From mentor at alb-net.com  Thu Aug  5 13:36:08 2004
From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana)
Date: Thu, 5 Aug 2004 13:36:08 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [Prishtina-l] Interpretation needed in Calgary area (fwd)
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.61.0408051333050.3987@alb-net.com>


If you live near or close by Calgary and interested in Sam's request (see 
below) please contact Sam Clowser directly at clowser at telusplanet.net

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 19:22:09 -0600
From: Sam Clowser <clowser at telusplanet.net>
To: staff at alb-net.com
Subject: Interpretation

A local Rotary Club in the Calgary area of Canada is trying to arrange an
educational exchange this winter with Kosovonian educators. There is a real
possibility that interpreters will be required to facilitate discussions
between the visitors and the local parties. These would be non-technical
discussions and written translation would also be excluded. Do you know of
any people in this area that are conversant in Albanian and English who
might be interested?
Sam Clowser


From mentor at alb-net.com  Fri Aug 20 18:11:31 2004
From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana)
Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2004 18:11:31 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [Prishtina-l] [Albanians-Today] Albania: North-South Chasm Widens
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.61.0408201810040.29462@alb-net.com>

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http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr3/bcr3_200408_512_4_eng.txt

Albanian: North-South Chasm Widens

As investment and tourism trickles into southern towns, the rural
mountainous north feels abandoned.

By Suele Musta in Tirana (BCR No 512, 20-Aug-04)

Hile Gjon Peraj, 43, raises eight children in Fierza in virtual darkness, as
her little house in the Tropoja region of northern Albania has no power
utilities.

A relative killed Hile's husband, Gjon, a few years ago in a conflict over
property.

Hile struggles to raise her children - whose ages range from two months to
18 years - on a monthly social security payment of 30 US dollars, a few head
of cattle and fruit and vegetables grown in the outside yard. A salaried job
is out of the question. "The state farm I used to work for no longer
exists," she said.

Metres from her house, 78-year-old Mani is equally hard up. His children
emigrated long ago to Italy and he and his wife live on the money they send
back. Only nature has been good to them, he says, ruefully, "It gives us
something to eat in the summer and wood to burn in winter."

In Albania's mountainous north, many families live in almost medieval
poverty, their condition a testament to decades of neglect, under-investment
and, now, mass migration to the towns to cities.

"The youth have left the north," said Halil, a former teacher from the small
town of Puka. "There is nothing left for them here. There is no work and no
entertainment."

Rural migration to the cities is not confined to the north of Albania.
According to Tirana's Institute of Statistics, Albanian demographics have
changed radically in the last few years, as the rural population surges into
urban areas, seeking work and higher education.

The best educated have moved in greatest numbers. More than 70 per cent of
all high-school graduates have headed for the capital, Tirana, according to
findings of the statistics institute. Others leave the countryside to try
their luck abroad.

The north has suffered most from this change, partly because of a lack of
new, public and private investment, in what was always a remote region.

According to Tirana economics expert Genc Ruli, investment in small business
in the north is 30 per cent less than in central and southern parts.

The infrastructure is also in worse shape. The only important new investment
on the horizon is a planned highway running from the port of Durres to
Pristina in Kosovo through Milot, Puke and Kukes.

Detailed information on the north's social problems is hard to come by in a
country where reliable data is scarce. But a ministry of labour and social
affairs official told IWPR he believed the average rural inhabitant in the
north earned about 80 dollars a month, compared to 130 in the centre and
south, where tourism is better developed, and where many have boosted
earnings through working in neighbouring Greece.

According to studies conducted by the UNDP, only 45 per cent of the active
labour force is working at all in the region of Shkodra, the north's largest
city. There, emigration is still the main route to an income.

Edmond Dragoti, a psychologist in Tirana, says people leave the north not
only because of the geographical remoteness but because successive
governments have failed to come up with policies that promote its
integration into the rest of the country.

Traditional blood feuds are both a symbol and a factor behind the region's
continuing backwardness.

Many of those whose families are engaged in blood feuds are locked into
their homes, while their children are isolated and cannot attend school.
According to the National League of Conciliation, an NGO dealing with these
disputes, more than 500 families in Shkodra are effectively confined to
their homes, fearing revenge killings.

