(A personal and historical testimony about the birth of the first free newspaper in Albania, the struggles for free speech, conflicts, sacrifices, and the role of “Rilindja Demokratike” in building Albanian pluralism).
By Dr. Mujë Buçpapaj
(A personal and historical testimony about the birth of the first free newspaper in Albania, the struggles for free speech, conflicts, sacrifices, and the role of “Rilindja Demokratike” in building Albanian pluralism).
A few days after the founding of the Democratic Party of Albania in December 1990, the state of media freedom in the country was dire. The ruling Communist Party fully controlled both print and audiovisual media, and worst of all, had directed them against inexperienced democrats with limited capacity to establish their own information system. A storm of attacks in the style of old communist propaganda was unleashed against the democratic leaders, who were portrayed as “hooligans,” “destroyers,” and “threats to the order and security of Albania.”
The small Balkan country was the last in the region attempting to adapt to the new rules of pluralism and market economy. While the communist government had been forced to accept pluralism under intense pressure from the December 1990 Student Movement and international actors led by the United States, it showed clear intentions to allow a weak, controlled opposition with limited ability to challenge it in the March 31, 1991 elections.
Under these circumstances, a free press would become the first true test of Albanian democracy and pluralism. After a full 46 years of total isolation and denial of free speech, the Democratic Party had decided to launch its own newspaper. It was a time of both anticipation and preparation for the new staff, who would run the newspaper, as well as for some technical arrangements. The Democratic Party, founded on December 11, 1990, was publicly announced on December 12 at a historic gathering at the “Student City” in Tirana. Pluralism had been politically accepted but had not yet been legalized institutionally or legally.
On December 17, the Albanian Parliament would formally decree the law allowing political pluralism in the country, while on December 19, the Democratic Party itself would register at the Ministry of Justice as a legal party. From that moment, it faced no obstacles to building its structures nationwide and establishing its press. After the founding of the Democratic Party, the release of its first newspaper issue would mark a fundamental shift from the rigid system of denying free speech.
The newly born Democratic Party still had its provisional headquarters at building number 15 in “Student City.” Those two or three modest rooms simply held the spirit of that movement and its fundamental transformation. The leaders of the Founding Commission, headed by Student Movement leader Azem Hajdari, were increasingly aware of the severe communication difficulties they faced with their supporters and with public opinion in general, due to the lack of their party’s media. Until that time, senior democratic leaders could publish their ideas without censorship only through “Voice of America,” led by the famous journalist Elez Biberaj, because RTSH and the newspapers controlled by the ruling Party of Labor, besides censoring and distorting their ideas, had targeted some members of the Founding Commission of the Democratic Party, especially Azem Hajdari and Sali Berisha. The leftist press continued to follow Leninist principles, according to which a political opponent was also an enemy of the party.
By the end of December 1990, the concept of building the newspaper had begun to take shape. The Founding Commission assigned Mitro Çela and Preç Zogaj, both well-known journalists in the country, to handle the matter. Mitro was known for his oppositional stance due to several problematic economic articles; because of their publication, the Communist Party had removed him from the newspaper “Zëri i Popullit.” Preç came from “Zëri i Rinisë” and had a difficult past with the regime due to his entirely anti-communist family background.
It is unknown who proposed it within the Democratic Party’s Founding Commission, but it soon became known that Frrok Çupi had been appointed editor-in-chief of the opposition newspaper. He, too, was a former journalist at “Zëri i Popullit” who had been dismissed from that newspaper “for violating the party line.” For several years, he had been forced to work in a Tirana enterprise as a manual laborer. In 1989–1990, he published several impressive reports in the Tirana press.
During these days of assembling the new newspaper staff, many journalists attempted to join the editorial team, but it was very difficult. Later, many journalists who had no prior role until December 12, 1990, when the Democratic Party was declared, would be appointed to the newspaper’s leadership staff, recognized for their oppositional spirit toward the regime. The exception was the students, all members of the December 1990 Movement. I remember an episode from the last days of December when the Democratic Party headquarters was still at building number 15 in “Student City,” where I lived as a postgraduate student along with my cousin Shpetim Buçpapaj, an engineering student. I was involved in the student movement since December 9, 1990. With some of the main leaders of this movement—Azem Hajdari, Bardhyl Ukcamaj, Shenasi Rama, Myftar Gjana, Arbër Ahmetaj, etc.—I already had prior friendships.
