From mg558 at columbia.edu Sat Nov 24 11:45:54 2001 From: mg558 at columbia.edu (Mithat Gashi) Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2001 11:45:54 -0500 (EST) Subject: [Alb-Educ] poetry in albania Message-ID: Home Poems by Albanian schoolchildren from the village Zajaz About the poems by Albanian schoolchildren By Lumnije Jusufi Poetry and the writing of literary texts are very important to Albanians. Even before they can read and write, schoolchildren receive from their primary-school teachers poems, often by well-known authors, which they are expected to learn by heart. The teachers, as well as the children's parents and brothers and sisters, then practise the poems with them. Consequently, even quite young children are able to recite poems by heart. As early as the 4th class at primary school, that is to say, when they about ten years old, the schoolchildren start writing poems and texts of their own. Looking at a text objectively, analysing and interpreting it - the approach mainly adopted in Germany - is totally alien to Albanian children. Their main task at school is to write their own texts. This is required in almost all school tests. Consequently, they are closely associated with the writing of poems and other types of text. In contrast to the situation in many western European countries, poems written by primary-school pupils and other young people are the norm in Albania. These four poems were written by pupils at a secondary school in the village of Zajaz: I am small I am small And in my seventh year Can read well In the Abetare * With boundless joy Reading story upon story And poem upon poem About the place I call home I go to school, Learn with all my might And yet further increase My parents' delight By Lindita Dervishi Jam e vog?l Jam e vog?l Shtat? vje?are Lexoj mir? N? abetare Lexoj vjersha E tregime Me d?shir? P?r vendlindjen time. Shkoj n? shkoll? Dhe mir? m?soj Prind?rit e mi Shum? i g?zoj. Lindita Dervishi Note: Abetare The "Abetare" is the book from which the Albanian schoolchildren in the first class at primary school learn to read and write. Its status is very different, though, from the German primer (elementary textbook). The Abetare is often felt to be synonymous with the Albanian language, poets frequently even using it as a metaphor for Albanian culture and education as a whole. I love my native country I love my native country And respect it profoundly, With a love so great To it my songs I dedicate. Known as Drogomisht i vog?l by the Albanian people, Over there and clearly visible, Stands my village on the hill.* By Sheza E dua vendlindjen E dua vendlindjen Shum? e respektoj Me dashuri t? madhe K?ng? i k?ndoj Jetoj n? nj? fshat Atje n? nj? kod?r Ai e ka emrin Dragomisht i vog?l Sheza Limani Note: Drogomisht i vog?l is a small village near Zajaz. Zajaz is about 12 km north of Ki?evo. Look at the map! Our language* Oh, how wonderful it sounds, Calm comes over me when it surrounds. From my mother Albanian I first heard From her the language I have learned. Reading and writing the alphabet, Is a skill I shall never forget, Proudly I learn its every secret. A friendly pupil, I have a wish to fulfil: To acquire a still greater command Of the expressions used in my land By Shkumbin Rrushaj Gjuha jon? Oh sa bukur ting?llon ?do her? gjuha m? qet?son Nga n?na shqipen e d?gjova Dhe prej saj e m?sova Shkronjat i m?sova Ti shkruaj e lexoj Krenari e madhe Q? prej tyre m?soj Jam nx?n?s i ndersh?m E kam shum? d?shir? Shprehjet e gjuh?s sime Ti shqiptoj m? mir? Shkumbin Rrushaj Notes: language For many Germans it is difficult to understand the feeling of wishing to love and praise the native language and country. After all, you do not miss what you have already got. By this I mean that, up until recently (in part, this still applies), education in Albania, Albanian culture, Albanian history and traditions were banned. As a result of a thousand years of suppression, the Albanians identify particularly closely with their culture, language, and history. This explains why Albanians consider dedicating a poem or