The strength of this backward-looking phenomenon is partly attributed to the
old clan-based system of popular justice, known as the Canon, or code of
Leke Dukagjini.

But poorly functioning institutions and worsening economic conditions are
also behind the resilience of Leke's canon in the north. "The blood feuds
are increasing because of poverty and growing unemployment," Lulzim Nekcaj,
an analyst from Shkodra, told IWPR.

Adem Shehu, a Tirana historian, says the north was always a region apart.
"Historically, there has been a big difference between the north and the
south of the country," he said, adding that the latter always retained its
economic and cultural lead, as it became the base of great landowning
families, many of whom developed strong economic and social ties to the
West.

When many southerners emigrated to France and the US in the early 20th
century, these ties grew stronger. In the north, only Shkodra developed
similar ties to the West, Shelu said.

Fadil Kaja, a writer based in Shkodra, says the north always had immense
natural and human potential, but the ruling southern elite did not draw on
it. Although most of the country's minerals and other natural resources lie
in the north, they were not developed.

The north has had its positive moments in history, however, especially in
the 1920s and 1930s, during the reign of King Zog, whose family came from
Mat, in the north. During his reign, a conscious effort was made to improve
the north's infrastructure, by constructing bridges and a regional airport.
Northerners were given more access to government and especially army posts.

But the communist revolution after the Second World War saw these efforts
reversed. Enver Hoxha, Albania's long-time, post-war communist leader, was
from the south and favoured southerners with most government positions.

According to the Tirana-based Institute For The Integration of Former
Political Prisoners, most of those jailed for political reasons were from
the north, where anti-communist resistance was fierce in the mountains.

The communist era did see the construction of several giant hydro-electric
power stations while other big state industries brought jobs to the north.
But after communism collapsed, most of the latter went bankrupt, leaving
thousands of people unemployed.

The transition to a market economy has merely accelerated the exodus of
people from the north to Tirana and central Albania.

Besnik Aliaj, director of Development And The Habitat, an NGO based in
Tirana involved in legalising illegally-built houses built in Tirana by
northern migrants, says this huge movement has often not benefited the
migrants much, as they end up living in unsafe houses that lack most
necessary services.

Azgan Haklaj, a member of parliament from the northern Tropoja district,
says migration is the only way people can improve their lives. "Coming to
Tirana is an important positive development for them," said Haklaj, pointing
to greater job opportunities.

Miri Hoti, chancellor of Shkodra university, however, warns of the danger
posed by the brain drain from the north, "Such a massive movement of people
has two different sides to it. It brings relief, because there are less
people left to look for the few jobs available, but it is also taking away
the cream of the city.

"Government and civil society need to think of incentives to keep
intellectuals and good professionals here."

Several international organisations, such as the World Bank and other
western development agencies, have begun to focus on the north, to counter
some the region's problems.

Diplomats from Britain, Norway and several other western countries have
recently paid visits to see it first hand. One of the biggest development
projects in the area is being funded by UNDP, aimed at disarming the local
population and clearing mines from the border zone with Kosovo. "It is one
of the most important projects for us," said Prel Ndoca, the head of the
commune of Has. "We are getting rid of weapons and also receiving funds for
constructing schools and roads for the community."

But while some progress is being made in the north, most observers believe
the region will only have a chance of prosperity when the country acquires
stronger links with Europe, which is something the whole of Albania is
looking forward to.

Suela Musta is a journalist on Top Albania Radio.
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From mentor at alb-net.com  Wed Aug 25 07:06:01 2004
From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana)
Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2004 07:06:01 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [Prishtina-l] [Albanians-Today] Press-Release: FIVE
 ALBANIAN-AMERICAN GROUPS
 PROTEST AGAINST CNN'S BRANDING OF ALBANIANS "KINGPINS OF U.S. CRIME"
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.61.0408250705050.17265@alb-net.com>

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***  Please Distribute Widely  ***

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Note: the actual letter of protest addressed to CNN is at the end of this 
press-release)
Contact: Besnik Pula at: besnik at alb-net.com

AUGUST 23, 2004

FIVE ALBANIAN-AMERICAN GROUPS PROTEST AGAINST CNN'S BRANDING OF ALBANIANS
"KINGPINS OF U.S. CRIME"

Five Albanian-American groups today sent a joint letter to the international
news network CNN protesting their recent depiction of Albanians as "kingpins
of U.S. crime" in a news piece dealing with organized crime in the United
States.