In one of the rooms, simply furnished with a table and some chairs taken from the TV hall on the second floor of the building, the new leadership or the Democratic Party’s Founding Commission held its working meetings. In fact, during this period, it was hard to maintain strict order or distance in those student spaces. Everyone felt like a hero of a great movement. Despite the efforts of Ndue Lugja, as Azem’s bodyguard, and Dem Berisha, as Sali Berisha’s first guard, it was impossible to maintain strict order. Sali Berisha was constantly surrounded by people whom he had to respond to without pause. Many of them came from the provinces and were initiators in founding the Democratic Party’s branches.
In one of these meetings, I met Frrok Çupi for the first time. He had a quiet demeanor. At one moment, when we were told the leadership meeting was about to start, we all stood and left, as we were not part of the Founding Commission. Frrok was about to leave as well, but someone, I recall it was Azem, said: “You, Frrok, will stay since you are the editor-in-chief of the newspaper.” I remember him sitting in a chair at the back of the room, wrapped in a brown overcoat, quite worn.
In the corridor, we were waiting together with Lazer Stani. Lazër told me that he had been promised a position on the RD newspaper staff from the very beginning and felt pleased about it, but in reality, he would only join the newspaper four years later. At that time, I was a postgraduate student, studying screenwriting for feature films, and I was about the same age as Azem, Shenasi, and Myftar. I had successfully collaborated with the press, participated—like many young intellectuals—in the December Movement, and naturally wanted to work from the very beginning in the RD editorial office. However, things were not easy due to the clan-like spirit that would try to control the newspaper from the first days.
I had discussed this issue both with Azem, as chairman of the Founding Commission, and with Prof. Sali Berisha. Both had told me that Preç would handle the matter since the party would not interfere in staff appointments. Berisha, even at that early stage, supported a model in which the newspaper staff would be non-partisan and entirely independent. There were even rumors that “RD” would be independent of the Democratic Party. To me, the matter seemed settled.
I had known Preç since my first year as a literature student at the Faculty of History and Philology. At that time, he, the editor-in-chief of “Zëri i Rinisë,” Remzi Lani, and the newspaper’s other editors had given strong support and friendship to all of us young poets and publicists. Remzi particularly took care to support new talent in literature and journalism. Between 1990 and 1992, the newspaper demonstrated great independence, even though it was the official organ of the youth, becoming a supporter of democratic processes.
During that period, Preç handled the reports, while I and many of my fellow students often traveled outside Tirana for assignments, receiving both services and writing fees. For us, as dormitory residents, this was a significant support.
Nevertheless, Preç would not accept me, using the excuse that the staff was too small and that he would cooperate only with students. “When the editorial office expands,” Preç said, “we will discuss it,” or as he put it, “we recognize you as a distinguished poet and publicist; there is no need for Azem’s or Berisha’s intervention.”
In fact, one year earlier, precisely for the high-quality reports I had published in “Zëri i Rinisë,” I had received an annual award. I had also received several annual awards for poetry and for a poem published in that newspaper. In 1989, I had published a poetry volume, considered successful by contemporary critics. It was the only poetry volume published during the communist regime without a single poem about the party or its leader, as was the fashion at the time—indeed, it did not even mention the word “party” in a single line. For this reason, the book remained in the drawers of the “Naim Frashëri” Publishing House for seven years, because I refused to make any imposed changes, despite three very harsh reviews accusing me of “hermeticism, obscure figurative language, or influences from decadent poetry,” and other terms commonly used by regime critics who labeled any poetry that did not reflect the spirit of the working class.
As it turned out later, these issues receded into the background, while in the minds of the new staff, the fever of politics and clans was brewing. For us idealistic young people, who simply wanted to contribute to free speech and democracy, this was unfair. Many of us involved in the December Movement for idealistic reasons found it very hard to understand how a negative image of the Democratic Party newspaper was being constructed, showing a tendency to confine it to a suspicious circle of friends and clans coming from the Party of Labor. This would not be understood at the time by either Berisha or Hajdari, nor by most of those who were not building clans within the party. Both of them expressed at the time that what mattered was for democracy to prevail.