a song to their native language or country almost a virtue. This is true in particular of the Albanians who live outside the borders of present-day Albania. Farewell my dear teacher Farewell my dear teacher In my thoughts you will always feature As I learn at a school of a different kind You will never be far from my mind. For as long as I live I'll try to keep alive The memory of four years without interruption In which I benefited from your instruction. The advice that you gave us Was for us to learn And respect our elders. I am grateful for the knowledge Of our language's golden letters I acquired under your tutelage. By Adelina Fejza Lamtumir? m?suese e dashur Lamtumir? m?suese e dashur tani n? shkoll? tjet?r do t? m?soj por dije m?suese se kurr? s'do t? harroj S'do t? harroj m?suese gjat? t?re jet?s sime kat?r vjet t? t?ra ti m? dhe m?sime Ti na k?shillove q? ne t? m?sojm? dhe m? t? vjet?rit duhet ti nderojm? T? qofsha fal m?suese q? m? dhe dituri From mg558 at columbia.edu Sat Nov 24 11:50:02 2001 From: mg558 at columbia.edu (Mithat Gashi) Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2001 11:50:02 -0500 (EST) Subject: [Alb-Educ] Irish Wolf Poet on Albania Message-ID: Anthony Weir philosopher, poet, painter and photographer visited South-Western Albania twice in 1994. "When I went to Albania in 1994, 'the poorest country in Europe', with ethnic divisions and virtually no modern 'infrastructure', I thought it compared very favourably with Northern Ireland. The food was edible, for a start (okra, beans, tomatoes, peppers). Almost every family distilled its own raki, from grapes or plums, some of it of a quality that any French maker of alcool blanc would envy. People were very friendly and curious. I was enthusiastically directed or taken to places that interested me. I could get by very well with a mixture of Italian, German and French as well as English and a few words of Albanian - aided by Albanian goodwill". From his impressions of Albania and its people he wrote these poems. ________ DERI VON? TILL LATE Ndaj t? gdhir? Towards the dawn Pa nat?n Without night Me lajmet With news Ato bisudean p?r "pushimet" They talked about "the holidays" Kjo dhurat? ?sht? p?r ty This present is for you P?r t? zhvillosh To develop Me an? t? vet?vrasjes Through suicide Percillni k?t? nye p?r verzionin irlandesht. Click here for Irish version. B?TA GABON THE WORLD MAKES MISTAKES S? rishmi Once again Sidomos nes?r Especially tomorrow N? vend t? autopsikografis? In lieu of autopsychography P?zull Adrift Fjala e fundit e bot?s. The world?s last word. M? shkruaj n? shenj?: Write to me as a sign: Gjuha shqipe nuk ?sht? aq e v?shtir?. Albanian isn?t that difficult a language NDAJFOLJET ADVERBS SHKAT?RROJ - I unravel, I destroy Fatkeq?sisht - Unluckily Rr?mbimthi - Drivenly Barkazi - Crawlingly Fshehtazi - Secretly Gjer?sisht - Lengthily Majtazi - On the left Djathtazi - On the right Me t? eger - Wildly Kalimthi - In passing Dita-dit?s - Day by day Parreshtur - Non-stop Nga viti n? vit - From year to year Paqen?e - Undoglike Ngado - Anywhere Sado - No matter how VARG - VERSE Urdh?ro ? What can I do for you ? Krejt: Everything: M? p?lqen jet?shkrim I like biography Porosit patjet?r Order by any means Shpejt Quickly Zarfa Envelopes Nj? kilo kumbull, A kilo of plums Raki, shvillim Raki, development Vet?vrasje Suicide Por s?ka gj? But it doesn?t matter V?rtet Really LAKURIQ?SI NAKEDNESS P?r bukur?, nuk p?r turp Beautifully, not shamefully ?mb?lsisht, rr?mbimthi Sweetly, impulsively Ujku, p?r s? l?rgu, p?r s? gj?ti Wolf, from afar, lengthwise, slowly Nj?ri nd?r poet?t m? t? m?dhenj One of the greatest poets Nj?ri nd?r m? hutuari, m? t? tjet?r One of the most confused, the most other Mjek?ra me e shndritshme n? mal The brightest beard in the forest Ve?se sillej posht? e lart. Only wandered up and down. M? mir? t? vdes?sh nj? dit? sesa p?rdit?. P?rnat?. Better to die one day than every day.Every night. Edhe n? ftjesha, m?ndje s?ma v? dot njeri n? gjum? Even if I sleep, no-one will put mind to sleep Dhjelpra, kur iu dogj bishti, mendoi se gjith? bota