From ipilika at wellesley.edu Wed Mar 1 00:15:50 2000 From: ipilika at wellesley.edu (Iris Pilika) Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2000 00:15:50 -0500 Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Turkey promises to help Albania modernise its army Message-ID: Turkey promises to help Albania modernise its army TIRANA, Feb 28 (AFP) - Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said Monday his country plans to give Albania more than 120 million dollars (euros) over the next four years to help modernise its army. Ecevit, speaking at a joint press conference with Albanian counterpart Ilir Meta during a two-day visit to Tirana, said Turkey saw an up-to-date Albanian military as an important element for peace and stability in the Balkans. Ankara has already earmarked 41 million dollars for the Albanian defence force and planned to double that amount between now and 2004, Ecevit said, adding that the change would also have a positive impact on the economy of Albania, considered the poorest country in Europe. An uprising in Albania in 1997 resulted in army weapons depots being pillaged and around one million arms are believed to be in circulation. Large parts of the country remain lawless. Turkey, as a member of NATO, took part in the NATO bombardment of Yugoslavia which eventually forced Yugoslav troops to end their operation against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and to pull out of the Serbian province. Albania shares a border with Kosovo to the north and both Albania and Turkey have predominantly Muslim populations. From pilika at yahoo.com Wed Mar 1 12:52:56 2000 From: pilika at yahoo.com (Asti Pilika) Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2000 09:52:56 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Kosovo: Understanding the Past - Looking Ahead Message-ID: <20000301175256.14661.qmail@web804.mail.yahoo.com> Kosovo: Understanding the Past - Looking Ahead. Budapest, 31.3.-2.4.2000 Ju lutem kalojeni kete email tek gjithe studentet Shqiptare te interesuar! Ne datat 31.3.-2.4.2000 ne Budapest organizohet konferenca per Kosoven me titull: "Kosovo: Understanding the Past - Looking Ahead" [me shume informacion ne fund te ketij email]. Deri tani kemi pasur shume pak aplikime nga studentet Shqiptare. Per kete arsye ftojme perseri te gjithe studentet Shqiptare te aplikojne. Grante per shpenzimet e udhetimit dhe akomodimit ne Budapest jane te vlefshme per 3 (tre) pjesemarres Shqiptare qe do te prezantojne punime. Shoqata Shqiptare e Shkencave Politike do te sponsorizoj nje pjesemarres tjeter qe do te paraqese punim, dhe do te sponsorizoj nje mbremje Shqiptare ne Budapest ne daten 1 Prill ku te ftuar do jene edhe studiues dhe personalitete nga Shqiperia dhe Kosova. Per te aplikuar dergoni nje abstrakt te punimit [deri ne 500 fjale] dhe CV tek: Altin Ilirjani Email: pphili66 at phd.ceu.hu [subject: Kosovo Conference: Understanding the Past - Looking Ahead.] ------------------------------------- Call for Papers Kosovo: Understanding the Past - Looking Ahead Budapest, 31.3.-2.4.2000 International Graduate Students Conference This three day conference seeks to bring together young scholars and graduate students from Serbia and Kosovo, as well as from Southeastern Europe and elsewhere in Europe, working on multinational relations in Kosovo. The conference, seeking to encourage an academic dialogue, is organized by the International Politics Working Group of AEGEE, a European Student organization. The conference will take place at the Central European University in Budapest with the support of the European Youth Foundation and CEU. The following topics will be discussed during the conference: Can there be a common Kosovo history? During the first day contentious issues of Kosovo history will discussed. The emphasis lies on trying to find a common understanding of historical events in Kosovo. Positive Examples of multiethnic coexistence in Southeastern Europe (Vojvodina, etc.)and tools facilitating multiethnic existence. Success and Failure of the first year of International Administration of Kosovo The second day of the conference will touch on the experience of the international administration of Kosovo. Both successes and failures will be subject of discussion. What is the long-term future of Kosovo? The last day of the conference seeks to place Kosovo in the larger Southeast European context and explore the long term development strategies for Kosovo and multinational relations in Southeastern Europe as whole. Structure of the Conference The Conference will be organized around a number of panels and workshops. There will be 1-2 panels per day, followed by workshops on the different topics outlined above. The working language of the conference is English. The conference will take place at the Central European University in Budapest. Participation If you seek to participate as a presenter, please submit an abstract (approx. 500 words) with a short resume. If you are interested only in attending the conference, please submit a short letter of motivation. The deadline for applications is March 3rd, 2000. ----------------------------- __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From aalibali at yahoo.com Wed Mar 1 15:33:03 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2000 12:33:03 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Event on Albania Message-ID: <20000301203303.8425.qmail@web116.yahoomail.com> The Kokkalis Program on Southeastern and East-Central Europe cordially invites you to the following lecture: CRISIS MANAGEMENT DURING THE KOSOVO WAR: THE ALBANIAN EXPERIENCE The Honorable Kastriot Islami Legal Affairs Commission, Parliament of Albania, and Former Chairman of the Emergency Management Group of the AlbanianGovernment Monday, March 6, 2000 4:00 p.m. Littauer Buiding, Room L 280 For further information contact Kokkalis_Program at ksg.harvard.edu Or (617) 496-7114 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From pilika at yahoo.com Wed Mar 1 15:32:16 2000 From: pilika at yahoo.com (Asti Pilika) Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2000 12:32:16 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Kaci si i ftuar i Kokkalis Message-ID: <20000301203216.8982.qmail@web802.mail.yahoo.com> The Kokkalis Program on Southeastern and East-Central Europe cordially invites you to the following lecture: CRISIS MANAGEMENT DURING THE KOSOVO WAR: THE ALBANIAN EXPERIENCE The Honorable Kastriot Islami Legal Affairs Commission, Parliament of Albania, and Former Chairman of the Emergency Management Group of the Albanian Government Monday, March 6, 2000 4:00 p.m. Littauer Buiding, Room L 280 For further information contact Kokkalis_Program at ksg.harvard.edu Or (617) 496-7114 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From aalibali at yahoo.com Wed Mar 1 23:06:55 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2000 20:06:55 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Church of Greece on Kosova Message-ID: <20000302040655.20076.qmail@web124.yahoomail.com> [05] Archbishop Christodoulos appeals for protection for Kosovo Serbs BELGRADE, 01/03/2000 (ANA - M. Mouratidis) Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Christodoulos on Tuesday appealed to international bodies to protect Kosovo Serbs and ecclesiastical cultural monuments. Archbishop Christodoulos briefed Serb Patriarch Pavle on his appeal to US President Bill Clinton, the UN, European Union, OSCE, NATO, the Council of Europe, UNESCO, the International Red Cross, leaders of countries having troops stationed in Kosovo, the primates of these countries' churches, the World Council of Churches and the Conference of Churches of Europe. In his appeal, Archbishop Christodoulos lists the destruction and damage caused to Orthodox cathedrals and monasteries after the deployment of peacekeeping forces and provides data on murders and the persecution of the non-Albanian population. He also calls for suitable measures to be taken for the protection of the Serb people and Orthodox monuments, the remedying of the unacceptable situation currently prevailing in Kosovo and the prevalence of peace, justice and tolerance in the region. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From aalibali at yahoo.com Thu Mar 2 21:04:21 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2000 18:04:21 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Lajme kulturore Message-ID: <20000303020421.17614.qmail@web107.yahoomail.com> Artist?t shqiptar? nuk do t?i braktisin skenat Teatri Komb?tar n? prag t? dram?s "Gjethja" Politika e mbrapsht? e ndjekur nga Ministri i Kultur?s Edi Rama n? em?r t? reform?s kulturore, ka b?r? q? n? nj? segment kohor? mjaft? t? gjat?, institucionet kulturore n? vend, t? p?rjetojn? nj? kolaps t? papar? ndonj?her? K?to dit? pritet t? dal? n? sken? Drama "Gjethja", vep?r e dramaturgut shqiptar Vangjel Kozma. Kjo ?sht? premiera e par? p?r k?t? vit, dhe pritet t? shfaqet sonte n? sken?n e Teatrit Komb?tar.Kjo ?sht? nj? dram? me gjasht? personazhe, puna p?r realizmin e s? cil?s ka filluar nj? muaj m? par? n?n drejtimin e regjisorit Naun Shundi, ?sht? n? faz?n e fundit t? pergatitjeve. Shundi njihet si nj? aktor i suksessh?m, rolet e t? cilit do t? mbahen mend gjithmon? n? kujtes?n e art?dash?sve shqiptar?. Trupa e aktor?ve q? do t? intepretoj? n? k?t? vep?r p?rb?het nga artist? t? njohur t? sken?s si G.Radoja, N.Kanxheri, P. Mani, S. Konjari, H. ?uli dhe B. Asqeriu, nd?rsa skenografia ?sht? konceptuar dhe realizuar nga skenografi i njohur Shaban Hysaj. Kjo dram? ka n? p?rmbajtjen e saj nj? ngjarje mjaft? interesante dhe ?sht? konsideruar si nj? dram? konvencionale, . Situata rtrjedh dhe zhvillohet n? nj? koh? dhe vend t? pap?rcaktuar, ku spikasin tentativat, p?rpjekjet njer?zore p?r t? vendosur nj? rregull t? ri dhe marr?dh?nie t? reja n? shoq?ri . "Gjethja" ?sht? premiera e tret? q? Teatri Kombetar, institucioni m? i madh skenik n? vend, v? n? sken? p?r sezonin artistik ?99-2000, nd?rkoh? q? fill pas realizimit t? saj, b?het e ditur se do t? filloj? puna p?r realizimin e nj? vepre t? re. Politika e mbrapsht? e ndjekur nga Ministri i Kultur?s Edi Rama n? em?r t? reform?s kulturore, ka b?r? q? n? nj? segment kohor? mjaft? t? gjat?, institucionet kulturore n? vend, t? p?rjetojn? nj? kolaps t? papar? ndonj?her?. Teatri Komb?tar? , nj? nga institucionet m? me tradit? n? vend, si dhe Teatri i Operas, Baletit dhe Valleve Popullore Komb?tare, kan? p?rjetuar nj? "hemoragji" t? madhe vlerash p?r shkak t? diskriminimit t? artist?ve me paga tejet t? ul?ta dhe me p?rpjekjet q? ka b?r? shteti p?r tu prer? atyre edhe ato pak mund?si q? kan? p?r t? krijuar artin e tyre. Pushteti Demokratik i rr?zuar n? marsin e vitit 1997, pati krijuar kon?ensione p?r artist?t, ku mund t? p?rmendet sidomos, n?nt?dhjet? p?rqind?shi i biletave t? shitura, q? u ndahej artist?ve, por q? u hoq me t? ardhur n? pushtet socialist?t. Nj? kontigjent i mir? i artist?ve, kan? gjetur si t? vetmen mund?si mbijetese, largimin nga at?dheu p?r t? kryer lloi-lloi pun?sh n? vende t? ndryshme t? bot?s. P?rpjekjet nga ana e Ministrit Rama p?r t? aprovuar nj? ligj destruktiv mbi Teatrin, i pat?n detyruar artist?t e TOBAP, q? jo vet?m t? dilnin n? shesh p?r t? protestuar, por madje t? futeshin edhe n? grev?n e uris? nga ku u nxorr?n me forc? nga policia. Drama "Gjethja", duket se do t? krijoj? edhe nj?her? atmosfer?n e duhur n? teatrin Komb?tar. Veshjet popullore t? Shqip?ris? n? nj? album Tradita e veshjeve popullore t? Shqip?ris? jugperendimore, t? cilat nj? shekull m? par? mrekulluan poetin e njohur anglez Bajron, ?zbulohen? ne albumin dy gjuh?sh (shqip-anglisht), "Veshjet popullore shqiptare", u prezantuan n? ambientet e Akademis? s? Shkencave n? Tiran?. N? ceremonin? e prezantimit t? k?saj vepre, ishin t? pranish?m akademik?, studiues shkencor?, etnograf? etj. Te bazuar ne nje pune disa vje?are studiuesit Prof Dr Andromaqi Gjergji, Prof. Dr Spiro Shkurti, Prof. Dr Mark Tirta, Lambirini Metrushi, dhe fotografi Nikolin Baba arrit?n t? bejn? publike vepr?n e tyre, t? pergatitur p?r botim q? prej viti 1981, n? fillimi t? k?tij mij?vje?ari, p?r arsye t? munges?s s? fondeve. Albumi i pergatitur nga grupi i studiuesve etnolog? t? Institutit t? Kultur?s Popullore n? Tiran?, nuk ?sht? vep?r e preferencave te tyre, por nj? vep?r e ekspert?ve t? informuar t? k?tij Instituti. N? k?t? album jan? p?rfshir? t? ilustruara veshjet e n?nt? rretheve t? pjes?s jugperendimore t? vendit, duke filluar nga ekstremi i jugut t? vendit Saranda deri n? Lushnj?, nd?rsa sipas ndarjes krahinore tradicionale n? album p?rfaqesohen veshjet popullore t? ?amerise, Lab?ris? dhe Myzeqes?. Veshjet e s? cilit rreth, jan? veshje t? shekullit XIX deri n? dit?t tona. Ato shoqerohen me komente, t? cilat japin informacione dhe fakte interesante mbi materialin e p?rdorur, m?nyr?n e p?rdorimit, mosh?n q? i p?rdorte, t? gjitha k?to n? funksion t? fotgrafive t? paqyruara. E cil?suar n? ceremonin? e prezantimit si nj? vep?r monumentale me karakter t? mirefillt? shkencor, ky album ?sht? shtypur cil?sisht n? Milano t? Italis? me fondet e zyr?s s? programit t? studimeve albanologjike n? Akademin? e Shkencave. Albumi "Veshjet Popullore Shqiptare", p?rb?n v?llimin e par? t? korpusit "Trash?gimia kulturore e popullit shqiptar", projekt ky i Institutit t? Kultur?s Popullore, i cili do t? p?rb?het nga pes? v?llime, ku do t? paqyrohen edhe veshjet popullore t? popullsis? kompakte shqiptare jasht? kufijve shtet?rore t? Republik?s s? Shqip?ris?, Kosov?, Malit t? Zi dhe Maqedonis?. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From pilika at yahoo.com Fri Mar 3 12:01:08 2000 From: pilika at yahoo.com (Asti Pilika) Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 09:01:08 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Kokkalis Cancellation Message-ID: <20000303170108.20434.qmail@web803.mail.yahoo.com> --- Elaine_Papoulias/FS/KSG at ksg.harvard.edu wrote: > From: Elaine_Papoulias/FS/KSG at ksg.harvard.edu > Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 11:41:53 -0500 > Subject: 3/6/00 Islami lecture Cancelled > > > > > > Please note that the lecure of Dr. Islami, scheduled > for March 6, has been > cancelled due to illness. > > > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From aalibali at yahoo.com Sat Mar 4 15:04:04 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Sat, 4 Mar 2000 12:04:04 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] The Cham issue Message-ID: <20000304200404.10686.qmail@web108.yahoomail.com> >From the ICG's report on Albania ....... The Cham Issue Now that Kosovo has effectively been 'liberated', many Albanians feel that it is time to turn their attentions to that other great national concern - the restitution of property rights of the Cham people. The Chams are the ethnic Albanian, and predominantly Muslim, population of the region of north-eastern Greece known to all Albanians as Chameria - an area of Epirus extending between Butrint and the mouth of the Acheron river, and eastward to the Pindus mountains. The name 'Chameria' comes from the ancient Illyrian name for the Thyamis river, which traversed the territory of the ancient Illyrian tribe of Tesprotes. Chameria was part of the Roman Empire before being conquered by Byzantium. After the Ottoman invasion in the 15th century the mostly Albanian population of northern Chameria - from Konispol to the Gliqi river - converted to Islam, whilst those living south of the Gliqi down to Preveza Bay remained Orthodox Christians. In 1913 the Ambassador's Conference allotted the Chameria region to Greece, so today only seven Cham villages, centred on the village of Konispol, are in Albania itself. Between 1921 and 1926, the Greek government set about trying to deport Albanian Muslims from Chameria in order to allot their lands to Greeks who had been deported from Asia Minor during Kemal Ataturk's revolution.24 In an attempt, in 1944, to establish an ethnically pure border region, the Greek government unleashed a campaign in Chameria, which resulted in around 35,000 Chami fleeing to Albania and others to Turkey. The Greek authorities then approved a law sanctioning the expropriation of Cham property, citing the collaboration of their community with the occupying German forces as a main reason for the decision. The law is still in force in Greece. Whatever the truth of this allegation, which has to an extent been supported by some of the British Liaison Officers based with the Greek Resistance movements25 , the forced movement of the entire population has left a lingering sense of injustice amongst Albanians in general, which has contributed to continuing poor bilateral relations between Albania and Greece. The Cham issue has remained dormant with none of the post-war Albanian governments venturing to make it a key issue in relations with its southern neighbour. Today, the issue is seen - as was Kosovo, as one more 'historical injustice' suffered by the Albanian people that has to be corrected. After the collapse of Communism, the Chams in Albania set up the `Chameria Association' dedicated to the return of their expropriated lands in Greece. The then Greek foreign minister, Karolas Papoulias, said in the summer of 1991 that a bilateral commission should settle these demands. The chances of forming one, however, are very slim since under current Greek law there is no legal means of challenging requisition (or expropriation) of land by the Greek state. In the meantime, the issue has been taken by the Tirana government to the International Court of Justice, in an effort to secure financial compensation for lost Cham property. There has been little progress to date. Since the end of the Kosovo conflict, support for the Chams has grown ever more vocal. The Chameria Association is successfully wooing support to the Cham cause, and is even working on legal procedures to sue the Greek government at the European Court of Human Rights. The Chams are frustrated and angered by the Greek government's refusal to discuss their demands. During the recent meeting between the new Albanian Premier Ilir Meta and his Greek counterpart Costas Simitis, a controversy arose when Simitis, answering to questions from journalists at a joint press conference, said that the Greek government considered the Cham issue as a closed chapter.26 Back in Tirana, the opposition DP lost no time entering the fray, accusing Premier Meta of signing an alleged agreement with the Greeks over coverage of the Cham issue in Albanian history books.27 The prevailing perception was that this was a clear attempt to erase the issue from the minds of future Albanian students. At the end of December, the Chairman of the Foreign Parliamentary Committee, Sabri Godo, urged the International Court of Human Rights, as well as the Albanian authorities to work out with Greece a solution to the property rights of the Chams.28 According to a spokesman for the Cham Association in Tirana, the total value of Cham property at the end of the World War II was estimated at 340 million USD, whilst the current market value could reach 2.5 billion USD. The Cham Association wants to see the 60 year old Greek law authorising the confiscation of Cham property to be declared null and void, and the Cham people fully compensated for their loss, thus paving the way for "better and more just relations between Albania and Greece."29 On a recent tour of southern Albania, DP leader Sali Berisha threatened to put relations with Greece on hold if it did not comply with two key demands: more cultural rights for the Albanians living in Greece, and the resolution of the property issue of the Cham population expelled from Greece after the Second World War. In a rally in the southern town of Saranda, Berisha told supporters that Greece should open an Albanian language school in the northern Greek town of Filiates, and warned that without a solution to the Cham properties issue relations between the two countries would remain stagnant. He also vowed that a solution to the Cham issue would be a precondition for better relations with Greece if and when his party comes to power.30 A growing number of Albanians feel that now is the time, in the wake of the world's acknowledgement of the human rights abuses in Kosovo, for the Albanian government to direct the international community's attention to the plight of the Chams. The independent daily Koha Jone applauded Premier Meta for bringing up the Cham issue in his discussions with Costas Simitis. The paper concluded that for the first time in the history of Greek-Albanian relations, a Socialist Premier had openly objected to Athens' preferred position of ignoring the whole issue of the Cham's property claims. It seems certain that calls to re-instate the property rights of the Cham population will be a growing concern for official Albanian policy. With the widespread and increasingly indignant support of both left and right in Albania, this is clearly an issue that is not going to go away __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From ipilika at wellesley.edu Sun Mar 5 17:05:55 2000 From: ipilika at wellesley.edu (Iris Pilika) Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 17:05:55 -0500 Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Albanians attacked within sight of American troops Message-ID: The Independent, UK www.independent.co.uk Albanians attacked within sight of American troops By Raymond Whitaker 5 March 2000 Serbian security forces attacked the village of Dobrosin in southern Serbia within sight of American peace-keepers in Kosovo early yesterday, just days after ethnic Albanian guerrillas in the village told the Independent on Sunday that they had formed a new movement to defend themselves. Shooting began shortly after midnight, and for more than two hours there were sustained periods of gunfire in Dobrosin, a spokesman for the Nato-led peace-keepers, K-For, said in the Kosovan capital of Pristina. About 175 Albanian women, children and older men fled over the border into neighbouring Kosovo. "At the moment we are assessing that the contact on the Serb side was local police," said the K-For spokesman. Under the agreement, which ended the Nato bombing campaign against Serbia last year, army units and heavy weapons are not permitted within five kilometres of Kosovo's border, but Serbian police units, some of which are heavily armed and equipped with armoured personnel carriers, may operate in the zone. Tension has been rising in southern Serbia, on Kosovo's eastern border, for several weeks. The Belgrade government has accused K-For of allowing Albanian extremists to infiltrate the region, where Albanians are in the majority, and police reinforcements were reported to have been sent to the south. But the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said that about 6,000 Albanians had fled into Kosovo from Serbia in recent days, complaining of intimidation. The new guerrilla movement calls itself the UCPMB, the Albanian initials for the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medveda and Bujanovac, three districts in southern Serbia where some 70,000 Albanians far outnumber Serbs. It is clearly modelled on the Kosovo Liberation Army $ its red and gold badge, with a double-headed Albanian eagle, is almost identical to the KLA's $ and nearly all the dozen or so fighters seen in Dobrosin said they had been in the KLA. There are fears that Albanian extremists are seeking to provoke a new confrontation between Serbia and Nato forces, with the aim of joining southern Serbia's Albanian-majority areas on to Kosovo. But the UCPMB leader in Dobrosin, who refused to give his name, said last week that the movement had sprung up in self-defence against Serbian intimidation. "We are not seeking to provoke them," he said, "but if attacked we will meet fire with fire." In response to a spate of recent incidents, including the killing of two woodcutters in Dobrosin by Serbian police in January, and armed clashes near Bujanovac last weekend in which a Serbian policemen and an Albanian gunman were killed, the Americans have moved forces up to the border, and in the past two weeks have built a fortified observation post which overlooks Dobrosin. But the local commander, Colonel Jeff Snow, warned the UCPMB in a recent meeting that K-For would not intervene in fighting outside Kosovo. Last week the guerrillas were nervous, warning that "the Serbs could come here at any time". It appears that the recent publicity given to the UCPMB was a provocation that Belgrade could not ignore, bringing retribution down on Dobrosin and the few civilians still remaining there. From aalibali at yahoo.com Mon Mar 6 16:50:11 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2000 13:50:11 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Greek foreign ministry investigating illegal visa allegations Message-ID: <20000306215011.8038.qmail@web115.yahoomail.com> Greek foreign ministry investigating illegal visa allegations ATHENS, Greece Greece is investigating allegations that some diplomatic officials may have illegally issued visas to Albanians, but the government Monday would not comment on reports that Albanian's foreign minister may also have been involved. Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas confirmed reports that the foreign ministry had launched a judicial investigation into whether Greek consular officials in the Albanian capital of Tirana and southern city of Gjirokaster had issued visas without following legal procedures. ''The foreign minister, when informed of the evidence, asked a judicial official to begin this investigation so that we could ascertain exactly how people moved from Albania to Greece with procedures that were not completely legal,'' Reppas said. According to media reports, the actions allegedly occurred in 1998 and 1999. Thousands of Albanians try to get visas for Greece every year, mostly to come here and work. Although there are no accurate figures, most are denied permission and sneak across the rugged frontier. There are more than 650,000 illegal immigrants in Greece, most of them from Albania. It was the latest investigation involving visas or passport fraud in recent months. The United States said last month it would continue excluding Greece from a visa waiver program until it tightens its passport procedures against fraud, something which Athens hopes will be done by month's end. According to news reports Monday, Greek consular officials regularly issued visas to Albanians who were on lists purportedly supplied by Albanian ministers, politicians and business councils without bothering to check their applications. The investigation was also looking into allegations that some people may have paid bribes for visas. The Athens daily Ethnos alleged in a report that Albanian Foreign Minister Pascal Milo regularly sent lists of people for blanket approval. The lists, Ethnos said, were given to the consular employees without the knowledge of the Greek ambassador in Tirana and the Greek foreign ministry. ''The involvement of the name of the Albanian foreign minister should not be made in this way,'' Reppas said, adding that ''I have to emphasize that Mr. Milo, as foreign minister of Albania, has in recent years contributed to a very important degree to the positive development of Greek- Albanian relations.'' __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From aalibali at yahoo.com Mon Mar 6 17:00:35 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2000 14:00:35 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Christian Science Monitor Message-ID: <20000306220035.10861.qmail@web115.yahoomail.com> The Christian Science Monitor March 6, 2000, Monday OPINION; Pg. 11 Stay the course in Kosovo Michael O'Hanlon DATELINE: WASHINGTON Having won the war against Serbia last year, is NATO now losing the peace in Kosovo? Based on February's violence in the divided city of Mitrovica, one might easily think so. In fact, that is not the case: Overall trends in Kosovo are positive, and recent events in Mitrovica are not a fair referendum on the state of affairs there. On the other hand, the US and other NATO countries have made some bad decisions in recent weeks - and if they keep it up, the favorable prognosis could change. Countries on both sides of the Atlantic need to get back to military basics to make sure their victory last year is fully consolidated. First, though, how can one say that life is getting better in Kosovo today? After all, about 150 Serbs have been killed there since the June peace accord. Largely as a result of the violence, the province has been divided into two almost completely segregated ethnic communities - and half of the population of Serbs has left Kosovo altogether. In February, two more Serbs were killed in the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica when an ethnic Albanian fired a rocket at a bus; Serb reprisals raised the overall death toll to 11. It's true that these developments are regrettable. But it would be remiss to forget that this was a land at war less than a year ago. Nor was this just any war. It was a systematic violation of ethnic Albanians by an organized Serb campaign of violence. Expecting people to forgive and forget within months, when many ethnic Albanians are still mourning the loss of loved ones and the rape and abuse of many who did survive, is unrealistic. At least in terms of physical security, life in Kosovo has improved a good deal in recent months. According to NATO commander Gen. Wesley Clark, the province's monthly murder rate declined from roughly 200 last summer to about 35 this winter. Even if the recent tragedies in Mitrovica have bumped the murder rate up somewhat, it remains at least four times less than six months ago - and lower than the per capita murder rate in Washington, D.C. Part of the reason, admittedly, is ethnic segregation - Albanians no longer have as easy access to Serbs as they once did. (In fact, the preponderance of violence in Kosovo today is Albanian on Albanian) . But it is better to be segregated and alive than intermingled and at risk of death - particularly in the immediate aftermath of an ethnic war. Another major, positive development is that the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which fought Serbian forces last spring, has surrendered large caches of weapons to international forces and demilitarized its activities. Even if pockets of KLA-related forces remain active, they pose only a limited threat to the peace at present. That said, there have been troubling developments in recent weeks in the peacekeeping efforts of the NATO-led force in Kosovo. Last week, the New York Times reported that American troops were directed to stay out of Mitrovica by the Pentagon, out of concern for their safety after Serbs in that city threw snowballs, stones, and bricks at them. Other recent reports from Kosovo have described how other countries, including Britain, have drastically curtailed their military strength in Kosovo, leaving commanders worried they may not have enough forces to carry out required missions. The US is wrong not to send its troops into towns like Mitrovica out of concern for their safety, and should change its policy. It's right for the US to expect its allies to provide most troops in Kosovo, given its role in the air war and other military responsibilities from the Persian Gulf to Korea. But whatever troops it has there should not have - and probably do not want - special treatment. That is unfair to the armed forces of other countries in KFOR, the NATO-led protection operation. And it is dangerous. If the US telegraphs to the world that it is terrified of suffering casualties, as it did in Somalia in 1993, it puts a bull's-eye on the chest of American troops around the world and severely hamstrings foreign policy. US troops are not cowards. Tens of thousands sleep near their gas masks in Korea, maintaining a still-tense cease-fire. Thousands patrol the Persian Gulf, where war and terrorist attacks have claimed American lives on several occasions in the last decade. Dozens lose their lives every year in training and operational accidents simply because they are using dangerous equipment or carrying out other risky activities in difficult environments. They are capable of facing down stone-throwing Serbs and Albanians, and if they're needed for that mission, they should be sent. That does not mean troops should be asked to do the impossible, or to take unnecessary risks. Some want NATO troops to do whatever it takes to allow Albanians and Serbs to live together peacefully, protecting isolated pockets of citizens wherever they are in the ethnic minority, or searching house-to-house for weapons in a massive disarmament effort. These ideas are unrealistic. Kosovo, for all the distance it has come since June, is a recent combat zone in a war that stoked ethnic passions and left many thousands dead. Neither US troops, nor UN police, nor any other external assistance can change these facts overnight. But even if international forces cannot make Kosovo a harmonious multiethnic society, they must continue to keep it stable. That is where the allies come in, too. Their recent troop cutbacks - 12,000 out of a total KFOR force of 50,000 - are a bad idea. KFOR must remain strong enough that extremists within Kosovo aren't tempted to test it. It also needs to remain strong enough to deter Serbia. After all, Slobodan Milosevic's military and police forces outnumber NATO troops - three to one - even when KFOR is at full strength. Given KFOR's superior forces, and Serbia's awareness that NATO would send reinforcements if trouble began, KFOR's numerical disadvantage is acceptable - but that doesn't mean we should cut forces further. Recent problems aside, things are going reasonably well in Kosovo. But that's no reason to get careless, or tempt fate. *Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, is co-author of the forthcoming book, 'Winning Ugly: NATO's War to Save Kosovo' (Brookings). __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From aalibali at yahoo.com Tue Mar 7 23:47:25 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 20:47:25 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] An article by a "doctor" Message-ID: <20000308044725.28819.qmail@web125.yahoomail.com> >From the Albanian Daily News The Myth of Greater Albania By Dr Sam Vaknin To the politicians of the Balkans - almost without exception corrupt and despised by their own constituencies - the myth of a Greater Albania comes in handy. It keeps the phobic Macedonians, the disdainful Serbs and the poor and crime-ridden Albanians united and submissive within their respective countries, although each group for differing reasons. To reiterate, it is the belief that people of Albanian extraction, wherever they may be, regard their domicile as part of a Greater Albania and undertake all efforts necessary to create such an outcome. For example, Kosovo should be part of this Greater Albania, so the myth goes, because prior to 1912, when the Serbs occupied it, Kosovo had administratively been part of an Ottoman-mandated Albania. Sali Berisha - a former president of Albania - talks ominously about an "Albanian Federation." The younger, allegedly more urbane Pandeli Majko, the former Prime Minister of Albania, has raised the notion of a uniform curriculum for all Albanian pupils and students, wherever they may reside. Albanians in Macedonia make it a point to fly Albanian flags conspicuously and on every opportunity. This could have well been a plausible scenario had it not been for two facts. Firstly, there is no such thing as homogeneous "Albanians" and secondly Greater Albania is without historical precedent. Albanians are comprised of a few ethnic groups of different creeds. There are Catholic Albanians - such as Mother Theresa - and Muslim Albanians - such as Hashim Thaci, the self-proclaimed "provisional Prime Minister" of Kosovo. There are Tosks - southern Albanians who speak a (nasal) dialect of Albanian and there are Gegs - northern Albanians (and Kosovars) who speak another dialect which has little in common with Tosk (at least to my ears). Tosks don?t like Gegs and Gegs detest Tosks. In a region where tribal and village loyalties predominate, these are pertinent and important facts. The Kosovars are considered by their Albanian "brethren" (especially by the Tosks, but also by Albanian Gegs) to be cold, unpleasant, filthy-rich cheats. Albanians - Tosks and Gegs alike - are considered by the Kosovars to be primitive, ill-mannered bandits. There is no love lost between all these groups. When the crisis brought on by Operation Allied Force started, the local Albanian population charged the refugees exorbitant (not to say extortionate) prices for such necessities as a roof over their head, food and cigarettes. When the UN mandate (read: the KLA mandate) was established, the Albanians rushed to export their brand of crime and banditry to Kosovo and to prey on its local population. No Macedonian - however radical - will dare speak about the Albanians in the way that my Kosovar contacts do. They nonchalantly and matter-of-factly attribute to them the most heinous crimes and uncivilized behaviour. Kosovars had an excruciating experience in Albania during this crisis. The lessons learned by Kosovars since Albania was opened up to them in 1990 will not be easily forgotten nor forgiven. Albanians reciprocate by portraying the Kosovars as cynical, inhuman, money-making terminators and emotionless wealthy predators. This is not to say that Albanians on both sides of the border do not share the same national dreams and aspirations. Kosovar intellectuals were watching Albanian TV and reading Albanian papers even throughout the Stalinist period of Enver Hoxha, the long-time Albanian dictator. Albanian nationalists never ceased regarding Kosovo as an integral part of an Albanian motherland. But as the decades passed by, as the dialects metamorphosed, as the divide grew wider, as the political systems diverged and as the political and cultural agendas became more distinct - Kosovars became more and more Kosovars and less and less like the Albanians of Albania proper. This historical, 80-year-old rift was exacerbated by the abyss between the Enver Hoxha regime and its Tito counterpart; the former impoverished, paranoiac, xenophobic, hermetically isolated and violent; the latter - relatively enlightened, economically sprightly, open to the world and dynamic. As a result, Kosovar houses are three times as big as Albanian ones and Kosovars used to be (until the Kosovo conflict) three times richer (in terms of GDP per capita). Kosovars crossing into Albania during the Hoxha regime were often jailed and tortured by its fearsome secret police. A Kosovar - Xhaferr Deva - served as Minister of the Interior in the hated Second World War government in Albania, which collaborated wholeheartedly with the Nazis. Albanians, in general, were much more reserved and suspicious towards the Germans (who occupied Albania from 1943, after the Italian change of heart). Kosovars welcomed the Nazis as liberators from Serb serfdom (as did Albanians in Macedonia to a lesser extent). Deva was responsible for the most unspeakable atrocities against the Albanian population in Albania proper. It did not render the Kosovars more popular. In Albania proper, three anti-fascist resistance movements - the Albanian Communist Party, Balli Kombetar (the National Front) and Legaliteti (Legality, a monarchist faction fighting to re-establish King Zog) fought against the occupiers from 1941. The Communists seized control of the country at the end of 1944. Thus, the forced re-union was a culture shock to both. The Kosovars were stunned by the living conditions, misery and lawlessness of Albania proper. The Albanians were envious and resentful of their guests and regarded them as legitimate objects for self-enrichment. There were, needless to say, selfless exceptions to the egotistic rule. But I cannot think of any right now. Historically, there was never a "Greater Albania" to hark back to. Albania was created in 1912 (its borders finally settled in 1913) in response to Austro-Hungarian demands. It never encouraged Kosovo to secede. The Albanian King Zog suppressed the activities of Kosovar irredentist movements in his country in between the two world wars. Albania, mired in the twin crises of economy and identity, had little mind or heart for Kosovo. But this was the culmination of a much longer, convoluted and fascinating history __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From aalibali at yahoo.com Wed Mar 8 12:30:18 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 09:30:18 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Free expression vs. religious sensitivity in battle over book Message-ID: <20000308173018.27094.qmail@web112.yahoomail.com> Free expression vs. religious sensitivity in battle over book By Brian Murphy, Associated Press, 3/8/2000 09:14 ATHENS, Greece (AP) It began with a small fire. About 200 religious zealots and ultra-conservatives fed the flames in January with copies of a book they call blasphemous because of passages about the possible sexual longings of Jesus Christ. The book burning, however, was just kindling for a bigger confrontation. Political leaders, clergymen and scholars have been drawn onto the unstable ground between the nation's commitment to free expression and the Orthodox Christian heritage that figures strongly in Greece's ethnic identity. A hearing was held today in the northern city of Thessaloniki on a suit to halt the sale of the best-selling book ''M to the Power of N'' by former Communist parliament deputy Mimis Androulakis. Judge Maria Robbi said she would decide Thursday on whether a temporary ban on book sales should be imposed until a full hearing is held May 16. Dozens of black robed priests and monks marred the hearing, rhythmically chanting ''blasphemers'' and ''antichrists'' at Androulakis' defense lawyer, Thomas Trikoukis. The church later said it had nothing to do with the protesters. The book is a series of fictional dialogues between women whose names all begin with the letter M. The central theme is misogyny in various aspects of life, including religion. One chapter mentions an often explored hypothesis: a possible sexual element in the relationship between Christ and Mary Magdalene, a prostitute who became a follower. ''We are not a theocratic regime ... we are a European country,'' Androulakis said. ''This is not Iran.'' But in Greece, Androulakis and his many supporters are up against a clique that draws its strength from a potent source: the place where undercurrents of nationalism and religion flow together. The legal challenge to the book is led by a Byzantine history professor, Marios Pylavakis, who argues that Christ's life cannot be open to fictional reinterpretation. He has been joined by a mix of ultra-nationalists and religious firebrands the same group that opposes efforts to normalize relations with longtime rival Turkey. Such feelings are particularly strong in northern Greece, where the Ottomans still held lands less than 100 years ago and the affinity is deep for the Greek-dominated Byzantine Empire that ended with the fall of nearby Constantinople, now Istanbul, in the 15th century. If the book's opponents keep up their crusade, the case could emerge as a delicate issue in advance of national elections on April 9. ''Jesus Christ is not a novel,'' said Pylavakis. ''He is what's most holy to me.'' A statement Tuesday from the governing body of the Greek Orthodox Church called the book ''blasphemous obscenity'' and said its opponents are justified to try to block the work of ''this disrespectful writer.'' But a wide spectrum of supporters have put aside differences to unite behind Androulakis. The Socialist government said the church did not need defending 2,000 years after the birth of Christ. ''Beliefs are not persecuted in the Greece of the 21st century and literary imagination is not policed,'' said government spokesman Nikos Athanasakis. ''Greece does not carry out witch hunts or have holy inquisitions,'' said Foreign Minister George Papandreou. A top official for the opposition New Democracy party, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, said the case smacks of ''other times'' an apparent reference to the political and artistic repression under the 1967-74 military junta and earlier leaders. Androulakis claims he became a target of right-wingers for his fight against the military rulers. Greece's highly conservative Orthodox church feels pressure from both sides. It risks alienating some of its flock for being too tempered. At the same time, political leaders are increasingly annoyed at the public and outspoken style of the church's leader, Archbishop Christodoulos. It also could re-energize those seeking a constitutional separation of church and state in Greece something Christodoulos strongly opposes. Many church critics point out another case of politics and religion colliding in Greece the excommunication of world famous Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis following the 1955 publication of ''The Last Temptation of Christ,'' a study of Christ questioning his divinity. A 1988 movie adaptation of the book prompted demonstrations around the world, including in Greece and the United States. ''My book is a pretext,'' said Androulakis. ''It is an excuse for some fanatics who think they can turn back to Byzantium.'' __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From aalibali at yahoo.com Fri Mar 10 00:22:32 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 21:22:32 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Another Salman Rushdie? Message-ID: <20000310052232.11997.qmail@web114.yahoomail.com> Judge bans Greek book condemned by Orthodox church By Associated Press, 3/9/2000 12:56 ATHENS, Greece (AP) A judge today banned a best-selling book that was condemned by the Greek Orthodox Church because of passages about the possible sexual longings of Jesus Christ. Presiding over a court in the northern city of Thessaloniki, Judge Maria Robbi said she banned sales of the book in northern Greece to prevent ''outbreaks of violence'' after religious zealots threatened to take action against the author and bookstores selling the book. She said the ban, covering nearly one-fourth of the country, will remain in effect until May 16, when a hearing is held on a suit to halt the sale of ''M to the Power of N'' by a former communist parliament deputy, Mimis Androulakis. ''The court decided the book is blasphemous. Beware blasphemers,'' Christos Alvanos, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said after the court decision. The ban only applies to provinces around this northern city where Robbi's court has jurisdiction. The book will be available in the rest of Greece. Robbi's ban came as Premier Costas Simitis presided over a special ceremony marking Greece's formal application to join European Monetary Union. The decision may also lead to friction between the judiciary and the Socialist government, which has openly expressed its support for Androulakis. ''On the day that Greece submitted its application for European Monetary Union, a dark side of the Greek moon is revealed,'' Androulakis said. Development Minister Evangelos Venizelos, a leading professor of constitutional law, questioned the court's jurisdiction to ban the book and Greece's largest journalists union also criticized the ruling. ''We are following these dangerous phenomena curtailing the free expression of ideas with a great deal of worry and revulsion,'' the union said in a statement. At a preliminary hearing Wednesday, dozens of black-robed priests and monks stormed the court house and Robbi's chambers, chanting ''blasphemers'' and ''Antichrists'' at Androulakis' defense lawyer, Thomas Trikoukis, who was pummeled by some protesters. The church and its leader, Archbishop Christodoulos, refused to comment on the decision. But Metropolitan Kallinikos, a spokesman for the church's ruling body, said Androulakis had no right ''to insult millions of our faithful with what he has said about the leader of our faith.'' ''Our religion may teach love, but we will never talk to Mimi Androulakis,'' Kallinikos said. The book is a series of fictional dialogues between women whose names all begin with the letter M. The central theme is misogyny in various aspects of life, including religion. One chapter mentions an often explored hypothesis: a possible sexual element in the relationship between Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene, a prostitute who became a follower. The suit was filed by Byzantine history professor Marios Pylavakis, who argues that Christ's life cannot be open to fictional reinterpretation. He has been joined by a mix of ultra-nationalists and religious firebrands. Nearly all political parties, literary societies and scholars have backed Androulakis. With one exception, publishers here say they cannot recall any book being banned in Greece since the fall of the 1967-74 military dictatorship. Two years ago, a court banned a dictionary and ordered the author to remove an insulting reference to residents of Thessaloniki. That decision came after a Thessaloniki city council member filed a complaint. But the Supreme Court overturned the ban, saying that although the word's derogatory definition was legally insulting, constitutional guarantees on free speech did not allow books to be banned or censored. [ Send this story to __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From mehollim at hotmail.com Thu Mar 9 17:42:02 2000 From: mehollim at hotmail.com (Mimoza Meholli) Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2000 14:42:02 PST Subject: [ALBSA-Info] FW:Albin's trial Message-ID: <20000309224202.1011.qmail@hotmail.com> From: Kurt Bassuener [mailto:kbassuener at usip.org] Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2000 7:39 AM To: mehollim at hotmail.com; acevallos at usaid.gov; ewitte at icg-dc.org; sblaustein at icg-dc.org;daniel_serwer at usip.org; ggardner at igc.org; NAACDC at aol.com;kward at abaceeli.org; kosova at jps.net Subject: Albin's trial.Former Kosovo student leader, rebelspokesman on trial in Serbian court By KATARINA KRATOVAC The Associated Press 3/9/00 9:13 AM BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- A former spokesman forKosovo's disbanded rebel organization went on trial today on charges of terrori and conspiracy against the state, the Yugoslav media reported.Albin Kurti, who was a student leader before becoming a spokesman for the Kosovo Liberation Army, could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted at the district court in the central Serbian city of Nis, the independent Beta news agency said.A prosecution statement said Kurti, who was among thousands of ethnic Albanians arrested by Serb police during NATO's 78-day bombing campaign last year, aided the "creation of the terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army gangs with the ultimate goal to secede the province from Serbia and Yugoslavia and establish an independent state."Kosovo is an Albanian-majority province in Serbia, the dominant of the two republics in Yugoslavia. It has been run by the United Nations and the NATO-led peacekeeping force since the NATO bombing ended a Serb crackdown and forced Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to pull out his forces.The prosecution statement said Kurti "organized first-aid courses" among Kosovo's Albanian students with the purpose of "assisting wounded KLA members and donating blood." Kurti, who waived his right to an attorney but was given legal defense by the state, was defiant."This court has nothing to do with truth and justice. It only serves the regime of Slobodan Milosevic," Kurti, who identified himself as a citizen of the Republic of Kosovo, was quoted as saying.Kurti said he did "not recognize this court but only a court of my people." "Kurti appeared rational and spoke coherently" and bore no visible signs of physical mistreatment, Goran Georgijev, a representative of Serbia's. Humanitarian Law Center, told The Associated Press. Kurti first became a prominent figure among Kosovo's ethnic Albanians in 1997-98 when, as an electronics and engineering graduate of the then-outlawed ethnic Albanian university in the provincial capital, Pristina,he became the leader of an independent student union.The union staged numerous rallies and marches,protesting Serbia's repression of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. Kurti, always at the front of marching students, was arrested and beatenby Serbian police at one such rally. The police later released him.Abandoning the student organization, Kurti moved onin 1998 to becom the spokesman for the Pristina office of the KLA,the guerrillas who was battling Serb police and striving for the province's independence. At the trial today, Kurti acknowledged his role inthe student union, whichnhe said was struggling for a "free university" and against the Serb regime.After the opening statements, the trial was adjourned until March 13. On the Net: The Human Rights Watch Kosovo page: http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/kosovo98/index.shtm Copyright 2000 Associated Press. All rights reserved. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com From eribudo at hotmail.com Fri Mar 10 06:17:13 2000 From: eribudo at hotmail.com (ERI Budo) Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 03:17:13 PST Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Fwd: [Kcc-News] Kosovo student leader defies Serb court Message-ID: <20000310111713.78679.qmail@hotmail.com> >From: Mentor Cana >To: Kosova Crisis Center News and Information >Subject: [Kcc-News] Kosovo student leader defies Serb court >Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 23:25:34 -0500 (EST) > > >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> READ & DISTRIBUTE FURTHER <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< > >--------------------------------------------------------------------- > Kosova Crisis Center (KCC) News Network: http://www.alb-net.com >--------------------------------------------------------------------- > > >http://www.clari.net/hot/wed/bx/Qyugo-kosovo-trial.RCR8_AM9.html > >Kosovo student leader defies Serb court > >Thursday, 09-Mar-2000 10:20AM > >NIS, Yugoslavia, March 9 (AFP) - A Kosovar student leader refused to >defend himself before a Serb court Thursday and accused Yugoslav >President Slobodan Milosevic's regime of "fascism" as his trial on >terrorism charges began. > As leader of the Kosovo Albanians Independent Student Union, Albin >Kurti led street protests against Serbian rule in his home province in >1997 and 1998. > He was arrested by Serbian police during NATO's bombing campaign >against Yugoslavia last year and if convicted faces up to 20 years in >jail for joining a "terrorist group," the term used in Belgrade for the >separatist guerrilla movement, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). > Kurti, who worked as an assistant to KLA spokesman Adem Demaci, >made a defiant statement as the trial opened in a courthouse in Nis, but >refused to mount a defence or respond to prosecution questions, saying >he did not recognise the legitimacy of the court. > "This court has nothing to do with truth and justice, it serves the >policies of Milosevic's regime which has kept Kosovo under occupation," >he said. > "Our Union was against the Serbian regime, which, with its military >and police forces, has committed terror and systematic repression >against the Albanian people," Kurti said in Albanian, his words >translated into Serbian by an interpreter. > As Demaci's assistant, Kurti said he had tried "to present, as best >as possible, the KLA and its liberation war." > "The KLA liberation war is a justified struggle which has a holy >goal -- the independence of the republic of Kosovo and liberation of the >Albanian people from Milosevic's fascist regime," he said. > "I have no reason to defend myself or to respond to anyone and any >charges," Kurti said, adding that he would not answer any questions by >the prosecutor or judge. > At the end of his speech to the court, he said: "It is not >important for me whether you sentence me or for how long." > "Everything I did, I did voluntarily, with dignity and I am proud >of it and would do it again," Kurti said. > The trial, attended by the representatives of the UN Human Rights >office in Belgrade, Human Rights Watch and Belgrade non-government >groups Humanitarian Law Center and Committee of Jurists, is to resume on >March 13. > Kurti is among some 1,300 Kosovo Albanians who are still being held >in Serbia on terrorism charges, according to the Humanitarian Law >Center. > In December, ethnic Albanian human rights activist Flora Brovina >was sentenced to 12 years in prison for "terrorist activities" in a >trial condemned by the United States and international human rights >groups. > More than 230 Albanians have been released since mid-June, when >Belgrade transferred roughly 2,050 prisoners from Kosovo when it was >forced by NATO air attacks to withdraw its forces from the southern >Serbian province, the centre said. > >Story from AFP Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet) > > > >________________________________________________ >To unsubscribe from this list visit: >http://www.alb-net.com/mailman/listinfo/kcc-news ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com From aalibali at law.harvard.edu Fri Mar 10 12:50:33 2000 From: aalibali at law.harvard.edu (aalibali at law.harvard.edu) Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 12:50:33 -0500 Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Event at the Kennedy School Message-ID: FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2000 FORUM 6:00 P.M. The 3rd Annual Harvard University Latino Law, Business, and Public Policy Conference Key Note Address By: THE HONORABLE LOUIS CALDERA, US Secretary of the Army Co-Sponsored by La Alianza, The Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy, The Latino Caucus, and the Institute of Politics Student Advisory Committee. Location: The Forum Contact: The Forum Office, 495-1380 From aalibali at yahoo.com Sat Mar 11 01:20:54 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 22:20:54 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Feedbacks on the "Dr's" piece Message-ID: <20000311062054.5698.qmail@web107.yahoomail.com> Feedback On "Myth of Greater Albania" by Sam Vakhnin, AND March 9, Page 2. "I think Dr Vakhnin?s article is a disgrace to appear in your excellent news service. Much of it could have been written in the Ministry of Information in Belgrade." James Pettifer james at balkan.demon.co.uk March 10, 2000 "I have been a regular consumer of your news service ever since day one. I have nothing but good words to say about the seriousness and the professional content of your web-site. However, I was deeply disturbed and angered at the article you published on Wed. 03/08/00 under the heading "The Myth of Greater of Albania". (The story was taken from the Central Europe Review of last year-ed.) Not only was it not news worthy, but it was an irate, malicious, and incredibly ignorant portrayal of the true state of the affairs of the Albanian nation. As an Albanian from Albania proper, of both Geg and Tosk extract I am deeply offended by the unsubstantiated claims that the author of this article makes. Not only do I not harbor negative feelings towards any of our brethren in Kosove, but on the contrary I and many other Albanians from Albania are actively engaged to promote the rights of the Albanians in Kosova, or where ever they might be. The sense of being Albanian is more alive in Kosova today then anywhere else in Albanian lands. Dr. Sam Vaknin through this article has only showed how little he knows about the Albanian nation." Kreshnik Bejko kbejko at ptloma.edu March 9, 2000 On article Greek Formin Stress Importance of Ethnic Minorities, AND March 10, Page 1, Column 1 I disagree with how the information is given in your newspaper. You have been transformed in sopkespersons of information that has nothing to do with our national interests. You are indeed controlled by some other interests... You and your superiors do not know the history of your country. A concrete remark: You give an extraordinary support to the statements of the Greek Foreign Minister on the Greek minority in Albania. In the article, there is no single comma, word or expression on the Albanian minority in Greece. Do you know that there is a 250,000-strong Albanian population in Greece, without including here the post-1990 refugees who are obliged to change their names? Do you madams and sirs know that in northern Greece there is a region even bigger than Kosovo, called Chameria, which is Albanian land? Why don?t YOU have the courage to write anything about this? Don?t you know the history of your country? Do you know but you have shut your mouth for pay? Or you do not see the future of your children in Albania? Shame on those who do not know the history of their country. Shame on those who work for the foreigners. March 10, 2000 Unnamed, no email address given. In Albanian, translated into English by our staff. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From aalibali at yahoo.com Sat Mar 11 01:31:23 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 22:31:23 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] The Washington Post Message-ID: <20000311063123.6454.qmail@web107.yahoomail.com> The Balkan War Friday, March 10, 2000; Page A20 IN THE BALKANS, the hunted have become the hunters: The latest troubling development is a bloody foray into Serbia by reconstituted units of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). It is especially dangerous that these raids are being staged from the U.S.-patrolled area of Kosovo, which leaves U.S. forces with no attractive options. If they do not respond, U.S. credibility is undermined and Serb reprisals are likely; if they try to stop the Albanian groups, clashes are possible. So the United States is right to condemn the attacks and urge KLA leaders to desist. But that cannot be the entire answer. Albanians struck inside Serbia because they believe, with some justification, that Slobodan Milosevic's forces had begun the ethnic cleansing of a small Albanian-populated area abutting Kosovo. Furthermore, evidence is growing that Mr. Milosevic is covertly sending paramilitary agents across the border into Kosovo to attack Albanians, especially in the divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica. Mr. Milosevic's apparent objective is to make Kosovo ungovernable, creating a crisis he can exploit for domestic political gain while sapping NATO's will to garrison the province. One root of this problem is the ambiguous Western policy on Kosovo's status. War came to Kosovo after Mr. Milosevic stripped the province of the political autonomy it enjoyed under Tito and substituted a kind of Serb-dominated apartheid. Even without last year's savagery, it would be hard to imagine how Kosovo could ever live under Mr. Milosevic again. Yet the United States and Europe, through a U.N. Security Council resolution, insist both that Kosovo is part of Yugoslavia and that it should enjoy "substantial autonomy and meaningful self-administration." An interim U.N. government is supposed somehow to make this mandate succeed. Underfunded by the U.S. and European governments, the U.N. mission in Kosovo has stumbled. No elections for local government will be possible before the fall, at best, and participation by Kosovo's dwindling Serb minority is doubtful. If you consider the way Mr. Milosevic treats Serbs who cross him--this week's raid by his goons to shut down opposition television in Belgrade is a relatively mild example--it becomes even more doubtful that many Serbs would risk participating in multiethnic politics in Kosovo. As extreme Serb and Albanian elements try to fill the political vacuum, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for the Security Council to debate and define the notion of "substantial autonomy." Such a discussion is necessary, as are U.S. efforts to rein in its erstwhile KLA allies. But even more urgent is a credible allied strategy for bringing about internal political change in Belgrade, without which no stable political arrangement in, or around, Kosovo can be achieved. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From aalibali at yahoo.com Sun Mar 12 01:41:58 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2000 22:41:58 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Testamenti Politik i Fan Nolit Message-ID: <20000312064158.309.qmail@web116.yahoomail.com> "Liri absolute e ndergjegjes dhe e mendimit" Ne 35-vjetorin e vdekjes se Fan Nolit Profesor Nasho Jorgaqi, studiuesi i njohur i Fan Nolit, ka pergatitur dhe se shpejti del nga shtypi libri i ri "Fanoliana", nje permbledhje me shkrime letrare-publicistike, ligjerime dhe leterkembime, kujtime dhe studime nga Noli dhe per Nolin. Ata jane te zbuluara dhe te qemtuara nga arkiva dhe burime te ndryshme, pjesa me e madhe krejt te panjohura nga publiku i gjere. Prej ketij vellimi po shkepusim disa fragmente, kryesisht nga fletoret e shenimeve te savantit tone te madh, me rastin e 35 vjetorit te vdekjes. .............. Parimi im eshte mjaft i njohur dhe mbetet gjithnje i njejti: liri absolute e ndergjegjes dhe e mendimit sepse feja (vertet nuk mund te mbeshtetet vecse ne pranimin spontan te shpirtrave. Nuk dua te detyroj asnje t'u sherbeje idealeve tona, por as do te lejojme te na imponohen idealet e te tjereve. Kohet tona kaq te varfera me ndjenja fetare kane te pakten nje karakteristike te shquar fetare qe eshte denimi i dhunes, liri nga sejcili i formes se kultit dhe e gjuhes se lutjes. Eshte koha aq ky parim te ndricoje me ne fund terrenin ballkanik, ku deri me sot kisha ka qene nje filiale e propagandes politike, ku pushka, helmi, vrasja ka zene vendin e argumenteve. Edhe ne ballkan feja duhet te kete qendrimet e qeta te meshires kristiane.(shtator 1920). ... Perse nuk u kthye Noli ne atdhe, sipas kujtimeve te nje diplomati Per Shqiperine me digjet shpirti Fan Noli "Kisha Autoqefale e ka mbajtur dhe po e mban gjalle kolonine shqiptare ne Amerike. Eshte pikerisht kjo arsyeja qe une po qendroj akoma ketu ne Amerike dhe nuk po vij dot ne Shqiperi, per te cilen me digjet shpirti dhe kam deshire qe vitet e fundit qe me kane ngelur nga jeta ime, t'i ngrys atje" Ne maj te vitit 1958, Fan Noli do udhetonte nga Bostoni ku kishte rezidencen e perhershme, per ne Florida dhe gjate ketij udhetimi do kalonte permes Nju Jorkut. Me kete rast Noli, nepermjet priftit Kosta Belba te Kishes Shqiptare te Nju Jorkut, kerkoi nje takim me misionin shqiptar prane Organizates se Kombeve te Bashkuara. Prifti Belba, qe ishte nje patroit i mire dhe qe mbante lidhje te vazhdueshme me misionin tone, erdhi menjehere e na njoftoi per kete deshire te Nolit, duke shtuar dhe porosine e tij qe takimi te behet ne Kishen Shqiptare te Nju Jorkut dhe jo ne misionin shqiptar. Noli erdhi ne Nju Jork ne mbremjen e 25 majit 1958 dhe takimi u be po ate nate, naten vone ne nje nga dhomat e Kishes Shqiptare te Nju Jorkut, duke qene vetem ne te dy, pa pranine e njeriut tjeter. Fan Noli, megjithese i moshuar (atehere ishte 76 vjec), mbahej shume mire nga ana fizike. Por ajo qe la mbresa me shume ishte freskia dhe qartesia e madhe e mendimeve dhe e gjykimeve. Pyetjes sime qe ne fillim te bisedes se pse e bejme kete takim naten dhe ne Kishe si gjysme ilegale, ne vend qe te darkonim se bashku ne nje restorant, ai menjehere iu pergjigj me kete fjali: "Ketu ne Amerike flitet shume per demokraci, por nuk eshte plotesisht keshtu, prandaj dhe duhen shtrire kembet sa ke jorganin, se perndryshe dhe t'i shkurtojne". Dhe me tej, ai vazhdoi: " Qe ne vitin 1946 kur erdhi ne Amerike i pari delegacion shqiptar, une e shoqerova dhe e ndihmova aq sa munda si shqiptar, por pasi iku delegacioni, ketu me vune nofken "i kuq". Prandaj, djalo, ketu duhet te ruhemi si ju edhe une". Gjate bisedes qe zgjati deri ne oret e vona te nates, Fan Noli me ngriti disa probleme. Mbasi me shpjegoi perpjektet qe po beheshin qe kishen tone ta bashkonin me kishen greke dhe ate ruse, me foli per rrezikun qe paraqiste asimilimi i kishes tone ne ShBA, por jo vetem te kishes, po edhe te vete kolonise tone atje, sepse, sic e dini tha ai, Kisha Autoqefale e ka mbajtur dhe po e mban gjalle kolonine shqiptare ne Amerike. Eshte pikerisht kjo arsyeja, vazhdoi Noli, qe une po qendroj akoma ketu ne Amerike dhe nuk po vij dot ne Shqiperi, per te cilen me digjet shpirti dhe kam deshire qe vitet e fundit qe me kane ngelur nga jeta ime, t'i ngrys atje. Armiqte e Shqiperise, tha ai, kete urojne qe une te largohem qe prej ketej e t'i le te qete te bejne pastaj si te duan ketu. Dhe per te evituar kete, ai arsyetoi kesisoj. Me vdekjen time ka shume rrezik qe kisha shqiptare ketu te bjere ne duar te grekeve dhe po te ndodhe kjo, eshte e sigurt qe edhe kolonia shqiptare ketu te asimilohet. Prandaj qe Qeveria dhe Kisha autoqefale e Shqiperise te pergatisin dhe te dergoje ne Amerike nje Peshkop per te me zevendesuar mua pas vdekjes si dhe nja dy prifterinj te mire e patriote, por te jene te zgjuar dhe ta duan me zemer Shqiperine. Keto veprime, tha ai, kerkoj te behen qe tani sa jam une gjalle qe ata te kene dhe mbeshtetjen time, sepse pas vdekjes sime eshte shume zor t'i pranoje njeri dhe do ta kene shume te veshtire per t'u vene ne krye te Kishes sone. Duke biseduar per rendesine e madhe qe kane per cdo komb problemet e arsimit dhe te kultures, Noli i kushtoi vemendje te vecante ketij problemi. Ai ishte shume i kenaqur dhe entuziast per celjen e te parit Universitet Shqiptar ne Tirane. Ai me tha shprehimisht :" Qeveria e re shqiptare ka bere mjaft ne keto pak vjet te pasluftes per Shqiperine e per popullin shqiptar, por celja e Universitetit te Tiranes eshte nje kryeveper e kesaj qeverie, sepse tani do behet i mundur krijimi i nje inteligjence te re shqiptare me kulture e parime demokratike, qe do te radhite vendin tone ne radhet e kombeve e te shteteve te perparuara". Duke vazhduar biseden per vlerat e njohjes dhe ruajtjes se kultures se nje populli, Noli tha qe "qeveria shqiptare duhet te beje te gjitha perpjekjet per te mbledhur folklorin e lashte e te pasur shqiptar qe akoma ekziston ne pakicat shqiptare ne Greqi dhe ne Turqi qe nga ana e tyre ruhet sot e kesaj dite, por qe, po nuk u vu dore ne te, ai do te zhduket e do te jete nje humbje e madhe kulturore per kombin tone". Shkembyem pastaj mendime rreth studimeve qe behen ne vendin tone per te shkruar historine e Shqiperise. Noli me sugjeroi qe nga Instituti i Historise e Gjuhesise ne Tirane te merreshin masa per te gjetur e siguruar disa burime dokumentare me vlere si doreshkrimet e studimet per Shqiperine te historianeve te shquar e mediaviste si ata te Talocit, Jiricekut dhe te Shuflait. Materialet e Shuflait tha Noli, nuk jane botuar te gjitha, familjes se tij mund t'i kene mbetur dokumente te rendesishme. Po keshtu do t'u sugjeroja shkencetareve tane ne Tirane qe te grumbullojne e te botojne te gjithe artikujt e Norbert Joklit per gjuhen shqipe, botuar keto ne revista te ndryshme austriake e gjermane. Noli me porisiti gjithashtu t'i raportoja qeverise sone se ne Stamboll e Beograd ka dokumenta shume te vjetra e me vlere kolosale per historine e Shqiperise e qe duhen gjetur rruget per t'i marre keto dokumenta e per t'i siguruar ne arkivat tona, sepse me to mund te shkruhet e plote historia e Shqiperise. Pastaj me porosi te Ministrise sone te Jashtme e pyeta Nolin nese mund te merrte persiper perkthimin ne gjuhen shqipe te "Komedise Hyjnore" te Dantes dhe "Ringjalljen" e Tolstoit. Perkthimin e Ringjalljes se Tolstoit e marr persiper ta mbaroj, tha Noli, e t'ua jap, kurse per kryevepren e Dantes nuk e marr dot persiper ne kete moshe, sepse ajo eshte shume e rende dhe do shume pune e kohe. Ne fund te bisedes, Fan Noli me tha se ne biblioteken e tij i ka te gjitha botimet qe jane bere ne Shqiperi pas Luftes se Dyte Boterore. Por ai me dha nje liste ne te cilen kishte shenuar disa botime te fundit qe nuk i kishin ardhur nga Shqiperia dhe m'u lut t'ia siguroja dhe t'ia dergoja, sepse dua, tha ai, ne biblioteken time te mos mungoje asgje nga botimet qe behen ne Shqiperi. Me vone ne biblioteken e Misionit tone, i gjeta botimet qe me kerkoi dhe ia dergova ne Boston, ku kishte rezidencen e perhershme. Keshtu pas me se tre ore bisedimesh ne Kishen Shqiptare te Nju Jorkut, u pershendeta dhe u ndava me Fan Nolin, per te mos u pare me me te, por me mbeti per jete i pashlyer nga kujtesa ky takim. Jonuz Mersini __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From aalibali at law.harvard.edu Sun Mar 12 19:35:48 2000 From: aalibali at law.harvard.edu (aalibali at law.harvard.edu) Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2000 19:35:48 -0500 Subject: [ALBSA-Info] [balkans] New Books In-Reply-To: Message-ID: DOCUMENTS ON CHAMERIA 1912-1939 Collected and introduced by Dr. Kaliopi Naska In original: DOKUMENTE PER CAMERINE Publisher "Dituria Publishing House", with the assistance of the General Directorate of Albanian Archives Tirana, 1999 ISBN 99927-31-69-9 Pages 743 The book contains 391 archival documents of the Albanian administration, of various international organizations, by representatives of the people of Chameria and other Albanian territories. Ninety percent of the documents are published for the first time. The documents are in Albanian, and many in French, English and a few in Greek. The book includes a geographical, name and subject matter index. Chameria is the region assigned to Greece in the London Conference of Ambassadors of 1913. This publication reflects the efforts of the Chameria people and those of the Albanian state to protect the human rights of the Chams during the period from Albania's independence in 1912 up to her occupation by Italy in 1939. The book fills a vacuum in the field of the Albanian-Greek diplomatic relations as well as the history, ethnicity, anthropology, customs, laws, folklore, and other features of the region. From aalibali at yahoo.com Sun Mar 12 20:10:01 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2000 17:10:01 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Albania's polyphony is Greek!? Message-ID: <20000313011001.3119.qmail@web125.yahoomail.com> Thanks to the "efforts" of Minister of Culture Rama, who is practically sabotaging the Gjirokaster Folk Festival, now we are even hearing that the Laberia polyphonic music is Greek. The Greek musical event will be held in Boston this week. The commentary is below. Not only "Via Egnatia" was Greek. Everything else worth mentioning of Albanians, including Skanderbeg, Fan Noli, and now the Southern polyphony is also Greek...and dating back from Ancient Greece. O tempora, o mores! === We've Got the (World) Beat - Traditional Greek music the focus of America's folk-chic fascination To most Americans, Greek music is typified by the bouzouki strains heard in movies, radio spots and television commercials. Some may know Greek music for the neo-classical compositions of modern greats like Manos Hadjidakis and Mikis Theodorakis (brought to world audiences through Hollywood films and the voice of 70's Euro-superstar Nana Mouskouri). But few non-Greeks have been exposed to, and understand the depth and richness of, Greek folk music. As the interest in "world music" or "world beat" continues to grow, however, non-Greek audiences are finally beginning to take notice. An upcoming three-day festival of Greek folk music scheduled for both New York and Boston will hopefully mark the beginning of a process that will earn the many traditional Greek idioms that fall under the "folk" umbrella a new (well-deserved) respect on American stages. In Greece traditional (or folk) music is referred to as "demotika," or "music of the people." In most cases demotic music is very regionalized, or provincial. Epirus has its own form of folk music, for instance, that differs from neighboring Macedonia, which is, in turn, different from that of nearby Thrace. In most instances those varying styles reflect the differences in topography, geography, customs