Tirana, during that period, was bustling. Intellectuals were engaged in heated debates revisiting the values of the communist regime, led by writers and artists. That late December, at the club of the League of Writers and Artists of Albania, I participated along with my brother, Skënder Buçpapaj, a well-known poet and critic at the time, who was editor of the newspaper “Drita.”
There were intense debates between semi-dissident writers and the League leadership. One by one, the writers refused to submit their candidacies for the elections to the People’s Assembly of Albania, scheduled for February 10, 1991. It was clear that this was a game by the PPSH and Ramiz Alia to justify the need for true political pluralism, presenting the communist transmission wings, the BRPSH, Women’s Organizations, and the Front as independent electoral subjects. Alia’s efforts to control pluralism and prevent the Communist Party from being removed from governing the country were frustrating.
Soon after, an event dedicated to Gjergj Fishta was organized at the League of Writers. This event, led by Rudolf Marku, Skënder Buçpapaj, Aurel Plasari, Ndrek Luca, and others, also saw strong debates. The intellectuals of Tirana had taken upon themselves the task of shaping the struggle for democracy.
On December 29, the new newspaper staff also met at the League of Writers. I attended with Skënder and Arben Kallamata, another journalist from “Drita.” In this first meeting of the newspaper’s editorial council—which would change on January 5—Preç Zogaj introduced Frrok as editor-in-chief. In this meeting, they discussed how to organize the newspaper “RD” as far as an opposition paper could be conceptualized. The key point was that it would be anti-regime and would take on the mission of democratic education. They even planned the first issue and assigned some topics.
On December 31, 1990, the Democratic Party moved from building no. 15 in “Student City” to a two-story villa on Fortuzi Street, near the former “Arbëria” Hotel. It was a ruined and poorly maintained villa. The newspaper had one room on the second floor of the building.
Initially, the Founding Commission stated that the newspaper would be published on January 3, but this decision changed very quickly. Mentor Shehu, the painter assigned to do the layout for “RD,” insisted that the schedule set by the printing house for publication on Tuesdays and Fridays was unsuitable for the Democratic Party. According to Mentor, the period from Friday to the next Tuesday left nearly five days uncovered by the party’s newspaper, while the PPSH had several daily newspapers such as “Zëri i Popullit” and “Bashkimi,” along with periodicals that harshly attacked the PD and its leaders. With the intervention of the PD leadership, it was decided that the newspaper would be published on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
On January 5, 1991, after great efforts—especially by Frrok and Mentor (both of whom stayed overnight at the printing house), as well as by Preç and the students Fevziu, Shkullaku, and Blushi—the newspaper saw the light of publication.
The first editorial council included Petraq Kolevica, Ajet Haxhiu, Natasha Lako, Mitro Çela, Kujtim Çashku, Edi Hila, Ilirjan Zhupa, Teodor Keko, and Genc Pollo.
In the RD editorial “The First Word,” written by Preç, it was stated: “Today, Rilindja Demokratike speaks its first word. This rebirth has taken upon itself a heavy burden and an honest duty. It has committed itself to speak the truth.” On the front page, the newspaper featured greetings from Ismail Kadare, Rexhep Qosja, and Dritëro Agolli.
The newspaper’s title itself came from a phrase Qosja used in his greeting. The newspaper’s masthead was designed by the well-known painter from the “Naim Frashëri” Publishing House, Bujar Marikaj. On the second page, Preç’s article, “PD is Not a Black Cat,” held a prominent place, conceived as a reply to the newspaper “Bashkimi.”
This issue also published Sali Berisha’s article, “Our Polar Star, Our National Cause,” presenting the PD’s platform for the country’s development, integration into Europe, and positions on resolving the national issue. This article would provoke much debate in the following years and even today, becoming a reference for many domestic and foreign analysts regarding Kosovo. Berisha wrote:
“PD will fight unwaveringly for our brothers in Kosovo to enjoy all freedoms and democratic rights, including the right to self-determination, as sanctioned by the Yugoslav Constitution, the UN Charter, and the Helsinki Acts. PD cannot accept the eternal division of the Albanian nation. Therefore, we will fight through peaceful means and within the framework of European integration processes to achieve their rights for progress and national unification.”