kishte marr? sjarr? When the fox?s tail was alight he thought the whole world was burning Kujtime m? t? lodhurat. The tiredest memories. Gjirokast?r, southern Albania photographed by Anthony Weir ZHVARROSUR DISINTERRED in memoriam Enver Hoxha Rreth e rreth All around Varg e varg In a row Nat? e dit? Night and day Fund e krye Tip to toe Hund? e buz? Flat on your face Posht? e lart Up and down Dim? e ver? Winter and summer N? radh? t? par? In the first place Kot m? kot In vain Breg m? breg From hill to hill Deg? m? deg? From branch to branch Shpat m? shpat From slope to slope Sht?g m? sht?g From path to path Shpres? m? shpres? From hope to hope Skaj m? skaj From corner to corner Jav? p?r jav? Every week Dor? p?r dor? Hand in hand Kok? p?r kok? Head to head Gju m? gju Knee to knee Sy m? sy Eye to eye Faq? m? faq? Cheek to cheek Goj? m? goj? Mouth to mouth Buz? m? buz? Lip to lip Fjal? p?r fjal? Word for word Dhembj? m? dhembj? Pain to pain Gjak p?r gjak Blood for blood Sy m? breg Eye to hill Kot m? kot All in vain P?SHP?R?T WHISPER P?r t? zbuluar To discover rast?sisht by accident e me te but? and softly nj? fshatar a villager i mermert?: of marble: nj? shenj? a sign mikpritjeje of hospitality Sa esht? ora ? What time is it ? Pik?risht ? exactly ? P?r t? kthyer nd? dhet. To return to the earth. PLANET E SOTME TODAY?S PLANS P?r t? shtypur kok?n e flutur?s To rack the butterfly's brains Tani ham? drek? Now we eat lunch Pastaj Then Nesenm? duhesh do t? t? therras If I need you I?ll call you Po qe se vjenti vij edh? un? If you come, I?ll go, too N?se shkojn? e vijn? Days come and go N? kalt?rsin? e pyllit Into the blue of the forest N?p?r qiellin e zi Through the black sky Flutura esht? n?n tryez? The butterfly is under the table Nuk kam ngr?n? q? dje I haven?t eaten since yesterday Sa her? q? vij te ti Whenever I come to you Ndihem mir? (p?rvec ) I feel good (except ) Deri n?ser Until tomorrow Vdekje Death PAQ?NDRUESHME In the world we've turned to misery beauty is unbearable. EMIGRATION How much better is it to be hated as an American than as an Albanian ? AFTER THE REVOLUTION (1994) Under the terrible dictatorship we knew we had no freedom to speak or to publish, and we thought we had freedom of thought and imagination. We could eat and drink frugally, quietly, be quietly proud of our frugal lives, and think ourselves modestly self-sufficient. We did with so little for so long that we thought we could do anything with nothing. Today we realise that our imaginations were stringless kites. Because of the dictatorship we are poor and unwrought. We don't know what to think in a world of multiple pollutions and corruption where everything is bought - even despised asceticism. We have no faith in our truncated sneered-at, jeered-at nation. Those of us who dare to think think secretly that there is no such thing as freedom of thought. There were no tourists before, but now they come, under the new dispensation, like old men's dribbles without let or hindrance, not to admire the unravaged landscape but to pity and savour our demoralisation. SHQIP?RI ABSOLUTE Absolute Eagledom, March 1997 "Absolute Anarchy," the blow-in correspondents trilled. "No rule of law." The missionaries and minor Mafia fled their easy pickings and told lurid tales, but the Deputy Director of Prisons (himself a political prisoner for 16 years) said how proud he felt that Albania was the first European state with empty goals. The correspondents knew not one word of our ancient and eclectic language, did not mention that half our little craggy land was seized by Serbs and Greeks when the benign Turks pulled out, said nothing of the coup d'?tat by Zog, the Italian annexation and the Greek attempt to annexe even more. They said the usual little about the paranoid dictatorship of Enver which locked us fast in aspic, as it were. Top reporters came to wring their silky hands, and sneer, be shot at, and leave for somewhere else to be aghast. MAN'S DIRTY SLATE Yesterday the sodden trudge Today the paper crayoned black Tomorrow the burnt and blackened house Next week the child will draw