The CNN article, entitled "FBI: Albanian mobsters 'new Mafia'", was
published on CNN's international website on August 19, 2004. It sparked
immediate reaction among Albanian-Americans, a group of whom decided that
they would not stand idly while their entire community was being defamed by
poor piece of journalism published by a powerful news outlet.

In their letter to CNN, the Albanian-American groups called the article
"entirely one-sided, inaccurate, and outright derogatory," referring to its
unsupported and carelessly worded assertions and completely unbalanced
representation of the Albanian-American community.

Furthermore, the letter stated that one of the assertions in the article
"effectively qualifies all Albanian-Americans and recent Albanian immigrants
to the United States as criminals," while the rest of the article
unjustifiably referred to Albanians as possible "kingpins of U.S. crime"
without providing any evidence in support of such a seriously disparaging
charge.

What was especially shocking was the suggestion that the Albanian-American
community may harbor "militant Muslims" who may potentially be involved in
the support of terrorism. No evidence was provided to substantiate the
highly tendentious claim. The letter to CNN retorted: "As a community that
has been directly affected by the horrific events of September 11, 2001,
with respectable and hard-working members of our community having perished
in the terrorist attack against the World Trade Center, with
Albanian-Americans proudly serving in the New York Police and Fire
Departments, with thousands of us lending our assistance and support to
victims, and as a proud, hard-working component of the civic fabric of New
York City, we are appalled by any insinuation that we, as a community,
provide any kind of support to any type of terrorist activity."

The letter was signed by the Alliance of Albanian-American Professionals
(AAAP), the National Albanian-American Council (NAAC), the Albanian-American
Women's Organization (AAWO), the Albanian-American Student Organization
(AASO), and the Kosova Action Network (KAN). This was the first time that
such a broad coalition stepped up in a joint initiative to counter negative
media representations of the Albanian-American community.

---------------------------

To: Terry Frieden, Justice Producer, CNN

August 21, 2004

Dear Mr. Frieden:

We are appalled and deeply disturbed by the entirely one-sided, inaccurate,
and outright derogatory representation of the Albanian-American community in
CNN's news item of August 19, 2004, "FBI: Albanian mobsters 'new Mafia'"
[http://edition.cnn.com/2004/LAW/08/18/albanians.mob/index.html]. The news
item contains at least one highly misleading statement, several
unsubstantiated assertions, and paints a completely biased picture of the
Albanian-American community. The article fully betrays the standards of
fairness, balance, and accuracy, which we are accustomed to receiving from a
distinguished news outlet like CNN.

More specifically, in a statement that effectively qualifies all
Albanian-Americans and recent Albanian immigrants to the United States as
criminals, the article at its heading states: "Thousands of Albanians and
others who fled the Balkans for the United States in recent years have
emerged as a serious organized crime problem [...]." This formulation is
clearly not only inaccurate, but highly offensive to any decent,
law-abiding, and hardworking member of the Albanian-American community. Its
damaging potential is greatly exacerbated by the fact that, as a relatively
new and small immigrant community in the United States, most members of the
American public know little about our history, culture, and our roles as
members of mainstream American society. Statements like the one cited above,
not only false from a factual point of view, also threaten to stigmatize our
entire community, especially when distributed worldwide by a powerful media
organization like CNN.

Second, the article provides no real evidence why, out of the many recent
immigrant groups from the Balkans and around the world, Albanians have been
particularly singled out, and our ethnic and cultural identity explicitly
associated with the activity of the criminal organizations referred to in
the article. For instance, members of other organized crimes groups are
referred to by an acronym ("La Cosa Nostra") and not as "Italians" or "the
Italian families" or "the Italian mafia." Furthermore, the article bases its
bombastic claim that Albanians are becoming "kingpins of U.S. crime" simply
on the statements of an FBI official, without providing any concrete
examples of investigations or cases when alleged individual members of
Albanian organized crime groups have been arrested, indicted or convicted of
a crime. Moreover, the writer has made no attempt at soliciting a statement
from any prominent member or organization of the Albanian-American
community, to provide balance in the portrayal of Albanian-Americans. As
members of that community, we refuse to have our ethnic and cultural
identity collectively associated with the actions of what is most likely a
small and insignificant minority of our community, and your article paints a
simple black and white picture.