and history of a specific place. Island music from the Aegean, for example, is typically upbeat as its rollicking rhythms reflect the movements of the sea. But the ocean is also a source of pain. The bittersweet laments of the Aegean often grieve over the fact that so many of an island's sons, fathers and husbands are out to (or lost at) sea. The differences in the seemingly myriad divergent demotic idioms are not subtle, as one might naturally think. Although Greece is a geographically small country, its lay of the land - vast mountain regions and scores of islands - lends to great cultural diversity from place to place. Of course another reason for the diversity is the fact that, from ancient times, Hellenes have had very strong attachments to their specific "city-states" (evolved today into provinces). That diversity is also evident in the dialects of Greek spoken, in traditional clothing and in cuisine. The festival - produced by the World Music Institute and Arts, Dance and Music Productions with support from the Foundation for Hellenic Culture and the Vryonis Center for the Study of Hellenism - will focus on three styles of music and will be performed by individuals and groups that are leaders in those specific idioms. Petroloukas Halkias, one of his country's most highly regarded folk clarinetists, will present a program of music from Epirus, a large province located in the northwest of Greece. Halkias is from a family of famous folk musicians that have shaped Epirotic music for generations (spanning centuries). Born in the village of Delvinaki in 1934, Halkias is, today, the leading proponent of his region's musical traditions. Combining long, soulful wails of Epirotic moirologia (funeral dirges) with slow improvisations (skaros) and hypnotic dance tunes, Halkias has helped to bring the music of his homeland to all of Greece, and beyond. Halkias will be accompanied by his brother Achilleas on violin, his son Babis on second clarinet, Thanasis Markos on laouto (fretted lute) and Nikos Kontos on defi (frame drum). The program of Epirotic music will also feature the seven-member Epirus Polyphonic Ensemble, an a cappella group that carry on the vocal traditions of the region. Reminiscent of the Bulgarian State Women's Choir (which drew world audiences in the early 1990's), the Epirus Polyphonic Ensemble combines sustained bass tones and roaming counter- harmonies to recreate music from Greece's Albanian frontiers (especially from the villages of Pogoni, Deropoli, Delvino, Himarra and Leskoviki), an area known for this haunting style of singing. The group, led by Vangelis Kotsou (a professor of polyphonic music at the Museum of Folk Instruments in Athens), traces its roots back to Ancient Greece, maintaining the strict traditions demanded by the idiom. In performance the singers gather close together, quite often in a circle, and sing without musical accompaniment about the sorrows of love, death and emigrations, or, as is sometimes the case, recall the deeds and passions of its people. A program of Cretan music and dance (from Greece's southernmost island) will be presented by Vasilis Skoulas and the Anogia Dance Ensemble. In contrast to the music of Epirus, Crete's folk music tradition is characterized by fast and fiery improvisations on the lyre, a small three-stringed pear-shaped fretless lute that is bowed (rather than plucked or strummed). Typically the "lyrari" (lyre player) also sings, playing the lyre (which rests on his knee) between interspersed vocal passages. Vasilis Skoulas, whose ancestors played a very important role in the liberation of Crete from Turkish occupation, is acknowledged as one of Greece's leading lyre players. And like Halkias, he is also descended from a long line of musicians (as well as artists and politicians). Skoulas has been playing the lyre professionally since 1957 - when he was just 13 years old. In dozens of recordings Skoulas has emerged at the forefront of the Cretan troubadour tradition, singing of beauty and pain in lyrics that are elegant in their simplicity ("I greet my pains and celebrate my sorrows, and if you ask me of my joys, I know none"). As an instrumentalist Skoulas' supple touch and lightening-fast dexterity characterize his style, which is at once expressive and technically awe-inspiring. Collaborations with Crete-born symphonic and popular composer Yiannis Markopoulos have brought his talent to the attention of all Greeks (in Greece and in the Diaspora). Skoulas' ensemble for his festival appearances will include Kostas Kallergis and Zacharias Mathioudakis on laouto (fretted lute), Michalis Skoulas on mandolin and Grigoris Nikolidakis on folk guitar. As part of the program, the Anogia Dance Ensemble will perform traditional Cretan dances - arguably the most spirited and technically difficult of Greek dance forms. Among the traditional Cretan dances that the all-male troupe will perform will be the acrobatic kastrinos, the stately sighanos, the fiery pentozalis and the elegant haniotikos syrtos. The last of the programs will be a presentation of rebetic music - an urban folk idiom rooted in the Greek musical traditions of Smyrna - featuring Maryo and the Toumbourlika Ensemble. Rebetic music - from which contemporary Greek popular music is largely derived - came to Greece with the refugees of 1922. The form first took root in the slums of Piraeus and Thessaloniki as the musical expression of a socially marginalized and economically dispossessed group. Performed in hashish dens, seedy "caf? aman" joints and basement clubs, the "rebetes" (as they were called) first introduced the bouzouki to the Greek mainland. Like the Afro-American blues, rebetic music was seen as unseemly by members of "polite" society. A rebetic revival began in Greece in the mid-70's, after the fall of the military junta. Since then many of the country's popular artists have joined with rebetic revivalists to preserve the form and bestow on it its importance in the development of Greek popular music, as well as credit it as a socially significant artistic movement. In Greece, Maryo is considered one of the most authentic interpreters of rebetic music. She has made - along with the Tambourlika Ensemble that will accompany her at the festival - several recordings that recreate rebetic songs as they were originally performed. The World Music Institute (WMI) first co-produced a concert of Greek music last October with Greek marquis recording artist Eleftheria Arvanitaki. This set of concerts, produced with Michail Adam of Arts, Dance and Music Productions, signals an effort by the WMI to offer American audiences the opportunity to discover the rich traditions of Greece's folk music scene on a more profound level, as the sights and sounds of specific regions take the stage at the country's two most important cultural capitals. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From aalibali at yahoo.com Sun Mar 12 20:16:52 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2000 17:16:52 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] The schedule of the musical event Message-ID: <20000313011652.4015.qmail@web125.yahoomail.com> Below is the schedule of the event which includes the "Greek" polyphony ensemble. If Edi Rama will continue to refuse assigning to Gjirokaster the nomination for Albania's National Folk Festival 2000, perhaps we should consider organizing it in Boston... ====== Originally From: Panagoula_Diamanti/Student/KSG at KSG.HARVARD.EDU The Greek Music Society of Boston and the Boston Lykeion Ellinidon present A FESTIVAL OF GREEK MUSIC AND DANCE with FOUR DISTINGUISHED ENSEMBLES DIRECT FROM GREECE! at the Maliotis Cultural Center / Hellenic College, 50 Goddard Avenue, Brookline, MA Thursday through Saturday March 16, 17, 18, 2000 In cooperation with the World Music Institute of New York and Arts Dance & Music Productions and made possible in part with the generous support of the Foundation for Hellenic Culture and the Vryonis Center for the Study of Hellenism. Schedule of events: ---- Thursday, March 16 5:30 WORKSHOP: PETROLOUKAS HALKIAS orchestra of Epiros 6:30 WORKSHOP: The POLIPHONIKO SYNGROTIMA POGONIOU a capella vocal group 7:30 WORKSHOP: The Cretan ANOGIA DANCE TROUPE and the VASILIS SKOULAS musicians of Crete Friday, March 17 5:30 WORKSHOP: The TOMBOURLIKA ensemble Smyrnaika/Rembetika with vocalist MARYO 8:00 FESTIVAL CONCERT 1: Featuring the PETROLOUKAS HALKIAS ORCHESTRA, the POLIPHONIKO SYNGROTIMA POGONIOU, and the ANOGIA/SKOULAS ensembles Saturday, March 18 1:00 WORKSHOP: Greek Dance with local instructors 2:00 WORKSHOP: Byzantine music with PHOTIOS KETSETZIS 5:00 FESTIVAL CONCERT 2: GREEK ART MUSIC with local artists 8:00 FESTIVAL CONCERT 3: Featuring MARYO and the TOMBOURLIKA ENSEMBLE ---- On Sunday March 19, at 3:00 p.m. the MALIOTIS CULTURAL CENTER in cooperation with the Festival will present music and dance workshops for children. These workshops are free of charge. Donation: Festival Package - $60 Individual Concerts - $20 in advance ($25 at door) Individual Workshops - $10 Children discounts available Information and tickets: Irene Savas 508-393-3563 Chris Pantazelos 617-489-4939 Menios Karanos 617-441-3083 Matoula Theodorou 978-777-9745 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From ispaho at bu.edu Sun Mar 12 16:52:31 2000 From: ispaho at bu.edu (Spaho) Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2000 16:52:31 -0500 (EST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] IMMIGRATION UPDATE (March 2000) (fwd) Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- I hope you will find this information useful. Irma From: Carl at shusterman.com Subject: SHUSTERMAN'S IMMIGRATION UPDATE (March 2000) Volume Five, Number Three Published by the Law Offices of Carl Shusterman, One Wilshire Building, 624 So. Grand Avenue, Suite 1608, Los Angeles, California, 90017. Phone: (213) 623-4592 To subscribe to SHUSTERMAN'S IMMIGRATION UPDATE, go to http://shusterman.com/subscribe.html#subscribe and type your name and e-mail address and click on "Subscribe". Alternately, you may send an e-mail message to majordomo at ls.shusterman.com with the words "subscribe visalaw" in the body of the message. To unsubscribe, type in your e-mail address at http://shusterman.com/subscribe.html#unsubscribe and click on "Unsubcribe". Alternately, you may send an e-mail message to majordomo at ls.shusterman.com with words "unsubscribe visalaw" in the body of the message. For back issues of SHUSTERMAN'S IMMIGRATION UPDATE, see http://shusterman.com/toc-siu.html Disclaimer: This newsletter is not intended to establish an attorney-client relationship. All information contained in this newsletter is generalized. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk. ***************************************************************** Subscribers to SHUSTERMAN'S IMMIGRATION UPDATE: 30,957 CONTENTS: Guest Contributor: This month, Topic #8 was written by Maurice Belanger, Senior Policy Analyst for the National Immigration Forum. Based in Washington, D.C., and established in 1982, the Forum has distinguished itself as one of the nation's foremost authorities on immigration. The Forum defends legal immigration, fights anti-immigrant prejudice and preserves the American tradition of diversity. For more information about the National Immigration Forum, see http://immigrationforum.org * NEWS FLASHES 1. April 2000 State Department Visa Bulletin: EB Numbers Regress 2. Latest Immigration Service Processing Times 3. H-1B Update: The Good, The Bad and The Just Plain Devious 4. Amnesty 2000: AFL-CIO Labor Federation Backs New Amnesty 5. Derivative Citizenship: Using The Law To Perform "Miracles" 6. Immigration Trivia Quiz: Immigrant Achievement Awards 7. Chat Schedule and Online Transcripts 8. Budget: Administration Proposes Building on Past Initiatives 9. Web Site: Executive Office For Immigration Review (EOIR) 10. Answers to the Trivia Quiz: "Lennon Read A Book Of Marx" * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * NEWS FLASHES: * Congressional Hearing into INS Delays: See http://shusterman.com/lofgren-pr.html * Family Unity: Attorneys and their clients who are experiencing long delays in having I-817 Family Unity case processed can now take action. See http://shusterman.com/817.html * Haitians: The last day that the INS must RECEIVE form I-485 under the Haitian Refugee Immigrant Fairness Act (HRIFA) is March 31, 2000. Remember that I-485's under HRIFA must be filed at the Nebraska Service Center. For more information, see http://www.shusterman.com/toc-asyl.html and scroll down to "INS Issues Reminder to Haitians Eligible for HRIFA Benefits". * INS's National Customer Service Center (NCSC): Have a question about INS services and procedures? INS now offers the following 24 hours a day, 7 days a week toll free telephone number: 1(800) 375-5283. If you want to talk to a live person, be sure you call during regular business hours. INS advises that the best times to call are Tuesday through Friday. The agency cautions that "at this time, NSCS is unable to answer questions about the status of a specific case." For more information, see http://shusterman.com/ins.html and scroll down to "Homepage of INS's National Customer Service Center (NCSC)". * Involuntary Servitude - Many of us have read stories about immigrants who are lured to the United States by false promises and end up as virtual slave laborers. If you know of a case of forced labor or exploitation, please report it to the Justice Department by using their new toll-free hotline: 1(888)428-7581. ********************************************************* (Paid Advertisement) * IT Careers in the USA: Apply online at: www.emdsnet.com/usa by April 17. IT graduates and early-career professionals interested in launching an international career have an opportunity this spring! EMDS IT Careers in the USA is a unique, invitation-only recruitment event for IT graduates and experienced professionals. Invited candidates will have the opportunity to meet and interview with IT recruiters from all industries - in one place, at one time. EMDS IT Careers in the USA is open to both foreign nationals and US citizens. International candidates attending the event will be able to take advantage of our special visa service. EMDS and their immigration attorneys will be there to guide you through the whole visa process. At the event, you will also have the chance to attend company presentations, participate in round table discussions, establish face-to-face contact with potential employers and arrange spontaneous interviews. There is no registration or attendance fee for candidates. Candidates will be invited to the event because a select number of attending companies requested a private interview with them. Candidates will be informed of their pre-scheduled interview(s) prior to the forum. For more information, please visit our website, www.emdsnet.com, or write to it at emdsnet.com. Companies for which EMDS has helped to recruit IT candidates include: 3Com Technologies, American Management Systems, AT&T, The Boston Consulting Group, Bull, Cambridge Technology Partners, Cisco Systems, Compaq, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), Hewlett Packard, IBM, Intel, Lucent Technologies, Microsoft, Oracle, Pricewaterhouse, SAP, Unisys. (Paid Advertisement) ********************************************************* * NACARA: Remember that the last day that the INS must RECEIVE your form I-485 under section 202 of the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) is March 31, 2000. Remember that I-485's under NACARA must be filed at the Texas Service Center. For more information, see http://www.shusterman.com/toc-1997.html and scroll down to "Application Deadline Approaches For Nicaraguans and Cubans Eligible To Apply for NACARA Benefits". * Secret Evidence: How would you feel if the government charged you with being deportable, but informed you that for national security reasons, the evidence against you would be kept secret? Read Georgetown Law Professor David Cole's testimony before the House Immigration Subcommittee regarding secret evidence and H.R. 2121, a bill which would bar the use of secret evidence in immigration proceedings at http://shusterman.com/toc-leg.html under the "'Fix the '96' Law Campaign". * State Department Country Reports - The State Department has issued the 1999 edition of its Country Reports. This report is extremely valuable in the preparation of Requests for Asylum. The report is now online. See http://shusterman.com/toc-asyl.html and scroll down to "1999 State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices(2-25-00)" under "U.S. State Department". While you are in the vicinity, check out some of our recently-updated "Asylum and Human Rights Links". *********************************************** 1. April 2000 State Department Visa Bulletin: EB Numbers Regress On March 10, 2000, we posted the April 2000 Visa Bulletin, before the State Department posted the dates on their web site. Mad's copy was not completely legible because of damage caused by raw eggs which were thrown at her during her recent European trip, but here's what we know now... For the Family categories, the priority dates continue to creep forward at a snail's pace. Worldwide numbers move forward from one to five weeks. India 4th advances one week while the Philippine 4th (brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens) is still lingering back in 1979, a wait of over 20 years! The Employment categories have all been Current (with the exception of the unskilled worker category which advances three months to June 1, 1994) since August 1, 1999 due to the INS's failure to approve applications for adjustment of status in significant numbers. However, starting April 1, 2000, the EB2 and EB3 categories for persons born in India will backlog to January 1, 1999 and January 1, 1997, respectively. Though we won't obtain the numbers for mainland China until Monday at the earliest, expect the EB numbers for China to regress significantly. According to the State Department's Charles Oppenheim, the regressions came about because the INS started approving I-485's in mass quantities during the past few weeks. The April Visa Numbers (partial listing) can be found at http://shusterman.com/vb.html For an explanation of what the categories, dates and symbols listed below mean, see http://shusterman.com/family.html and http://shusterman.com/employmt.html For the State Department's official version, complete with information about the movement of family, employment and lottery numbers, wait a couple of days and then see http://travel.state.gov/visa_bulletin.html 2. Latest Immigration Service Processing Times Most immigration applications and petitions must be submitted to one of the following INS Regional Service Centers: (1) Laguna Niguel, California; (2) Lincoln, Nebraska; (3) Mesquite, Texas; and (4) St. Albans, Vermont. Our web site contains the waiting times of each center and enumerates each state served by the center and any foreign offices within the center's jurisdiction. The service centers periodically issue lists of their processing times for various types of applications. Our web site contains the latest list issued by each service center. Warning: Processing times may appear faster on the official lists than they are in reality. To see how fast (or slow) your service center is processing a particular type of petition or application, see http://shusterman.com/toc-sc.html Processing times at INS District Offices may be accessed at http://shusterman.com/aos.html See http://shusterman.com/labortimes.html to check the latest processing times of your Department of Labor Regional Office and your State Employment Service Agency. We list Consular Post Processing Times at http://shusterman.com/dostimes.html And J Waiver Processing Times at http://shusterman.com/jwvr-times.html 3. H-1B Update: The Good, The Bad and The Just Plain Devious During the past month, so many events relating to H-1Bs occurred that we could literally fill our entire newsletter discussing them. Suffice to say that most can be found at http://shusterman.com/toc-h1b.html The events can be roughly divided into the following three categories - The Good: On March 9, the Senate Judiciary Committee okayed S.2045 by a vote of 16-2. This bill would raise the H-1B cap to 195,000 annually for the next three years, eliminate discriminatory per country quotas, allow certain persons in H-1B status to extend their stay beyond the usual six years, etc. The complete text of S.2045 (prior to the March 9th mark-up is available at http://shusterman.com/s2045.html A summary of the amendments to S.2045 which were introduced at the mark-up may be found at http://shusterman.com/s2045mu.html For a FAQ concerning S.2045, see http://shusterman.com/h1b-faq.html Since H-1B numbers will not last longer than another week or two, it is necessary for supporters of S.2045 to e-mail their senators and representatives during the Senate recess (now until March 20). Otherwise, there will be no new H-1Bs approved until October 1, 2000, dealing a crippling blow to our economy. Sample letters and lists of e-mail addresses of Members of Congress may be found at http://shusterman.com/s2045ltr.html and http://shusterman.com/hr2698ltr.html If you support raising the H-1B cap, you are in good company. Both Vice-President Gore and Governor Bush have endorsed raising the cap. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan says that it is necessary to raise the H-1B cap to insure continued economic growth. White House spokesman Jake Siewert also expressed support for the concept of raising the cap: "We are ready to support a reasonable increase in the number of H-1B visas as long as it reflects a balanced approach that protects and prepares the U.S. work force." However, what the White House considers "reasonable" and "balanced" remains to be seen. Mr. Siewert's choice of words seem to mirror those of Rep. Lamar Smith (See "The Oh-So-Ugly" below). The Bad: The INS broke its long silence and announced that by February 15, 67,000 H-1B petitions subject to the cap had been approved, and that 44,000 H-1B petitions were pending. However, the agency has no idea how many of the 44,000 unadjudicated petitions are subject to the cap. Meanwhile, the KPMG audit of the alleged undercount of H-1B's from the last fiscal year has yet to be completed. Senator Abraham (R-MI) wrote a letter to the INS Commissioner about the audit on February 25. He detailed how the entire counting methodology is seriously flawed. His letter demonstrates how the INS is actually overcounting the number of H-1Bs subject to the cap. See http://shusterman.com/abraham300.html Also, the INS (but not DOL) issued H-1B regulations on February 29. See http://shusterman.com/h1breg00.html As of March 30, a newly-revised form I-129W must be submitted with every new H-1B petition. You may download and print the new I-129W form (assuming that the INS web site is operational) at http://shusterman.com/immforms.html The Just Plain Devious Trust Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) to craft a bill to raise the H-1B cap that is so devious and anti-immigrant that it is acceptable to few outside the Beltway except the anti-immigrant fringe groups which adore Rep. Smith. When the S.2045 was first introduced by Senators Hatch (R-UT) and Abraham (R-MI) and a bipartisan group of 20 senators, Rep. Smith actually seemed ready to cooperate when he stated, "We are ready to support a reasonable increase in the number of H-1B visas as long as it reflects a balanced approach that protects and prepares the U.S. work force." Then, on March 1, Rep. Smith and a few his colleagues introduced the so-called "Technology Worker Temporary Relief Act" (H.R.3814), a bill that is anything but "reasonable" and "balanced". The bill would raise the H-1B cap by 45,000, but only for this year, and only if and when the Labor Department issues regulations to implement the 1998 H-1B law, and only for large employers, and only if these employers take certain steps required by Rep. Smith... Under the Smith bill, the H-1B cap would fall starting on October 1, 2000, the discriminatory per country quotas would remain, as would the six-year maximum duration, etc., etc. To us, the bill is a wolf-in-sheep's clothing, but please judge for yourself. Read the complete text of H.R. 3814 at http://shusterman.com/hr3814.html and the section-by-section summary, with comments, at http://shusterman.com/hr3814sum.html and Rep. Smith's press release concerning H.R.3814 at http://shusterman.com/smith-pr.html Also, consider the reasoning of the American Immigration Lawyers Association supporting S.2045 and opposing H.R.3814 at http://shusterman.com/s2045act.html Will the bill that reaches the President's desk in April(?) look more like S.2045 or H.R.3814? It may depend on you! E-mail your Members of Congress now. Read our news ticker for regular updates. 