The mysterious eighth team

Avoiding EURO 2016: A self-experiment — Day Nineteen

Belgium thrashed Hungary. I don’t know by how much but I saw headlines such as ‘Belgium seriously signs in for the fight for medals’ and ‘Belgium’s captain: We could have won even higher’. So I am supposing it was by more than three goals, which for some newspapers is enough to call a victory ‘thrashing’.

Anyway, I hope the won’t go all the way, that would simply be unbearable. One of the usual suspects, I can bear, even France or Italy. But not Belgium.

France won against Ireland, as I wrote about a couple of days ago. And I know the Squadra azzura is through too, as they played against another usual suspect, Spain, and I read that Spain is out.

The remaining of the four usual suspects is the only one I would support: Germany. I am pretty sure they won their eighth-final against Slovakia, as I saw photos of a celebrating Thomas Müller and Mario Gomez, the latter being one of the most overrated strikers to have worn the white jersey. But apparently he does live up to this honour now in his (for a footballer) older days. Maybe it’s just me who never got over watching him scoring a hattrick in RheinEnergieStadion back in 2009 when VfB Stuttgart was a top team and 1. FC Köln was (once again) newly promoted.

Who I’d really support though, if I was in fact following the EURO 2016, and who everyone seems to be supporting now are the volcanic wonderboys from Lavaland. Yes! Iceland were the wizards behind the second Brexit within a few days, this time just in a football tournament. I had caught a liveticker displaying that they were up 2:1 against England, and this morning I saw a text from my best friend, an Englishman, reading: ‘Yes! Iceland hand out just punishment for Thursday! Great result!’

Indeed.

A close Polish source also told me in a slightly worried tone that Poland will play Portugal in the quarter-finals. I will know the outcome of that one by the honking or the silence in my street. Although I actually do not know when the matches take place. My guess is that today is a day of rest, which then leaves exactly twelve days till the final on 10 July. That is a lot for seven more matches. Could it really be that tomorrow is a day off too, followed by only one quarter-final a day until 3 July? That would make space for a two-day break before the semi-finals on 6 and 7 July and another two days’ rest before the final.

So who is through anyway. Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Poland and Iceland. But who is the eighth quarter-finalist? Truth is, I honestly have no clue. Croatia? Turkey? Who am I forgetting, or rather not knowing about?

I think it proves a certain success in my self-experiment to not follow the EURO 2016: There is even one of the eight teams still in the tournament that I do not know of! Let’s celebrate that by watching the highlights of another quarter-final, not at a European but at a World Championship, and not with a good outcome but truly one of the most exciting matches ever:



Oh, wait! Maybe Wales is through?? Despite voting to leave…

The Union that does not want to be part of a Union

Avoiding EURO 2016: A self-experiment — Day Fifteen

Today does not call for a blogpost about football, after 51.9% of the UK voters chose to leave the European Union of peace.

So I will make it short and try to link the two. Which is easy: Now there is a real chance that, after almost a decade and a half, it will be justified for more than mere historical reasons that the UK has so many ‘national’ teams.

Because the United Kingdom will soon not be one. It is a now a far from unrealistic scenario that within a pretty near future, Scotland and perhaps even Northern Ireland will actually leave the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, just as the United Kingdom will leave the European Union. Wales, surprisingly, did vote to leave the EU …and the beautiful hilly country will probably keep its ‘national’ team.

The only thing I did pick up about the European Championship today was in my team’s newsletter where it says that our two players Jonas Hector and Dusan Svento will play against each other in the eighth-finals.

So now I know that Slovakia is through to the knock.out stage and that they will face Germany.

A duel between two countries that are both among the 28 members (soon 27, then 29 or a few more) of the European Union of peace.

PoL-Di — and the paradox of a possible Brexit

Avoiding EURO 2016: A self-experiment — Day Seven

An English friend told me that the England’s last group match — to be played three days before the UK referendum on whether or not to be part of the European community we are building together for some sixty years now — can actually influence that group of still-doubting voters who might very well be decisive to the outcome.

