A Strike Against Panorama

by Violeta Orosi

Adem Demaqi, the well known ethnic Albanian political dissident, recipient of Sacharov's award for freedom of thought, currently the Human Rights Committee president in Pristina and the editor-in-chief of the magazine Zeri, started a hunger strike on May 24 in the building of the "Rilindja" newspaper. Four days later, in an interview to VREME, Demaqi tried to explain why he would go to the end

"On May 20 the Serbian authorities in Kosovo arbitrarily closed the giro account, so that all of us working for 'Bujku', 'Zeri', 'Fjalja' and 'Skendija' (papers in the Albanian language) were prevented from working. This means that they have closed us down. After May 24 we received some documents starting with: To the former leadership of 'Zeri', demanding that our journalists become the employees of a new firm called 'Panorama' about whose founding we had not been consulted. They gave us a deadline until May 28 in which to decide if we agreed, otherwise we would all be sacked," said Demaqi.

You were opposed to this integration?

I am not against integration if it is the wish of both sides. If we find a common interest, we can do so with an American firm, but this is suppression. They are asking us to act as cosmeticians of the regime, and become its partners. We have already suffered two great blows to the media in the Albanian language: in July 1990 when they canceled radio and television programs and the following month when "Rilindja" was closed down. We want this law on "Panorama" to be annulled, freedom of the press allowed and a legal property transformation of "Rilindja" to take place.

The authorities say they will not finance "anti-Serbian papers"?

After the closing down of TV Pristina, programs in the Albanian language and "Rilindja", this regime has not financed a single paper. That's the crux of the matter. It is a lie that we had been financed. It is a lie that all the property which had been confiscated, including the sales network and the printing works belong to Serbia, when we have all the documents which show that it was all build thanks to international loans, money found in Kosovo and partly with means from the former Yugoslavia. But, we have paid off all those loans and debts.

You say there is great solidarity among citizens of Kosovo with the strike?

Yesterday 250 journalists joined the strike including a number of writers. There are attempts at having the students and some trade unions join in, but we think this unnecessary. We will persevere in this alone.

You sent your demands to the republican and federal leaderships, including Yugoslav President Dobrica Cosic. What do you expect?

We sent our demands in order that they might not say that they weren't informed, and ask why we hadn't told them. I do not expect anything to happen. All that is happening in Kosovo, is the result of Cosic's policy which aims at seeing that ethnic Albanians are treated as a minority. I wish to inform the public of the problem and see that it is resolved in a peaceful and civilized manner...