Special Interview for the magazine LAW AND LIFE.
With a big handwriting and with simple sentences the genius of letters gave to us with preoccupation and sincerity this interview, which we are publishing together with the thanks and wish to him for a happy and fruitful life in the service of art, politics and all the society.
Correspondent of Law and Life:
Dear Mr. Agolli, You are known as the genius of letters, but also as the representative of the people in Albanian politics. I believe that in politics also you have managed to find yourself as a thinker and man of art.
Dritero AGOLLI:
Law, according to the dictionaries, is a necessary or imperative rule. The law is of many kinds, like the law of nature, society, moral, aesthetics, justice, and so on. But you mean here the law as a norm or rule established by the highest state power and which is obligatory to be applied by all. In this sense the law may not be part of the beautiful, but it is a protector of its values. For example, we have laws about the protection of the works of art and literature, of monuments of culture, the public premises, city planning, environment, flora, fauna, etc.
Correspondent of Law and Life:
During this decade the political oppositions have brought about painful consequences and regress. Do you think there is lack of reconciliation among Albanians to make their state?
Dritero AGOLLI:
At least only during the passed 20th century, Albanians did not stop their efforts to reconcile and have a real state. In the key periods of history during the former millennium, in 1912, 1920, 1924 and 1944, Albanians showed that they know how to unite and create their state. And the most serious, stable and regular state in the movement of all the organs of its colossal organism was the one living for 47 years in succession - from 1944 till 1991, in spite of the sins we see today in it. Seeing these keys of history in a cool way and with no nihilistic aims, we are convinced that Albanians know how to reconcile, unite, and have their state. This ability of reconciliation and state building is being shown by the Kosovo Albanians with their parliament.
Correspondent of Law and Life:
In this transitional period the administration and the governance disappointed the citizen. How can we have a better functioning of the state?
Dritero AGOLLI:
The state is like a big symphonic orchestra. In a good orchestra all the musical instruments function in a complete harmony, from the first violin to the tambour. The same must be in the state as well; all its administration organs must function must function harmonically, from the civil status office to the Primer office; from the office of the village head to the office of the President of the Republic. What kind of state is that which has a slow, idle, corrupted administration, with no respect for the citizen and that loses everyday the respect of the people with its violation of the laws? Nowadays one cannot take a certificate in the civil state office without a bribe, let alone solving any problem in the court or the prosecution. State or government is not only the government with its ministries in Tirana, but is all the administration in all the provinces of Albania. If the government of the province does not work, there is no government in Tirana no matter how luxurious and pompous be its offices. A praiseworthy functioning of the state is achieved when the official has two joint virtues: first, the progressive ideal, second, the professional ability. When the ideal is missing, the corruption runs to substitute the ideal; when the profession is missing the grocer’s book is opened, which according to the “Dictionary of current Albanian” means “a register badly kept, dirty and half torn”. When I speak about the professional ability of the official, I mean the minister also must have leading ability, not only a technical one. Here is an example. In one of the Italian governments in the post of the minister of agriculture a person was appointed which was neither a n agronomist, nor a veterinary surgeon, and neither an agrarian economist. In short he was not a professional. And when they told him that he did not know the agriculture professions, he responded: “But I know the profession of the minister.” What did this Italian minister mean by this somewhat strange expression? In my opinion, he meant: Indeed I am not an agricultural specialist, but I know how to collect 17 most distinguished specialists and scientists in agriculture field and I pose the question: “What shall we do?” Whereas, in Albania, the minister knows all and does not need advisers. That is, this minister who does not know how to work with the advisers, does not know the profession of the minister.
Correspondent of Law and Life:
Many politicians and analysts said that there are differences between the north and the south in Albanian politics, or between gegs and tosks, as we call them traditionally. What do you think?
Dritero AGOLLI:
The geg and tosk problem has been solved long ago, since the Prizren League and no doubt earlier. In the Albanian policy there were no distinctions neither at the time of Ismail Qemali, nor of Fan Noli, nor of Ahmet Zog, nor of Enver Hoxha and nor today. Gegs and tosks are mixed and merged so much that their generalising names geg-tosk are being lost. And for this long live the memory of the Renaissance men, the patriots, politicians and writers of that time. In these fifty years, from 1944 an on, the writers have been at the head of the work and efforts not to have political and patriotic distinction between gegs and tosks and further on not to have distinctions in the state policy between these big brotherhoods. The number of geg or tosk ministers in the government does not measure the differentiations in politics. The differentiations, if there will be, are observed in the differentiating policy, in the economic, social and cultural of both parts of official Albania. But the differentiations are being crumbed development as a consequence of a common living, the construction of roads and highways, press, television, radio, telephone diffusion, including here the movement of people for production and trade purposes. Anyhow the care for a harmonic life of gegs and tosks must never be absent, because there are cases of political and social crises when conflicts are provoked as a consequence of the bad government and the old prejudices, as it happened at the start of 1997 in the events of Vlora. At that time some political circles tried to cause quarrel between North and South and vice-versa, but the common people themselves, gegs and tosks, understood this folly and refused it, not obeying any order to kill brothers. This shows the high consciousness of the national unity between gegs and tosks.
Correspondent of Law and Life:
Were there are there relations between politics in Albania, and if yes, what do you advise?
Dritero AGOLLI:
There was a tradition in Albania that religion dealt with policy, especially with the policy of the national question. There were many clerics who embraced this policy, like Papa Kristo Negovani, Fan S. Noli, Hasan Tasini, Ndre Mjeda, Hoxhe Vokrri, Father Alushi of Frasher, Father Hysen of Melçani, Ndoc Nikaj, Nikoll Kaçorri, Shtjefen Gjeçovi. There were many others later who took the weapons against the fascist invaders, like Mustafa Xhani, Paic Vodica, Fejzo Dervishi and so on, not mentioning earlier figures of patriot clerics against the foreign rule, like Pjeter Budi, Frang Bardhi, Pjeter Bogdani and Hasan Zyko, etc.
Many of them have been great poets like Fishta, fan S. Noli and Mjeda. All these have been inside the politics, big politics even. There is no doubt that from the high clergy, the Christian and the Moslem there were also those who dealt with the reactionary policy becoming servile of the rulers or servants of the foreign invaders. A characteristic of our clergy comprising catholic, orthodox, bektashi, Sunni, etc., has been the maintenance of a policy line of brotherhood of religions, without quarrels, and hate among them. Being many religions they kept to the Rebirth motto: “Religion of Albanians is Albanianism”.
Our political parties should take example from the political line of their relations, because they turn the debate in a quarrel, even in fighting. I never saw that the priest and the muezzin fight, or a dervish with a monk, but I have seen everyday that the democrat with the socialist fight everyday with each other, even with others. It is good that the religions mingle not with the politics of the parties and keep no side of the parties. I say this because five or six or seven years ago we saw the muezzins or even some priest step on the tribune near any party chief, praying to god that this chief together with his party win the elections for the parliament and when he did not win someone might whisper : ‘The muezzin and the priest prayed in vain, God did not listen to them!” So with the intervention of the clergy in the party’s policy, God is damaged. Recently, luckily there have been no cases like that. |
