September, 2011
Mr. President Barack Hussein Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW; Washington, DC 20500.
Dear Mr. President Barack Hussein Obama
I’d like to take this opportunity and convey my most sincere appreciation for taking in my family and me, and for accepting us into this freedom loving society as one of your “own”. I hope that fate would for once turn its ever eluding gaze upon my people and place this letter in your hands. I have tried my best to avoid citing history, or the usual rhetoric of how much a people have suffered needlessly and that they deserve better. Although this would be very difficult especially since the nature of this letter is to denounce the on-going cruelty and injustice taking place at this very moment in the country of my birthplace. But I will say this much:
No people or any nation at any point and time in the history of the human kind could have done enough harm, or commit a big enough sin to deserve such long lasting cruelty as a whole. Especially when this very small nation has contributed so much for so long: We have paid it forward many times over, if any good fortune may come our way for the next 500 years.
I was born in a small country, located at the heart of the world, in the southeast region of the European continent, called Albania. I am writing to you because the very existence of the country hangs by a thin thread. The blind lady of justice has been hijacked and replaced with her wicked twin, which reigns by threatening to behead anyone that dares challenge it. Innocent hard working people, like me, are being shot and killed in broad day light while trying to exercise the most basic rights enjoyed in any true democratic country: the right to demonstrate peacefully. True opposition and media are being hunted down as if they were petty criminals, by the very people who are supposed to insure their protection: their own government. It is baffling how no one does anything to stop it, let alone dare bring those responsible to justice. I have seen more injustice and cruelty as a young boy than anyone should have to in a lifetime. To my horror two decades later a real tragedy is about to happen right under our very own noses. The country finds itself, quite inexplicable and in the most ironic turn of events, in almost identical circumstances as it did 100 years ago. It is as if the fabric of time has ripped through and through, allowing the collision of two worlds present and past, giving life to a true surreal situation. This is the stark and bone chilling reality of the Albanian people that, more often than not, is stranger than fiction. Nearly 100 years ago a most painful tragedy occurred in broad day light. The great powers at the time decided to, quite casually and most charitably, award Albanian territory to the neighboring countries. And to throw more salt into the wound, these charitable deeds were intended for most unmerited beneficiaries. This hypocritical and unjust act was the very knife that would cut the Albanian population into pieces, cuts that still bleed to this day.
Today, a century later, the source(s) of the attacks remains the same. The difference is that they battle a different kind of warfare. The internal political and social unrest have weakened the very thread of national conciseness that has kept this struggling people closely knitted together. United we have fought admirably and heroically against much bigger adversaries for centuries, and resisted against all odds. In addition to this chaotic climate, that has paralyzed the country, there lurks a real and eminent threat just south of the border. The scavenging extremist element of the neighboring country has been lurking quietly for some time. Now they smell the blood and are wasting no time in opening the wound even wider. The latter have set out a devious and precise plan to achieve their long dream of seizing even more Albanian territory. The means chosen to achieve it are despicable and macabre. They have unearthed graves of our siblings, grand- parents and or younger generations, indiscriminately and rebury them as solders of their own, which supposedly died while defending “their” country during WW II. The very landscape of the country’s demographics is being manipulated in a swift and clinical process. They are altering the true number of indigenous population and in turn artificially inflate the number of the minorities. This way the former will gradually assimilate into the neighboring country(s) and risk vanishing into thin air. This process is being fully backed by the Albanian government, which has agreed, as per the request of the Greek government, to conduct a public census that allows the population to self declare their ethnicity and nationality. In the mean time the Albanian Supreme Court has taken the role of the attorney designated by the government to defend someone already condemned and sentenced. The Greek Orthodox Church clergy has given their invaluable contribution to this lowly cause. For they are the true Trojan Horse that’s preparing the “battle” ground on Albanian territory. Any one voicing their concerns about this scheming process is quickly condemned and portrayed as the undesired anarchist and atheist element! I am afraid that all of the above is only the prologue of the real tragedy that can soon unfold. The country risks being torn once again, this time into even smaller pieces! This is all the doing of a country that was once considered “the cradle of civilization” and presently finds itself in the verge of total collapse. It once again is being saved quite charitably. The latter begs the question: how much longer should one support those that keep biting the hand that feeds? I am writing to you because the Kosovo tragedy is still lingering in limbo, a never ending process that perpetuates itself. It is as if it were a cruel cosmic joke that in some demeaning way plays out, as a comedy sketch, on the international theater. And in a twist of the knife kind of way keeps re-enacting in encore.