This text had been delivered as a speech in Democracy Square in “Student City” on December 12, 1990. Gramoz Pashko, in an interview with the newspaper, presented the PD’s economic strategy, aiming for a comprehensive reform of the existing economic system toward what Pashko called a “free initiative” economy.
Frrok Çupi, in one of his articles, described the difficulties in publishing the first issue and expressed concern about whether the second issue would be published. Mentor Shehu, one of the newspaper’s founders and its first layout designer, noted: “The first paid staff of the newspaper consisted of Frrok Çupi as editor-in-chief, Mentor Shehu as layout designer, and Ilir Arapi as the newspaper’s driver.” Mentor handled a large workload, from typesetting the issue, sending materials, editing them, until the newspaper’s publication.
A few days later, roughly a week afterward, Emin Barçi joined the newspaper. Emin had been involved in the Student Movement and, after the PD’s foundation, had secured a position, as it was said then, in the press sector in one of the rooms on the first floor of building no. 15. There was a typewriter and a linotype machine used by a blonde girl. Recommended to the newspaper by Pashko and approved by Frrok, Emin held significant weight in the newspaper’s editorial politics and in deciding which names would be published.
From the first issues of the newspaper, it is clear that the students Blendi Fevziu, Armand Shkullaku, Ben Blushi, and Edi Paloka acted as volunteers, paid from the fees of their articles, mainly in the information sector. Dritan Kaba at that time also served as the photographer, while Abdurrahim Këllezi, former proofreader for “Zëri i Rinisë,” and Agim Fortuzi, former proofreader of “Bashkimi,” were the first proofreaders of “Rilindja Demokratike.”
Later, Genc Tirana and Arben Ruka, former journalists of “Bashkimi,” joined the editorial staff, while Bujar Xhaferri was approved as correspondent for Myzeqe. After them came Bashkim Trenova, former director of the State Archives, as well as Filip Çakuli, a well-known journalist of “Hosteni,” a renowned Albanian humor writer critical of regime bureaucracy, and Visar Zhiti, a dissident poet and political prisoner. During 1991, Skënder Shkupi, Rakip Sulçe, and Xhevat Mustafa (secretary of the collegium from September 1, 1991, to August 1, 1994) would also join. Ben Blushi became a regular member of the editorial office during Mitro’s time as editor-in-chief and later left the newspaper along with Armand Shkullaku, Vera Isaku, Dritan Kaba, Mhill Tanushi, Genc Tirana, and Arben Ruka after August 12, 1992, when the Pashko-led motionists left the PD to later form the Democratic Alliance Party.
During this period, the newspaper “RD” reached its highest circulation, and market demand was extraordinary, but the communist government did not allow it to be published more frequently or in larger print runs under the pretext of paper shortages. Although priced at 1 new lek, the newspaper sold for 10, 25, and even 50 lek. The struggle to control the newspaper and its progress is also evident in the frequent changes of editors-in-chief between January 1991 and April 1992.
The first editor-in-chief was Frrok Çupi, who left in June 1991 after controversies with the PD chairman, Sali Berisha. He was succeeded by Napoleon Roshi, former director of the foreign radio and ex-journalist of “Bashkimi,” and then Mitro Çela, who would lead the newspaper from the end of 1991 until after the successful March 22, 1992, election campaign.
Although I contributed to the newspaper with some articles from its first issues, I officially started working at “RD” in July 1992. Before the March 22, 1992 elections, together with Skënder Shkupi, Merita Shkupi, and Ardian Haçi, we founded the PD Tirana newspaper “Tribuna Demokratike.” During 1991, while continuing my two-year postgraduate studies in Screenwriting for Feature Films—which today are considered post-material studies—I, together with my friend Ismet Mehmeti (poet and journalist), founded the newspaper of the Albanian legalists known as the National Democratic Party, a radical right-wing paper influential in the press of the time.
