphysical levels of reciprocal impurity. So they have
other things to think about. Insurrection is knocking at the door but
they are deaf to it, slow to act.
And, being not exception the the rule, the incredible Albanian
insurrection is full of surprises. With one difference. Power knows what
needs to be done at the international level. The insurgents also know
what to do, at least at the immediate level. After all, for anyone with
any sense doing something is the first thing that comes to mind when
they find themselves faced with an unforeseen event, whether it gives
rise to fear or opens one’s heart to the greatest of hopes.
But really knowing what to do is not so easy.
Although not quite immediate, Power’s response at both local and
international level has been that of defend mg its own interests.
Knowing that it will have to give up its position sooner or later, the
ruling party is doing everything to put that off for as long as
possible, so that their strategic retreat can become a starting point
for a mass return to the seats they had to abandon. At the international
level the gendarmes’ boss, the US, has decided it will be the nations
most directly interested in the future economic development of Albania
to see to things this time: Italy, Greece and Turkey. Italy, which has
always played a role in Albania’s ignoble past history, has accepted
this task willingly, perhaps for no other reason than to get an
opportunity flex its muscles. First, by sinking a ship full of people
and drowning them without batting an eyelid; then running the cruiser
that was the pride of the navy aground and leaving it stranded on the
beach, crammed full of refugees who were trying to leave the country.
These blunders aside, police operations are a routine for any
government, and that is what this has become. Bosses of every kind, from
the small proprietor of a hat factory who paid “his” workers a fifth of
what he would have done in Italy; to the great administrators of the
world economy (with the never sufficiently lauded Bank of Rome in the
lead), have shared the money rashly invested by the Albanians over the
two years between themselves.
But let’s take a closer look at this money that so much has been said
about. Through its international intermediaries, in the first place
American, the Bank of Rome had been entrusted with a huge sum of money
following promises of ridiculously high levels of interest. In fact, the
operation was perfect from a capitalist point of view. Some newspapers
likened it to “chain letters”, but the comparison does not fit. The game
depended on a far greater devaluation of Albanian money than actually
happened as a result of the brakes put on due to America’s political
concern. When the operation grew out of all proportion their inability
to pay interest moved things into the realm of common fraud.
The Albanian people, poverty-stricken as a consequence of the country’s
economic conditions, nevertheless had some small savings. Some even had
a fair amount from various dealings that recent changes in the
geo-political situation had made possible.
Everything poured into the coffers of the Bank of Rome and their
international accomplices. It was in response to this situation that the
first instances of rebellion broke out.I have heard the reprimands of
revolutionaries who cannot see what “tone” a revolt born from the desire
to get one’s money back can have. They obviously do not understand the
objective and subjective mechanisms that engender surprise, frustration,
disdain, hate, rebellion, and generalised insurrection.
I am not saying that these mechanisms can be explained once and for all.
When the breakdown occurs, everything spreads uncontrollably, and that
is what has happened.
But an insurrection is not a “pure” event. It cannot be seen as a linear
process that leads straight to victory (but what victory?), or retreats
and extinguishes itself in defeat (but what defeat?). Here lies the crux
of the problem.
The step from rebellion to generalised insurrection is not a simple one,
nor is it one that is devoid of consequences. Things do not move
spontaneously in one direction. Albania is no exception and after the
first days of the revolt and the assaults on the prisons and army
barracks, the rebels are gradually moving towards more moderate, broader
demands such as the nomination of a government, parliamentary elections,
the resignation of the director of State radio and television, as well
as all the normalising requests for personal protection (amnesty, no
proceedings against the insurgents, etc.).
We must look at this question for a moment as it is acquiring dimensions
of extreme and tragic importance. Many comrades think that the answer to
the problem “What is to be done?” in such cases is to participate in the
insurrectional movement directly themselves. In a word, move in the
opposite direction to the clandestine refugees: go over there, shoulder
the gun and play at who shoots first. This idea is superficial, to say
the least. You can’t turn up out of the blue in a strange context
without running the risk of being taken for an enemy and hanged from the
nearest lamp post. It is necessary to have organisational contacts, even
minimal ones, before events get underway. We do not mean great
operational structures, but it is certainly necessary to know someone
already, someone who is capable of understanding what is actually
happening.
This should not come as a surprise. Since the collapse of the Berlin
wall the economic and political disintegration of the Russian empire has
produced, and will continue to produce, many situations similar to that
of Albania or Bosnia in the Balkans right along the whole Russian
border; and even within Russia itself.
Direct participation is only possible if there is a point of reference
on the spot to prevent it from turning out to be a disastrous failure
before it even begins. But could this, let’s say active, therefore armed
and conscious, revolutionary presence give any valid support to the
revolt during its swift transformation to generalised insurrection?
There is simple answer to this. Some things can clearly be denounced as
soon as they come to light of course. These might be the formation of
gangs led by the leaders of the old power structures, the presence of
elements of the secret police (in the case of which no swearing of
loyalty can be considered valid), attempts to reorganise the
authoritarian political parties, right and left, control Or repression
of the self-managed forms appearing in the field of services or
production, etc.
At the same time there needs to be a theoretical and practical
contribution, not just concerning strictly theoretical or political
questions (such as a detailed critique of the authoritarian structure of
the Communist Party or the no less authoritarian forms of democratic
governments), but also in order to make known structures that are
forming within the insurrectional movement elsewhere. Then, and only
then, will an international connection and an active participation of
insurrectionalist movements elsewhere in the world-which are different
but have similar characteristics, become possible.
I am not talking of specific organisations such as unions or workers’
councils but rather of an active presence, a co-ordinated participation
that can keep the theoretical value of the barricades alive and extend
them, as opposed to simply waiting for their flame to extinguish.
After all, isn’t the great desire of each one of us to find ourselves
prepared when the next revolt breaks out? What better then than to
contribute to making these revolts spread wherever they start up, as
well as revealing the premonitory signs of rage and hatred of
exploitation in all its forms, concretely, now?
