The False Apocalypse. Fatos Lubonja

any government that could carry out these other tasks would not need international backing. It was obvious that Berisha would not accept the Platform, because if he had been able to accept demands like this, the country would not have reached its present plight. Yet Qorri thought that an ideal document of this kind had to be written. The impossible wish to see things done properly cloaked the Forum’s desire to overthrow Berisha. That was vital for any progress. Meanwhile, nobody knew what was going to happen. Would the Forum function as a sum of its many parts, and what direction would it take?

       Chapter VII

       First Statements

      The headquarters of the Association and the ruling PD were no more than 100 metres apart as the crow flies. Between them lay a park crammed with kiosks and cafes. The former prisoners gathered at tables by kiosks in front of their building, while PD militants usually sat at café tables in front of theirs. There were some who frequented both sets of tables, although the bridges between the two had been broken since the government had forcibly evicted the hunger strikers.

      Nevertheless, on the same morning as the Forum’s meeting, the news that the Association had opened its doors to representatives of the former communist party and would put itself at the head of the Forum reached the PD office and from there went to the Presidency, the government, and the State television. Berisha only responded publicly the next day, after the Platform appeared in the newspaper. He announced with scorn that he didn’t recognize the Forum and he expressed ironic sympathy for the political parties who were reduced to seeking shelter under the umbrella of an association. It was the kind of response that expressed the contempt of the strong for the weak and disdain for a civil society that was only now taking root in the country As if to reinforce Berisha’s rejection of any kind of agreement, more and more gangs of armed civilians roamed at night, intimidating journalists, opposition leaders, and any opponents of the government. A band of masked men assaulted the young socialist deputy Ndre Legisi as he left his home and beat him with knuckledusters. Abused and humiliated, punched in the head and beaten all over his body, he ended up unconscious in hospital, in a worse state that Rama.

      Every day it grew clearer that for Berisha the use of force was the only way of solving the crisis. He strove to conceal this behind repeated optimistic statements to the national and Western press. ‘Everything is under control... repayment of the money has begun.’ The Albanian police have acted in a manner truly worthy of a democratic society.’ ‘Albanian democracy has made great progress.’

      In an interview with Le Monde at the beginning of February, Berisha was asked about the people demonstrating against the government. He separated them into two kinds, ‘Some are fanatical ex-communists, and others are people who made mistakes in investing their money and do not have the courage to shoulder the responsibility themselves...’ He even asserted without batting an eyelid that the bankrupt pyramids had been bitter opponents of the PD.