Aggression in Albania I: Beginning of 1997

Over the next couple of weeks, I will post what I think is an interesting, well-written, deeply touching and disquieting essay on aggression in Albania 1997 — written by a friend of mine, 17-year old back then, who wishes to remain anonymous. The thesis of the essay is that ‘Everybody who is exposed to political violence, is psychologically traumatized’.

Nobody knows how it began or how it ended. The only thing we were aware of was that a bloody war was at the doors of our very homes.

Everybody was whispering that the greed for money caused all of it. But I still believe that the roots were deeper than we thought at the time.

I was but a 17-year old girl, seeking for reasons and justifications, why my people all of a sudden had become a wild mob where everyone was target of everyone. I was ashamed to watch the news in foreign channels because I knew that my people were the first thing to appear on the screen. A war I couldn’t explain was going on. Nobody knew any good reasons for it, apart from the fact that almost all of us lost our money in the pyramid firms.