her home as it was before the burning With the dog abandoned of course. "Culture is war" "All dogs are heroes" In man's unremitting conflict against nature, I too am a conscript war-criminal. _________ From mg558 at columbia.edu Sat Nov 24 11:51:36 2001 From: mg558 at columbia.edu (Mithat Gashi) Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2001 11:51:36 -0500 (EST) Subject: [Alb-Educ] (no subject) Message-ID: From mg558 at columbia.edu Sat Nov 24 12:24:06 2001 From: mg558 at columbia.edu (Mithat Gashi) Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2001 12:24:06 -0500 (EST) Subject: [Alb-Educ] Ihsan Toptani Message-ID: - OBITUARIES Notices: Births, Deaths, Marriages Percy Campbell Manager of Radio 2GB 1916-2001 One fateful day in 1930 Percy Patrick Campbell, in his new home in Tempe, fashioned a primitive crystal radio set - and it changed his life. The Campbell family - mum and dad, Ernie, Jimmie, Perc, John and Patty - were forced off their land near Young when the Depression bit and came to Sydney to scratch out a living. Sydney was to be young Perc's oyster. Campbell was a 14-year-old schoolboy when an ad for an office boy at radio station 2GB caught his ear. Campbell, not anticipating his parent's wholehearted support, wagged school and joined the queue of 60 or 80 boys. He got the job. Among his first tasks was running between 2GB and 2UE with a record under his arm and swapping it for one that had already been played on the rival station, because in those days these two pioneer stations shared the cost of record purchases. From mg558 at columbia.edu Sat Nov 24 12:26:04 2001 From: mg558 at columbia.edu (Mithat Gashi) Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2001 12:26:04 -0500 (EST) Subject: [Alb-Educ] Ihsan Toptani Message-ID: Ihsan Toptani Politician and journalist 1908-2001 He was the doyen of the Albanian community in Britain, a keen member of the Anglo-Albanian Association and a campaigner against the Stalinist regime of Enver Hoxha and its successors. Ihsan Bey Toptani, who has died aged 92, was prominent in the wartime Albanian resistance to Italian and German occupation, and gave invaluable help to the British military missions. It gave him great pleasure to return to his homeland after the Stalinist regime's collapse and to walk again on Mount Dajti. Born as he was into the turmoil of the ailing Ottoman Empire, Toptani's earliest memories were of his family's houses being torched by mobs loyal to the sultan in Istanbul. He was the son of Abdi Bey Toptani, a signatory to the 1912 independence proclamation and a minister in the first independent government of Albania. The family were prominent members of the land-owning class, and had dominated Tirana in the 19th century. At the age of eight, young Ihsan was sent to school in Vienna, and eventually took a political science doctorate at the University of Graz. There, he became acquainted with Austro-Marxism, and convinced that communism would be a deadly threat to his homeland. On Good Friday 1939, Mussolini invaded Albania, declaring it Italy's second overseas province (after Ethiopia). The operation was facilitated by the fact that the Albanian army was run by Italian advisers. Soon, three main resistance movements sprang up: the supporters of King Zog; the nationalist republicans; and the communists, at first several quarrelling factions, which were later united as the National Liberation Council under Enver Hoxha. All three groupings viewed the others with suspicion. Toptani, until then inactive politically, made it his task to unite the resistance into a common front - he was an observer at the leaders' meeting at his house which led to the Mukaj agreement. Within days, however, Hoxha denounced the pact at the request of his Yugoslav advisers, and the Communist Party declared war on the nationalist republicans. Shortly after this, Toptani heard that a British officer operating in Albania was gravely ill. Under the eyes of the Germans, he moved Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Nicholls through Tirana for an operation. Nicholls