I stayed at Atdheu for a few months, and at the beginning of 1992, Dr. Berisha called me to establish the newspaper Tribuna Demokratike, which quickly became involved in intense controversies due to its denunciation of communist crimes. I served as editor-in-chief, and the publicist Merita Shkupi was the chairperson of the newspaper’s Publishing Council.
As editor-in-chief of Tribuna, I collaborated with both Mitro and Filip Çakuli, then deputy editor of RD, who helped me with many articles. Tribuna Demokratike was a highly radical newspaper, published twice a week with up to 90,000 copies per issue, staffed entirely by volunteers. There was a paper shortage, but friends of the PD and Berisha in the U.S.—from the Tropoja community in New York—had purchased paper in Bulgaria, which arrived in Tirana free of charge exclusively for Tribuna Demokratike.
The paper was stored in Lundër, and it was difficult to transport it to the printing house since we had no car. Together with the PD chairman, the Tirana branch professor Ylli Vejsiu, and former PD administration chief Sotir Qirjaqi, we would go out into the streets to flag down a car (often a Skoda) to deliver the paper to the printing house. Sometimes we had to wait two to three hours for someone to help voluntarily. This exhausting scene repeated twice a week.
Contributors to each issue included Skënder Buçpapaj, Mero Baze, Albert Rakipi, Arben Kallamata, Ilirian Zhilla, Elida Buçpapaj, Bardhyl Ukcamaj, Fahri Balliu, Beqir Katana, Zamir Mulaj, Arbër Ahmetaj, Vehbi Skenderi, Ylli Rakipi, Myftar Gjana, Albert Rakipi, Ilirjan Peco, Adhurim Lakra, among others. The newspaper was laid out by the talented painter Xhevahir Kolgjini, who also designed the masthead. The newspaper, as intellectual as it was, was also sharp and polemical against political opponents. I remember a piece by my friend Dritëro Agolli in which he wrote: “I know that tomorrow Tribuna Demokratike will bend my back with some harsh response, but I will express my opinion…”
Returning to the RD staff: in April 1992, Bashkim Trenova became editor-in-chief, replacing Mitro, who had won a seat in the Albanian Parliament as a PD deputy for the Përmet region. After Bashkim left for diplomacy around the end of 1994, Lorenc Ligori, PD spokesperson at the time under Eduart Selami, took over as editor-in-chief, along with the well-known publicist Sami Milloshi, who became secretary of the newspaper collegium. Ligori, after about a year, left the post in the fall of 1995 to Lazër Stani, who would remain in charge until March 12, 1997, when the riots that plunged the country into total anarchy and led to the fall of the democratic government forced him, together with deputy editor E. Paloka, to leave the country, and the newspaper missed an issue. Amid bullets and threats, Sami Milloshi (secretary of the newspaper collegium), Mentor Shehu, Zef Lleshi, Dylejman Karaj, Shpetim Luku, Ndrekë Gjini, Dukagjin Hata, and Bledi Kasmi reopened the editorial office and published the newspaper.
The distinguished journalist Sami Milloshi joined RD on the same day as Lorenc Ligori; both were introduced by Eduard Selami, former chairman of the Democratic Party. Sami worked five years at RD until May 1999, when he emigrated to the U.S.
During this difficult period, the well-known journalist Xhevat Mustafa became editor-in-chief, remaining in this position until May 1997, with me as deputy editor. Xhevat, a prominent RD journalist with great influence, was succeeded by Astrit Patozi, former editor-in-chief of the newspaper Albania, while Xhevat returned to diplomacy. Deputy editors included Sami Neza and Shemsi Peposhi. Meanwhile, in the newspaper’s economic sector worked Migen Demirxhi and Brikena Kamenica, while Altin Ndroqi oversaw Culture—a sector previously managed by Fatos Kongoli, Filip Çakulli, Lazër Stani, Rudina Xhuvani, among others.
By the end of 1998, Halil Rama joined RD, my colleague in the political desk for many years. Previously, Ndrek Gjini and Artur Begaj had joined RD in the law and order sector. In 1998, the well-known journalist Rexhep Polisi also joined RD and continues to work there today, along with Nebil Çika (apologies), who served briefly as deputy editor, journalist Armand Maho, etc.