Is that really what the World has come to? Is football, or rather following football, the modern-day battle between tribes?

If so, it is actually a paradox of big dimensions. If one looks to the ethnicity of players on the different teams, especially but not only the former colonial powers, the plethora of diversity is evident.

One famous example is Lukas Podolski. Born in Gliwice in Southern Poland, his family moved to a suburb of Cologne when he was very little. Already as a teenager, he became the star of my team 1. FC Köln where he remains a cult figure. In fact, the only club where Prinz Poldi has had real success is here.

Given Germany and Poland’s long intermingled history, there is even a book about Polish players who carried the black eagle rather than their own white one. Apparently, tonight the two countries play each other. Should Poldi score …although it seems unlikely he will even play; some claim he is only part of the Germany’s squad of 23 because of his persistent good mood and positive influence on his team mates… he will not celebrate, out of respect for his country of birth.

Podolski made the same gesture, of not celebrating that is, when he played for Bayern München against 1. FC Köln years ago. I was there, in the stadium. Before the match, during the warm-up, the kölsche supporters celebrated their lost star. And they celebrated his goal despite that it consolidated the 0:3 defeat against the spoiled Bavarian millionaires. As the German media reported: Das gibt’s nur in Köln!

Incidentally this happened to be the only time my Polish better half has joined me for a live football match, to see what on Earth made me spend entire Saturdays on driving a couple hundred kilometres and back to see 22 men chase some ball for 90 minutes.

Beats me.

Footballitical wonder(ing)s

Avoiding EURO 2016: A self-experiment — Day Five

In a meeting about a team event that I am co-organising for another department at my workplace, someone asked which match we are going to watch when the event is over. It turns out the venue has a bar with big screens, broadcasting all the EURO 2016 matches, but as the two matches on that day do not start at 9 pm, i.e. three and a half hours after the event is planned to end, the idea was off. I am sure some people will hang around anyhow.

One of the matches is Wales against Russia, and a colleague commented that there will be riots again, as there has been between English and Russian supporters already. I threw in a remark that it seems only England supporters fight and riot, not the Irish, the Welsh, or the Scottish (the latter, as far as I recall, not being present in EURO 2016 anyway).

On the verge of the Brexit referendum, this is put in an interesting light. Some predict that if the United Kingdom really does choose to leave the European Union — to which the country since its admission in 1973 has paid a lower contribution than any other member state, while getting the same full benefits apart from a few essential ones from which they decided to stay out (the social dimension, the Schengen Agreement, the common currency) — the Scotland will leave the United Kingdom, and Wales and possibly Northern Ireland will follow. So the price that the old empire will pay to leave the 21st century might very well be that the core of that empire will crumble.

Who knows, perhaps England will become the 51st U.S. state instead of Puerto Rico. And then: No more European Championships for them… On the other hand, already now, several countries outside Europe are actually UEFA members and therefore play in the EURO qualifiers.

International politics is a strange thing. Not least when it gets mixed up with sports. Which, in my naivety, I still consider just being games.

Speaking of which, my better half came home proudly saying that she, as the only one among the ex-colleagues with whom she had spent the evening out, had bet for Iceland to beat Portugal. Oddly, the party had left the bar —incidentally, the same as mentioned at the beginning of this blogpost —four minutes before the end of the match. At that time, the score was 1:1, and true, I did not hear a single honk in my street here in Little Portugal this evening.

Did the Vikings even win the match? Then they might as well take Scotland under their wings and start forming a Nordic Union.

Memorable moments from 2012 and 2014

Avoiding EURO 2016: A self-experiment — Day Four

It had to happen rather sooner than later: Some friends asked me who I support at EURO 2016. I explained that I do not follow the tournament, and why.

Before that, they asked me if I was also joining to watch tonight’s match on a big screen on the city’s central square. It brought back memories of the Match of the Century two years ago when Germany crushed the Brazilian hosts in the World Cup semifinal. I watched it right there, on that square.