Alfredo M. Bonanno
Rebibbia prison, July 1997
— August 1997)
Demonstrations of protest file through the streets of Tirana and all
over the country Since the beginning of the year, tens of thousands of
people have lost everything through a finance company going bankrupt.
This company, proposing fantastic interest rates (from 35% to 100% a
month), drew in funds from all over the country. Albanian people sold
everything they possessed in order to invest in the Sude, Populi,
Xhaferri, Vefa, Kamberi societies and many others. With the collapse of
these financial enterprises, 70 to 80% of Albanian families suddenly
found themselves deprived of all their savings.
10 — The government begins to sue two large finance companies, Xhaferri
and Populi. In the meantime the World Bank and the International
Monetary fund intervene to put a brake on the speculation.
19 — In Tirana riot police intervene to disperse a crowd of over five
thousand furious people. The Socialist Party had asked people to
participate in this march in the hope of appointing themselves leaders
of a peaceful protest movement. But the demonstration, like those that
followed, was to make all the parties abandon any hope of controlling
this explosion of the people’s rage.
— In Berat, police, courts, ministerial and party office buildings are
stoned. Two hundred demonstrators are arrested. Parliament asks that the
army intervene to protect State buildings.
24 — In Lushnje the town hall is set on fire during a demonstration Two
thousand people build barricades to prevent the fire brigade from
intervening.
25 — In Lushnje, the vice premier is beaten and held inside the town
stadium by force; the demonstrators ask for the head of a finance
society, Rrapush Xhaferri, in exchange for his freedom. Some journalists
are attacked by the crowd and robbed of their cameras, etc.
— Clashes take place in Berat and barricades are erected. The town hall
is burnt down and the crowd also try to set fire to the main police
station. Clashes also take place at Elbasan, Librazhd, Lac, Kucove’,
Memaliaj and Tepelerie.
26 — Three thousand people attempt an assault on parliament following a
demonstration in Tirana. In Valona (Vlore), a bomb is thrown at the
police during a protest march. The town hall is set on fire.
27 — In Tirana the army intervene patrolling the city streets.
— In Peshkopi about a hundred people attack the police station with
stones.Six policemen are killed, then the rebels set fire to the town
hall offices.
— In Gavaja prisoners in Barwhor prison begin a revolt which is later
suppressed. Two prisoners are killed.
28 — In Tirana, a demonstration in favour of the government is
organised.
29 — Berisha accuses the opposition party of organising the riots, and
arrests four militants, The government promises that repayment of
citizens will begin on February 5.
30 — Ten opposition parties form a coalition called the Forum for
Democracy, demanding Berisha’s resignation from the government as he is
considered responsible for the economic chaos, and the constitution of a
government of technocrats to manage the social crisis in the wait for
early elections.
1 — In Tirana, Lushnje and Valona, seventy-three people are accused of
having provoked the January’ incidents.
5 — In Valona, the major finance company, Gjallica, declares itself
bankrupt. Following this news thirty thousand people come out onto the
streets to demonstrate and to protest against the arrests carried out
the days previously’. As the march makes its way to the port the police
charge and attempt to disperse the demonstrators with hydrants and
truncheons, then fire into the crowd killing two people and detaining
another fifty.
6- In Valona forty thousand people demonstrate against the repression.
7-In Tepelene, the Forum for Democracy call a demonstration which sixty
people turn up for In Tirana, Berisha’s party mobilises, organising a
meeting to call for democracy and non-violence.
8 — In Tirana, the authorities outlaw a demonstration organised by the
socialists. Clashes at Fier Some of the guards on the Greek border sell
their arms and emigrate.
9 — During the night, police in Valona arrest a number of people
considered responsible for the incidents that have taken place over the
past few days. A considerable number of demonstrators gather to protest
in front of the police station. The police shoot: one dead and over
twenty wounded. 10 — In Valona forty thousand people on a march set fire
to the headquarters of the Democratic Party; devastating it; ever eighty
people are wounded in the clashes that follow; one of them does not
survive. The police organise a cordon around the city to prevent access
to the rebels coming from the neighbouring villages in solidarity with
those of Valona. Meanwhile, in the vicinity of the police station,
police are overcome, disarmed and their uniforms burned.
— in Tirana, police fail to prevent the rebels from assembling. The
tension rises as the demonstrators shout, “Valona, Valona”. A huge
demonstration takes place in Gjirokaster. Parliament declares itself
against the state of emergency.
11 — In Valona over thirty thousand people take part in the funeral of a
demonstrator killed by police a few days before The government attempts
to proclaim a state of emergency in the city, but the decree submitted
to parliament meets with opposition from the deputies of the Democratic
Party, worried about the possible consequences of such a measure. As a
result the government decide to fire the head of the police in the town.
12 — The demonstrations continue, extending to nearly all the towns in
the south and to some cities in the north. A policeman is killed outside
his home in Valona. A few days later a demonstrator is killed in Fier.
19 — In Tirana, a new demonstration takes place in spite of the police
ban.
20 — In Valona University about forty students begin a hunger strike,
calling for severe judicial measures against those responsible for the
police brutality; the resignation of the head of national television and
Meksi; the formation of a government of technicians until new elections
take place; and an end to all hostilities.
25 — Berisha sends the home minister to Germany to ask for a loan to pay
for new police equipment, while the governments of other countries
express their support.
28 — Police attempt to evict the University of Valona, where the hunger
strike is still going on. A group of secret agents prepares to enter the
building, but there is an immediate reaction. In spite of requests for
non-violence made by the students on hunger strike, about two thousand
rebels armed with guns and knives set off from the university for the
headquarters of the secret services (SHIK). Here there are clashes with
agents who barricade themselves inside the building; the demonstrators
insist on going on the assault and manage to set fire to the SHlK
headquarters by using grenades. Three agents die in the burning
building, while others who try to escape are lynched: the balance is six
dead among the police and three dead and various wounded among the
demonstrators. The rebels then move towards an army barracks, break down
the door and plunder all the weapons they can without the least
resistance from the soldiers. A heavy machine gun is installed in
defence of the university. The clashes go on till the next day.
l — The city of Valona is in the hands of the insurgents. The funerals
of the three civilians killed the previous night take place without
incident, but new clashes begin towards the evening, leaving five
wounded. Other arms and munitions depots are sacked, while five army
barracks are stormed. The armed insurgents move towards nearby towns to
extend the revolt. In Valona, Sarande and Delvine, the situation is
declared to be out of control. Meanwhile Italian foreign minister Dini
declares that the revolt is led by “bands of delinquents incited by left
wing extremists”.
