– Gjon Bruçi, “Gazeta SOT” –
In 1990, when the country was electrified by the slogan, “We want Albania to be like Europe,” repeated throughout the streets of towns and villages, people began speaking with unprecedented enthusiasm about the “blank cheque.” It was said that a cheque had been signed and sealed by the United States, yet the amount in dollars that this cheque would grant us was to be determined by the Albanians themselves, as soon as they opened the gates of their fortress, which had been closed to them since 29 November 1944. The bearer of this news was the late Gramoz Pashko, one of the organisers of the demonstrations and protests advocating the transition from socialism to the supposedly magnificent “democracy” of the bourgeois system.
As the son of Josif Pashko, whose name was borne by a large industrial combine in the capital, Gramoz enjoyed considerable credibility when conveying this extraordinary promise that was supposedly destined to rescue us. Owing to this notable authority, even in Shkodra, the principal city of the north, more than 100 kilometres from the capital, the “blank cheque” had become the leading topic of the day. Indeed, not only the blank cheque itself, but also several dozen ships were said — and widely believed — to have arrived from across the Atlantic and to be waiting in the roadstead of Durrës. They were allegedly queued for unloading as soon as the doors of our granaries were opened.
“On my sister’s honour,” swore a man from Shkodra in his thirties, “the ships, packed to the brim with flour, pasta, rice and sugar, are waiting to anchor in our port as soon as we give the green light to our distant strategic friend from across the ocean!”
The young man’s oath, and he was far from alone in making such claims, was so emphatic that even I, a sceptic, found my resolve shaken.
I had always opposed American imperialism, which our own “Odyssey” had described as an “international gendarme.” Yet, overwhelmed by the immense pressure bearing down upon our established way of life from both outside and within, even I, the “sceptic,” was compelled to accept the impending domination, consoling myself with the thought that our great friend from across the ocean, appreciating our strategic position, would transform us, as it had Israel in the Middle East, into a “pistol” in the Balkan region. “Let them make us a pistol, a cannon, or even a mortar,” I thought to myself, “provided that we are able to exact retribution upon those states which, for more than two centuries, have wronged us by holding hostage two thirds of our ethnic territories.”
I knew that this resembled a form of unhealthy nationalism, yet, after all, as the people say, “In this life there can be no justice without recompense and no blood without atonement!” Thinking thus, I joined those who opened the gate wide, leaf by leaf…
Thanks to this “beautiful legend,” from 1990 onwards, with the American Ryerson at the forefront and, up to the present day, supported by the ambassadors of Euro-Atlanticism, not only the “blank cheque” but also “cheques” of every conceivable kind passed over our homes, levelling mountains and gouging out plains. For thirty-six uninterrupted years, American and European “cheques” razed to their foundations everything that had been built through sweat and blood over forty-five years by a small people who, having survived five centuries of foreign domination, resolved to “rule” their own house and succeeded in placing their country alongside its counterparts in the region and beyond.
Throughout most of these years, one of the floors of the Ministry of Defence building, as well as those of other ministries of our state, was placed at the disposal of Euro-Atlantic “specialists,” whose objective was the reform of the economy, culture, education, health care, the military and other assets possessed by a state. Thanks to this “reform,” today, thirty-six years later, we have a state without a state, without an economy, without culture, without health care, without industry, without agriculture, without defence and without an army — in short, as the saying goes, “naked with our hands in our pockets!”
Is there any need to explain how matters unfolded? We all know, for the events remain fresh in memory. Some of them lie dormant in files and archives because the “grey-haired bear of capitalism” does not tolerate disturbances to its tranquillity.
Consequently, the Albanian people today find themselves in the streets protesting for a living minimum and, worse still, stripped, hungry, defenceless and more afflicted than at any other point in their millennia-long history.
To overcome this unforeseen “crisis,” anticipated neither by us nor by our Euro-Atlantic strategic friend, there now appears upon the stage not Gramoz the messenger’s “blank cheque,” but rather the “black resort” of Zvërnec. This time, the cheque… forgive me, the “black resort” of Zvërnec, is being waved before our noses by none other than the country’s Prime Minister, Edi Rama, who swears on behalf of the entire “clan” that this “investment” will rescue our economy after its thirty-six years on the brink. This resort, to be built in our Zvërnec, a place of diverse natural habitats, will be constructed by Trump’s son-in-law together with the latter’s beautiful Ivanka. Since they are to spend millions upon millions of dollars, euros and dollars will supposedly flow continuously from their bulging pockets to every Albanian. All that is required is that Albanians know how to gather this wealth and store it in jars, just as their forebears once did when, after packing their riches into earthen vessels, they hoisted them onto their shoulders and set off for the “Garden of Eden” of America’s “El Dorado.”
The failure of the “blank cheque” was forgotten by the architects of the early years of imported “democracy.” Yet, to the peril of today’s politicians and officeholders, this matter of the “black resort,” which is supposedly destined to restore our fortunes, is not being believed by some young people who, in recent days, have filled the boulevards and squares of the country’s cities.
More “reasonable,” however, are certain intellectuals from the socialist period who, after spending half a century insisting that the foundation of a country’s economic development lies in industry and agriculture, while tourism and other sectors are of secondary importance, now, in unison with the Prime Minister, the Speaker of Parliament, the Chief Justice, the Chief Economist, the Chief Sportsman, the Chief Wholesaler and a host of other “chiefs” bearing the name Rama, strive to convince us citizens that, through tourism alone, we can develop the economy and live happily on the shores of the Adriatic and Ionian seas…
These latter figures, these “reasonable” intellectuals bearing the well-earned nickname of “chameleons,” know perfectly well from direct experience, as well as from recorded history, that this scheme of the “black resort,” or the “blank cheque,” had already been enacted as far back as 1959, when our country was visited by the “father of maize,” Nikita Khrushchev. During that visit, among other things, he declared:
“Why do you grow wheat? The amount of wheat you consume in a year is eaten by mice in our country! Plant citrus fruits instead, and we shall provide you with the wheat…!”
Yet, after making this promise, he demanded that we normalise relations with Tito and adopt several other “reformist” measures. We naturally rejected these demands. As a consequence, he cut off aid and credits, and we were compelled to draw upon our gold reserves in order to secure bread for the people during that year of deprivation and harsh social-imperialist encirclement.
Nevertheless, we did not starve, because our “Odysseus” had taken timely measures to guarantee the people’s food supply, just as he had secured the defence of Freedom and Independence through the Army, which in its day had been known as the “Army of the Soldier-People.”
The younger generation, which today is demonstrating in squares and along boulevards against these untrustworthy resorts and the bargaining away of lands inherited from their forebears, did not live through the era of the Albanian “Odysseus” of the twentieth century. Yet, as appears to be the case, they know the history of their parents and do not place their trust in the adventurers of politics and power, nor in the “chameleon” intellectuals whom every system produces, just as nature produces the reptiles of the marshes, creatures that change colour according to the time, place and circumstances.
(Translated from the Albanian original published in Gazeta SOT, 10 June 2026.)