I also saw a car with a Polish flag drove through my street. It is the first and so far only sign of supporters I have seen this year. I wonder if it is because interest this year is actually lower in general, or if it is that I simply do not see it.

Anyway, I was happy it was a Polish flag as I have close connections with Poland. It turned out they had beaten Northern Ireland 1:0. That’s all I know. The first actual result that I have seen, of course by accident, through a Facebook post. I also learned that Robert Lewandowski had shouted at team mates because he was unhappy with the performance.

Whether Lewandowski was the one who scored the goal, I do not know. But I have a fond memory of him. Four years ago, when the European Championship was held in Poland and Ukraine, I placed a 10 € bet on him being the tournament's first goal scorer. And he was. I watched the game in a pub with the local Polish community — beautiful girls with red and white flags painted on their cheeks.

I don’t recall if the bookmakers credited 40 or 60 € to my account — ‘first goal scorer’ is a risky bet with consequently high odds, on the other hand Robert Lewandowski must have been among the favourites and thus among the lowest odds in this category — but I do recall that all in all I lost money on that won bet, as people expected me to celebrate it by buying drinks. Heck, it’s just a game.

Na zdrowie.

Onsdag, den 20. januar 2099

I dag ville min oldefar, Christian, være blevet 226 år. Hvis han levede endnu, ville han hedder “Krajsjan”. Så sent som i 1998, for hundrede år siden, hed jeg Bjørn, nu hedder jeg “Pjen”.

Der var fest blandt de 120-140-årige i eftermiddags. Det er nemlig præcis 75 år siden (2014), at skolerne blev udført. Jajah, nu er der kun 19 dage tilbage til min 126-års fødselsdag. Hvis jeg bliver ved med at få hjernen udskiftet hvert 15. år, undgår jeg at blive senil. Jeg skal have den skiftet ud den 7. marts af professor Stylts robot, XXXMTV66.

De fleste af de 21.697.889.608 mennesker, som lever på jorden nu, regner med at få et evigt liv, da der kun er én ting, som man kan dø af, nemlig sygdommen antikata (man er gået væk fra de latinske betegnelser, og alle taler ét og samme sprog).

De sagde i dag i telebølgeavisen, at man havde vedtaget at droppe grænserne i hele verden. De sagde også, at man skulle tilat oprette et ferieparadis på ydre planet nr. 12 i solsystem 6, galakse 9.

(fra “Bjørns Samlede Værker, Bind V” af Bjørn Clasen — © 1984-85 Bjørneforlaget)

The Erasmus Experience — 25 portraits from 25 years of success

This autumn, I was commissioned by the association ANEFORE, via Luxembourg’s coolest publishing house Maison Moderne, to interview 25 former Erasmus students (well, including a current one and a professor) and write up a short portrait of each of them telling tales of their individual experiences.

Here is the result — downloadable, free of charge! I hope you will enjoy it …and do contact me if you have writing or editing tasks for me!

Looking for, er, people

This classified-ad page is from 1968 and was published in the Observer and Gazette.

Notice how distinctly employers advertised for women or men, depending on the nature of the position to be filled. Today this would not only be unthinkable but also illegal. The Kodak advert even clearly lists which vacancies are for women, and which ones are for men.

(Click on the picture to see it in a larger and more readable version.)

History of European Integration V:Amsterdam and Nice Treaty

The fifth and last short text of this assignment is about the treaties laying the ground for enlarging the European Union East and South. Thank you for reading, and for quoting correctly.

Both the Treaty of Amsterdam, signed in 1997 and entered into force in 1999, and the Nice Treaty, signed in 2001 and entered into force in 2003, are amendments of the Treaty on European Union. They were designed to prepare for a vast enlargement that was approaching realisation in the course of the decade following the collapse of the authoritarian regimes in Central and Eastern Europe. A European Union of twice as many member states called for modifications of the decision-making procedures in order to stay effective.