— In Lushinje some police riot-control vehicles en route to Valona are
blocked by the population. About forty agents are disarmed, stripped and
their vehicles set alight.
— In Tirana, parliament is convoked for an extraordinary sitting. ‘the
same evening the government announces the resignation of prime minister
Meksi, but the decisions have no effect on the rebels. Fierce clashes
between demonstrators and police: the police get the worst of it and a
police station is set on fire. 2 — The government declares a state of
emergency’. The public residence of Berisha, in the hills of Valona, is
sacked and torched. Near the port of the city, ten thousand insurgents
surround the garrison of the strategic base of Pacha Liman, soldiers
abandon their positions and the commander alone remains to open the door
to the insurgents. He was to become the organiser of the defence of the
town in the case of an intervention of Berisha’s troops. In Sarande,
about thirty thousand demonstrators come out into the streets without
being impeded by the terrified police, who disappear. The police
headquarters are looted and set on fire, the cars and offices of the
SHIK meet the same fate. Four hundred kalashnikovs fall into the hands
of the insurgents who carry on attacking the courts, the attorney’s
office, and the prison, where they set free about a hundred prisoners.
They then set off to storm a bank.
— At Himare, the town hall and police headquarters are set on fire.
— In Delvine, the prefecture and the Attorney’s office are attacked and
a bank raided. — In Levan the armoury of an army barracks is looted.
— In Gjirokaster, already on permanent general strike for a number of
days, the rebels invade the police station, take the arms, free about
fifteen prisoners jailed there, then set fire to the building. From
Valona to Sarande’ and in Tepelerie barricades are erected in the
streets. Violent clashes take place in Tirana during a demonstration of
six thousand people. A number of journalists are among the wounded. The
rebels overturn and set fire to police vehicles. A state of emergency is
declared over the whole of Albania for an indeterminate period. Hundreds
of potential agitators are thrown in jail.
3 — In spite of everything, parliament decides to confirm Berisha’s
presidential mandate for another five years, and to re-establish order
by force without any fuss. The head offices of the most important
opposition newspaper is set on fire by SHIK agents, and about twenty
people are evacuated. The censor allows the publication of only one
daily newspaper, obviously a pro-government one. All other means of
communication are outlawed. Berisha orders military encirclement of the
area from Valona to Sarande and dismisses the Chief of Staff accused of
not having shown sufficient zeal in repressing the popular revolt, and
puts a SHIK military adviser in his place. From that moment on, all
armoured cars sent into the south of the country are commanded by SHIK
agents, not by regular soldiers. Berisha orders the insurgents to hand
over their arms, while the army takes back control of the area extending
to Fier, about a hundred kilometres from the south of the capital.
— Meanwhile, in Gjirokaster, a commercial centre belonging to a finance
company is torched. — First Italian blitz. In Valona, the last of the
“important” foreigners and journalists are evacuated in Italian army
helicopters. The only law-keeping forces to remain in the town are plain
clothes SHIK agents. Four civilians intending to turn in their arms are
killed by the rebels.
4 — In spite of considerable international pressure, Berisha refuses to
allow the opposition to even enter the government.
— In Valona, the looting of arms depots continues. The insurgents
prepare to take on the army: snipers take up positions on house
rooftops, barricades are raised at the entrance to the city, lookouts
are placed on surrounding hills to survey access to the town, and a
bridge is mined.
— In Styari, clashes between demonstrators and the military end after
about forty minutes as the army retreats. — In Sarande, the insurgents,
including women and children, turn up en masse at police stations and
the naval base looking for more arms. They find piles of firearms, bags
of ammunition, a battery of artillery, cannons, heavy machine guns and
six warships, while journalists are forced to destroy their video film
footage. Some of the army units attack the port, but are pushed back.
All roads to the north are blocked in anticipation of the arrival of
tanks. A SHIK car is stopped at a roadblock: one agent is burned alive,
two manage to escape and a fourth is taken hostage. On the road leading
to Sarande, fifty soldiers with three armoured cars desert the army and
unite with the rebels.
— In Delvine, some army units shoot at the insurgents from Mig 15s,
causing dozens of deaths. Two pilots who refuse to shoot into the crowd
escape and land at Galatina, asking Italy for political asylum.
— Anticipating the army’s inability to repress the insurrection
militarily, all the forces of recuperation come out into the field. In
Sarande, an Autonomous Communal council is formed, directed by leaders
of the opposition parties. A Defence Council directed by a retired
colonel. These organisms lay down the conditions for the surrender of
arms by the rebels: early elections, Berisha’s resignation and the
formation of a government of technocrats to ensure the transition. One
of the prime measures taken by these Councils is the organisation of
“self-defence against the looters” and “protection of goods” squads.
These politicians, directly in contact with Berisha, insist that the
army refrain from intervening, aware that if that were to happen they
would no longer be able to control the situation. In the name of the
struggle for democracy, the head of the town Defence Council orders that
the insurgents no longer wear masks; moreover the Albanian national
anthem is played in the streets throughout the country every morning.
5 — The movement extends to Memaliaj and Tepelene,where the insurgents
set fire to police stations and loot shops, erecting barricades with the
wreckage of the burnt-out homes. Mortars, cannons, anti-aircraft guns
and land-to-air missiles pass into the hands of the rebels, who place
them on high grounds in the town.