Patozi led the newspaper until July 2005, when he was elected PD deputy in the Albanian Parliament. From that time onward, RD has been led by the dedicated journalist Blendi Kasmi. Bledi essentially grew up in RD, joining the editorial staff as a journalism student in 1995 and later progressing to head of the editorial office and editor-in-chief for many years.
The staff of RD is large, as is its name. Some of its leaders or journalists quickly felt unwilling to continue working under PD’s political platform and distanced themselves. Many others, later recruited by the Socialist Party (PS), after successfully completing their mission, received high positions within PS structures and government. They became the staunchest opponents of RD and the Democratic Party.
Today, after 35 years, Rilindja Demokratike continues successfully its mission of independent reporting and defending democracy in its well-known style, without compromises or concessions. Over the past ten years, the newspaper has been published only online, as financial conditions did not allow for printed editions.
RD has experienced both good days and very difficult ones. For example, during 1997–2005, the newspaper’s leaders and journalists were subjected to unprecedented violence and repression by state organs, through rigged trials, threats, heavy fines, and even violent attacks, including firearms, as happened to the author of these lines on August 20, 1997, at the hands of neo-communist gangs, in political retaliation.
I endured difficult moments from an attack by neo-communist gangs who returned to power after the July 1997 elections, in which I received six Kalashnikov bullets—but fortunately survived. After several months in bed and later in a wheelchair, following multiple operations, I returned to the newspaper even more determined to fight for free speech and democracy, which my generation and I understood as a mission.
RD was a hated newspaper by the post-1997 neo-communist regime. It was discriminated against by the government and its agencies regarding advertising, placing it in countless difficulties. Nevertheless, the newspaper demonstrated survival in a difficult period for democracy and pluralism after 1997 and onward, until July 3, 2005, when PD and its allies returned to power.
In November 2005, I would leave RD to direct the International Center for Culture (QNK) and later the Albanian Office of Copyrights, until 2014, when the socialists returned to power, initiating a deep purge of the administration of Democrats, bypassing meritocracy, fair competition, and intellectual contributions, instead acting on strictly political and ideological criteria.
During 2005–2013, several young journalists joined the newspaper, trying to bring new energy, although RD no longer had its former brilliance or market reach. Financial difficulties returned after 2013, while party leaders showed little interest in maintaining one of PD’s most powerful symbols, behind its logo.
During this long transition, respect for media freedom and other fundamental human rights experienced significant ups and downs, but since January 5, 1991, when the first issue of RD was published, until today, this media outlet has played a historic role as the country’s first free press. I, along with many other esteemed colleagues, am truly proud to have been co-founder on January 5, 1991, and part of its staff for many consecutive years.
For nearly 20 years, I have published the literary and cultural newspaper Nacional, a weekly and online daily (www.gazeta-nacional.com) with regional coverage and contributions from prominent poets, writers, artists, critics, academics, translators, and publicists in Albania and worldwide. As a co-founder of free press, I view with sadness that free media has suffered significant regression. International reports have increasingly highlighted threats to free speech in Albania from government pressures, censorship, and self-censorship due to pro-government editorial policies pursued by most media outlets, often with business and financial gains from the government and sometimes organized crime. This form of censorship has made the state of free expression and media freedom in Albania even more alarming.
I hope that free speech, initiated 35 years ago, never dies in this country and society! For many years, I have dedicated myself to literary publications, in-depth academic studies in literary science, and publications both domestically and internationally, achieving notable success in the international literary market, with works published in more than 30 world languages. My roughly 15-year experience at the country’s first anti-communist newspaper after nearly 50 years of communist dictatorship remains extraordinary and unrepeatable. I am grateful to this newspaper for giving me this exceptional, one-of-a-kind opportunity in the country’s history.
End
Note:
Photo: Editorial staff of Rilindja Demokratike, December 1993.
- Standing, left to right: Filip Çakuli, Tarik Llagami, Edi Paloka, Mujë Buçpapaj, Xhevat Mustafa, Bashkim Trenova, Mentor Shehu, Afrim Krasiniqi, Lazër Stani.
- Seated, left to right: Marash Mirashi (RTSH journalist), Shpetim Luku, Zef Lleshi, Dylejman Karaj.