died 10 days later, and Toptani arranged his secret burial. British military missions had been active in Albania since 1943, and in April 1944, Colonel Billy Maclean, Julian Amery and David Smiley were dropped into the country's northern region. From Toptani's country houses, they maintained radio contact with their Italian headquarters. By autumn 1944, the Germans were leaving Albania, the communists were winning the civil war and Maclean's mission was withdrawn - to their shame and disgust, they were forbidden from taking any Albanians with them. Toptani made a wretched boat journey, which included six days adrift without food or water, reaching Italy with a handful of prominent members of the nationalist resistance. After the war, he worked for Newsweek magazine in Rome, before joining the BBC Monitoring Service at Caversham, and retiring to Surrey in 1967. He obtained British nationality in 1958. To the end, he remained clear-headed, with diverse interests in languages, photography, philosophy and computing. Befitting his status as one of the last surviving holders of the Ottoman title "bey", he was a striking figure, with distinguished aquiline features; he invariably wore a bow tie. At the age of 91 he was still making plans. "When I am 100," he said, "provided the Albanian people have made use of those physical and spiritual assets which have enabled them to preserve their national identity over thousands of years, I will return to spend that time which is left in my homeland." Andrew van der Beek The Guardian, London -I had the opportunity to visit Mr. Toptani at his house in London in 1996. I was greatly impressed with him. -M.Gashi From mg558 at columbia.edu Sat Nov 24 12:49:20 2001 From: mg558 at columbia.edu (Mithat Gashi) Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2001 12:49:20 -0500 (EST) Subject: [Alb-Educ] Ihsan Toptani (1908-2001) Message-ID: An interesting article about a wellknwon member of Albanian diaspora in the UK, taken from Albanian UK, send by "Besim Gerguri" Imer Brisha _________________________ >Ihsan Bey Toptani >01 June 2001 > Ihsan Toptani, journalist and political activist: born Tirana 25 >August 1908; died London 28 May 2001. >Ihsan Bey Toptani was the last direct male descendant of the great Toptani >family who dominated the Albanian capital for 150 years, and the last >living man to hold the rank of Ottoman bey to reside in Britain. But >despite these extraordinary and archaic origins, and after a prominent role >in the Second World War, he lived a modest life in south London in the last >40 years, a victim of the post-war Communist victory in Albania, and was >well known as a leader of the Albanian ?migr? world in London. > >The Toptani family were in many ways the founders of contemporary Tirana, >and played a crucial role in the political intrigues surrounding the >foundation of modem Albania in 1913. His most notorious ancestor was Esad >Pasha Toptani, the mentally disturbed traitor who plotted with the venal >Serbs and Greeks against the fledgling state. > >The family's great period was the early and mid-19th century when the >decline in the Ottoman system allowed considerable freedom of action to the >beys, who lived more or less as feudal princelings on their estates. The >Toptanis owned much of central Tirana, including the land on which the >modern parliament stands, and had farms and forests in the wild lands >beyond the Dalti mountains to the east of the capital. His father, Abdi Bey >Toptani, was active in the late-19th-century renaissance of Albanian >literature and nationalism, and then became a cabinet minister after the >independence declaration at Vlora in 1913. > >At that time, little Ihsan was a boy of five years of age, and after >elementary schooling in Tirana he was sent away to Austria, Albania's >traditional friend among the European powers, for his later education. He >impressed his teachers with his intellectual ability, and had science, >politics and philosophy as his main interests. He was also a skilled >photographer, and good at languages, and was awarded a doctorate