— In Gramsh insurgents mine a small bridge after taking it from the
soldiers, in order to block the advance of the tanks. Army officers
desert en masse and unite with the rebels of Valona and Sarande, others
flee to Greece. — In the north, an area less touched by the movement,
the government hands out five thousand guns to the members of the
Democratic Party to confront the insurgents. In Tirana, Berisha meets
the representatives of the opposition pates and proposes a truce and an
amnesty for anyone who lays down arms. They do not get very good
results. Meanwhile, the insurgents reinforce their defence positions,
erecting barricades and preparing check points to slow the advance of
the armed forces.
— One hundred and ten Italian firms which operate and prosper in Albania
launch an appeal for peace.
6 — The insurrection spreads all over the country. In Valona, a Public
Health Committee is created (PHC) consisting of all the opposition
parties, and a Defence Committee is formed by ex-army officials. To
combat the passivity of the army, Berisha announces the arrest of four
officers accused of not defending their barracks from looting.
7- In Tepelene., the head of Berisha’s bodyguards, who had been sent
there to calm spirits, is kidnapped. Here too a Public Health Committee
is formed.
— The insurgents continue to refuse to hand over arms, and looting of
weapons depots continues. — The European Union invites Berisha to put
off armed intervention as long as possible and make an urgent call for
early elections. 8 — Second Italian blitz in Valona.
— In Gjirokaster, on the arrival of the Albanian army headed for Permet,
the population rebels and captures the commander of the column without
any resistance from the soldiers. Arms are requisitioned from the
soldiers and distributed among the people.
Sixty-five SHIK agents pour out of six military helicopters. A group of
insurgents manages to block three of the helicopters while the others
take off with only the pilot on board. The troops that have disembarked
run for cover in the mountains, chased by the rebels. Meanwhile, the
airport is occupied and the customs offices are attacked, looted and
burned. The local radio station is also occupied: A Public Health
Committee is formed to try to placate the rioters.
9 — Dini flies to Tirana, and Berisha proposes early elections. The
Greek border is abandoned after an attack by the rebels. Armouries in
the Berate area are also sacked. Shots are exchanged at Shkoder, Fier
and Permet. In this last city, five deaths and many wounded are reported
among the insurgents; a whole brigade of soldiers deserts and lines up
with them. After pushing back the army, the rebels attack and destroy
the police headquarters, courts, town hall, two banks and various shops.
The insurrectional movement spreads to another sixteen villages in the
Permet region, where the nth Public Health Committee is constituted to
put a brake on the revolt. The extension of the movement, above all the
fall of Gjirokaster (a military base indispensable for any government
intervention), convince Berisha of the need to come to an agreement with
the Socialist Party, the main political opposition force. The agreement
foresees the establishment of a government of national reconciliation,
new elections before June, and an extension of the promise of amnesty to
all who have participated in the insurrectional movement.
— The Public Health Committees and the Defence Committees approve the
agreement, and the Socialist Park’ promises to wind up all the
committees in three days. In Sarande and Valona, the insurgents express
their disagreement with the politics of the PHC. In the first town, the
PHC is ignored as the rebels start making decisions on their own again.
In the second, the daily demonstration takes place without flags or
opposition leaders and ends up in looting and arson.
— Meanwhile, the revolt spreads the north, and a huge arms depot is
plundered in Shkoder.
— In Peshkopi, Lezhe-Kuksi and Lacy, the army retreats in the face of
riots and looting.
10 — The PHC in Valona launch an appeal “to all honest policemen”, to
come forward to help them “re-establish calm and peace”. Third ltalian
blitz. The revolt continues to spread in the north, to Skrapari,
Malakastra, Kelcyra, Berat, Polican, Gramsh and Kuzini. State food
reserves and the armouries of three army barracks are attacked.
Garrisons and police forces abandon towns without shooting as the
insurgents help themselves to weapons. Another PUC is created. In
Gramsh, where there is a large arms factory, insurgents take over three
barracks and set fire to the police headquarters, then they go tip
towards Fier and take control of the roads. The army arsenals in
Skrapari are sacked; the military airport of Kucove is attacked, where
the rebels take possession of 40 Migs; control is gained of Polican,
which houses an arms and munitions factory. The outcome of the clashes
is fourteen wounded. No longer being able to count on the army; Berisha
arms his partisans: in Bajram-Curi and Kukes his men sack important arms
depots.
II — The PHC of eight towns in the south meet in Gjirokaster and create
a people’s national health front, whose requests are: the resignation of
Berisha, the restructuring of the secret police, the reimbursement of
lost savings, and the organisation of new elections. In a declaration
signed along with the Italian ambassador, the Valona PHC pledge “to
favour the immediate restitution of the arms in the possession of the
inhabitants” and “to assure public order and the progressive return to
administrative normality” in the city.
— Evacuation orders are issued for all the Italians who are still in
Albania. Bashkim Fino, socialist, is nominated prime minister: his first
decision is to reinforce the police and attempt to quash the uprising in
Durazzo, where three rebels have been killed.
— Looting continues all over the country. The towns in the hands of the
rebels are: Polican, Kelcyra, Permet, Kucove, Skrapari, Berat,
Gjirokastdr, Sarande, Belvine, Himare., Tepelene, Memaliaja, Valona,
Krurna, Burrel and Lacy.
12 — In spite of attempts at national reconciliation made by the
Government to restore calm, the revolt reaches the gates of Tirana An
arms and explosives factory’ in Mjeksi is plundered. In Elbasan, the
last halt before the capital, the army and police retreat while the
insurgents take over the arms. Fier, Cerrick and Gramsh are also
abandoned by government forces as rebels set fire to the police station
and plunder three army barracks. The revolt spreads to Shkoder, the
biggest town in the north: stormed barracks are abandoned by soldiers,
the prison gates are swung open, a bank is blown up, the courts
devastated and shops looted. The important air base of Gjader also falls
into the hands of the insurgents.
The risk of the revolt extending beyond the borders is beginning to
worry the surrounding States, who are taking precautions by closing
access to their territory. Berisha pre- pares his defence: he has
numerous mercenaries arrive from the north of Albania and nearby Kosovo.