I know these matters are internal affairs. Unfortunately the Albanian government does not seem to function in the most basic way. Let alone assist our battered brothers and sisters in Kosovo. The so called leaders of the country are a pack of ruthless mercenaries who work for the highest bidder. This treacherous element possesses a most manipulative and sadistic mind that operates with deadly accuracy from a most ideal vantage point. They reside at the lowest levels of the bottomless pit of cowardice and at the highest levels of deceit. They reached the highest levels of government and social ladder, by this very “virtue”. During the 46 years of dictatorship they were Doctors, Ministers, and Intellectuals who praised the glorious doctrine of Stalinism as being the very blue print that built this little Iron fortress called Albania: Except this fortress was built to keep people in, and against their will. In reality they helped built the most ruthless dictatorship in the modern history of Europe. They are the very people that helped the Despotic system thrive for half a century. A system that through cruelest and most demining ways shattered the hopes of millions, twisted the minds and the free spirit that makes us all human. We never had a real chance! Today these turncoats, like pirates out of the sea, have adopted and even created false flags and banners to purposely mislead the masses. By power of example implant animosity between the dazed and confused supporters of each “political” side. Divide and Conquer is there true motto! This is the element that directly or indirectly is responsible for the heinous crimes that were committed during the Dictatorship. Crimes committed not just against their “own” people, but humanity as a whole. They define the saying “a wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing”. Somehow, they remain unscathed in broad daylight in the heart of the free world and for reasons that I cannot comprehend, still manage to thrive much like they did during the 46 years of the dictator-ship. Something just does not go, and it’s quite incomprehensible!
It seems as though the laws of nature do not apply within the space and time that houses the Three Albanian populations. Or dare I say Four. The forces of nature in the neighboring country, to the south of the border, have done all they can to cover all Old traces of the Albanian in their territory. So we often forget to even mention them. We are in the heart of Europe and yet somehow we manage to remain the poorest, most corrupt and least developed country. We are often humiliated, and treated like personal bargaining chips at the international poker table. It is as if we have fallen into a pocket of space and time, where the winds of change touch ever so slightly, but never enough. Transfixed in a glass prison we watch the world go by. For a brief moment in time we saw a window of opportunity, a true once in a life time chance to change the lives of millions for the better, and yet when we tried to seize it all the doors were shut, quite inexplicably, from all four corners of the world. It seems that there are certain invisible forces that keep interfering and keep changing the fate of Albania. It seems that these invisible forces act in the back ground with clinical precision and derail any genuine efforts to steer the country in the right directions. What are these Forces? It can’t be communism. The people of Albania would tell you with absolute certainty … remember? The iron curtain was raised once and for all 20 years ago!! Or did it? Fortunately it did for most of the countries that it passed through. Unfortunately it did not for the country that it infected the most. Like another worldly disease it plagued its very soul and morphed it into something unrecognizable from the rest of the world that surrounds it. What makes this double tragic is the very fact that the world is WATCHING the sequel of a true horror docudrama, live and unedited as it unfolds the new generation of victims. In the mean time the real perpetrators of these events have found true haven in the heart of the free world. Somehow they manage to remain the “care takers” of these retched people!
If you are tired of reading this, Sir, imagine how exhausted the Albanian people are, of living it!