in >political sciences at Graz University. > >Returning to Tirana, he found the country being drawn increasingly into the >maw of the Italian Fascists, and the old dominance that the Toptanis had >enjoyed in Tirana society was being eroded by the brash new men who had >allied themselves with the Italians. He was involved in a short, unhappy >marriage arranged by his family. King Zog was never very keen on the >Toptanis, and Ihsan lacked a political party to advance his interests. > >On the outbreak of the Second World War, as Albania was used as a base for >invasion of Greece, Toptani joined the resistance as an independent >nationalist, and was in contact with the British Special Operations >Executive (SOE), who were beginning operations to help the anti-Axis forces >in Albania. This was not a simple relationship, however, and he also had >contact with the Axis occupiers, and later wrote quite sympathetically of >those Albanians who had been active collaborators and who had seen the best >interests of their country as resting with a German victory in the war. > >In the complex intrigues within the Resistance, his finest moment was at >the Toptani estate hill village of Mukje in August 1943, when he presided >at talks held between the Communist-dominated National Liberation Council, >led by Enver Hoxha and the rightist Balli Kombetar. Both sides agreed to >fight for an independent Albania, including Kosovo, but within days of its >being signed it was rejected by the Communists as a result of policy >differences over Kosovo. Toptani always believed that Enver Hoxha had been >a traitor to the national cause and had worked with Tito's envoy, Svetozar >Vukmanovic (General Tempo), after this key meeting to destroy the agreement >and betray the Kosovars into Yugoslav servitude. > >A period of activity in the resistance followed and he spent a good deal of >time working with Julian (later Lord) Amery and other SOE agents who had >been dropped into Albania by SOE HQ in Cairo, and were ultimately >unsuccessful in uniting the northern feudal lords and Zogist sympathisers >against Enver Hoxha and the Partisans. This period is described in Amery's >controversial book Sons of the Eagle (1948). > >Toptani was evacuated to Italy after the Communist victory, and began >working with the Americans, obtaining a staff job as a journalist on >Newsweek. When the CIA and MI6 began to try to organise the overthrow of >Enver Hoxha's regime, Toptani set up the liberation committee in Greece, >and was responsible for recruiting ?migr?s into the force that was trained >by David Smiley and others in MI6 on Malta to confront the Communists. It >is generally believed that the Soviet spy Kim Philby, then a senior >official in the Secret Intelligence Service, played an important part in >betraying this operation to Hoxha. > >After the collapse of this operation, Toptani returned to Britain, and >found work in the BBC Monitoring Service at Caversham. In 1958 he became a >British citizen, and worked in the Anglo-Albanian Association for the >freedom of his country. His fellow ex-intelligence officer Harry >Hodgkinson, the biographer of Scanderbeg, was a close friend and >Hodgkinson's death in 1994 affected him. Topkani was very happy to see the >end of Communism, and returned to Albania after a 47-year interval to see >the return of most of the family lands. > >He saw the end of Communism as opening the doors to the reunification of >the Albanian lands, and, although in his late eighties, he learnt to use a >computer, and soon all his friends began to receive his e-mails with >material calling for the liberation of Kosovo from Serbian oppression. > >Ihsan Toptani was a man of strong views, but he had great charm and >kindness and tolerated differences of opinion over historical >interpretation. A visit to his Streatham flat was a happy event. He >suffered from leukaemia for many years but although of a slight frame had a >typical Albanian physical resilience that enabled him to carry on the >struggle against Serbia until near the end of his life. > >James Pettifer >