VI. The Process Of Democratization

Institute on East Central Europe

Summer, 1996

Fred Abrahams

Institute on East Central Europe, Columbia University

The title of this round table is the process of democratization and for me, the most important word in this title is "process." I believe that in 1989 and 1990, there was a fundamental misperception on the part of the West that democracy would somehow rush in to fill the space left behind by Communism. Five years later, the West is quite wrong. The arrival of a true and stable democracy involved the establishment of democratic institutions that made what we can call a democratic culture. Furthermore, as Father Liolin pointed out so articulately, this democratic culture cannot be superimposed from above or from outside. It really has to grow organically from below and from within.

I spent all of last year in Tirana and during that time I noticed a definite trend that, in my opinion, is very harmful to this organic process. There is a tendency among people in positions of power to see themselves as the sole possessors of knowledge. In other words, it seems too often that the leaders in Albania believe that they are the ones who know what is best for the country and the people. In my opinion this is extremely detrimental. To be precise, I think it was wrong for the West to impose its model on the eastern regions. It is also wrong for Albanian leaders to assume that they alone know how to direct the country through what is really an extremely difficult course. At the same time, I think that the Albanian people are still living with the vestiges of totalitarianism, and the total and truly brutal repression of independent initiative, creative thought, and autonomous cultural zones. All of this has had a strong impact on the Albanian mentality in a negative way. The result is that Albanians are, in many ways, uncertain how to speak productively and constructively because independent thinking was repressed and not encouraged. In my opinion, the challenge is to foster the spirit of dialogue in all areas of society, and not only in Albania itself, although that this is the most extreme example, but in all the regions inhabited by Albanians, including the diaspora here in the United States. This dialogue is desperately needed at this very challenging time in Albanian history.

Maxim Haxhia

Former Attorney General, Tirana

The rule of law is a most important subject for us Albanians. After 1992, the government made a very bad decision to organize six-month courses to train lawyers. Albania is a special country and it is hard to understand the Albanian psychology. Unfortunately, we went back to the communist regime with this school, this method. People completed the course and became judges and prosecutors. All the lawyers who were judges or prosecutors are now private lawyers. But the 400 hundred or so new judges and prosecutors are bad lawyers because they have no experience, only a six-month course.

Gazmend Pula

Kosova Helsinki Committee, Pristina

I would like to speak on the subject of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that were set up in Kosova as the collapse of communism began to run its course. NGOs and new political parties have become the functioning cells of the new society in Kosova. When speaking of NGOs, it is very important to explain what that concept means in the Kosovan circumstances, because there are, so to speak, two governments in Kosova, one that exercises factual power, that has military and police forces, and the other that exercises political control, supported by the will of the people. The Serbian authorities exercise factual control over the two million people of Kosova through the military, police and other forces of so-called "order," but political authority is exercised by Albanian political parties that have emerged.

The predecessors of these were non-governmental human rights organizations. As you may know, at the beginning of the 1980s, there were demonstrations of Albanians demanding equality, to have Kosova become one of the eight equal federal entities of former Yugoslavia. Those demonstrations were drenched in blood. And there was an ever-mounting and increasing repression by the Serbian authorities not to allow an equal, constitutional republican status for Kosova, but rather to dissolve the little autonomy that had been left after those developments.

This situation escalated and by the end of the 1980s, when the Serbian political movement gained momentum, it managed to abolish Kosova's federal status. This was a strictly unconstitutional act, as Serbia is one of the eight federal units, and thus has no authority to abolish the federal status of another unit with basically the same status. Serbia exercised iron-handed rule over Kosova. The only way out of that for the Albanians, given the unfavorable balance of power, was the organizing of NGOs. And by the end of 1989 the first human-rights group was formed, the Human Rights Council. Shortly afterwards new political parties were formed, known in the beginning as civic associations, since the one-party communist system did not allow the formation of other parties.

The formation of these groups was the first signal of multi-party transformation and transition of the former communist state. The Democratic League of Kosova, as the name itself makes clear, was the founding nucleus of a civic society. Given the overwhelming Serbian force, Albanian people viewed the League as one avenue to break away from Serbian yoke. Of course, having been the pillar of communism and of the state of Yugoslavia, the Serbs recognized that the development of democracy, a multi-party system and civic society would undermine that base of political control. They cracked down on all the NGOs. The Serbs viewed non-governmental organizations, associations and civic groups, as a concealed and camouflaged front for the Albanian national movement, which, of course, in a sense was true. That was the only way you could articulate your individual and collective aspirations. These groups met with a lot of repression and discrimination, but nevertheless the commitment of Albanians organized in these civic, non-governmental organizations was strong. The movement began to create a state structure by civic initiative. It was the moral strength, the moral commitment and the principles that these groups shared that got the whole population of Kosova mobilized behind them - an unprecedented event in Albanian history.

