The wretched of the earth rise up
* Albania The 20th century ends as it began: with the humiliated and exploited masses taking to the streets. In Albania, this time. The combination of economic crisis, fraud during the May 1996 elections, and the collapse of the financial organisations running the pyramid schemes stripped the Berisha regime of all legitimacy, and exposed it as the number one enemy of the overwhelming majority of Albanians. The subsequent social explosion quickly brought forth a fairly well structured popular administration, which challenged the Berisha regime, in a situation of dual power. The balance of forces quickly shifted against the President, and a third force, the leadership of the Socialist Party and the rest of the old opposition, stepped into the vacuum of power, and assumed the dominant position. For how long? Nobody knows. Georges Mitralias 2 International Viewpoint
How exotic Albania seems! The mass of analysis and comment produced by the Western media all leads us to one conclusion: Albania is totally unique, and the Albanians do not belong to the "civilised world"
The revolt erupted because Albanians are so naive that pyramid schemes separated most of them from their savings. These schemes were run by financial institutions that could never exist elsewhere. The insurrection opposes the country's two tribes, northen Tosks and southern Ghegs. This civil war can only lead to "chaos", which, in any case, has never been far below the surtace.
How comforting to know that the Albanian case is unique in Europe, that the popular revolt there has no similarity with the revolutions of the past, and order can only be re-established from outside. Because, at the end of they day, and whether you see them as noble savages, or poor bastards, the Albanians are unable to enter the modern world without the aid of the civilised nations. Reality check
All this is rubbish. Albanians are no more naive than the five million Rumanians, three million Russians and half-million Bulgarians who have "invested" their savings in pyramid schemes. Many Macedonians continue to risk their savings in this way.
Unstable pyramid "investment"schemes, like Vefa in Albania, and MMM in Russia are not some invention of the post-communist era. Pyramid schemes were invented in the US in the 1930s, and were -for a whileextremely popular in Western Europe.
The real difference between Luxembourg in the 1930s and Albania in 1996 is the IMF pressure that forced Tirana to abolish guarantees on bank deposits, and liberalise the banking and financial system to the point that pyramid schemes offering monthly interest rates of up to 100% became legally possible.
This was not a "mistake" by the authorities and the IMF, but a deliberate attempt to encourage the primitive accumulation of capital Albania's fledgling bourgeoisie so badly needs. One new banking firm, Vefa quickly became a holding company controlling at least 240 enterprises, from a supermarket chain to petrol stations, seaside hotels and food processing plants.
The total fraud exceeds US$2 billion, or 80% of Albania's Gross Domestic Product - the total value of goods and services pro-
duced each year. The capitalists would have considered this to be a major success, if only the armed insurrection had not occurred.
The IMF, World Bank and other financial institutions are not just guilty of selective blindness towards the pyramid schemes. For several years, they boosted the myth of an Albanian economy growing at an unparalleled rate of over 10%/year. Albania was a model, they argued. And President Sali Berisha was a true soldier of neo-liberalism.
his is another falsehood. "They made fools out of us" admits an expert at Vienna's prestigious Institute of Comparative Studies In fact, the five vears of economic reform have been "catastrophic". Since the industrial base was almost totally destroyed in the early period, it was not difficult to project high growth rates for the foreseeable future." The starting point was so low that any growth was impressive in statistical terms.
Industry has been almost totally dismantled, and most peasants, particularly in the south, have abandoned agriculture. Up to 80% of the population is unemployed. The only fast-growing sectors of the economy are those linked to the black market and organised crime (smuggling of all types, and marijuana cultivation). Berisha's capitalist Albania would have gone bankrupt years ago were it not for the pitiful remittances sent home by the 500,000 Albanians working illegally, in slave-like conditions, in Greece, Italy and other countries. A nation-wide uprising
Southern Albania is traditionally more prosperous, more politicised and more restless, and the north poorer, quieter and more conservative. But the recent insurrection was nation-wide in scope. It started in the southern towns of Vlore, Saranda, Gjirokastre, Tepelene, and Delvino. But 10 days later, residents in the north began to take to the streets. Western media reports of a northern "counter-revolt" in support of Berisha are completely false. Even in the president's home town, Bajram Curri, people burned all symbols of the detested regime, and chanted "down with Berisha!"
The Western press all speak of civil war. Where is the evidence? The army and police literally dissolved at the beginning of the insurrection, and the regime sought, in vain, to identify and fortify a social base. The civil war is an invention of western "Albania specialists". In fact, the immense majority of the Albanian population rose up. The small bourgeois layers, and the various servants of the regime preferred to keep their heads down, and wait for better days.