His men sack the arsenals in the cities in the north. In Tirana, SHIK
agents break into the military academy and three arms depots in the
outskirts, emptying them. They do the same with seven anti-aircraft
defence depots and distribute the arms to their men and to members of
the Democratic Party.
13 — In Tirana, the secret police are now’ circulating alone. They
parade around the main buildings with armoured vehicles and impressive
cars, shooting machine-gunfire and shouting at the top of their voices
to show who is in command. Armoured vehicles are placed at the nerve
centres of the town: the presidential palace, parliament and the
administrative offices. Most of the ministries, public buildings, banks
and shops are closed. The streets are deserted, while the noise of
gunshot is incessant. Six people, including two children, are killed.
Guards abandon the prisons leaving about six hundred prisoners to
escape. Mass looting increases in the food and arms depots in spite of
the presence of the SHIK. The training centre is also attacked. Nothing
remains of the barracks but the gutted shell. The sentinel of the
National Guard headquarters does not raise a finger The people take over
everything. The prefect of Tirana makes an appeal on television in the
name of all the political parties, calling for calm. But towards the end
of the afternoon the whole city is in a state of panic. Faithful civil
servants cram as many files and dossiers as they can into government
cars; soldiers and police desert and go home. Then even the members of
the SHIK disappear from the scene. The embassies spread the order for a
general evacuation, while a company of marines is lined up in front of
the American embassy An airlift is set up between the units of Italian
marines patrolling the waters between the Gulf of Taranto and the Gulf
of Durazzo. Vehicles are made available to evacuate the foreigners
{French, German, Greek, American and italian).
— In the evening, the historic city of Korce is stormed. In Lezhe, the
rebels attack the SHIK offices and blow up the safe of the State Bank,
while the town notables create the ‘Safeguarding Committee of Lezhe; to
try to placate the movement they go through the strects in cars with
loudhailers calling for calm.
— Berisha sends his family to safety in Italy.
— From south to north the insurrectional movement spreads, making the
State vacillate; but if the institutional forces are retreating from
Tirana, it is in order for them to reorganise better at national and
international level. The insurgents for their part do not get much
support from revolutionaries in other countries, left alone to carry on
their struggle.
14 — In Tirana the Red Cross headquarters is sacked as clashes in front
of the President of the Republic’s palace continue. Durazzo port, now in
the hands of the rebels, is sacked.
Meanwhile, the European Union assures Albania of their humanitarian
support: the intervention of a military force of fifty thousand men
well-equipped for the hotbed, and the offer of food in exchange for
stolen arms for the more co-operative of the rebels.
15 — Berisha launches an appeal for voluntary workers to re-establish
order in the capital to enrol in the army or the police with wages of
400 dollars (four times the average wage). Moreover he promises to
triple the wages of the police who return to their posts. Obviously, the
proposal attracts a considerable number of people. In Tirana, the police
regain control of the airport.
16 — While the Albanian State is receiving offers of help from Italy and
Greece who are ready to send technical experts capable of providing
courses or restructuring the police forces and the army-a march for
peace takes place in the centre of Tirana. In Gjader; soldiers abandon
the air base.
17- European Union experts arrive in Tirana for two days’ talks with the
Albanian government, aimed at evaluating the eventuality of a
‘humanitarian mission’.
18- In Gjirokaster, a bank is attacked and the safe removed.
20 — In Tirana, clashes take place in front of the presidential palace.
An Italian marines special unit disembarks on the beach near Durazzo.
The Italian government announces the expulsion of any illegal immigrants
who turn out to have escaped from Albanian prisons. The Albanian
minister protests: “We have no functioning prisons”.
21 — Berisha asks for military aid from Turkey.
22- Meeting between the new minister Fino and the PHC of Valona.
Armoured vehicles take control of the city of Fier. 25 — Forty tons of
French aid in food and medicines arrive at Tirana airport.
26 — The negotiations of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation
in Europe (OSCE) end with the creation of a Humanitarian mission by a
multinational force with a UN mandate” About six thousand soldiers are
sent to Albania to garrison the ports of Durazzo and Valona, Tirana
airport, and the main communication links between the north and south of
the country.
27- One of the many armed gangs in the pay of the wealthy proprietors
who mingle with insurgents in order to protect their bosses’
interests-and actually reach the point of killing some of them-get a
harsh welcome from the armed inhabitants of one village. 28 7 An Italian
sloop rams a patrol vessel full of Albanian illegal immigrants. It
sinks, causing many to be drowned.
— In Valona a congress of the PHCs of the whole of Albania takes place.
Representatives of eighteen towns in the south and six in the north are
present. Members of the opposition parties also attend.
29 — The decision for an international “peace mission” is delivered as
an ultimatum to the military command in Italy
9 — About a hundred SHIK agents disembark in Brindisi to control the
movements of Albanian refugees in Italy
12 — The Jaubert commando arrives at Durazzo from France to preside over
the landing of the French troops.
14 — An airlift is organised between Pisa and Tirana to transport
material and equipment.
15 — Operation “Alba” is set in motion. Six thousand soldiers belonging
to the multinational forces disembark in Durazzo and Valona. One ship
carries three hundred and sixty tons of flour and thirty six tons of
legunte: the whip and the carrot.
— Meantime in Tirana, the situation is returning to normal. The only
weapons to be seen are those in the hands of the police. 17 — An OSCE
delegation meets the representatives of the PHC in Valona, whose
president expresses concern about the show of force by foreign troops.
1–7 — Police reappear in the streets of Shkoder, Berat, Burrel, Kukes
and Kruje, but the courts are not functioning: no trace remains of the
buildings that once housed the police stations, courts, prisons. All
over the country the police are having difficulty in recapturing escaped
prisoners, their identity unkiiown due to all the relative documents
having been destroyed during the revolt.
14 — The opposition parties threaten to boycott the elections fixed for
the end of June for fear of possible intrigues. All discussion is now
centred on the importance of moving towards elections to set right the
results of the corrupt politics of Berisha during all these years.