Changes were to a large extent of a mathematical nature, in terms of vote weightings and numbers of European Parliament members per country. In the centre of these discussions — or battles — were the balance between big and small member states, as well as internally between the big member states, notably founding members France and the meanwhile reunified and now thus much larger Germany. ^{1 2}

None of the two treaties really managed to provide a satisfactory framework for the wished-for improved effectiveness. That is how talks of a European Union constitution started and ultimately the Lisbon Treaty became the new legal framework for continuous European integration.

by Bjørn Clasen, 2011

Sources
¹ Hartmut Marhold: History of European Integration, 5.1.2.2 — Monetary Union, Amsterdam Treaty and “left overs”, and 5.2.1.2 — In the lowlands of integration policy: the Nice Treaty (Course text for the participants of the Certificate and first year of the Master programme of the Centre international de formation européenne
² Historiasiglo20.org: The Treaty of Amsterdam (1997)

History of European Integration IV:Maastricht Treaty

The fourth part of my short account of European Union treaties. Introducing: the €uro!

Whereas the Single European Act had bound together the three European treaties, the Maastricht Treaty continued the integration — into a union, which is why its official name is ‘Treaty on European Union’. Although amended by the Amsterdam, Nice and Lisbon Treaties, the Maastricht Treaty is largely what the present-day European Union is based upon. Not only did it introduce the three-pillar structure — adding the Common Foreign and Security Policy as well as Justice and Home Affairs to the already existing European Community — it also established the criteria for taking the European Monetary Union to its ultimate third stage, i.e. introducing a common currency, the euro. ¹

The Treaty on European Union was signed on 7 February 1992 and entered into force only 20 months later on 1 November 1993 after quite a bit of nail-biting over its ratification in several member states. Notably Denmark and the United Kingdom were granted exceptions from certain parts of the Treaty. ² For example, the United Kingdom was exempt from being bound by the social dimension, ³ which, along with the extension of the European Union’s competencies to other fields such as education and culture, health and environmental issues, further increased the common European influence on aspects close to the citizens’ everyday life.

by Bjørn Clasen, 2011

Sources
¹ euro know: Maastricht Treaty
² BBC News A-Z of Europe: Maastricht Treaty
³ Jens Engelbredt: Den Europæiske Unions Historie — Den Sociale Dimension

History of European Integration III:Single European Act

This next step in the European Union’s development went towards a real internal market. Something we — more or less — take for granted today. If you want to use parts of the text, thank you for quoting accordingly.

By the mid-eighties it was high time for the European Communities, meanwhile enlarged three times and now counting twelve member states, to take the internal market into its decisive phase. This was done through the Single European Act, signed in Luxembourg and Den Haag in 1986, and entering into force the following year. ¹

A main purpose of the Single European Act was to have a fully functioning internal market by the end of 1992. ² The means was to boost decision-making in the European Communities, by adding areas for which only a qualified majority within the Council of Ministers was needed in order to pass legislation, as well as by giving the European Parliament more power. Also, the European Court of First Instance was established, ³ and the European Council was officialised. ⁴

With these institutional modifications, the Single European Act was a major turn towards stronger integration and away from national sovereignty. Facing the ever-increasing competitiveness from especially the USA and East Asia, a common approach from the member states was needed to keep up with these and possible new competitors on the world trade scene, and to avoid a new crisis like in the 1970s. ⁵

by Bjørn Clasen, 2011

Sources
¹ Wikipedia article: Single European Act
² The Europa website: Summaries of EU legislation — The Single European Act
³ Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe: The Single European Act
⁴ Historiasiglo20.org: The Single European Act and the road toward the Treaty of the European Union (1986-1992)
⁵ Hartmut Marhold: History of European Integration, 4.2.1.2 — The “Single European Act”: A revolution in disguise (1985/87) (Course text for the participants of the Certificate and first year of the Master programme of the Centre international de formation européenne

History of European Integration II:Rome Treaties

The second short text on the European Union is about the Rome Treaties, a milestone towards integration.

Signed in 1957 by the same six countries and entered into force on 1 January 1958, the two Treaties of Rome founded the European Economic Community and Euratom. It is in the former that for the first time, we see the ‘four freedoms’ that became crucial to European integration: the free movement of goods, services, persons and capital. ¹ In other words, this is where a common market — in principle within all trade areas, not just coal and steel — is established and converting the territories of the six member states into a single customs area without internal customs borders and a common external customs border.