No "tribal" division, no pro-Berisha resistance, no civil war, and no massacres. Yes, there was an element of chaos, an element of "anarchy". But let's be clear. The bourgeois media presented such anarchy as the result of the collapse of the Albanian state, the institutions, and, above all, the repressive state forces — the army and police. After all, our rulers argue, since order and law require a (bourgeois) state, an army and a police force, the collapse of these pillars of peace can only lead to anarchy. Right?
Dual power
Wrong! In only four to five days, people began to create self-management and self-defence organs for each town or village. Then, completely new municipal and district councils were elected. And the self-defence groups were transformed into fairly well-disdeserters from the Albanian Army.
For two weeks there was no regional coordination of these local self-management bodies. Then, eight southern towns formed a "National Committee of Public Salvation", composed of representatives of each "Autonomous Communal Council". A further five towns quickly joined them. This was the beginning of a dual power situation. The rebels had appropriated almost all the attributes of state power— police, army, and
We know little about the way these new organs of popular power actually operate. But it is clear that important decisions are taken at daily public meetings, usually held in the town square. A large majority of the population participate. In Vlore and Gjirokastre, public meetings overturned the conciliatory positions of their leaders, and reaffirmed that Berisha's resignation was an essential pre-condition to any settlement.
On a number of occasions since then, local leaders have bent under pressure from Western ambassadors, and agreed to all kinds of concessions, only to fail to win support for these policies in the general assemblies. The masses refuse to give up their arms until the regime is overturned, and Berisha kicked out.
When northern towns joined the revolt, they created similar self-management structures. By 12-13 March, there were two Albanias. Tirana, the capital, was under Berisha's control, with agents of the Shik secret police patrolling all areas. Outside Tirana, the entire county was in revolt! People, parties, and presidents
It is no surprise that the insurrection declared itself independent from the country's opposition parties. There is a huge gulf between the radical demands of the armed populace (resignation and putting Berisha on trial, dismantling the regime and secret police, reorganisation of the state on a new basis, full reimbursement of the money stolen through the pyramid schemes, punishment of those responsible, as an example to the others) and the conciliatory attitude most opposition parties have adapted towards Berisha.
Apart from the Democratic Alliance, Albania's political parties have been extremely moderate — a moderation that tails to hide their own fear of a self-managed popular movement that, maybe, no longer has need of their services! Since the insurrection began in Vlore on 28 February, opposition leaders have been overtaken by the events, and have recognised that they run the risk of becoming irrelevant. Their own social base was melting away: the more the opposition parties' ranks radicalised, the deeper they became involved in the transformation of the revolt into an authentic revolution.
contents the event
2
Albania: the wretched of the earth rise up • Georges Mitralias europe
Britain: End the Tory nightmare!
5
• Pete Firmin
Meet the new boss • Rod Marshall
7
8
EuroMarch news • Mark Johnson
End Game in Liverpool • Neil
9
Murray
6
Portugal: our abortion rights postponed again • Alda Sousa
10 Denmark: trouble in the ranks
• Jörgen Abro-Bähr
11 Ireland: time off for domestic violence?
11
Britain: solidarity with Rosin
McAliskey • Terry Conway americas
12 Nicaragua: Sandinistas move to the right • Cesar J. Ayala
Québec: McUnion recognition?
14
Brazil: rural workers march for land
15
Ecuador: radical left divided in
16 response to crisis• Jean Dupont asia
Pakistan: elections change little
17
• Arif Aziz africa
18 Rwanda: Genocide's creditors
• Eric Toussaint
AIDS: prejudice and poverty
22 introduction• Cyril Rousseau
23 How many people are affected?*
24 Sex and poverty • Frank Prouhet
24 Commercial sex*
The socio-economic impact*
Censorship* • the failure of international programmes*
27
Discrimination against people with
HIV* • Golden Triangel?
"We might as well die shouting!"
28
France: Vulnerability and resis-
30 tance • interview with Marc
Nectar, President of Act Up Paris
32
USA: The cocktail hour • Tavis Barr
32 IIII World gays struggle for survival*
34 A non-condom solution? • Lise
Thiry
• All articles marked * are by Ken Davis regular features
35 book notes • Trotskyism in the
United States, by G. Breitman, P. Le
Blanc and A. Wald
36 NetWorking • our guide to
Internet action and hot addresses
36 well read • a very incomplete
April 1997 #287 3
* PECI, PO Box 85, 75522 Paris, cedex 11 France e-mail 100666.1443@compuserve.com fax 331/43792961 Rest of world US$ 70
* the event
Before the uprising, no one would have imagined that the leaders of all opposition parties would accept Berisha's authority, and sit down with him to discuss, and express support for, his proposals. Yet this is how the "opposition" has reacted to the uprising.