Of course, one could continue on this subject, but I will restrict myself to saying that NGOs have been formed for all walks of life. We have NGOs dedicated to the care of children, and mothers, working for the protection of teachers, such as the so-called Qiriazi ("sister" in Albanian). All of these, together with our political parties and the religious community, work in an incredibly synchronized way. They form the body of a dynamic society which embraces the values of contemporary West European societies. One thing that is slowing down the integration of the Albanian community into the family of civilized nations of Europe is the Serbian occupation of Kosova. With varying intensity it has been preventing and slowing and stalling these positive processes within Albanian society for the entire last century, ever since Serbs took control of Albanian ethnic territories at the beginning of the twentieth century, to be more precise around 1912. And with this I will conclude my remarks.

Elsenja Paja

Albanian Student

First, I would like to say that my talk is not based on statistics, and that instead I am just going to speak about real life, daily life in Albania. Albania was closed off for about 45 years, and now for four years we have been trying to catch up with the world. All this is causing many problems.

I am here to speak about the problems of young people. Most of them want to go abroad and find jobs and make money, more money than they earn in Albania. The safest way to get out is to buy a visa, which costs about $2,000. Another way is by crossing the mountains and going to sea in a boat, but this is really very difficult. For example, about a month ago over 20 young people drowned trying to emigrate.

As for students, those who live in Tirana are supported by their families, but students from other cities have much higher expenses. They usually get the money from cousins or other relatives who work abroad, because their families cannot provide the necessary funds. Students suffer from stress and depression due to academic and economic pressures. Finally, they are uncertain whether they will find a job after four years of study, so they are taking a very big risk.

I would also like to speak about sex education. Albanians know about condoms, they know about AIDS. There is a loose organization called "No AIDS" that goes into the schools and talks to people about contraceptive methods, etc. Sex education is not taught in the schools, but you might receive it through these other channels.

Albania is experiencing problems that arise from its access to Europe and the world, namely, AIDS and drugs. We have only had about 3 or 4 cases of AIDS, so it is not a big problem yet, but drugs pose a serious threat to our young people. About one in five students is using drugs, not heroin and cocaine, those are pretty expensive, but hallucinogenic drugs. They use acid, which costs about $5, and they take it weekly. They turn to drugs because of psychological problems, which make them seek solace in drugs or drinking. Alcohol is cheaper, so it is an even larger problem.

Most girls dream of marrying a European man, because America is too remote in their psychology. They think that they cannot catch up with American ways. They think that Albanian men do not know how to treat them.

Sejfi Protopapa

Albanian Activist

I would define the notion of the Albanian nation as being the Albanians in Albania, Albanians in the four areas of the former Yugoslav federation, and Albanians in the diaspora throughout the world. And also non-Albanians, friends of Albania, of which we have a great need of every day everywhere. I want to emphasize a shortcoming in the activities of various Albanians throughout the world: they do not maintain the intellectual discipline to realize that the life of all of these Albanians is intertwined. If one group fails, then the others suffer as well. And in fact one way of looking at this is to stare at a map of the Balkans. We have a sovereign state called Albania. Then we have a significant population immediately outside the borders of Albania. There are statistics that show that Albanians in Albania do not care about Kosovar Albanians at all. Of course, the same argument can be made about the Albanians in Macedonia. The crushing difficulties that Albanians in Albania experience lead them to operate and, indeed to enter a mental state, whereby they cannot acknowledge the existence and support the survival of their own brethren. This is a very sad state of affairs.

Let's take a look at the political scene in the Balkans. The line in the sand is drawn by the U.S. presidents, Republican and Democratic alike, is a total illusion. It is predicated on the notion that the Serbs will expel two million Albanians from Kosova. This will never happen because the Serbs are not stupid. They know very well that the United States government and Western Europe is prepared to draw a line in the sand to avoid ethnic cleansing in Kosova.

Western Europe and the United States - we should be very clear about this - have no vital interest in Albania. They have no vital interest in Kosova or Macedonia. America's only interest, though not a vital, is to confine the conflict in the Balkans.

Another problem is the misinterpretation of the notion of democracy in Albania. For example, there are the excesses by the opposition party with regard to the Greek incursions into Albania, which in my opinion constitute the most serious threat to Albania as a sovereign state. There is the physical, military threat, and propaganda support for the national Greek minority in Albania, while the more pernicious and well-known danger is the takeover of the Albanian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

Comment: This discussion is ignoring the main problem. It is a well-known fact that the Albanian nation is the only divided and occupied people in Europe. Since 1912-1913 until the end of the Second World War the Albanian people have been occupied and divided. This division is continuing today. The Albanians have been divided into five or more parts. Albania is a country that includes less than half of the Albanian nation. In the various contiguous territories occupying forces have tried to exterminate the Albanian people.

Question: Is there a real commitment to education among Albanians?

Paja: There is a distinction when it comes to the interest in education. It lies between people who live in the city and the people who live in the country. People living in the country are less interested in having an education, because now they have got their farms, they have got something to do, so there are no university students from the country. In the city, people are interested in having an education, the best education they can obtain. But there is a problem because the diploma earned in Tiranë University is not well-known in the outside world, so it is a big risk. The first choice is always to go abroad. Studying abroad - anywhere.