Although the base was already established with the European Coal and Steel Community, it is also with the Treaties of Rome that most of the European institutions we know today were set up:

‘The institutional balance is based on a triangle consisting of the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament, all three of which are called upon to work together. The Council prepares the standards, the Commission drafts the proposals and the Parliament plays an advisory role. Another body is also involved in the decision-making procedure in an advisory capacity, namely the Economic and Social Committee.’ ²

All subsequent treaties increasing European integration are amendments to the Treaties of Rome. Even more than the Treaty of Paris which marked the first steps, they can thus be regarded as the base foundation of what is now the European Union of 27 countries.

by Bjørn Clasen, 2011

Sources
¹ The Europa website: Summaries of EU legislation — Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, EEC Treaty — original text (non-consolidated version)
² Ibidem: ‘Institutions’, first paragraph

History of European Integration I:A short account of the European Community of Coal and Steel

It’s EU time. Over the next couple of weeks, I will post short texts on different aspects of the European Union. They were all part of some small assignments that I wrote in December. Please be aware of the sources, quote correctly, including from ‘my own’ texts. And if you have questions, just comment on the post. Most of all: Enjoy. You might learn something :)

We start of with, well, the first treaty.

The European Community of Coal and Steel was established by the Treaty of Paris, which was signed in 1951 and entered into force in 1952. The signatory countries were Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and The Netherlands. ¹ It came about in the aftermath of World War II, which had left the European continent and the European people split between hope for a more peaceful future and a state of fear of another devastating conflict. Armed conflict requires weapons, and at the time, a country’s ability to produce weapons depended especially on two factors: Access to coal and access to steel. ²

This is why France’s Foreign Minister, Robert Schuman, came up with a proposal to put the production of both these resources under a common ‘High Authority’ ³, instead of keeping the control of the production nationalised. Schuman presented his idea in a declaration on 9 May 1950. To this day, 9 May is celebrated in European circles as ‘Europe Day’, marking the very beginnings of what has since become a tight and binding co-operation between 27 European countries so far.

The European Community of Coal and Steel was an indirect success. During the first couple of decades of its existence, coal production in the member states went down, and the increase in steel production was nowhere as strong as in for example Japan or the Soviet Union. However, trade between the member states was strengthened, and the European Community of Coal and Steel proved to be the first step in a common market, which kept growing both in terms of trade areas and geographically. Moreover, a series of welfare measures for mine workers marked the first steps of a new integrated solidarity between member states. But most importantly, peace was kept in Europe. ⁴

The Treaty of Paris expired in 2002 and, meanwhile having been integrated into the Maastricht Treaty and subsequent European Union treaties, it was not renewed.

by Bjørn Clasen, 2011

Sources
¹ The Europa website: Summaries of EU legislation — Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, ECSC Treaty
² Hartmut Marhold: History of European Integration, 2.1.2.1 — Jean Monnet’s Plan, origins and circumstances (Course text for the participants of the Certificate and first year of the Master programme of the Centre international de formation européenne)
³ The Schuman Declaration
⁴ The history of the ECSC: Good times and bad, by Gilbert Mathieu (Le Monde, 9 May 1970)

Aggression in Albania XIII:Everybody who is exposed to political violence, is psychologically traumatized

The conclusion to the essay on Albania in 1997, as given by the author, a 17-year old who wishes to remain anonymous.

I believe it is true, with certain exceptions, but it is true. I have been there, I have seen violence, I have witnessed it and I know what dimensions it can reach, what consequences it can produce. I have seen my nation on the flares of monstrosity as an observer, as an Albanian and as a terrified human being. I have tried to give a name to this creature of evil, but I could not. I have tried to give a reason, an explanation why we chose the worst way of reacting, but I couldn’t, till I understood that we were TRAUMATIZED.