21 — An agreement between all ten parties results in the norm-nation of
a new leader of the secret police, one of the Commands of the Public
Health Committee.
4 — President Sali Berisha escapes a dyamite attack during’an election
meeting with the Democratic Party. Apart from a few exceptions, no one
hands over the arms plundered during the revolt. The state of emergency
and curfew are still in force.
27 — A convoy of international observers, escorted by Italian and
Rumanian soldiers, leaves Tirana for Gjirokaster in the south, passing
by Memaliaj, Tepelene and other localities. The passage of the vehicles
is greeted with hissing and insults, but no incidents occur.
29 — Elections. The spectre of the revolution moves away from the
country thanks to the return of politics.
23 — Berisha finally resigns from presidency of the Republic which he
had ruled for five years. In this way the spectacle of national
reconciliation concludes itself
12 — The multinational forces leave the country.
The insurrection against power is the only time the word “peopIe” is not
a mystification because it indicates the power of united individuals.
Charles Meslet
The atmosphere in Gjrokaster is mad. The popular revolt has transformed
itself into total anarchy, there is no police, no State, no rules. The
city has become enthusiastic, has brightened up, got involved in the
game of rebellion.
Le Monde 11/31/97.
Albania has become a vast laboratory’. On the one hand, like the rest of
the countries of the old Eastern Bloc in their passage from bureaucratic
capitalism to the liberal version, it is experiencing the resistance of
the world economy and the democratic management of power On the other,
one sees immense insurrectional possibilities opening up that are
capable of upsetting the projects of the State and capitalist power. The
importance of beginning to reflect on a potentially explosive situation
will therefore not escape revolutionaries. To know and make known the
nature and extent of the armed insurrection in Albania as quickly as
possible, and begin informal discussions to evaluate the real
possibility of a theoretical or practical revolutionary
intervention,-that is what we are proposing to libertarians and all
individuals who continue to see rebellion against the State and Capital
as the only road that can lead to real freedom.
Some people have been saying for a long time now that the countries of
ex-“real” socialism are ready to explode and strike at the very heart of
the world order. The Albanian example is no exception. And what is
happening just now, on our own doorstep, is perhaps making this analysis
more concrete.
Unfortunately, very few attempts have been made to examine the many
problems raised by insurrection: its organisational forms, subversive
content, language, communication, sabotage of the power apparatus,
plunder, the abolition of money, the destruction of capitalist
production and the refusal of any management, even that which claims to
be revolutionary, the free appropriation of goods, etc. Locked up in our
fine proclamations and empty formulae, we risk being taken unawares by
unforeseen social situations. We believe the time has. come for “to talk
about insurrection and revolution and cease to be embalmers of
ideologies or Cassandra of the eternal defeats of the exploited. We do
not deny that the news of destroyed barracks, besieged prisons and
burned out banks fills our hearts with joy and inflames our dreams But
to really dream, and in the most dangerous manner; means to dream with
our eyes open,ready to jump into the heart of the situation without
strategic illusions that are as presumptuous as they are ridiculous, and
try to join the game with all arms at our disposal.
What follows are no more than a few notes related to a discussion to
which each can contribute their own ideas and critique. It is no less
important for us to have them circulate without delay A better knowledge
of events will allow us to analyse what is happening in the Balkans in
greater depth, in order to better address our possibilities for action.
After enjoying the delights of bureaucratic capitalism for such a long
time, the exploited of the former so-called communist countries have
recently been savouring the many opportunities offered by the liberal
version. The Albanian finance company affair, as it has come to be
known, is but one example. Without their miserable conditions being in
any way changed, the oppressed of Albania found themselves presented
with private investment, once considered the worst of evils, as a
guarantee of individual freedom and promise of happiness. The new
republic is allowing everything that the old one controlled directly.
The market has officially become good, just as it was once officially
non-existent. Converted to the new religion, the population rushed to
put their money into banks that promised them a rapid doubling of
stakes. Unrestrained capitalism allows what ‘normal” capitalism claims
to prevent: telling bigger and bigger fibs. So, just as is happening in
China, people are finding themselves with the worst of both worIds-the
secret police and brutal speculation. The finance Companies went
bankrupt, and the press admitted that they had pandered to the party in
power in exchange for State patronage. The fact is that nobody wants to
make any long term investment in a country that does not have stable
political authority. Economic cannibalism consequently becomes the way
capitalism functions. The mechanism of the racket was more or less as
follows: find particular “clients”,that is to say, people who are so
desperate that they are willing to believe the lies of advertising
unquestioningly; extract as much money as possible from them, enlist the
politicians, declare bankruptcy... and the deed is done! All this, which
the servile press euphemistically refer to as “informal finance”, is
permitted and encouraged by the bureaucracy as a means of defending
their own privileges.
Parliamentary democracy is the form most suited to capitalism, because
the Sovereign citizen is the best consumer That helps us understand the
collapse of bureaucratic collectivism. But here Capital is not yet as
fully established as it was in the days of the determinist fairy tales.
The population is regaining a desire for freedom that had been
suffocated in decades of terrible dictatorship. Moreover’ the old
Stalinist elite are not prepared to give up their power as they undergo
a political and economic transformation that is threatening to eliminate
them. The situation is therefore creating social conflict, the outcome
of which is not easy to predict. Added to this, capitalism is moving
from the competitive market-and the American dream of infinite growth to
the new’ world market. Having lived too long on the putative cold war
economy playing the role of international gendarme, with a military
budget continually on the increase, and direct control through the
State), the United States are not prepared to launch expensive and at
the same time spectacularly unconvincing expeditions in defence of
freedom just anywhere.
Finally, it remains to be seen whether a modern democracy would work in
countries like Russia or China-and whether any of the other States which
made up the former Eastern bloc, Poland, for example, will ever succeed
in having an autonomous political situation.