4. Amnesty 2000: AFL-CIO Labor Federation Backs New Amnesty On February 16, 2000, the AFL-CIO, the giant labor federation called for an amnesty for undocumented workers, an end to employer sanctions and a restoration of benefits that were taken away by the 1996 anti-immigrant law. The AFL-CIO's action did not come as a complete surprise. As far back as the October issue of SHUSTERMAN'S IMMIGRATION UPDATE, we reported as follows: "Si, Se Puede!: The AFL-CIO may do an about-face on immigration. On October 11 in Los Angeles, some of the labor federation's fastest growing and most aggressive unions argued for an end to employer sanctions and for an amnesty for undocumented workers. Dolores Huerta of the United Farm Workers stated that ?our position is that we should give undocumented workers amnesty...'" Still, I had to pinch myself when I picked up the Los Angeles Times the other day and read about the unanimous approval that the AFL-CIO gave to a resolution calling for a new amnesty for undocumented workers. For too many years, many labor unions looked upon immigrants as little more that "cheap foreign labor", direct competition with union labor. Rather than try to organize foreign-born workers, they demanded their exclusion. As far back as the 1880's, union opposition to Chinese laborers working for pennies an hour to build our railroads led to the infamous "Chinese Exclusion Act". Organized labor supported "Operation Wetback", the giant round-up and deportation of thousands of Latinos, immigrants and U.S. citizens alike, in the 1950's. Labor union support for sanctions against employers who hired undocumented workers helped pass the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Seen in this context, the ALF-CIO's call for a new amnesty and an end to employer sanctions represents a 180-degree turnabout for organized labor. The labor federation has learned the hard way that it is only possible to organize workers who are legally present in the U.S. This is because there are some unscrupulous employers who are all too eager to exploit illegal aliens. When a union tries to organize them, the employer "suddenly discovers" that it needs to fire these workers on the ground that they would be violating the I-9 laws by keeping them on the payroll. How likely is it that the AFL-CIO's resolution will result in legislation during the current legislative session? Not likely at all considering the present makeup of the Congress. Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Immigration, issued a terse press release in response to the AFL-CIO's resolution entitled "Union Bosses Sell Out Workers". Other Congressional leaders were adamant that the AFL-CIO's proposals would not see the light of day. Even the Clinton Administration declined to comment on the proposal. However, Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), the Chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said the caucus members would "look forward to working with the AFL-CIO and the business community to reform our immigration policy...we believe that these immigrants have made impressive contributions to our work force and to our nation." The AFL-CIO's press release, the text of their resolution, Rep. Smith's response and much more may be found at http://shusterman.com/toc-amnesty.html 5. Derivative Citizenship: Using The Law To Perform "Miracles" Back in the late 1970's, as an INS Citizenship Attorney, I used to interview persons born abroad who claimed U.S. citizenship through their parents. Although the laws pertaining to this area of law were (and are) sufficiently complex and obscure to make the whole exercise somewhat interesting, I always had the feeling that my mastery of these laws, like my knowledge of high school algebra, would be almost totally useless as a private attorney. Well, it ain't necessarily so! During the past few years, a number of people, some of whom had read my article about derivative citizenship at http://shusterman.com/acquisit.html retained my services to help them establish U.S. citizenship, and free them from the constraints of the immigration laws as they apply to "aliens". Consider - Example #1: After a half dozen other attorneys had turned them away, the parents of a young man incarcerated for a criminal conviction in Nevada, retained me to represent their son. I explained to them that because their son had become a permanent resident of the U.S. as a child, and since both parents had naturalized prior to his 18th birthday, their son had become a U.S. citizen "by operation of law". I'll never forget the Immigration Judge words, spoken during the telephonic "removal" hearing, "Well Mr. Shusterman, it seems that you have no defense and that your client is subject to deportation." I answered that unless the INS had been given the authority to deport U.S. citizens, I thought that my client had a perfect defense. Two weeks later, the judge terminated the removal proceedings on the ground that my client was a citizen of the U.S. Example #2: A woman seeking to come to the U.S. called me from the Cayman Islands. After inquiring about her U.S. citizen father, I determined that despite being born abroad, she was a citizen of the U.S. She now holds a U.S. passport. Example #3: Of all the recent derivative citizenship cases that I have handled recently, the one I'm proudest of involves a man born in Canada named Brian Olsen. Brian's wife was born in one of the former Soviet Republics, and he needed to prove that he was a U.S. citizen in order to obtain a green card for her so that they could both move to the U.S. Like the young man in Nevada and the woman in the Cayman Islands, I was able to prove that Brian was a U.S. citizen without ever meeting him in person. Brian had tried on his own to obtain a Certificate of Citizenship from the INS in Montana. He was told that he was not a citizen, and that it was a waste of his time to even apply! The problem was that neither Brian, his parents, nor his grandparents were born in the U.S. However, Brian is not the kind of person who takes "no" for an answer, especially when he thinks he's right. I went back five generations to before the Civil War to prove Brian was a U.S. citizen before obtaining a U.S. Passport for him. Explore the laws of derivative citizenship by reading Brian's story at http://shusterman.com/olsen.html By the way, I have completely changed my opinion about the value of my knowledge of the obscure laws of derivation and acquisition. (However, I still don't know what the value of algebra is ;-) 6. Immigration Trivia Quiz: Immigrant Achievement Awards It is March again, and I am flying out to Washington, D.C. for the annual Immigrant Achievement Awards. Immigrants who have made significant achievements in the United States will be honored at a special ceremony. The winner of this month's trivia quiz will be the first person (other than an immigration attorney) who sends an e-mail message to carl.shusterman at gte.net answering each of the questions posed at http://shusterman.com/honorees.html The prize is a free legal consultation during the month of March. 7. Chat Schedule and Online Transcripts: Amnesty Chat We now have over a dozen chat transcripts online. Among the topics covered are how to obtain a temporary working visa, permanent residence and U.S. citizenship, new laws pertaining to nurses and physicians, how to complete immigration forms, special problems encountered by computer professionals and by persons born in India and China, the outlook for the Visa Bulletin, and an I-9 primer for HR managers and employees. This coming Monday, on March 13th at 6pm PST (9pm EST), we will have a chat entitled "H-1B's: What Happens When The Cap Is Reached?" Our most recent chats were: * New Amnesty? Reaction to Labor's Proposal (March 6) * Nurses: H-1C's, TN's and Permanent Residence (February 21) * Raising the H-1B Cap (February 14) If you have an idea for a chat topic, please send me an e-mail message at carl at shusterman.com and we (My chat sponsors at About.com and CareerPath.com and I will take it under consideration). For a list of upcoming chats and transcripts of past chats, see http://shusterman.com/toc-chat.html 8. Budget: Administration Proposes Building on Past Initiatives by Maurice Belanger, National Immigration Forum In the President's budget, submitted in February, are several immigration-related initiatives that build on those begun in recent years. Some were proposed last year, but were rejected. English and Civics. $75 million is proposed to fund programs that provide English language instruction linked to civics and life skills. (A knowledge of English and an understanding of the history and government of the U.S. are prerequisites for naturalization, for the most part.) Last year, Congress allocated approximately $25 million for this program. Non-profit community organizations have been eligible for grants under this program, as well as state educational agencies, institutions of higher learning, and local educational agencies. Improving INS Services. First the good news. The Administration proposes $127.3 million for an Immigration Services Capital Investment Account(ISCIA). The INS will use this money to fund infrastructure improvements, system upgrades, and to reduce the various backlogs in immigration services. This new dedicated account is separate from the Examinations Fee Account(EFA)--the account that is funded by fees collected from immigrants applying for benefits. Up to now, new infrastructure and system upgrades have been paid for out of the EFA, which has been unable to pay for both the upgrades and the adjudications of ever-increasing applications for immigration benefits. The bad news? A lot of dominoes have to fall before this funding comes through. $34.8 million of the proposed ISCIA comes from direct appropriations. The remainder, $92.5 million, assumes two things: that there is a restoration of 245(I), and that there is a new "Premium Service Fee" of $1,000 for business-related applications which will guarantee a 15-day turnaround time. All proposals require separate legislation. 245(I), to refresh your memory, is a section of the immigration law which allowed the adjustment of status of persons otherwise eligible for an immigrant visa but here illegally, after payment of a $1,000 penalty fee. It is this penalty fee that the administration is counting on for the ISCIA. After a hard-fought battle, Congress eliminated Section 245(I) three years ago, for all but those who had petitions pending as of January 14, 1998, and it is unclear that it is ready to fight the battle again. Any attempt to restore 245(I) would likely be fought to the death by House Immigration Subcommittee Chair Lamar Smith (R-TX), who saw the provision as a loophole for other enforcement provisions in the law. On the other hand, new voices are entering the immigration debate, including businesses that are very interested in stabilizing their workforce. Section 245(I) has also been attractive to appropriators in Congress, who see the $1,000 penalty fee as an important revenue generator. The $1,000 premium fee for business applications is contemplated to be used in part for the special processing of these applications. Leftover funds would be used to fund the ISCIA. The premium for business applications does not exactly have immigrant advocates jumping up and down. There is some skepticism that the fee would actually go to reducing family immigration and naturalization backlogs. In a meeting with advocates in February, the INS could not say how funds collected from this fee would translate into reducing other backlogs. Restoration of Benefits. The Administration again proposes to restore public safety net benefits eliminated by the 1996 welfare reform law. The benefits restoration would amount to $2.5 billion over the next five years, and include the following: * SSI and Medicaid eligibility would be restored to legal immigrants who entered the U.S. after the enactment of the welfare law (8/22/96), who have been in the U.S. for five years, and who become disabled after entry ($1.2 billion). * Food Stamp eligibility would be restored to legal immigrants who were in the country on or before 8/22/96 and subsequently reach age 65 ($135 million). Adult legal immigrants who entered the U.S. on or before 8/22/96, and who are living in households with Food Stamp-eligible children, would also have eligibility restored ($430 million). * States would be given the option of providing Medicaid or the State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) for legal immigrant children and pregnant women regardless of their date of entry ($687 million). Adult legal immigrant parents of children covered by SCHIP or Medicaid would also be covered in a proposed family coverage program ($513 million). Congress has had hearings on many aspects of the budget, but it is too early to guess the fate of any of these proposals. The final decisions on budget matters generally aren't made until just before Congress adjourns (if not before the end of the Fiscal Year at the end of September). This year, Congress anticipates adjourning in early October. 9. Web Site: Executive Office For Immigration Review (EOIR) The EOIR is a Justice Department agency which includes the Immigration Courts, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) and the Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer (OCAHO) and various other subagencies. We link to the EOIR homepage at http://shusterman.com/toc-dpt.html#5 Recently, we have noticed that the EOIR website has been updated to include the following new sections: * Special Report - Evaluation of the EOIR-Funded Rights Presentation Pilot Project * Q & As on the New Streamlining Procedures at the BIA * BIA: Practice Manual and Questions and Answers Of the three new additions, the "BIA Practice Manual and Questions and Answers" is far and away the most helpful to immigrants in removal, deportation and exclusion proceedings and their representatives. It consists of the following three sections: (A) Practice Manual: Guides attorneys and representatives on practice before the BIA. The Practice Manual is a 148-page document which contains 13 chapters on the following subjects: (1) The BIA; (2) Appearances before the BIA; (3) Filing with the BIA; (4) Appeals of Immigration Judge Decisions; (5) Motions before the BIA; (6) Stays and Expedite Requests; (7) Bond; (8) Oral Argument; (9) Visa Petitions; (10) Fines; (11) Forms; (12) Freedom of Information Act; and (13) Other Information. The Practice Manual also contains the following eight appendices: (A) Mailing Addresses; (B) Directory; (C) Organizational Chart; (D) Deadlines;(F) Forms; (G) Sample Proof of Service and (H) Sample Certificate of Translation. (B) Q & A's On Proceedings: Answers questions often asked by people with cases before the BIA. The Questions and Answers on Proceedings Before the Board is a 57-page document which contains the following five chapters: (1) General Questions; (2) Appeals Procedures; (3) Motions Procedures; (4) After An Appeal or Motion Is Filed; and (5) Helpful Information including a Glossary, Sample Cover Page and Directory of Important Phone Numbers. (C) Q & A's On Oral Argument: Guides attorney and representatives through the oral argument process. The Questions and Answers on Oral Argument is a 10-page document containing 31 questions and answers. All three of the above documents are in PDF format, were scanned into the website, and were last updated on November 1, 1999. Although these documents are extremely useful to attorneys and to the general public, the BIA-Immigration Courts section of the EOIR website leaves much to be desired. Here are a few ideas for what needs to be done: * Forms: The EOIR website does not allow persons to download BIA forms. To do so, one must visit a private website. See http://shusterman.com/ctforms.html When the INS placed their forms online last year, over one million forms were downloaded within the first two months. This is clearly a service which the public desires. * Court Listings: The EOIR publishes a nationwide list of Immigration Courts, Court Administrators, Judges, Addresses and Phone Numbers. Although it never seems to be current, it is still useful. We post it at http://shusterman.com/toc-dpt.html#8 Why doesn't EOIR? * Local Operating Procedures: A number of local immigration courts have published their own operating procedures. They often include such important items as filing procedures, motions to change venue, withdrawal or substitution of representation and continuances. We post local operating procedures at 15 locations around the U.S., from Arlington, Virginia to San Francisco, California at http://shusterman.com/toc-dpt.html#8 We understand that the Immigration Court in Seattle, Washington has recently proposed new operating procedures. Shouldn't all existing and proposed operating procedures be listed on EOIR's website? Actually, the existing operating procedures are listed on the EOIR web site, but are buried so deeply that it is easier to find the Lost Continent of Atlantis than the local operating rules. * Precedent Decisions: During the last half of the 20th Century, the BIA, the Attorney General and the INS have published over 3,400 precedent decisions. These decisions are vitally important in determining the rights of aliens under U.S. immigration laws. The EOIR website has done a good job in posting new decisions since October 1996. However, what about pre-October 1996 decisions? The INS website posts many, but not all, precedent decisions rendered between 1953 and 1998. See http://shusterman.com/toc-dpt.html#6 We hope that the EOIR will soon post a complete database of precedent decisions, and indicate which have been reversed, and which are still in force. 10. Answers to the Trivia Quiz: "Lennon Read A Book Of Marx" While the song "American Pie" alludes to many Rock and Roll legends, from Buddy Holly to Mick Jagger, the only individual mentioned by name in the song is John Lennon of the Beatles (and "...while Lennon read a book of Marx..."). For the lyrics to "American Pie", see http://www.americanpie2000.com/americanpie/ The Board of Immigration Appeals ordered Lennon deported in Matter of Lennon, 15 I&N Dec. 9 (BIA 1974) because he had been convicted of possession of marijuana in Great Britain. Lennon escaped deportation when his attorney, Leon Wildes, succeeded in having Lennon's deportation order overruled in the Federal Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, in Lennon v. INS, 527 F.2d 187 (2nd Cir. 1975). The reason for the reversal was that the British law for possession of marijuana did not require as an element of the crime that Lennon had knowledge that he had marijuana in his possession. Therefore, the conviction violated the standards of American jurisprudence and could not be used as a basis for deportation. Another immigration attorney, Careen Brett Shannon (with a little help from a friend), has adapted the lyrics of a Lennon-McCartney song in a way that may tickle the funny bones of some of our subscribers who work in the IT industry. See http://shusterman.com/usa.html The INS wasn't the only federal agency to go after John Lennon. The FBI also got into the act. A recent article in the Christian Science Monitor, "FBI to Scholars: We Want to Hold Your Hand" recounts the difficulties encountered by scholars who used the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to try to get the FBI to turn over its files on the rock star. Unlike the deportation case, the FOIA case went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. See http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2000/02/17/fp15s1-csm.shtml But I digress. Who is the winner of this month's trivia quiz? The envelope, please...The winner is Hari Naidu! Here is his winning entry: "The answers to this months quiz as best as I can tell are: A. John Lennon B. 9 October 1940, Liverpool, England C. Julia, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band D. Please click on the link below for the answer to D http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/cgi-bin/folioisa.dll/interim.nfo/query=lennon/doc/{ @5099}/words=4? or alternatively the path from your website is: Click on BIA on the Alphabetical site index on the left. Click on Decisions of the Board of Immigration Appeals under the heading "Board of Immigration Appeals" Click on Query Search "Lennon" Clicking on the hotlink above is easier!! warmest regards, hari" ************************************************* When asked for further information, Hari replied: "Thanx and it sure is nice to win something for a change! Since I am a fan of the Beatles and loved `American Pie`, I knew instantly that the person you were referring to had to be John Lennon. The answers to B and C were relatively easy too since there are a multitude of sites devoted to the Beatles. In this instance, the rollingstone.tunes.com website had a pretty good biography of Lennon. The tough part as you know was the answer to D. I had to spend a good deal of time trying to get to the exact decision of the BIA. Finally after some creative searches, I got to a decision that mentioned the Lennon decision and since my wife was hollering at me to go to bed, I decided that this would be my best effort answer and sent off the e-mail. About myself, I am a native of Malaysia and got my engineering degree at the National University of Singapore. Came to the Bay Area three years ago after being posted here by the Tokyo based company I work for. I am an engineer in the optical networking field and am currently on an L1 temporary work visa. Your website/newsletter is a tremendously useful resource which I use to educate myself on immigration issues. I have already filled in the consultation questionnaire on the website and scheduled the appointment. Look forward to talking to you on Friday. warmest regards, hari" Carl "How Come No One Said the 'White Album'?" Shusterman March 11, 2000 P.S. - Next month, SHUSTERMAN'S IMMIGRATION UPDATE, in a desperate move to attract new subscribers will premier its first annual swimsuit issue! From aalibali at yahoo.com Sun Mar 12 22:02:22 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2000 19:02:22 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Conference in UK Message-ID: <20000313030222.10054.qmail@web116.yahoomail.com> The Yugoslav Crisis: international responses and the way forward ---------------------------------------------- University of Bradford, UK 25th-26th March 2000 Registration 9.30-10.30 am on Saturday ---------------------------- List members are invited to attend the conference. Please note that bookings for accomodation have to be made by Monday 20th March and that there is a discount for early registration! Further details are available on the webpage http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/rusees/conference.html A booking form is attached in ASCII (txt) and other details are similarly appended on text format. The following people have been invited to present papers at the conference. There are in addition a considerable number of presentations by members of NGOs, local governments and a number of keynote speakers. A draft timetable will follow shortly. ------------ Dragica Milinkovic Centre for Advanced Legal Studies, Belgrade Civil Society, Civil Disobedience and NGOs in Serbia Vesna Golic Group 484, Belgrade Civil Society and Democracy in the Balkans & the role of NGOs and political opposition in this process Ana Devic Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, USA The Multilayered Amnesia of Yugoslavis's Breakdown: Social Sciences Troubled Vision of Nationalism Radojka Vukcevic University of Podgorica, Montenegro, Yugoslavia Bosnian and Serb Krajina Children: More than Victims Zoran Lakic University of Podgorica, Montenegro, Yugoslavia Breaking or Disintegration of Yugoslavia Ratomir Ristic Department of English,University of Nis, Yugoslavia Ljilijana Bogoeva Faculty of Dramatic Arts, University of Belgrade The Representation of the Yugoslav Crisis in Film and Drama Dragan Simeunovic Faculty of Political Science, University of Belgrade Kosovo War in Yugoslavia: State and Perspective David Steele Centre for Strategic & International Studies, Washington Religious Communitites' Role in Conflict Prevention and Resolution Irina Ristic University of Munich Western media and NATO's Yugoslav War Jeff Heyman Peralta Community College, California, USA Media and War: Yugoslavia Case Study Glenn Fieldman San Francisco State University Uneven Development and Right-Wing Populism in Yugoslavia Zoran Kusovac Sentinel Regional Security Assessment, Janes Disintegration, Division, Integration: Strategic Prospects for Balkans States and Sub-State Entities Alain Kessi Bulgaria Kosovo/NATO: Economy of the War and of Communication Tobias Vogel, Triadafilos Triadafilopoulos International Rescue Committee, Sarajevo The Atlantic Alliance, Great Power Policy and 'Humanitarian Intervention' in the Balkans Vassilis Fouskas University of Kingston, London Nato, Europe and the Balkans Luca Ratti Centre for European Studies, University of Southhampton NATO Enlargement to the Balkans: The View from Rome Jos De la Haye Centre for Peace Research, K.U. Leuven Missed Opportunities in Bosnia-Hergovina Ekaterina Stepanova Moscow Centre, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Russia in the Kosovo Crisis Wim van Meurs Centre for Applied Policy Research, University of Munich The Stability Pact: European Ideals and Regional Realities Anton Anfalov Zlato Chernomoria, Ukraine Developing Strategy of Ukraine and Russian after the recent NATO/Yugoslav War: Challenge to National Paradigms Chad Staddon Faculty of the Built Environment, University of the West of England, Bristol Militarism and Nature at the Millennium: the environmental consequences of the 1999 NATO campaign in FRY Alex