Why all this violence? Was this a response toward the violence to which the Albanians were submitted during the past? More than 3400 people were dead during 97. Can any fact justify this?

I think any psychologist would be more than happy to study the patterns of behavior, the social structure of the Albanian society, the political influences and the psychology and mentality of the Albanians. All human, social, political, and cultural processes developed in Albania are singular and unique phenomena with incredibly speedy paces.

Aggression in Albania XII: December ’90… (continued)

The touching and disquieting essay about Albania, written by a 17-year old, is reaching a climax, building a bridge of explanation between the 1990 events and those in 1997.

Now I ask, in front of all the atrocities witnessed, in front of the discrimination and disdain that human beings were faced with, how were they supposed to act against? How were they supposed to oppose and raise their voice for justice?
I remember the frustration of my parents; their fear to talk in front of us, because of a word that might leave the doors of my home; a word that could send my father in jail; that could humiliate and destruct my mother. I remember my father fearing the worst for us and working his all to prevent it. He was a high rank officer and a professor, and for this he was always under surveillance. I remember my mother sewing clothes staying up all night in order to save some money for her three children. She was head of finances and yet she couldn’t provide all necessary things for the family. I am not talking about luxury. I am talking about necessary living.

Another question comes to my mind. Was that political violence? Was that a massive collective psychological trauma inflicted to my people? Because if it is, I presume I can justify my country for being what it is, for being the way it is, and I can justify my people of being who they are. But does the world think the same as I?
Maybe so far, I have exaggerated with the description I depicted on the past systems. But you can’t know what a nation is, unless you know its past. And you can’t know a human being, unless you know his past, his strivings in life, his emotions and his feelings; unless you know him.

Almost every Albanian has faced political violence, be it aggressive, passive or indirect. What were the consequences of this violence?

Let’s face ’97 once more. The nation was separated into two major poles or forces, the Albanian Democratic Party and the Albanian Socialist Party. In the mean time, the nation was separated into two major geographical zones, north and south. A strange and unexpected phenomenon was created. The north opposed to south and vice versa. On the other hand, political poles had a membership of militants. Organized crime and gangs were spread all over Albania. It was unsafe everywhere. The public order was totally reversed. Anarchy and chaos prevailed all over.

People started to hate each other for their political belonging. It was so fearful to see that we had become enemies of ourselves. Political polarization was the cause of all that. It was a similar effect to the arithmetic progression of a chain reaction. It started from the leadership. Leaders of both parties were not fully aware that any statement or stand they could take would create an increasing reaction of masses against each other. One was either a militant, or a complete ignorer of politics. Chances to find persons that might enter the second group were very small. Violence was exercised from militant groups toward each other. Opposition and position were in “fighting positions” all the time.

The anarchy of each day was terrifying those who were longing to see again some good and shiny days. But it seemed as if the days to come were going to be gloomy days for the Albanians.

The collective trauma accumulated for 50 years, was now provoked and fueled by the recent events. It was a massive “flashback” to Albania. A flashback experienced during the clashes of ’91 violently crushed by the dying regime of dictatorship. A subsequent traumatizing collective experience that the Albanians lived throughout the whole history. If a post traumatic stress disorder can be devastating for a person, how vast can it be if experienced by 100 persons, 1 000 persons, by 3 500 000 persons? I think it can reach tragic and fatal dimensions. I believe that a tragic dimension was extended in the Albania of ’97 where violence, aggression, maltreatments and losses were the only things going on.

Aggression in Albania XI: December ’90…

Part XI of the essay on Albania, written by an anonymous 17-year old, now takes us into the middle of the action of what happened in the country in 1990. The thesis of the essay is that ‘Everybody who is exposed to political violence, is psychologically traumatized’.