While Berisha denounced the "red terrorists" who he said were behind the revolt, the Socialist Party (ex-Communist) agreed to join Berisha's "National Unity" government, as if they didn't realise who the president was labelling as "red terrorists." Acting Socialist Party leader Bashkim Fino even became Prime Minister, while the undisputed party leader, Fatos Nano, languished in the prison cell where Berisha sent him in 1994!
The rank and file having disappeared, the Socialist Party leadership found itself without a social base, and began to tear itself apart. Fino met with leaders of the insurrection in Gjirokastre (where he used to be mayor), and recognised the "essential role" of the "people in arms." Meanwhile, a Socialist Party spokesperson denounced the costs of "anarchy" and called for a return to "the previously existing normal situation."
To the insurgent population, the opposition parties were, if not allies of Berisha, then certainly objectively acting in the president's interest. Only one response was possible: the National Committee of Public Salvation immediately declared itself to be independent of all the political parties, and demanded that it participate directly in the negotiations, as a "third force.
Unfortunately, without a clear-thinking political leadership, the popular movement was torn between its spontaneous dynamic, which subverted the old order, and the remnants of the population's sympathy for the opposition parties. Leading insurgents continued to demand that Berisha resign, but did not attack, verbally, those who had now associated themselves with the president. The insurgents "tolerated" Fino's new Government of National Reconciliation, a government that protected Berisha's role as president, but at the same time the people refused to surrender their weapons, and submit to the authority of this government.
Three weeks after the beginning of the insurrection, Albania had three centres of power. Firstly, the remnants of the old Berisha regime, disintegrating, but still operative, thanks to -secondly-the former opposition (now government's) refusal to cut its links with "the constitutional order", and thirdly, the armed population and their National Committee of Public Salvation. This "independent third pole" declared itself to be completely opposed to the old regime, but showed itself willing to make a deal with the new, Fino government. Nature detests a vacuum
Things were evolving towards a hybrid intermediary state, which would delay the final solution of the conflict one way or the other. The ball was in the hands of the new government. The old Berisha regime was seriously weakened, the Western embassies had stressed their support and understanding and, above all, the popular movement had no revolutionary leadership. And so, the Fino government took the initiative. A minimal state (police and army) was reconstituted, and the government proclaimed itself to be the saviour of the endangered motherland.
This government is too heterogeneous to represent a long term solution. The first public demonstration in support of the new government began with cries of "we want peace," and finished with the Internationale!
Those crazy Albanians again, right? Wrong again! Most of the several thousand demonstrators were members of the Socialist Party. Their feelings are contradictory, but comprehensible. These people, residents of Tirana for the most part, support the government that, in effect, has ended the Berisha dictatorship, but they remain frightened by the great unknown: the Albanian people in
This was not the first time in the 20th century that Stalinist bureaucrats, or ex-Stalinist social-democrats, sang the Internationale to exorcise the ghost of a revolution they see as a competitor, or even a danger. Which way forward?
As we go to press (20 March), the situation in Albania is more confused than ever. Casualties have been very limited: less than 100 deaths during three weeks of insurrection in a Balkan country where everyone is armed to the teeth. But now, for the first time, a real danger of anarchy, and total chaos is posed. Hundreds of thousands of people are now motivated by hunger and desperation. To paraphrase the Internationale, "the starvelings have awoken from their slumber." Italian television has convinced people that, in Western Europe, "even the cats eat from silver plates." People will be ready to do almost anything to satisfy their basic needs, and their (also modest) dreams.
After three weeks of general revolt, this precarious equilibrium could break down at any moment. On the one hand, the popular movement cruelly lacks clear perspectives. On the other hand, the remaining financial companies will almost certainly collapse. Meanwhile, Berisha refuses to resign. There is little prospect of stability under the National Reconciliation Government.
Those who wish to defeat the Albanian insurrection will need time, and all the machiavelian skill of the Western powers. In the meantime, the armed population may be able to exploit the hesitation of the West, and the Socialist Party bureaucrats, and become even more radical, and more explicitly plebeian. It may throw up new leaders, men and women able to meet the responsibilities and face the challenges the dynamic of permanent revolution imposes in Albania
The Albanian insurrection is not the result of exceptional circumstances. We may see similar social earthquakes elsewhere in the Balkans, particularly in Macedonia or Bulgaria. Russian nationalist leader Alexander Lebed recently warned that Russia itself could "easily become the Albania of
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