Bellamy Department of International Politics, University of Aberystwyth The Path(s) to Peace? Reassessing the Kosovo Settlements Richard Clarke, Marija Anteric Birkbeck College and Kings College, University of London Conflict and Environment in the former Yugoslavia Jennifer Braswell Regional Environmental Centre, Budapest The Multilayered Amnesia of Yugoslavia's Breakdown: Social Sciences Troubled Vision of Nationalism Valentina Vucic Regional Environmental Centre, Budapest Environment Issues in the Context of Economic Sanctions Against Yugoslavia and War Destruction David Chandler Leeds Metropolitan University The Lessons of Bosnia Aleksandar Fatic Institute of International Politics and Economics, Belgrade Western and Serbian NGOs in the aftermath of NATO bombing of Yugoslavia Dennis Browne Bates College, Lewiston, Maine, USA Cultures of Deliberation and Expediency: an alternative to the nationalist paradigm Will Bartlett School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol Corporate Governance and Economic Reconstruction in the Yugoslav Sucessor States Margaret Cobble University of Plymouth, UK Bosnia: neo-liberal development Strategies and Consequences for Economic and Human Development Phil Wright University of Sheffield The Effects of Sanctions on Yugoslavia Radoje Lausevic Serbian Ecological Society The Environmental effect of NATO's War Boris Young USA An Emerging Political Crisis:Self-management and Market Reform in Yugoslavia During the Early 1980s Dusan Ignjatovic YUCOM, Belgrade Draft Evaders and Deserters Pekka Haavisto UNEP, Geneva The joint UNEP/UNCHS(Habitat) Balkans Task Force -- Bob Jiggins For the international conference on Yugoslavia see http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/rusees/conference.html Announcement mailing list send blank message to: YU-conference-Bradford-subscribe at egroups.com Tel: +44(0)7050 615511 Fax: +44(0)7050 644569 Email: rjiggins at bradford.ac.uk __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From mehollim at hotmail.com Mon Mar 13 16:19:23 2000 From: mehollim at hotmail.com (Mimoza Meholli) Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 13:19:23 PST Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Kosovo student leader sentenced to 15 years imprisonment Message-ID: <20000313211924.37542.qmail@hotmail.com> From: Wolfgang Plarre >Monday, March 13 11:28 PM SGT > >Kosovo student leader sentenced to 15 years imprisonment > >NIS, Yugoslavia, March 13 (AFP) - > >A Kosovo Albanian student leader was sentenced Monday to 15 years in >prison on terrorism charges after he refused to defend himself before a >Serb court. > The court in the southern Serbian town of Nis issued the verdict >after only two days of hearings in the trial of Albin Kurti, who as >leader of the Kosovo Albanians Independent Student Union led street >protests against Serbian rule in his home province in 1997 and 1998. > He was arrested by Serb police during last year's NATO bombing >campaign against Yugoslavia, and accused of being a member of a >"terrorist group", the term used by Belgrade for separatist guerrilla >movement the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). > Kurti, who worked as an assistant to KLA spokesman Adem Demaci, >made a defiant statement at the opening of the trial on Thursday, >accusing Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's regime of "fascism". > He refused to mount a defence or respond to prosecution questions, >saying he did not recognise the court's legitimacy. > "This court has nothing to do with truth and justice, it serves the >policies of Milosevic's regime which has kept Kosovo under occupation," >he said. > The court-appointed defence lawyer, Branislav Ciric, said he would >appeal the verdict despite Kurti's objections. > The prosecutor also said Kurti "organised first-aid courses" among >Kosovo's Albanian students with the purpose of "assisting wounded KLA >members and donating blood." > Ahead of Monday's verdict, Kurti again rejected offering a defence >and said: "The defence lawyer, the prosecutor and the court are all the >same." > Kurti, wearing civilian clothes and bearing no visible signs of >physical mistreatment, reacted calmly to the verdict. > At the start of the trial he had said: "It is not important for me >whether you sentence me or for how long." > "Everything I did, I did voluntarily, with dignity and I am proud >of it and would do it again." > The trial was attended by the representatives of the UN Human >Rights office in Belgrade, Human Rights Watch and non-government >Belgrade groups the Humanitarian Law Center and the Committee of >Jurists. > They declined to comment on the sentence. > Kurti is one of about 1,300 Kosovo Albanians still held in Serbia >on terrorism charges, according to the Humanitarian Law Center. > In December, ethnic Albanian human rights activist Flora Brovina >was sentenced to 12 years in prison for "terrorist activities" in a >trial condemned by the United States and international human rights >groups. > More than 400 Albanians have been released since mid-June, when >Belgrade transferred about 2,050 prisoners from Kosovo as it withdrew >from the southern province in the face of NATO air attacks, the >International Committee for the Red Cross said. > >Copyright ? 2000 AFP > >-- >******************************************************************** > Wiederaufbau Kosov@ - Reconstruction Kosov@ - Rind?rtimi i Kosov at s > http://www.osnabrueck.netsurf.de:8080/~dbein/wiederaufbau.htm >******************************************************************** > > +---------------------------------------------------+ > | Wolfgang Plarre | > | Dillinger Str. 41, D-86637 Wertingen, Germany | > | E-mail: wplarre at bndlg.de w.plarre at kosova.nu | > | Tel: +49-8272-98974 Fax: +49-8272-98975 | > | Internet: http://www.bndlg.de/~wplarre | > +---------------------------------------------------+ > _________________________________________________________ > > Ein Zeichen setzen: @ ! KosovO + KosovA = Kosov@ ! > _________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com From aalibali at yahoo.com Mon Mar 13 21:16:09 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 18:16:09 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Ditet e Poezise ne Elbasan Message-ID: <20000314021609.24951.qmail@web125.yahoomail.com> "Ditet poetike; Vere 2000" mbledhin poete shqiptare dhe te huaj Bashkia e qytetit te Elbasanit ne bashkepunim me shoqaten "Dita e veres", do te organizojne nga data 14-16 mars, mitingun nderkombetar poetik, titulluar "Ditet poetike; Vere 2000". Ne kete aktivitet, i cili do te zhvillohet ne sallen e Teatrit "Skampa" te qytetit, do te marrin pjese poete nga vendi, Kosova, Maqedonia, Greqia dhe Hollanda. Organizatoret e aktivitetit "Ditet poetike; Vere 2000", zhvilluar edhe nje vit me pare ne kuadrin e festes tradicionale te veres, kesaj here do te akordojne cmimin e karierres te emertuar "Kurora e veres 2000", ku fituesi i cmimit do te mbjelle nje peme simbolike ne lulishten e poeteve ne qytet, qe do te quhet e tille me kete rast si dhe cmimin "Skampini" dhe "Harpa rinore". Ndersa ne daten 15 mars do te zhvillohet parada e yjeve poetike, ku do te marrin pjese poete te njohur shqiptare si Xhevahir Spahiu, Dritero Agolli, Natasha Lako, Besnik Mustafaj, Ali Podrimja etj. Gjate kesaj dite do te vizitohet stacioni i peste i rruges "Egnatia" si dhe Manastiri i Shen Gjon Vladimirit ne fshatin Shijon te rrethit te Elbasanit. Ky eshte aktiviteti i dyte i ketij lloji qe zhvillohet ne kuadrin e festimeve te dites se veres ne kete qytet, aktivitet i cili ne te ardhmen synon te kthehet ne nje tradite. Vitin e kaluar fituese e ketij aktiviteti ishte poetesha elbasanase Beatrice Ballici. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From aalibali at yahoo.com Mon Mar 13 23:13:46 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 20:13:46 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Interesting information and website Message-ID: <20000314041346.1966.qmail@web110.yahoomail.com> == We write to introduce you to the Balkan Information Exchange (BIE). BIE is an Internet news and information clearinghouse for the Balkans region. Regional Politics. Reconstruction. Humanitarian Aid. Current Events. People. Places. Prospects for Peace. BIE is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense in support of United Nations Resolution 1244. It is designed to provide global readers a broad range of information by assembling accurate reports from the leading international news agencies, news wires and media sources. BIE shows you what the world is reporting about the Balkans region. The site is updated daily and is available in Albanian, English, French, Greek, Russian and Serbian languages, and does not require registration, fees or other login passwords. It is free and open to all. We ask you visit the site at: http://www.balkan-info.com After you have visited the site we would appreciate your comments, thoughts and ideas. Please e-mail us at info at balkan-info.net. Once you have visited the site please feel free to recommend BIE to colleagues, students, relatives and friends. Should you be interested to create a link from your site to ours, please let us know, and we'll create a link back to you. Of course, the appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the United States Department of Defense of the linked web site or the information, products or services contained therein. Nor does the United States Department of Defense exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of the BIE site. Visit www.balkan-info.com every day. We look forward to hearing from you. Thank you again for your time and interest. Editorial staff info at balkan-info.net __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From pulab at gusun.georgetown.edu Tue Mar 14 02:36:32 2000 From: pulab at gusun.georgetown.edu (Besnik Pula) Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 02:36:32 -0500 Subject: [ALBSA-Info] http://www.FreeAlbinKurti.com Message-ID: http://www.FreeAlbinKurti.com From aalibali at yahoo.com Tue Mar 14 20:31:53 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 17:31:53 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] ''They turned us into Albania'' Message-ID: <20000315013153.18640.qmail@web108.yahoomail.com> Greek government in panic as stock exchange continues plunge By Patrick Quinn, Associated Press, 3/14/2000 18:46 ATHENS, Greece (AP) Hundreds of angry investors chanting ''We want our money back'' gathered Tuesday outside the Athens Stock Exchange after shares took another plunge in a crisis that is growing increasingly political ahead of elections. Riot squads stood ready to protect the exchange and stock brokers fled out the back door of the building after the market's general index dropped 6.6 percent, or 320.90 points, to close at 4542.65 its lowest point since August. ''I lost not only my money, but the money of my clients who will one day kill me,'' said Lambros Yannoulis, a 57-year-old investment adviser with a major insurance company who joined about 350 protesters. Others in the crowd chanted ''they are robbing us'' and ''they turned us into Albania,'' a reference to failed pyramid schemes that in 1997 led to widespread chaos in Greece's northern neighbor. The plummet of the once-booming exchange came as President Costis Stephanopoulos ordered parliament dissolved to prepare for general elections on April 9. Just a year ago, Athens was one of the world's hottest markets. Premier Costas Simitis called early elections last month to take advantage of the healthy economic climate. Nearly 1 million Greeks about one-tenth of the population are thought to own shares. The government has been at a loss to curb the slide, which comes as other regional stock markets remain strong. But opposition parties accuse the government of harnessing the market for political gain by promoting stocks during a boom in early and mid-1999. Thousands of investors suffered huge losses when the exchange suddenly began deflating late last year, a result of the government's earlier enthusiasm for the market, the opposition says. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From pulab at gusun.georgetown.edu Thu Mar 16 00:46:43 2000 From: pulab at gusun.georgetown.edu (Besnik Pula) Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 00:46:43 -0500 Subject: [ALBSA-Info] imazhe nga e kaluara Message-ID: Te dashur miq, shikoni video-klipin ne kete adrese: http://www.rrota.net/luftetari.rm Aty do te shihni gjykimin e nje djali shqiptar, i akuzuar se ka degjuar muzike te huaj. Per kete "krim" ai denohet me pushkatim. -Besniku From aalibali at yahoo.com Wed Mar 15 22:45:00 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 19:45:00 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Cultural life in Tirana Message-ID: <20000316034501.6339.qmail@web112.yahoomail.com> Arts Guide Cinema Millennium Cinema Tel: 57851 Ending soon. "American Beauty" ? depicts the secret life of two families. Taboo issues, emotions and feelings treated. Cast: Annette Bening (Carolyn); Kevin Spacey (Lester); Mena Suvari (Angela) etc. Script: Allan Ball. (tickets L300) Until March 16. Shows on 9:30; 12:30; 14:30; 17:30; 19:30. Sleepy Hollow (The Heads will Roll), with Johnny Depp from March 17. Shows on 10:00 &13.00 (tickets L200) 14:30&19:30 (tickets L300). International fair Spring 2000, organised by expo-prima; AEDA and the Union of Trade and Industry Chambers. April 13-18. For more information, call: 29047; 50767/68 Exhibition "Reflections over painting" - Exhibition by Hasan Nallbani. Large-dimensioned paintings (200x143) in oil and acrylic displayed. Inaugurated on March 15 (Wednesday) at 6 p.m. Entrance free. Addr: Sheshi: "Skenderbeg". National Gallery of Arts Tel: 260 33 - Third edition of "Marubi 2000". International exhibition of photography. From March 25-April 15. - "Post Eva" ? Exhibition by painter Adburrahim Buza. >From April 29 to May 30. Galleries Gallery Te&Gi Tel: 304 16 The first private Gallery opens an exhibition with the best works of painters Arben Theodhosi, Gentian Bushi, Adrian Kabo, Fatmir Dardha, Skender Kamberi, Nestor Jonuzi, Artan Dedei, Ziso Kamberi and Adrian Cene. Inaugurated on March 1 in celebration of the gallery's seventh anniversary. Open until end-March. Addr: Rr. Durresit, Nr. 144/A. Entrance free. Studio Spahiu Some 60 arts and crafts on display. Ornaments, busts, pipes, handicrafts, etc., in ceramics, wood, plaster of Paris, alabaster, etc. The works of the gifted young artist Besim Spahiu constitute a world in themselves. Prices vary between Lek1,000 and 10,000. Address: Rr 'Bajram Curri', Pallati "Shallvare". Opening hours: 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. Galeria Albqeramik Mira Tel: 473 58 First-class ceramics on display. A variety of sizes and shapes, ranging from small decorated pottery, plates and sculptures to impressively-large, floor-standing vases, distinguished by intricate appliques set off by warm, earth-coloured and oven-fired glazes to last for eternity. Works created by Mira Kucuku, a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana. This exhibition, which opened in 1993, has gained rave notices in many international ceramic exhibitions. Address: Bulevardi Zhan D'Ark, Pallati Shallvare # 9. Open every day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. & 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Entrance free. The World Heritage Site of Butrint is open to visitors seven days a week from 9 a.m. until sunset. Butrint is a special archaeological site - a micro-cosm of Mediterranean history from the archaic period up to the Venetians. 3,000 years of ever-changing settlements have left their mark and today the visitor can wander among the ruins of one of the great cities of the ancient world. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From aalibali at yahoo.com Wed Mar 15 22:35:35 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 19:35:35 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Bribes Message-ID: <20000316033535.4801.qmail@web112.yahoomail.com> Greek Doctor Jailed After Albanian Bribe ATHENS - A senior physician at a Greek hospital near the Albanian border was sent to prison after taking a bribe from an Albanian patient, the Greek daily Kathimerini reported on Thursday. Prof. S. Tsemanatzis was director of Ioannina General Hospital when he was accused of taking a 300,000-drachma (some $900) payment from an Albanian patient. He has been sentenced by a court to two months in prison. The city of Ioannina is some 45 kilometres (28 miles) from the Albanian border. In the last few days Greek universities and medical institutions are dealing with an increasing number of reports of bribing. The universities' disciplinary committee on Wednesday expelled two university professors - one of mathematics and the other of medicine - for taking bribes. Albanian students are believed to be involved in the affair, but details on the matter were not available. The committee decided unanimously to dismiss A. Dallas, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Athens University, who has been charged with taking bribes, racketeering, using forged papers and allegedly being the head of a ring which sold examination papers to students or corrected their papers for a fee ranging from 100,000 to 500,000 drachmas ($300 - $1,500). __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From aalibali at law.harvard.edu Thu Mar 16 13:52:31 2000 From: aalibali at law.harvard.edu (aalibali at law.harvard.edu) Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 13:52:31 -0500 Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Book announcement Message-ID: New book announcement from Hurst - New book announcement from Hurst - THE BALKANS SINCE 1453L.S. Stavrianos With a new introduction by Traian Stoianovich 'Virtually every scholar and teacher of Balkan history and civilization today began training with Stavrianos's seminal work, The Balkans since 1453(Holt Rinehart,1963). Not only was it the principal work of synthesis for several decades (in a field which sorely lacked synthesis) but more significantly, it was, and remains, of considerable value because of its extensive coverage, clear organization, depth of analysis and readability. Stavrianos, who devoted nearly a decade to the project, defined two objectives in writing this book. First, he intended to synthesize the existing monographic and periodical literature on Balkan topics since the First World War, and second, he hoped to demonstrate the general importance of Balkan history by examining it in the context of European and world history. Not only did he accomplish his objectives with style and insight but, by identifying gaps in the scholarship, helped to shape much of the subsequent research in the field. The book, divided into six parts, covers the immense period from the Ottoman conquest to the aftermath of the Second World War. It begins with historical background, considers the rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire, the age of nationalism in the Balkans, the age of imperialism, and the age of crisis and war from 1914 to 1947. Stavrianos combines the imperial and local approaches, providing the reader with national histories, as well as a view of the Balkans in the larger context. He concludes with an extensive annotated bibliography. While other fine works of synthesis have been produced since Stavrianos wrote 'The Balkans since 1453', his book has not only stood the test of time but remains the defining general work in the study of Balkan civilisation. Those who grew up with this book enthusiastically applaud its reissue and warmly recommend it to the new generation of Balkan students.'(Dr Bernd J. Fischer, University of Indiana) Until his retirement L.S. STAVRIANOS was Professor of History at Northwestern University, Chicago. He is the author of numerous articles and more than twenty books, including Global History (Prentice Hall, 8th edn, 1999). A noted historian of the Balkans, Traian Stoianovich is Professor of History at Rutgers University, New Jersey. xxi, 947pp., 17 maps, 22 b/w illus. 1963/March 2000Pbk: ?19.50 1-85065-551-0 Hbk: ?45.00 1-85065-550-2Contents:Part I. Introduction - Part II. The Age of Ottoman Ascendancy: to 1566 - Part III. The Age of Ottoman Decline: 1566-1815 - Part IV. The Age of Nationalism: 1815-1878 - Part V. The Age of Imperialism and Capitalism - Part VI. Age of War and Crisis: 1914-1947 - TO ORDER A COPY OF 'THE BALKANS SINCE 1453', SEE BELOWHow to order books Please complete the form below and return together with your payment to: C. Hurst & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., 38 King Street, London WC2E 8JZ Telephone 0207-240-2666; Fax 0207-240-2667; Email: hurst at atlas.co.uk Payment in pounds by cheque drawn on a London bank (made payable to 'Marston Book Services Ltd') or by chargecard. You can also send your order via email: trade.order at marston.co.uk Please send me the 'THE BALKANS SINCE 1453' by L.S. Stavrianos: (1850655510) Qty Price ................................................................................ .................... ........ ........Sub-total........Postage cost........ Total cost........ Please add the following to your order to cover postage and packing UK: #2.50 per copy + 50p per additional copy; Europe: #4.00 per copy + 50p per additional copy; Rest of the World: #8.00 per copy + 50p per additional copy. 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Trade orders:Marston Book Services, PO Box 269, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4YN Phone: 01235-465500; Fax: 01235-465555; trade.order at marston.co.uk You can access our catalogue on the world wide web:http://www.hurstpub.co.uk/ -------------------------------- You can access our catalogue on the world wide web:http://www.hurstpub.co.uk/ --------------------------------Michael Dwyer (Director) C. Hurst & Co. (Publishers) Ltd.38 King Street, Covent GardenLondon WC2E 8JZ Phone: 020-7240-2666; Fax: 020-7240-2667Email: hurst at atlas.co.uk From ilirjani at datacomm.iue.it Fri Mar 17 11:53:49 2000 From: ilirjani at datacomm.iue.it (ALTIN ILIRJANI) Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 11:53:49 MET Subject: [ALBSA-Info] CfA: Tirana Summer School in PolSci and IR Message-ID: <200003171053.LAA02113@datacomm.iue.it> Call for Applications TIRANA SUMMER SCHOOL IN POLITICAL SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS. TIRANA, ALBANIA, JULY 9-31, 2000. Application deadline: 20 May 2000. Tirana summer school in Political Science and International Relations will offer six courses in Political Sociology; Comparative Politics; Governance in European Union and the Challenge of Enlargement; International Relations Theory; International Politics of the Balkans; and Public Choice. Applicants shall be young faculty members from Albanian universities in Albania, Kosova and Macedonia or Albanian graduate students of political science,international relations or their subdisciplines. Albanian Political Science Association will offer 40 scholarships to qualified applicants. Scholarships will cover tuition, readers and other study materials, travel and accommodation in Tirana. Courses will be offered by western professors of political science or international relations. However, seminars and tutorials will be led by young Albanian political scientists. Applications for teaching assistantship (TA) positions for all the courses offered are also welcomed. Ideal applicants for TA should be graduate students of political science or International Relations from Albania or Kosova. TA's will have all their expenses covered and receive remuneration per each teaching day. Application deadline for TA: 1 May 2000. For more information and application forms, please visit: http://www.seep.ceu.hu/alpsa/ or http://welcome.to/alpsa2000 or contact: Altin Ilirjani Central European University Department of Political Science Nador U. 9, 1051-Budapest Hungary Email: pphili66 at phd.ceu.hu Fax: (36-1) 327 3087 From aalibali at law.harvard.edu Fri Mar 17 12:21:37 2000 From: aalibali at law.harvard.edu (aalibali at law.harvard.edu) Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 12:21:37 -0500 Subject: [ALBSA-Info] [balkans] Conference: Living with the Beast: Everyday Life in Authoritarian Serbia, Clark U. Message-ID: An embedded message was scrubbed... From: bieberf at ceu.hu Subject: [balkans] Conference: Living with the Beast: Everyday Life in Authoritarian Serbia, Clark U. Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 16:20:50 -0500 Size: 4871 URL: From ispaho at bu.edu Sat Mar 18 12:44:38 2000 From: ispaho at bu.edu (Spaho) Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2000 12:44:38 -0500 (EST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] SHUSTERMAN'S IMMIGRATION UPDATE (Special Alert) (fwd) Message-ID: Subject: SHUSTERMAN'S IMMIGRATION UPDATE (Special Alert) MARCH 17, 2000 -- The General Counsel of the INS informed the American Immigration Lawyers Association today that the H-1B cap has been reached. A notice will be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, March 21st announcing this fact, and detailing procedures for petitions in the 'pipeline'. None of the 20,000 'extra' H-1B visas supposedly granted last year were applied toward this year's cap. Meanwhile, a new bill (H.R.3983) introduced in the House of Representatives last Wednesday would overhaul the H-1B system, end discriminatory per country quotas for EB visas and permit certain H-1B visaholders to extend their stays in the U.S. past six years. See http://www.shusterman.com/lofgren-hitech.html The Hatch-Abraham bill (S.2045) which passed the Senate Judiciary Committee by a vote of 16-2 is scheduled to be voted on by the full Senate during the week of April 10th. See http://www.shusterman.com/s2045mu.html While it is impossible to know how the INS will treat pending petitions, it is perhaps instructive to look at INS's procedures announced in 1999 after the cap was reached. See http://www.shusterman.com/hcap99regs.html For F-1 students and J-1 exchange visitors, see http://www.shusterman.com/fj-hrule.html Carl Shusterman March 17, 2000 From aalibali at yahoo.com Sat Mar 18 14:20:48 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2000 11:20:48 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] What to make of this? Message-ID: <20000318192048.20814.qmail@web124.yahoomail.com> Here is, most likely, a follow up. 15 illegal Kurds and their guide caught in Gjirokastra TIRANE, March 18 (ata) - The police of the district of Gjirokaster caught on Friday evening 15 illegal Kurds, local police Sources told ATA on Saturday. According to them, Decka, 38, resident in Jergucat of that district, is suspected to be the organiser of the men-smuggling for his own profit. Police accompanied the Kurds to the police commissariat for further verifications. A week ago, police of Gjirokastra seized 8 people, who, in cooperation with one another, had organised for several times the trafficking with illegal Kurds. This is the second case for this year that suspects for organisation of man-smuggling are caught, while, according to statistics of police, there is a considerable fall of the influx of illegals aiming to reach the Italian coast. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From kruja at fas.harvard.edu Mon Mar 20 17:13:40 2000 From: kruja at fas.harvard.edu (Eriola Kruja) Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 17:13:40 -0500 (EST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] ALBSA Comments Form (fwd) Message-ID: Anyone interested? Please let me know as soon as you can. Maybe we can send 2-3 people there. Also, forward to other folks not in the list, maybe they are interested. eriola. -------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 17:09:20 -0500 (EST) From: VanChristo at frosina.org To: webmaster at albstudent.org Subject: ALBSA Comments Form name = Van Christo submit_by = VanChristo at frosina.org url = http://www.frosina.org comments = English High School is holding an Ethnic Event on March 30th and has contacted Frosina to inquire if it would participate with an Albanian exhibit. I think this would an ideal situation to call attention to your group who should also be prepared to answer student questions about Albania and Kosova. I will, of course, help by providing Frosina infobits. I apologize for the short notice but I've been away for the past 3 weeks. Please advise ASAP so I can put you in touch with the appropriate person at English High School. Te fala, Van Christo From eribudo at hotmail.com Tue Mar 21 11:14:54 2000 From: eribudo at hotmail.com (ERI Budo) Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 08:14:54 PST Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Fwd: [Kcc-News] Human Rights Watch: Serb gang-rapes in Kosovo exposed (fwd) Message-ID: <20000321161454.91732.qmail@hotmail.com> >From: Mentor Cana >To: Kosova Crisis Center News and Information >Subject: [Kcc-News] Human Rights Watch: Serb gang-rapes in Kosovo exposed >(fwd) >Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 07:11:27 -0500 (EST) > > >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> READ & DISTRIBUTE FURTHER <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< > >--------------------------------------------------------------------- > Kosova Crisis Center (KCC) News Network: http://www.alb-net.com >--------------------------------------------------------------------- > > >---------- Forwarded message ---------- >Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 13:11:44 -0500 >From: Skye Donald >To: donalds at hrw.org >Subject: Serb gang-rapes in Kosovo exposed > >EMBARGOED UNTIL 00:01 AM GMT >TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2000 > >SERB GANG-RAPES IN KOSOVO EXPOSED > >(New York, March 21, 2000) -- Commanding officers bear criminal >responsibility for a pattern of gang-rapes by Serbian and Yugoslav >forces in Kosovo during the NATO bombing campaign, Human Rights Watch >said in a report released today. > >Human Rights Watch documented 96 cases of rape by Serbian and Yugoslav >forces against Kosovar Albanian women immediately before and during the >1999 bombing campaign, and believes that many more incidents of rape >have gone unreported. > >The report said that rapes were not rare and isolated acts committed by >individuals, but rather were used deliberately as an instrument to >terrorize the civilian population, extort money from families, and push >people to flee their homes. Virtually all of the sexual assaults Human >Rights Watch has documented were gang rapes involving at least two >perpetrators. > >The 37-page report is the first to combine all credible reporting on >rape during the Kosovo conflict, and includes a map of all documented >incidents of rape in Kosovo. > >"These are not occasional incidents committed by a few crazy men," said >Regan Ralph, executive director of the Women's Rights Division at Human >Rights Watch. "Rape was used as an instrument of war in Kosovo, and it >should be punished as such. The men who committed these terrible crimes >must be brought to justice." > >Human Rights Watch said its research did not confirm the allegations >that Serbian and Yugoslav forces had set up "rape camps" in Pec or >Djakovica. The organization criticized NATO, the U.S. government, and >the British government for spreading unconfirmed information about rape >while the NATO bombing campaign was underway. > >Since the end of the war, rapes of Serbian, Albanian, and Roma women by >ethnic Albanians -- sometimes by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army >(KLA) -- have also been documented. Human Rights Watch condemns these >human rights violations and continues to document post-conflict abuses >for future reports. However, rapes and other crimes of sexual violence >committed since the NATO-led troops entered Kosovo are beyond the scope >of this report. > >The report says that rapes in Kosovo took three basic forms: rapes in >women's homes, rapes during flight, and rapes in detention. > >In the first category, security forces entered private homes and raped >women either in the yard, in front of family members, or in an adjoining >room. In the second category, internally displaced people wandering on >foot and riding on tractors were repeatedly stopped, robbed, and >threatened by the Yugoslav Army, Serbian police, or paramilitaries. If >families could not produce cash, security forces told them that their >daughters would be taken away and raped; in some cases, even when >families did provide money, their daughters were taken away. The third >category of rapes took place in temporary detention centers, such as >abandoned homes or barns. > >The majority of rape cases were evidently committed by Serbian >paramilitaries, who wore various uniforms and often had bandanas, long >knives, long hair, and beards. These paramilitary formations worked >closely with official government forces, either the Serbian Ministry of >Interior or the Yugoslav Army, throughout Kosovo. In several cases, >victims and witnesses identified the perpetrators as Serbian special >police, in blue or blue camouflage uniforms, or Yugoslav Army soldiers, >in green military uniforms. Several rape victims actually reported the >crimes to Yugoslav military officers. > >Human Rights Watch called on the International Criminal Tribunal for the >former Yugoslavia to indict not only the perpetrators of rape, but also >their commanding officers. > >"Women in Kosovo are waiting for justice, and so far none of the Kosovo >indictments have included sex crimes," said Regan Ralph, executive >director of the Women's Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. "The >sooner there are investigations and prosecutions, the sooner these women >can begin to rebuild their lives." > >Human Rights Watch was able to interview six rape victims in depth, and >their testimonies are contained in this report. Human Rights Watch met >two other women who acknowledged that they had been raped but refused to >give testimony. Human Rights Watch documented six cases of women who >were raped and subsequently killed. The ninety-six cases also include >rape reports deemed reliable by Human Rights Watch that were compiled by >other nongovernmental organizations. > >Human Rights Watch believes that the actual number of women raped in >Kosovo between March and June 1999 is much higher than ninety-six. Due >to strong social taboos, Kosovar Albanian victims of rape are generally >reluctant to speak about their experiences, and those who remained in >Kosovo throughout the conflict may not have had an opportunity to report >abuses. > >For the full text of the report, please visit the Human Rights Watch >website at http://xmail.hrw.org/embargo/ user name hrwrape, password >crisis99 > >Testimonies from rape victims in Kosovo are attached. > > >TESTIMONIES OF RAPE VICTIMS FROM KOSOVO > >Women and girls were pulled from lines of refugees and sexually >assaulted, sometimes in front of other refugees. B.B., a twenty-two year >old woman from Mitrovica told Human Rights Watch: > >It happened while I was in line with the people. It was April 14th when >we left our house and on the 15th we were walking near Djakovica... We >met Serb paramilitaries. ..They approached my uncle and separated him. >They took his gold and his money from him. Then they came up to me...He >took my hand and told me to get in his car. ... He told me not to refuse >or there would be lots of victims. He swore at me and said, "Whore, >get in the car..." He told me not to scream and to take off my clothes. >He took off his clothes and told me to suck his thing. I did not know >what to do. He took my head and put it near him. He started to beat >me. I lost consciousness. When I came to I saw him over me. I had >great pain. I was screaming and scratching the ground from the pain. >Another man came with a car and he got over me. The other man with the >car asked the first one why he was treating this whore so good. I was >crying from the pain and he was laughing the whole time. The second one >got off me and told me to put on my clothes. I couldn't find them. >Just as I got dressed another one came and took me to another place a >couple of meters away and he started with the same words and did the >same things the first one did. He kept me there for several minutes and >then told me to wear my clothes so I [looked like I did when I left the >line]. He told me not to tell anyone or they would take me for good and >shoot my family. The men wore masks. They wore camouflage clothes and >they were carrying weapons and knives on their belts. They said that >they were paid to do this. I begged him [the first rapist] to kill me >but he didn't want to. > >Z.T., a twenty-three-year-old woman, was being held in a house in >Drenica by special Serbian forces. > >I was held in a room full of women. The police came, and gestured for >me to come. A policeman made me take off my clothes and he found a note >that I was hiding in my underwear on which I had my husband's telephone >number in Switzerland. He tore up the note and started swearing at me. >I went back to the group of women and the same policeman came back and >said, "come here." He took me far away from the other women and did >whatever he wanted with me. > >A group of twenty-seven women in the Drenica region were held by Serb >paramilitaries in a small barn. -V.B., a twenty-one year old, was seven >months pregnant when she was gang raped by Serb paramilitaries: > >They put us in a small barn with hay in it. Then the four men came into >the barn and slammed the door and pointed machine guns at us. They >asked for gold, money, and whatever we had. We gave whatever we had. >But they were still torturing us. They would take a girl, they kept her >outside for half an hour, and after that they would bring one back and >then they would take another. Then they took me. I was pregnant. I was >holding my son. They took him away from me and gave him to my mother. >They told me to get up and follow them. I was crying and screaming, >"Take me back to my child!" They took me to another room. It was so bad >I almost fainted. I can't say the words they said. They tortured me. >Because I was pregnant, they asked me where my husband was... One of >them said to another soldier, "Kick her and make the baby abort." They >did this to me four times-they took me outside to the other place. Three >men took me one by one. Then they asked me, "Are you desperate for your >husband?" and said, "Here we are instead of him." > >In Pec, six armed and uniformed Serb men entered a house two days before >NATO entered the city. Before murdering six members of her family, the >men raped one of the women, a twenty-eight year old mother. Her >sister-in-law witnessed the rape and the murders: > >They were wearing military clothes and had black scarves on their >heads. They took my sister-in-law into the front room, and they were >hitting her and telling her to shut up. The children were screaming, >and they also screamed at the children. She was with the paramilitary >for one half- hour. She was resisting, and they beat her, and the >children could hear her screaming. I could only hear what was going on. >I heard them slapping her. The children did not understand that they >were raping her. After they raped my sister-in-law, they put her in >line with us and shot her. > >For further information, contact: >In Washington, D.C.: Martina Vandenberg (w) 202-612-4344; (h) >202-387-2032 >In New York: Joanne Mariner 212-216-1218 > Fred Abrahams 212-216-1270 (on >current abuses) >In Brussels: Jean-Paul Marthoz 322-732-2009 > >350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor >New York, NY 10118-3299 >Telephone: (212)290-4700 >Facsimile: (212) 736-1300 >E-mail: hrwnyc at hrw.org > > > >________________________________________________ >To unsubscribe from this list visit: >http://www.alb-net.com/mailman/listinfo/kcc-news ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com From mehollim at hotmail.com Tue Mar 21 19:42:46 2000 From: mehollim at hotmail.com (Mimoza Meholli) Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 16:42:46 PST Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Fwd: Kosovo: One Year Later Message-ID: <20000322004246.85569.qmail@hotmail.com> >Kosovo: One Year Later >http://www.stratfor.com/CIS/specialreports/special26.htm >0303 GMT, 000317 >Summary > >Nearly one year after NATO first intervened in Kosovo, it appears the >alliance has failed to fulfill its chief objectives, both in waging the war >and keeping the peace. Increasingly, Kosovo seems beyond the alliance's >control as crime, weapons and drug trafficking resurface. Alliance forces >are now on the defensive against former allies within the ethnic Albanian >community; the guerrillas of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) now appear to >hold positions of considerable power. Nine months after the war, the West >faces a choice. It can increase its grip on Kosovo, committing more troops >and confronting the KLA, or the alliance can resign itself to losing >control >of Kosovo. > >Analysis > >NATO's war against Yugoslavia set a precedent at considerable cost. It was >the first instance of unilateral NATO intervention in a sovereign nation >during the alliance's 50-year history. NATO sent more than 1,000 aircraft >to >fly more than 38,000 sorties, at an eventual estimated cost of tens of >billions of dollars. The alliance deployed 38,000 peacekeepers, drawn from >28 countries, with no foreseeable end to their mission. Reconstruction has >barely begun and is expected to cost another $32 billion. > >But one year later, the alliance's peacekeeping mission, known as KFOR, is >failing. Not only does ethnic violence persist, but the alliance appears to >be further losing control. The murder rate in the rural breakaway province >now equals that of the world's largest cities. Sources on the ground report >that weapons are increasingly in the hands of former guerrillas. NATO >troops >have come under attack by the ethnic Albanian majority as well as the Serb >minority. The alliance is steadily headed toward a daunting choice. It must >increase its grip on Kosovo or resign itself to providing a garrison force >that safeguards a tumultuous province, which is effectively in the hands of >the KLA. > >Kosovo's State of Violence >KFOR entered the province to fulfill three missions: to ensure safety, >enforce compliance with the June 1999 cease-fire agreements and temporarily >assist the United Nations with civilian functions, such as policing and >reconstruction. But Kosovo has steadily become an upside-down world of >reversed roles. The guerrillas were supposed to disarm and disband but have >in fact maintained a strong hold on power. Increasingly, KFOR troops are >defending themselves not just against remaining pockets of Serbs, but >apparently against their wartime allies in the KLA. > >It appears that elements of the guerrillas are orchestrating violence that >threatens international forces. Even Western military officials have come >grudgingly, though privately, to the conclusion that extremist elements of >the KLA are making a bid for outright independence. NATO troops were stoned >last October in the western city of Pec. The recent violence in the >northern >city of Mitrovica included a grenade attack that wounded 17 KFOR troops. In >February, KFOR Cmdr. Gen. Klaus Reinhardt said, "When NATO came into Kosovo >we were only supposed to fight the Yugoslav army if they came back >uninvited. Now we're finding we have to fight the Albanians." > >Violent crime is falling but the largely rural province is far from safe. >In >the southeast corner of Kosovo, the American sector, there were 615 >incidents of hostile fire, 15 mortar attacks, 20 altercations with unruly >crowds, 129 grenade attacks and 58 landmine explosions - in the first six >months of peacekeeping, according to NATO figures. The murder rate for the >entire province has dropped from 127 murders per 100,000 people at the end >of the war to 23 murders per 100,000. Still, the murder rate of rural >Kosovo >now equals the murder rate of Los Angeles, California - one of the world's >largest and most densely populated cities. > >Under the June cease-fire agreement, the KLA was supposed to disband and >disarm, but there is evidence that former guerrillas now enjoy easy - even >sanctioned - access to weapons. Some 5,000 former KLA guerrillas have >joined >the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC), a sort of national guard for emergency >and disaster response. They are allowed to carry sidearms with the proper >permit cards. But the permit cards are being copied and distributed to >other >former guerrillas, according to an international police source. > >The Power of the KLA and Drug Trafficking > >In many ways, the state of affairs in Kosovo is the result of a lack of >government. The United Nations has never had a complete plan to set up a >government; nine months after peacekeeping began there is none. In this >vacuum, the KLA has flourished. > >While the KLA was to have disbanded, two important wartime figures remain >at >the core of the still existent KLA power structure. Hashim Thaci, who led >the KLA's political wing and became the chief contact for the West, is now >Kosovo's most important ethnic Albanian politician. The commander of the >KLA's military wing, Agim Cequ, commands 5,000 former guerrillas who are >now >in the Kosovo Protection Corps. > >The KLA is indebted to Balkan drug organizations that helped funnel both >cash and arms to the guerrillas before and after the conflict. Kosovo is >the >heart of a heroin trafficking route that runs from Afghanistan through >Turkey and the Balkans and into Western Europe. It now appears that the KLA >must pay back the organized crime elements. This would in turn create a >surge in heroin trafficking in the coming months, just as it did following >the NATO occupation of Bosnia in the mid-1990s. > >Two to six tons of heroin, worth 12 times its weight in gold, moves through >Turkey toward Eastern Europe each month. The route connecting the >Taliban-run opium fields of Afghanistan to Western Europe's heroin market >is >worth an estimated $400 billion a year - and is dominated by the Kosovar >Albanians. This "Balkan Route" supplies 80 percent of Europe's heroin. > >For the KLA, the Balkan Route is not only a way to ship heroin to Europe >for >a massive profit, but it also acted as a conduit for weapons filtering into >the war-torn Balkans. The smugglers either trade drugs directly for weapons >or buy weapons with drug earnings in Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Cyprus, >Italy, Montenegro, Switzerland or Turkey. The arsenal of weapons smuggled >into Kosovo has included: anti-aircraft missiles, assault rifles, sniper >rifles, mortars, shotguns, grenade launchers, anti-personnel mines and >infrared night vision gear, according to a NATO report cited in the >Washington Times in June 1999. > >There is already anecdotal evidence that the drug trade is flourishing in >Kosovo, in full view of international authorities. The bombed out, unpaved >streets of Kosovo are the new home to sleek European sports cars with no >license plates. There are 20 percent to 25 percent more cars in Kosovo than >there were before the war, according to an international police official >recently returned from several months in Kosovo. The refugees claim Serbs >took the plates, but the black Mercedes are signs of a prospering drug >trade. > >Beyond Kosovo >Drug smuggling will make an impact beyond the Balkans and deep into the >rest >of Europe. Ethnic Albanians are the predominant smugglers in the Western >European heroin market, according to Interpol data. > >Some 500,000 Kosovar Albanians live in Western Europe. Those living off the >heroin trade rely on clan loyalties to tightly control their business >partners. They gain access to Western European cities by exploiting their >reputation as refugees. This gives them a distinct advantage over the Turks >or Italians. > >Although Albanian speakers comprise about 1 percent of Europe's 510 million >residents, they made up 14 percent of all Europeans arrested for heroin >smuggling in 1997, according to Interpol. The average quantity of heroin >confiscated from arrested smugglers was two grams; ethnic Albanians >arrested >for the same crime carried an average of 120 grams, the agency said. > >The U.S. government has been - and likely continues to be - well aware of >the heroin trade coming through Kosovo, as well as the KLA connection. Just >two years before the war, the Clinton administration wanted national >security waivers for 14 countries - including Yugoslavia - in order to send >arms and stem drug trafficking. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency reported >in >1998 that ethnic Albanian organizations in Kosovo are "second only to >Turkish gangs as the predominant heroin smugglers along the Balkan route." > >Today, Kosovo poses for NATO an ironically similar problem to the one it >posed in 1999. Kosovo's problems - smuggling, crime and violence - threaten >to spill out into the Balkan region. Tensions between the Serbs and ethnic >Albanians challenge stability in Montenegro and Serbia, the remaining >Yugoslav republics. The alliance must not only contain Kosovo's problems, >but prevent renewed war between the KLA and Yugoslav forces in Serbia. > >Montenegro threatens to become the next hot spot as a result of the Kosovo >war. The province's leadership has taken its cues from the international >community's defense of Kosovo. Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic has >announced that the West is ready to offer help in the event of a Serb >attack. Officials from the U.N. and human rights groups have made >increasingly loud requests for Western attention to Montenegro. > >NATO's Next Move > >NATO now faces a dilemma. It must take control of the situation in Kosovo >by >increasing its troop presence and confronting its former allies in the KLA. >Or the alliance can accept a role as vassal to the guerrillas, essentially >safeguarding Kosovo from a Serbian invasion. The guerrillas, in turn, would >run Kosovo as they see fit. > >Withdrawing altogether from Kosovo is out of the question; Yugoslav forces >would quickly pour into the province. The prospect of vastly increasing >forces is unpleasant. As it stands now NATO members are reluctant to deploy >even enough troops to meet the current mandate of 50,000 peacekeepers. > >To maintain control, though, the alliance must do more than increase its >presence; it must reconsider its allies in Kosovo. There are signs that the >West may play a longtime moderate, Ibrahim Rugova, against Thaci. During >his >recent trip to Kosovo, State Department spokesman James Rubin met with >Rugova, the first high-level public contact between U.S. officials and >Rugova since he was abandoned last year. The prospect is stark. NATO would >have to crush the KLA, risking more violence and a public relations >nightmare. > >NATO's other option is probably even more unappealing: handing the KLA the >keys to Kosovo. In such a scenario, the alliance would give ethnic Albanian >political and civil leaders - with a few Serbs thrown in to demonstrate >multi-ethnic governance - political control. But in fact the KLA would >retain the upper hand. Alliance troops would remain to safeguard whatever >state the former guerrillas choose to build. CIS Intelligence Center > >Trans-Caucasus Hotspot > >Kosovo Hotspot > >CIS Economy Center > >CIS Global Intelligence Update Archives > >Country Information > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: winmail.dat Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 7400 bytes Desc: not available URL: From aqeli1 at uic.edu Tue Mar 21 19:54:57 2000 From: aqeli1 at uic.edu (Albi Qeli) Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 18:54:57 -0600 (CST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Re: [Prishtina-l] Fwd: Kosovo: One Year Later In-Reply-To: <20000322004246.85569.qmail@hotmail.com> Message-ID: read on CNN main page: http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/03/21/kosovo.01/index.html From aalibali at yahoo.com Tue Mar 21 22:01:41 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 19:01:41 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Re: [Prishtina-l] Fwd: Kosovo: One Year Later Message-ID: <20000322030141.12890.qmail@web115.yahoomail.com> There was also a very interesting editorial today at the Wall Street Journal. --- Albi Qeli wrote: > ----------- ALBSA-Info Mailing List > --------- > - ALBSA Web Site: > http://www.albstudent.org - > > read on CNN main page: > > http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/03/21/kosovo.01/index.html > > > > _______________________________________________________ > ALBSA-Info mailing list: ALBSA-Info at alb-net.com > http://www.alb-net.com/mailman/listinfo/albsa-info > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From pilika at yahoo.com Wed Mar 22 13:08:31 2000 From: pilika at yahoo.com (Asti Pilika) Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 10:08:31 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Opportunity to talk to Jamie Shea Message-ID: <20000322180831.16529.qmail@web804.mail.yahoo.com> Center for European Studies 2 Kirkland Street Harvard University Thursday, March 23, 2000 2:15-4:00pm [Lower Level Conference Room] Visions for European Governance Jonathan Faull, Head of Press and Communication Service and Deputy Spokesperson for the European Commission Jamie Shea, Spokesman of NATO and Deputy Director of Information and Press, Nato Headquarters Can the New Nato Live With the New Europe? My personal advice would be to go there early, the place should be packed by 2:15. Asti __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From ipilika at wellesley.edu Thu Mar 23 09:48:07 2000 From: ipilika at wellesley.edu (Iris Pilika) Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2000 09:48:07 -0500 Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Greeks in anti-Nato protest Message-ID: THE TIMES (London) March 20 2000 Greeks in anti-Nato protest FROM JAMES PRINGLE IN ATHENS GREEK leftwingers staged protests yesterday as an advance contingent of 2,000 Nato troops and their allies landed near the Greek city of Salonika bound for Kosovo to join a military exercise named "Dynamic Response". Hundreds of Greek Communist Party (KKE) followers, who are opposed to international peacekeepers in Kosovo, gathered at the city's port, shouting slogans against the increase in Nato's presence in the Balkans for the exercise which is due to run until April 10, carrying it over the first anniversary period of Nato's bombing of Yugoslavia which began on March 24 last year. However, only a handful of protesters were on hand at Litohoro beach near the port when about 40 military vehicles rolled ashore and headed north for Kosovo, a Kosovo Force (Kfor) spokesman said. They were easily held in check by about 200 policemen, eye-witnesses said. Besides 1,000 US Marines, the troops include 900 soldiers from The Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Argentina. The protests came just three weeks before Greek general elections on April 9, and any trouble or violence could have been embarrassing for the Greek Government. Though Athens supports Nato's presence in Kosovo and has contributed its own contingent to Kfor, a majority of Greeks, who have ties to their fellow Orthodox Christian Serbs, were strongly opposed to Nato's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia and the intervention in Kosovo. From alma_02217 at yahoo.com Tue Mar 28 16:08:54 2000 From: alma_02217 at yahoo.com (alma capa) Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 13:08:54 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Conference - Join Us and Reserve a place Message-ID: <20000328210854.17235.qmail@web4103.mail.yahoo.com> Please, if you want to join and consider a conference focusing on the development of world history research and its relationship to the conceptualization, methodology and teaching of world history you can see the following site: http://www.whc.neu.edu/wha2000/ __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From albboschurch at juno.com Tue Mar 28 17:10:24 2000 From: albboschurch at juno.com (Albanian Orthodox Church) Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 17:10:24 EST Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Dinner for Albanian Children's Fund at Anthony's Pier 4 on April 5th Message-ID: <20000328.171003.7855.5.albboschurch@juno.com> Albanian Children Fund Dinner Wednesday - April 5, 2000 7:00 PM Anthony"s Pier 4 140 Northern Avenue Boston, MA Special Guest from Albania will be Mrs. Meidani, the first lady of Albania, who is Honorary Chairperson of the Albanian Children Foundation The Albanian Children Fund, a 501 (3) Charitable organization, was established by Domenick G. Scaglione, Chairman of the Albanian American Enterprise Fund. This Fund supports the work of the Albanian Children Foundation, an Albanian organization he founded dedicated to helping abandoned, orphaned, poor and destitute children in Albania. The mission of The Albanian Children Foundation is to help needy children irrespective of faith or ethnic background with priority given to newly born and abandoned infants, he severely handicapped, and institutions which provide food, shelter and education to them. During the initial three years, the major expenditures were to assist children with sight problems, Thalassemia Disease, and other correctable maladies. Our current activities are to: * Equip a Pediatric Clinic in Albania * Assist an Orphanage in Saranda * Treat various childhood disease * Send children to other countries to treat specific health problems on a case by case basis We need your support to make this evening a financial success for the Albanian Children Fund Donation: $45.00 Donations are Tax Deductible I/We will be attending. __________ @ $45.00 for a total of $ ____________= __ Name ______________________________ Telephone #________________________ I cannot attend but would like to make a donation of $ ____________ to support the Albanian Children Fund Please make checks payable to the "Albanian Children Fund" and mail to: C/O Tina Poist 40 Forge Village Road Westford, MA 01886 (978) 392-0759 Fax: (978) 392-9127 email: < Taichi33 at aol.com > --------- End forwarded message ---------- From acapa at bu.edu Tue Mar 28 16:17:26 2000 From: acapa at bu.edu (Alma Capa) Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 16:17:26 -0500 Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Conference ( June 22-25) Message-ID: <000a01bf98fb$04aec8c0$eb5dc580@bu.edu> Please, if you want to join and consider a conference focusing on the development of world history research and its relationship to the conceptualization, methodology and teaching of world history you can see the following site: http://www.whc.neu.edu/wha2000/ -------------- next part -------------- HTML attachment scrubbed and removed From i_spaho at hotmail.com Thu Mar 30 13:15:59 2000 From: i_spaho at hotmail.com (irma spaho) Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2000 10:15:59 PST Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Afghanistan's war against women Message-ID: <20000330181600.86015.qmail@hotmail.com> Please consider signing this petition. Thank you. The government of Afghanistan is waging a war upon women. Since they took power in 1996, women have had to wear burqua and have been beaten and stoned in public for not having the proper attire, even if this means simply not having the mesh covering in front of their eyes. One woman was beaten to DEATH by an angry mob of fundamentalists for accidentally exposing her arm while she was driving. Another was stoned to death for trying to leave the country with a man that was not a relative. Women are not allowed to work or even go out in public without a male relative; professional women such as professors, translators, doctors, lawyers,artists and writers have been forced from their jobs and stuffed into their homes, so that depression is becoming so widespread that it has reached emergency levels. There no way in such an extreme Islamic society to know the suicide rate with certainty, but relief workers are estimating that the suicide rate among women, who cannot find proper medication and treatment for severe depression and would rather take their lives than live in such conditions, has increased significantly. Homes where a woman is present must have their windows painted so that she can never be seen by outsiders. They must wear silent shoes so that they are never heard. Women live in fear of their lives for the slightest misbehavior. Because they cannot work, those without male relatives or husbands are either starving to death or begging on the street, even if they hold Ph.D.'s. There are almost no medical facilities available for women, and relief workers, in protest, have mostly left the country, taking medicine and psychologists and other things necessary to treat the sky-rocketing level of depression among women. At one of the rare hospitals for women, a >reporter found still, nearly lifeless bodies lying motionless on top of beds, wrapped in their burqua, unwilling to speak, eat, or do anything, but slowly wasting away. Others have gone mad and were seen crouched in corners, perpetually rocking or crying, most of them in fear. One doctor is considering, when what little medication that is left finally runs out, leaving these women in front of the president's residence as a form of peaceful protest. It is at the point where the term 'human rights violations' has become an understatement. Husbands have the power of life and death over their women relatives, especially their wives, but an angry mob has just as much right to stone or beat a woman, often to death, for exposing an inch of flesh or offending them in the slightest way. Women enjoyed relative freedom, to work, dress generally as they wanted, and drive and appear in public alone until only 1996. The rapidity of this transition is the main reason for the depression and suicide; women who were once educators or doctors or simply used to basic human freedoms are now severely restricted and treated as sub-human in the name of right-wing fundamentalist Islam. It is not their tradition or 'culture', but is alien to them, and it is extreme even for those cultures where fundamentalism is the rule. Everyone has a right to a tolerable human existence, even if they are in ountry. If we can threaten military force in Kosovo in the name of human rights for the sake of ethnic Albanians, citizens of the world can certainly express peaceful outrage at the oppression, murder and injustice committed against women by the Taliban. STATEMENT: In signing this, we agree that the current > > > treatment of women in > > > Afghanistan is completely UNACCEPTABLE and deserves > > > support and action by > > > the > > > United Nations and that the current situation > > > overseas will not be tolerated. Women's Rights is not > > > a small issue anywhere > > > and it is UNACCEPTABLE for women in 2000 to be treated > > > as sub-human and so > > > much > > > as property. Equality and human decency is a RIGHT not > > > a freedom, whether > > > one > > > lives in Afghanistan or elsewhere. > > > > > > 1) Donna VERNON, Cairns, AUSTRALIA > > > 2) Joanne LANGHAM, Cairns, AUSTRALIA > > > 3) Robyn AULMANN, Darwin, NT,AUSTRALIA > > > 4) Liz McCall, Byron Bay NSW > > > 5) Megan ROUGHLEY, York, ENGLAND > > > 6) Clare WALLACE, Prague, CZECH REPBLIC > > > 7) Cheryl HERR, Iowa City, USA > > > 8) Andy Clinton, Iowa City, USA > > > 9) Gerri Engelman, South Africa > > > 10) Tandi Njobe, South Africa > > > 11)Irma Spaho,Boston, USA > > > 12) > > > 13) > > > 14) > > > 15) > > > 16) > > > > > > PLEASE COPY this email on to a new message, sign the bottom and >forward > >it > > > > > > to everyone on your distribution lists. If you receive this list with > >more > > > > > > than 200 names on it, please e-mail a copy of it > > > to: sarabande at brandeis.edu > > > mailto:sarabande at brandeis.edu > > > ( Send after every 200 names.) > > > > > > Even if you decide not to sign, please be considerate > > > and do not kill the > > > petition. Thank you. It is best to copy rather than > > > forward the petition. > > > > > > LOUIS ARMAND > > > > > > Department of English & American Studies > > > Faculty of Philosophy, Charles University > > > Nam. Jana Palacha 2, 116 38 Praha 1, CZ > > > > > > lazarus at praha1.ff.cuni.cz tel.: (+4202) 206 12 407 > > > louis_armand at yahoo.com fax.: (+4202) 248 12 166 > > > > > > http://members.tripod.com/~louis_armand/seances.html ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com From albboschurch at juno.com Thu Mar 30 15:21:46 2000 From: albboschurch at juno.com (Albanian Orthodox Church) Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2000 15:21:46 EST Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Lajmerim Message-ID: <20000330.152117.11599.2.albboschurch@juno.com> Lajmerim Me inisiativen e grupit nismetar dhe me mendimin e disa personaliteteve artedashes te Bostonit, e pame te domosdoshme dhe vendosem te krijojme Korin e Femijeve. Qellimi i ketij Kori per Femije do te jete pasurimi dhe plotesimi ne perspektive i grupeve korale ekzistuese ne tre kishat shqipetare ketu ne Boston, njekohesisht edhe pjesemarrja ne aktivitete artistike te organizuara me raste festash. Ndonjeri prej femijeve qe do te kete te dhena(prirje) vokale me te mira, mund te vazhdoje me tej ne shkolla te muzikes ne degen e kenges. Mendojme qe si fillim te pregatisim "vajtimet e Shen Marise" per te Premten e Madhe perpara Pashkes, dhe "Krishti u ngjall" per Pashken e Madhe. Te dashur prinder, ju lutemi na ndihmoni me deshiren e mire duke i sjelle femijet tuaj nga moshat 7-13 vjec, vajza e djem. Regjistrimet do te behen diteve te Djela me 2 dhe 9 Prill. Mbasi te jene bere regjistrimet do t'ju bejme te ditur se si do te vazhdojme pregatitjet. Grupi Nismetar From juniku at hotmail.com Fri Mar 31 09:03:50 2000 From: juniku at hotmail.com (Uk Lushi) Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2000 06:03:50 PST Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Pervjetori i Atlantikut- Anniversary of the Atlantic Battalion! Message-ID: <20000331140352.594.qmail@hotmail.com> QYTETARE SHQIPTARO-AMERIKANE! Le te ndajme bashke festimin me te madh te komunitetit tone- nje vjetorin e nisjes se Batalionit Atlantiku ne LUFTEN E KOSOVES dhe te clirimit te Kosoves! SHOQATA ATLANTIKU qe perfshine ish ushtaret e Batalionit Atlantiku ne bashkorganizim me subjektet dhe asociacionet e tjera te komunitetit, nder to, Federaten Panshqiptare Vatra, Keshillin Kombetar Amerikano-Shqiptar, LDK-ne, Fondin Kosova, Ligen Qytetare Shqiptaro-Amerikane, Shoqaten e Gruas "Motrat Qiriazi", Shoqaten e Studenteve Shqiptaro-Amerikane, Shoqaten "Dede Gjo Luli", Shoqaten Atdhetare Dibrane, Shoqaten Plave-Guci dhe Shoqaten Ana e Malit ju fton te merrni pjese ne shenimin e FESTES SE MADHE TE PERVJETORIT TE BATALIONIT ATLANTIKU. KUR: E DIELE, 9 PRILL 2000, ORA 6 P.M. KU: ROYAL REGENCY HOTEL, 165 TUCKAHOE ROAD- YONKERS, NEW YORK PROGRAMI: Pjesa prezentuese per historikun e Batalionit Atlantiku. Fjalet pershendetese te mysafireve.(20 min). Filmi per Batalionin Atlantiku.(8 min.)Ekspozita fotografike. Program i larmishem zbavites-muzikor me artistet dhe kengetaret kryesore te komunitetit. Mysafire do te jene kongresmene, aktiviste dhe persona ushtarake nga SHBA-te dhe trojet shqiptare ne Ballkan. Gjate programit open bar dhe darke komplete. CMIMI: US $ 50 FESTIMI I NJEVJETORIT TE NISJES SE BATALIONIT ATLANTIKU NE LUFTEN E KOSOVES MOMENTI QE I GJITHE KOMUNITETI TE FESTOJE I BASHKUAR! FELLOW ALBANIAN-AMERICANS! Let's celebrate together the biggest event of our community- the one year old anniversary of the departure of the Atlantic Battalion to join their fellow brothers in the Kosova Liberation Army. ATLANTIC ASSOCIATION The ex-soldiers of the Atlantic Battalion in collaboration with all other associations of the community, such as,The Pan-Albanian Federation Vatra, The National Albanian-American Council, The Democratic League of Kosova, The Foundation Kosova, The Albanian-American Civic League, The Woman's Organization "Motrat Qiriazi", The Association of the Albanian-American Students in the US, The Association "Dede Gjo Luli", The Patriotic Dibra Association and The Ana e Malit Association invites you to participate in celebrating the Atlantic Battalion anniversary. WHEN: April 9, 2000, at 6 p.m. WHERE: ROYAL REGENCY HOTEL, 165 TUCKAHOE ROAD- YONKERS, NEW YORK THE PROGRAM: Presentation on the history of the Atlantic Battalion. Greetings of our guests. An 8 min. movie about the Atlantic Battalion. Photo exhibition. Various entertaining-musical with well known artists and musicians of the community. Among guests will be congressmen, political activists and military personnel from the US and from the Albanian soil in the Balkans. Diner and open bar. Price: US$ 50 See you in Yonkers! ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com From aalibali at yahoo.com Fri Mar 31 21:05:51 2000 From: aalibali at yahoo.com (Agron Alibali) Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2000 18:05:51 -0800 (PST) Subject: [ALBSA-Info] Lidhja "organike" Himare - Athine Message-ID: <20000401020551.2087.qmail@web124.yahoomail.com> KOHA JONE Himara, qyteti i emigranteve shqiptare Reportazh/Vendasit kane ikur ne Greqi, ndersa ne qytet punojne banore te fshtarave te Veriut. Kreu i Bashkise: Ne shkolla duhet te futet gjuha greke VLORE - Kur zbret nga Llogaraja, per te prekur detin, do te pershkosh disa fshatra. Palasa, Vunoi, Dhermi, Qeparo, Kudhes, Pilur.... Fshatra keta qe tashme jane braktisur teresisht nga njerezit dhe bagetite. E gjithepushtetshme per gjate bregut eshte tani vetem bukuria magjepsese. Himara - qyteti me i qete i Evropes Eshte ky nje realitet qe tashme njihet dhe e prek cilido qe shkon atje. Qytetaret i lidhin me njeri-tjetrin hallet e, mbi te gjitha, dhimbja per djemte mergimtare qe kane ikur qe nga 1990-ta. Por, nga bisedat qe ben me himariotet meson nje fakt se nuk eshte shuar malli i tyre per Himaren. Ata vijne sapo te kene mundesine e pare, ndersa ne stinen e veres jane aty, bashke me miqte greke ku jane punesuar. 71-vjecari i Petref Bejleri, i lindur dhe rritur aty, tani eshte ne pension. Eshte kthyer pergjithmone aty. Ai e nis biseden me vargjet: "Kush eshte lule vilajeti/Qe i thone bota sevda/ Himara nga bregdeti". Ai thote se njerezit e ketyre aneve kane virtyte te vecanta mikpritjeje. Jane artdashes dhe, mbi te gjitha, njerez te beses. Veterani permend thenien e Bajronit te madh: "Himarioti nuk fal mikun e jo te fale armikun". Himara mburret me trimat e saj: Zako Koka, Kozma Nushi, Llambi Andoni... qe prehet ne fshatin e lindjes Dhermi. Ajo nuk i harron djemte, 47 Deshmoret e Luftes dhe kujton Meco Muken qe krijon kenge pa fund. "Vajze e valeve", do te mbetet perjetesisht Himni i kenges se Bregut. Himara eshte qyteti me i qete ne Shqiperine e trazuar. Atje kriminaliteti eshte zero. Aty shetitet e kercehet ne diskoteke tere naten. Pronari i diskos, qe nuk ka ndryshim me diskot e qyteteve te medha, Viktor Mato, thote se me shume aty aktivitetet behen naten. Ne dimer e pranvere vijne mysafire nga Vlora, nxenes e studente vijne per fundjave dhe ne vere s'ka vend te hedhesh kokrren e molles. Shefi i Policise se Himares, Vladimir Zani, tregon per faktoret qe te cojne ne perfundimin se Himara eshte qyteti me i qete ne te gjithe Evropen. Eshte kjo, nje arsye me shume, qe ne Himare dhe fshatrat e Bregut vijne per pushime pushtetare, politikane e biznesmene. Ne shtepite e boshatisura te himarioteve, ata jane me te sigurt se ne vilat qe i mbajne me roje. Shteti ta ktheje fytyren nga hallet e Himares Sekretari i Bashkise, Thanas Guma, e ndjen me shume se cilido peshen e halleve te bashkeqytetareve te tij. Investimet jane te pakta, thote ai, ndersa nevojat shume te medha. Qe nga 1990-ta, vetem 100 mije dollare jane akorduar nga Fondi i Zhvillimit per te zgjidhur problemin e ujit te pijshem. Rruget jane cope-cope, mungojne kuadrot e mjekesise dhe te arsimit. Grate himariote lindin ne Athine se nuk ka gjinekologe, sidoqe Shtepia e Lindjes eshte e kompletuar, dhurate e shoqates "Nena dhe femija". Pastaj Guma argumenton se Qeveria duhet te fuse menjehere mesimin e gjuhes greke ne shkollen 8-vjecare. Femijet jane greqisht-foles, eshte gjuha ame dhe duhet te zere vend ne programin mesimor. Himara nuk po kerkon shkolle greke, por futjen e gjuhes greke ne programin mesimor. Te mos harrojme faktin qe Himara humbi 50 milione dollare ne firmat piramidale dhe se djemte mergimtare e filluan nga e para. Sekretari i Bashkise qe perfaqeson Aleancen per Shtetin, ne bisede e siper, hedh poshte akuzat qe u behen ketyre banoreve se e kane kthyer koken nga Greqia, se ne 1997-ten eshte ngritur Flamuri grek. "Po, eshte ngritur nje flamur i vjeter, por jo me qellime politike dhe etnike. Ishte nje emocion i kohes". Ne Himare, sipas Gumes, 35% jane te majte, 50% ne shoqaten Omonia dhe 15% jane te djathte. Por te gjithe bashkejetojne mrekullisht me njeri-tjetrin dhe kudo e prezantojne Himaren te kulturuar. C'te keqe ka, nese Athina i ndihmon himariotet? Jo vetem te rinjte, por edhe familje te tera jane vendosur prej vitesh ne qytetet greke. Emigracioni ka qene prezent me shume se nje shekull ketu, pasi ne Himare nuk ka vende pune. Veterani qe treguam ne fillim, Petrefi, tregon se vellezerit e gjyshit te tij kane vdekur ne minierat e Frances dhe ne nuk e dime se ku i kane kockat, kurse emigrantet e sotem punojne ne Greqi, por zemren dhe mendjen e kane ne Himare. Tashme eshte bere nje lidhje "organike" me punedhenesit greke, e pse jo, edhe me shtetin grek. Por banoret nervozohen kur problemet komentohen me qellim te keq. "C'te keqe ka qe grate e himarioteve lindin ne maternitetet greke, pasi ketu nuk ka mjete gjinekologjike? C'te keqe ka qe Qeveria e Athines u jep 400 te moshuareve himariote (qe kane kaluar 65 vjec) nje pension prej 40 mije dhrami ne muaj? Ajo sjell ndihma ne ushqime, veshmbathje etj. Qeveria e Athines e zbut disi varferine e Himares dhe per kete jane vene ne levizje mjaft shoqata humanitare, thote Guma, dhe, nese keto boshlleqe do t'i mbulonte Shteti shqiptar nuk do te ishte e nevojshme ndihma e grekeve. Sidoqofte eshte nje ndihme vellazerore qe duhet pergezuar". Qyteti i Bregut, ku punojne refugjate shqiptare Ndoshta Himara eshte qyteti i vetem ne Shqiperi ku punojne si "emigrante" mjaft te ardhur nga rrethet Librazhd, Kukes, Elbasan. Ata jane te vendosur ne banesat e shkaterruara ku paguajne nje qera simbolike dhe kryejne punet e stines. Por me shume jane punesuar ne frontet e ndertimit, ku numri arrin mbi 700 vete. Ka shume qe jetojne aty familjarisht dhe lindin femije. Gezim Hysa eshte nga fshati Kokrove e Librazhdit. Ai thote se punon ne nje brigade ndertimi dhe merr nje rroge prej 30 mije lekesh. "Jemi 20 vete nga ky qytet, rrime bashke ne pune dhe, po ashtu, edhe ne kohen e lire". Nga Librazhdi eshte edhe Fari Hysa, kurse Lutfi Kurti nga Spathari. Ai ka ardhur me familjen, ka lindur dhe femije. Guraja qe ka therur 1000 dema per 5 vjet Cifti Gjena e Jorgo Buta, njihet nga te gjithe himariotet. Gjena eshte mesuese, ndersa Jorgo, thirrur ndryshe Polo, ruan delet. Te gjithe i kane zili per harmonine familjare bashke me 2 djemte. Por e vecanta e Gjenes, qe e ka bere te njohur edhe jashte kufijve te Bregut, eshte trimeria dhe teknika per te therrur demat. Ajo grua eshte e vetme qe ther dema ne Himare, pastaj, ne nje dyqan te vogel tregton mish. Vete Gjena thote se nuk eshte ndonje gje e jashtezakonshme. Sikur te ishte nevoja une mund te therja cdo dite nga nje dem. Tani ky eshte nje profesion i dyte, pas atij te mesuesise qe e ka nxjerre ne pension. Ndoshta ishin nevojat ekonomike qe e detyruan kete grua te behet kasape, jo per qengjat e meshqerat, por per demat. Sidoqofte, Gjena Buta do te mbahet mend tek brezat se eshte e vetmja grua, jo vetem ne Himare e Shqiperi, qe ther dema... Dhe ajo ndjehet krenare per kete. Zenepe Luka __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com