The revolt in Albania has laid bare the unscrupulousness of democracy: a
president re-elected under martial law, censorship of the press and the
interruption of radio transmissions, the police openly commanded by the
central committee of a political party, to give but the most blatant
examples. Arms in hand, the insurgents have forced the State to reveal
its true essence. Of course, the rebels are nothing but “red terrorists
supported and financed by foreign secret Services” (according to the
first declarations of Sali Berisba),and the revolt “an attack on
economic life and individual freedom”. Now it is obvious that what is
making a constant attack on life is the economy itself And as far as
individual freedom is concerned, this has never revealed itself with
such clarity as in the burning of the courts, police stations,
supermarkets, banks, town halls, prefectures and border check posts; in
the attacks on the army barracks, the plundering of arms depots and, in
a superb gesture of collective joy, the freeing of all prisoners. This
is what was seen in Sarande, Himaren, viore, Delvine, Levan, Gjirokaster
and other towns in southern Albania, The unscrupulousness continues as
other States, particularly Italy and Greece, are asking for dialogue to
be initiated with the opposition (a clumsy term for indicating an armed
attack). The opposition are organising new elections (the May 96 ones
being too obviously fixed), designed to lead to the formation of a new
government of national unity, reconciliation or technocrats, it matters
little”, as the Greek minister for European affairs declared. Moreover;
as a French diplomat pointed out, if on the one hand the head of State
is a dictator, on the other it is not known who is who or what they
want. “who represents who?” is asked fearfully. Is repression the only
way for Sali Berisha to stay in power? As far as the press are
concerned, they are playing around with various bungled hypotheses:
“Somali-style bloody anarchy”, “wild repression”, the “awakening of the
spirit of revenge” of the other Albanian communities “who tried to get
involved”, and an almost “laudatory justification” of the insurrection
(“down there it’s not like here, down there it is necessary to take up
arms to get free elections!”). As no political change could improve the
miserable conditions of the poor, a civil war might, as in the former
Yugoslavia, prolong their submission and guarantee a lucrative business
for the arms dealers. But no nationalistic demands seem to be appearing
on the horizon. And the rebels are still armed.
Only those unaware of the incredible banality of the reasons for
rebellions throughout history will be surprised that insurrection has
broken out in response to a fraudulent financial operation supported by
an idiotic government. The disparity between the actions carried out by
the exploited and the causes that claim to justify them, no longer
surprises us. The revolutionaries who insist on clear programnes and
well-defined social concepts such as a just cause for which to fight,
show themselves to be just as naive as the journalists they claim to
criticise.
why then should a movement which has gone far beyond democratic
legality-in the streets, not in theory-be asking for this legality to be
restored? (The demands of those claiming to be the insurgents’ spokesmen
are: nomination of a technical government, new parliamentary elections,
resignation of the director of State television and radio, the dropping
of all court proceedings against the soldiers who joined the rebels,
amnesty for all the insurgents, and a reversal of the state of
emergency.
For their part, the people are calling for the demission of Sali Berisha
and an impossible re-reimbursement of the sums invested. The reasons are
to be found in social contradictions which lead to people calling for
the imprisonment of corrupt politicians or “criminals” then on the day
of the insurrection freeing all prisoners without distinction; to
entrusting their money and their hopes to the banks,then setting them on
fire. When people take their destiny into their own hands they become
more intelligent.
Then anything can happen. It is in this veering of consciousness that
the necessity of insurrection resides. It is the force of the rupture
that leads the exploited to talk to each other and organise directly,
making it possible to find answers at the very moment in which new
questions are being posed. It is a pure formality to talk of
self-management or self-organisation without the presence of the
subversive rupture. Worse still, that merely strengthens established
order The normality of work, consumerism, the family and TV utilises
everything, even direct democracy, ecology or “alternative” culture. It
devours all criticism.
We are not saying that a movement’s content is of no importance. On the
contrary, we maintain that this content can only radicalise if it has
the time and space to do so, the space of generalised revolt, and time
snatched from hierarchy, coercion and boredom.
What is happening in Albania is showing anyone who has eyes to see what
many seemed to have been forgotten. Against the apologists of
capitalism, the cantors of “complex societies”, the zealots of
omnipotence resulting from technological control, and the ideologists of
progress upset by the barbarians’ lack of grace, these Albanian
barbarians are demonstrating that it is still possible to stand against
a state,arms in hand. The desertions and mutinies of the soldiers
demonstrate that even the most brutally repressive machinery still
requires men to make it function. The choice of symbols and persons
under attack tells us that, no matter how thick the layers of ideology,
oppression is still tangible.
It is difficult to see how the situation will evolve. There seems to be
a resurgence of the Stalinist political racket claiming to represent the
opposition in response to a need to unify the struggle (during the early
days of the struggle plundered weapons were placed at the entrance to
the university where students were on hunger strike calling for
scholastic reforms; the students then attacked the police station on the
campus). The press are talking of popular assemblies and “insurgents’
councils” that have taken the place of the town councils. How all that
is working, in other words how life is changing, we do not know. These
councils could be an attempt at autonomous organisation by the
exploited, or they might simply be a democratic disguise for Leninist
ideology. Up until now, the most important element has been the refusal
to hand over arms in spite of the new leadership’s attempts to have the
guarantees offered by the government accepted. This refusal, as well as
making effective the freedom that laws (exactly like the finance
company) only promise, could give the insurgents the time to go beyond
promises-absolutely useless in the face of conditions of exploitation
that no capitalism with a human face could ever improve. What makes the
difference is obviously the social aspect (how the State is not just
perceived to be the enemy, but is also rendered ineffective; how
relations between individuals escape the economy), not the military one.
The generalised armed rebellion, the massive participation of women and
children, the dialogue in the streets and the free decision to rebel
that has been recognised by each and every citizen are all very
significant. None of the parties is in control of the situation, and the
people are well armed.
So, what will happen? We are not prophets. We could say, in order to
justify our inertness, that everything will simply end up with a change
in the ruling class. But we do not have a waiting game to justify It
should be noted that the geographical area of the clash is a
particularly explosive one. In Bulgaria only a short time has passed
since contestation ended up in an assault on parliament (there too
demanding new elections).