Finally, the article suggests a highly dubious potential connection between
"the militant Muslims emerging in the organized crime world" - apparently
referring once again to Albanian-Americans - and terrorism. Suggesting that
there are militant Muslims in our community - once again without citing any
evidence - is especially shocking and repulsive. As a community that has
been directly affected by the horrific events of September 11, 2001, with
respectable and hard-working members of our community having perished in the
terrorist attack against the World Trade Center, with Albanian-Americans
proudly serving in the New York Police and Fire Departments, with thousands
of us lending our assistance and support to victims, and as a proud,
hardworking component of the civic fabric of New York City, we are appalled
by any insinuation that we, as a community, provide any kind of support to
any type of terrorist activity. In fact, as Albanian-Americans, we are proud
of the fact that we share in the heritages of both Christianity and Islam,
and that we embody a historical tradition that has for centuries practiced
tolerance and respect of all religious denominations. Hence, any suggestion
of militant Islam, or of support to terrorism, in our community, especially
when unsubstantiated, is completely unacceptable.

Many of us are long-time consumers of CNN news products and are particularly
disappointed to find such inaccurate, unbalanced, and disparaging news items
authored and distributed by your organization. Our five organizations
represent some of the leading and most active organized groups of the
Albanian-American community, which numbers in the hundreds of thousands. We
are sending you this joint letter to demonstrate that we speak with one
voice in the defense of our community's dignity, and that we will not stand
for any type of defamation against our community.

We therefore request that you, either (1) rescind the article in its current
content and remove it from your website, or (2) correct the article by
substantiating the claims contained in it and providing a fairer and more
balanced portrayal of the Albanian-American community. Furthermore, we
expect to see CNN exhibit greater care in providing proper balance in future
articles dealing with our community.

Thank you for your attention to this matter, and we look forward to your
response.

Respectfully,

Alliance of Albanian-American Professionals
c/o Besnik Pula
2431 Stone Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
Tel: (734) 763-7076
E-mail: besnik at alb-net.com

National Albanian-American Council
2021 L Street, NW
Suite 402
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: (202) 466-6900
E-mail: naac at naac.org

Albanian-American Women's Organization "Motrat Qiriazi"
481 8th Ave., Ste. 934
New York, NY 10001
Tel: (212) 244-8440
E-mail: shqipemalushi at aol.com

Albanian-American Student Organization
Box 18 Student Center
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI 48202
E-mail: aasocouncil at yahoo.com

Kosova Action Network
c/o Alice Mead
598 Shore Rd
Cape Elizabeth, ME 04107
Tel: (207) 767-7289
E-mail: kan-board at alb-net.com

Contact person: Mr. Besnik Pula, Alliance of Albanian-American Professionals
Tel: (734) 763-7076, E-mail: besnik at alb-net.com

Cc:	Ted Turner, Founder, CNN News Group
 	Jim Walton, President, CNN News Group
 	Burt Reinhardt, Vice Chair, CNN News Group
 	Princell Hair, Executive Vice President, General Manager, CNN News
Group
 	Charles Hoff, National Bureau Chief, CNN News Group
 	Susan Bunda, Senior Vice President
 	Rena Golden, Senior Vice President, CNN International
 	Eason Jordan, Executive Vice President, Chief News Executive
 	Rick Davis, Executive Vice President
 	Sid Bedingfield, Executive Vice President
 	David Bohrman, Vice President, Washington Bureau Chief
 	Karen Curry, Vice President, New York Bureau Chief
 	Paul Varian, Senior National News Editor
 	Kelli Arena, Justice Department Correspondent
 	Jeanne Meserve, Homeland Security Correspondent

Cc:	Senator Charles Schumer (NY)
 	Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY)
 	Senator Carl Levine (MI)
 	Senator Debbie Stabenow (MI)
 	Rep. Eliot Engel (NY-17th), Albanian Affairs Caucus
______________________________________________________________
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