Unfortunately I do not possess the body or the strength of a mythological Titan, who with one sweep of the arm could make things new. In reality I am quite the opposite and, frankly, quite out of shape. So I turn to a Gentle Giant who owes its towering achievements to the brave men and women who through blood and sweat sacrificed everything for a better life. So I turn to you like a young son would to his step-father, with hope and uncertainty, and ask that he treats his, brave but frail, mother whose life has been nothing but a collection of tragic events, with the respect that she so deserves. I am asking for the sake of all those, who were orphaned by their despotic government simply because their parents fought for a better future. They never had the God given right and distinct pleasure of being caressed by the hand that knows nothing but love. They never knew what it is like to be embraced by the loving arms and the unconditional support that can move mountains. I write to you in on behalf the woman who breast fed me, who helped me take the first step, taught me the first words, who sacrificed her own ration of food so I would not go to bed hungry, who with a heavy heart found strength to sing , with a voice only a mother can produce, lullabies so I could have a peaceful sleep, as she stood many days and nights, over my half dead body, who with her eternal and unconditional love gave me strength to pull through. I am writing on behalf of the man that taught me how to be tough, how to love and respect family and friends, how to love self and country, the very country that has forsaken its own people. I write to you from the deep sub-conscience of the thousands of people who are fighting with the beast of poverty that has swallowed them whole, who for the sake of their kids have chosen a less “dignifying” life by accepting economic incentives in exchange for their names and national identity. One day they will wake up and no longer recognize their own house, by then it will be too late!
In closing: I know that in the grand scheme of things “We” are a drop of rain in the vast ocean. But for us it is this very drop of water that gives us life. It is the water in which we are all baptized as Albanians. It is the tears that our mothers shed in silence for their sons and daughters that sank to the bottom of the ocean, while trying to save Us. It is our very own bubble, for without it we would cease to exist. Like two drops of rain are never the same in structure and mass, we too are unique and yet the same. We too are one of the infinite drops of water that make up the vast ocean! What I’m asking you is no small task but, like all great things put in motion, taking the first step is the hardest. We cannot change history or bring back the ones that gave up their lives while fighting to preserve justice and democracy. We can honor them by upholding their legacy not with just praises and medals but with real actions. We can certainly not attain anything through retribution. There has been enough Albanian blood spilled in the name of this and that cause with no positive results. No one knows how to patch old wounds better than the Albanians. However, tensions are higher than ever, the masses are slowly awakening from a three-quarter century induced coma, and will realize they have been fooled yet again. In the Albanian psyche there is a real sense of distrust for the government and consequently for all of its supporters domestic and foreign. The latter has done nothing more than state the obvious and the usual political rhetoric at a time when actions are needed more than ever. There is a real storm brewing in the horizon and it is approaching fast. This is just the quite before the real storm. What concerns me the most is the fact that the ruling thuggish element is vicious. They will not think twice about firing at the crowd. Just as they did in 1997-98, when 3500 people were killed in broad daylight, again on January 21st of 2011, 4 people were shot dead, many others wounded.
I know that currently you are overburdened and pre-occupied with domestic issues, and rightfully so. The matter at hand is not that these people can no longer afford an SUV so they settle for a Sedan instead. I am talking about a country that lacks the most basic economical, political and social structures. A country where people are purposely desensitized, given no real incentives or opportunities and are often treated like personal belongings. They can easily be “discarded” once they are no longer needed or pose e “threat”. Unfortunately this has been the cruel fate that these people have had to endure for a very long time. And yet somehow they manage to throw themselves over their shoulders and keep marching down the avenues, in search of real Democracy, to only meet with empty promises and permanent detours, once again! Are not the efforts, resilience, and perseverance that these people have shown throughout their history, worth preserving? There has never been a better time for action, than now! It is time for a REAL change!
P.S. We have great potential! Let Us make the slogan “Albania is developing” often used by farce politicians in power, A real one!!!
With most respect and admiration, thank you for your time.
Sincerely
E. Dine
Pėrgjigju Duke Cituar
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