There are many Creeks in Albania (concentrated in the area controlled by
the insurgents) and illegal A!banian immigrants in Greece (continually
threatened with expulsion and so submitted to ferocious exploitation).
The same could be said for Kosovo and Macedonia, not to mention the
historical tensions between Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey. If the Albanian
insurgents were to pose just one social question that was to extend
beyond the borders! In a word, the area is a powder keg that will
maintain its explosive potential no matter what the outcome of the
revolt is. It is no coincidence that the governments of Greece and
Turkey are on red alert: an increase in Albanian immigration could make
the internal situation in these countries problematic (the Italian army
has been protecting its southern coasts for some time now against
undesirable visitors from Albania). So all the bosses would prefer to
avoid a bloodbath. But if the movement were to become a revolutionary
threat, that would be their last card.
As we said earlier, the Albanian situation could be the catalyst for
profound reflection on an anti-authoritarian anti-capitaIist revolution.
It is already demonstrating the theoretical value of the barricades. It
could lead us to get rid of old ideological junk and look at questions
that need to be faced (for example, the disappearance of the great
productive units where capital once concentrated the exploited; the
explosion of social rebellion; the end of the old class confrontations
and relative forms of organisation, unions and workers’ councils; the
problem of the unions,the destruction of technology, etc.).
Perhaps there is more to be done. Certainly we do not agree with the
political stance .of supplying aid, nor do we have pedagogical
illusions’ such as supplying’ recipes for anarchy in the Balkans. On the
contrary, common elements for a possible revolt are needed, to be
expressed in direct attack, pillage and violence against the established
order We need to determine what of the Albanian situation concerns us
directly, and how we can widen its range in both the social and
geographic sense. The problem of knowing how to involve ourselves and
radicalise the content of a movement in process is a theoretical
problem, that is true. But above all it is a practical one. The question
is international, and there is certainly no lack of targets.
Reality is in ferment and the only realism we obstinately continue to
extol is that of not wasting time.
A few anarchists
Paris, II March 1997
(from Operai contro April 1997)
About 600 Italian firms have opened up branches. in Albania over the
past six years, 400 of which are based in Puglia. The turnover is not
disclosed, but is estimated to be hundreds of billions of lire.
Investment sectors for Italian capitalism are
multiple:packaging,textiles and clothing,woodcarving, footwear,
building, quarrying, hotels, the food and services industry, a network
for the sale of petroleum products, chains of shops, especially for food
and detergents, import-export companies, bottling of Coca Cola and
mineral water, the biggest private bank (Banco Italo-Shiptare, with the
participation of the Banco di Roma), the reconstruction of the aqueduct
of Tirana and Durazzo, the reconstruction of some of the electric and
telephone lines, etc... Why is there so much interest in investing in
Albania? One bosses’ answer says it all, that of Adelchi Sergio, shoe
manufacturer in Tricase (Lecce) with sales proceeds of 250 billion lire.
He has 1,500 employees in Puglia and 5,000 spread throughout Albania,
Bulgaria, Rumania and India; “One worker in Italy costs me 28 million
lire a year, in Albania, 140,000 lire a month, in Rumania 100,000, in
India 50,000.1 am willing to shut down everything abroad right away. But
in Italy, especially in the south, things need to change. I am thinking
of tax savings, and labour costs. cut by 30–35 per cent. Yes, the world
is changing, and it is absurd that you can divorce your wife when you
want to, but are obliged to keep a worker all your life”. (Gazzetta del
Mezzogiorno, February 11, 1997). It is interesting to see how Italian
investors in Albania have seen the popular revolt in that county. First
with optimism, then, as the risks increased, they are afraid of losing
the capital invested.
The Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, a Pugliese daily which had invested in
Albania by founding the second most widely distributed daily, Gazeta
Shqiptare, reported on February 1, 1997 “the voices of those who in a
country on the verge of a state of siege are showing their great
optimism”. Luigi Fabri, of Ancona, president of the Italian committee of
building contractors in Albania, has been in the building industry for
Five years. “I have 240 employees who earn an average of 280,000 lire a
month. What is happening? It is a positive change because at last it
relates to the reality of the Albanian market which has been kept going
on illusions for years. It was devastating for the county, both at the
financial and the ethical level, to believe it was possible to live
without working. The huge sum of money that has been locked up all this
time in the safes of the finance companies all this time will finally
reach the market in the form of investment and consumerism.! believe
that this is one more reason for investing in Albania today. Why did I
come here? In reality I was working in the public works sector:
transferring abroad was the only way to get out of the crisis.
World economic interests in Albania...a few notes that cannot fail to be
of interest to all those who wish to demon-strate their solidarity with
the insurgents. First the banks: Banca di Roma, Arab Islamic Bank, Bank
of Bahrain, Dardania Bank, Bank of Piraeus, International Commercial
Bank (Malaysia). The following programmes were instrumental in shifting
foreign aid away from “humanitarian assistance” towards development
schemes based on market-orientation and the transition to privatisation:
World Bank (Forestry Projects and much more); Bank for Reconstruction
and Development; IMF; EU PHARE Programme (pesticides, herbicide imports,
etc., always with the help of the Peace Corps); European Investment
Bank; USA ID (has moved 92% of the land in Albania into private hands
through property registration, leasing of public lands for sustainable
forestry and grazing, etc.); The American ORT Federation; World Trade
Organisation. The major government investors in Albania are, the USA,
Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Greece. The biggest corporations involved
are: Coca-Cola, British Petroleum, Premier Oil, The Rogner Group, F
Lanto. Other corporations and Foundations; ENI, EniChern America Inc.,
2000 West Loop South, Suite 2010, Houston TX; 666 Fifth Avenue, New York
10103; Agip Petroleum, Suite 300, Brokhollow Central, 2950 N. Loop, West
Houston TX 77092; Saipem Inc., 15950 Park Row, Houston TX 77024;
Copelouzos Group; Prometheus Gas S.A.; Rao Gazprorn.