Students in the University of Tirana organized a massive disruption of lectures and in sign of discontent from the system and regime, entered a strike of hunger. All the population of Tirana was in solidarity with the requests of the students. In this regard, the miners of Valias (a coal mine in the vicinity of Tirana) entered a hunger strike within the mine. The rest of Albania was surprised with these new events. People started to escape the country and run for the borders with Greece and Yugoslavia. But almost all who attempted to escape were murdered by the secret services or by the border guards. It was a very dark moment for Albania. You could see dead bodies being pulled in the center of the town by military and police cars, to show to the inhabitants that this would happen to all who would try. People were terrified. For the first time, the real face of the dictatorship was being shown to the Albanians. Horror, fear and condemnation started to arise all of a sudden. All that pressure held within for almost 50 years was now materializing with massive opposition. But now, the rage was far greater than the fear and the horror. Now it was time to shout out loud against all injustice and prosecution. It was time to abolish the mask of democracy and show the true picture of an inhuman system that humiliated and destroyed the very core of the Albanian nation.

It is strange how the laws of physics can be applicable in explaining the human nature. The more you press the piston in an empty container, the more power it gains to outbreak from the pressure charged on it. The same goes for men. The more you press over men, and the more they bear, the more it is likely for them to explode into outrageous behavior. Indeed this happened in February ’91. Massive revolts and uprising were reported all over Albania. The Albanians were tired of living the illusion of being the only democratic country worldwide. They were tired of living apart as if they were quarantined from the rest of the world. This quarantine called Albania was populated by a nation who during all its existence were striving and fighting for one sole thing; a thing called FREEDOM. After year 1945 freedom was brought to Albania, but it was not freedom at all. It was liberation from the Nazi-fascist dictatorship, in order to bring the country into another sort of fascism, that fascism called communist dictatorship. It had nothing to do with communism itself. Communism was meant to be the most efficient system to be applied during all mankind history. It was a system where all were equal, where all were one, and one were all. But it was not this communism that was applied in Albania, or in USSR, or in any other eastern country, or even at all. It was a system that obliged men to behave like machines subdued in service of these new “Pharaohs” of modern times.

Aggression in Albania X: Art, culture, science…

Another highly interesting, and very disturbing, chapter in a 17-year old’s essay on Albania in 1997.

In the name of socialist realism many things were truncated. Art was only realism that presented real individuals working the lands and protecting the country. Expressing individual feelings and emotions was prohibited, unless the person was expressing real life of real cooperative workers, real life of soldiers, real life of teachers teaching Marx and Engels’ philosophy on proletariat. The love of the Labor Party was to prevail in every text, in every novel and article of newspapers.
Everything was subdued to the review of the “critical eye” of the party and its selected ones. Erotic content was not only not allowed, but also prosecuted. Love was pure and idyllist. In the cinematography scenes of kisses, touching, and other intimacy were considered as obscene. No surrealism, no expressionism, no cubism, nothing of the modern streams of painting. It was obscene to have erotic poetry and poems as well. Poetry had to express love for the family, love for the country, party and so on. Intimacy was expressed in simple words of a superficial relationship. Music mustn’t contain strong rhythms and other elements of the western music. All these components were considered as decaying, decadent, and as imitation of hippie streams. Those who dared to oppose this oblivion of human nature and freedom of spirit, were imprisoned, stained in biography, were set aside or were fully ignored by the system. Despite the contribution they gave for the nation, it was immediately opposed. Everything, everybody had to be within the frames of socialist criticism.

Aggression in Albania IX: Economic development…

In part IX of the anonymous 17-year old’s essay on Albania, we learn more historical background that helps to understand what happened in 1997.

It is true that after the liberation of Albania from the Nazi occupation, the development was somehow rapid. All people were involved in the refurbishment of Albania, and more than this. Till after the war, the infrastructure has been very rural. Cities looked like destroyed villages. The new infrastructure was a typical eastern architecture. Grey buildings with small apartments to live in. The private property was no longer permitted. All properties were fused into collective properties such as cooperatives and other structures. There was no more private investment or initiative. Previous tradesmen or businessmen were considered as enemies and micro burgesses. All their wealth and richness was confiscated and was transformed into collective property. We were being told that Albania was an oasis among the desert of capitalism. The welfare and well-being of the Albanian people was the highest. But the truth was different. People used to wait in long lines and long hours for milk and bread. Everything was sold with ratios. Milk, oil, wheat, coffee, sugar, everything was with ratios. The basic work and constructions in Albania were based on voluntary work. Massive voluntary actions were undertaken, and workers were obliged to participate “voluntarily”. Everything was productive including wilderness, but the economic level of an average family was still very low. The demagogy of a highly egalitarian and democratic state, was feeding the people more than the fruits of their own work and struggle.