Pula: With regard to Albania's commitment to education, I will just mention that there are over 400,000 students in elementary schools, high schools and universities who are receiving their education in the most difficult circumstances imaginable. They attend classes in private rooms, in garages, in basements - and this has been going on for five years now. Nevertheless, families take the time and the effort and send them to school to receive their education.

Question: Do teachers in Albania proper say "Yes, stay in school,

there is hope there will be a job for you in this nation"?

Paja: From the government or the school side? No, teachers do not say anything. I am referring to the university. Yes, in elementary and secondary school they are told to stay in school to receive an education. If the student has a chance to study abroad, he will more than likely be asked why he has chosen to stay.

Question: Are the rights of the Greek minority protected?

Abrahams: There are problems with the Greek minority, and I cannot say that everything is perfect. However, many of the problems experienced, primarily in the south where the minorities live, are the problems that are common to Albania as a whole. Let us take the matter of the independence of the judiciary, and as an example the case of the Omonia prisoners last September. Many of the abuses in this trial - and international human rights organizations reported numerous abuses of Albanian and international law - with regard to the right to a lawyer, proper detention, and so forth, result from the weakness of the judiciary as a whole. And these weaknesses occurred in other cases during the last few years. It is not accurate to say that this was a targeted, special case against these five individuals. The same applies to many of the other complaints that the Greek minority has put forward. This is not to justify it, however, because when separate ethnic groups experience these problems they take on a slightly different meaning, especially when there is a neighbor like Greece directly to the south. However, one thing I want to stress is that the intercommunal relations in the southern areas, Gjirokastër, Sarandë, Delvinë, are really quite good. I do not mean to say that they are perfect. But the relations are quite good, and I met so many Greek Albanians who say "I am Albanian. I am Greek, but I am Albanian. I live here, I want my children to go to school here." Many of them go to Greece because of the economic opportunities that emigration offers them. And I should mention also that Greek policy has fostered this.

In addition, economically the Greek minority has some rights that the Albanians do not have, because of its special access to Greece. For example, most members of the minority get a visa right away. These people are coming back, investing in Albania, and trading.

Question: It is advantageous for Albania to have good relations with its neighbor Greece.

Abrahams: Many people have expressed the fear, both Albanians and Greeks, especially in the south, that these pressures were coming from areas outside of the region, that certain political forces coming from Athens and Tiranë were spreading information that was not accurate and were creating an artificial tension between them. In reality, the communities were in fact getting along quite well. One of the main complaints of the minority is educational rights, that they do not have the opportunity for schooling. I did extensive research on this, and in fact the rights to Greek-language education in the south are absolutely on a par with European standards. That was determined by Max van der Stoel of the OSCE.

Imholz: I would like to clarify a few things with regard to the six-month school for judges. I agree with Maxim Haxhia, there were other ways to solve these problems. I recognize that it is a very serious problem and as a person who is not Albanian, I do not want to give my opinion on how we could handle the past. I do believe, like Ms. Paja said, that Albanian education has very high standards. The people I know who have been students at the law school and professors had excellent training. They studied too much Marxism in the past, but they had no other choice. At the time the courses were started in April 1993 I was in Albania and I am aware that the president and other people promised that it would only be to train legal assistants. Literally what happened is that, after the six-month courses, the graduates of the school were permitted to take all the final exams that Albanian students take at the end of four years. And so the next six months were taken up with that. Literally, they had a year of study. And they also will tell you that it was a terrible disgrace. This happened throughout the region during the communist years, that people were permitted to study by correspondence. A lot of people really were not very good lawyers, but had families that had a certain amount of privilege. Good legal education, as is the case with all education, is tremendously important.

Comment: I actually spent a little longer than a year in Albania right around the time that all this was happening, and I spent much of that time at the Ministry of Justice, working with a lot of lawyers there who were developing the new laws, including criminal procedure codes, which is what I worked on. And I understand the point that you were making before that, how can you make a transition from one system to another when you have the same faces? That is a problem. But I have to echo what Kathleen Imholz was saying. The six-month course was a tragedy. And not only that course, but also what happened before, which was the firing of judges and prosecutors, people who had experience and education in the law, and the replacement of those people with kids, basically. I spent a lot of time with some of these judges who were in their early twenties, unmarried, no life experiences, no experience deciding important issues of people's lives, whether you go free or not, and also important business issues. The people I worked with at the Ministry of Justice were all trained in the communist system, but the vast majority were dedicated, intelligent people who did not like the old system, yet were a part of it and were ready to make the transition. And I am sure that there were other people beyond the ministry who could have served as judges and prosecutors. And the feeling of the Western attorneys who were there, myself included, was that the course and the actions before it were just a tragedy. I do not know how you can instill the rule of law in a country with students who learn law in six months. And I met some of those law students. I do not know how many became judges, but my understanding was that they were all going to become investigators. I actually had a few relatives who went through the course. They had no other jobs. I remember talking to them towards the end of those six months, and their knowledge of the law was as extensive as someone who reads the law section of The New York Times, which is to say not that extensive. If those people ended up as judges I think it really does not bode well for the Albanian judicial system and the rule of law.