Though everything was household produced: mines and minerals, power, oils and fuels, vegetables, fruits, corns and crops, industrial consumables etc., the Albanian families still lived in poverty. It was as if the Buddhist, Christian and eremites’ philosophy of neglecting and denying the luxuries of this world, would lead to a higher level of emotional, physical and interpersonal well-being. But this new philosophy was the philosophy of applied communism, which had nothing to do with the utopia of the communism itself. It had nothing to do with promised richness and equality of all social classes. In deed, social and political classes were deepened by the abysses of distinction, prejudices and discrimination. Prosecution of an individual was far beyond the individual himself. The whole family and relatives were prosecuted. They were sent into camps of forced labor, into deep areas of the state, and they were forced to lose contact with all their relatives. It did not matter if the prosecuted one was a professor, a doctor, a musician, a high-ranking officer; they were all politically, socially and morally degraded and put to forced labor.

Aggression in Albania VIII: Education…

In part VIII of this essay on Albania in 1997, the anonymous 17-year old author continues to go further back in time to give us some background.

It is without doubts the part with most merits achieved by the regime. Within a short period, analphabetism was almost eradicated in all urban and rural areas of Albania. Universities, colleges, lyceums, elementary schools and gymnasiums were established within a brief time. Attendance to school was incredibly high. Many intellectuals were “produced” during this process of evolution. The system utilized the knowledge of west and east in order to fill the gaps that existed for many centuries. Many students from Albania were studying in the best universities of Moscow, Paris, London, Rome and in other countries. But anyway, there were plenty of gaps. Other taboos were not only deepening, but new ones were created. It was shameful to talk about sexuality, prohibited to talk about religion in an objective way, democracy was a misused word with a wrong meaning, war of classes was touching the elite of intellectualism, and secret services were acting everywhere. There were cases when the wife had revealed her husband for agitation and propaganda. One had to be careful with his family members because it was possible that the word might be spread all over. It was a dark time and nobody was safe unless always “on guard”.

Aggression in Albania VII: Religion…

Part VII of the anonymous 17-year old’s essay on Albania in 1997 looks at more background.

No to religion! “Religion is the opium of the masses” said Karl Marx, one of the fathers of communism. And so be it. Religion had to be abolished down to the very roots. Most of churches and mosques were demolished. Only the historical monuments were preserved and were transformed into museums. Spiritual leaders were prosecuted and imprisoned, no matter to which religion they belonged. The need to believe in a supreme power that exceeded the powers of human nature was transformed in the need to believe and rely in the Party of Labor and its extreme fairness, impartiality and love for the “simple base”. What was confession? What was the mission of the clergy in accordance to the Marxist way of thinking? Confession was nothing but a way of expressing the ignorance of certain persons that fed people with false dogma. The mission of clergy was to disseminate division and separation among the people and to use their authority in order to profit and to leave them “in the shadow of ignorance”. No religious ritual or holiday was to be celebrated any more. No Christmas, no Bajram, no Easter, no nothing. The word ‘God’ was related to mythology and to harmful doctrines. The need for God was ignored and people were spiritually confused. To whom to direct when confusion, concern or distress was present? To the head of the council of neighborhood? To the secretary of the party? To the forum of youth? To whom else? Psychologically people were being emptied in order to leave space to a new era of national illumination by following the path of the fathers of communism. Russia, Yugoslavia, and all the eastern countries were rejecting the religious dogmas to free the people from obligations, ignorance and blindness. But was the clergy really the ‘Demon’ of Lermontov that was sneaking sliding through the windows of the “virgin” and telling beautiful lies to deceive her?