1997, march 1 - april? - general strike strengthens popular revolution!
as you read this, a revolution is occurring in albania. after years of italian fascism and german occupation, followed by a half century of brutal domestic totalitarianism, albanians have finally taken up arms against the state. the straw that broke the back of the albanian people was the bankruptcy of the financial companies which were promising interest rates up to 100 per cent a month to people investing their savings. tens of thousands of Albanians sold all their belongings, including their homes, in order to put their money in the accounts of these fraudsters. they have lost everything.it all exploded on march 1, when police tried to oust 42 students on hunger strike from the university in the port city of vlore (pop. 100,000) in the south of the country. they were prevented from doing so by thousands of demonstrators who dispersed the police forces killing some policemen. they burnt down the headquarters of the secret police, raided some prisons and police stations and distributed arms found there amongst the demonstrators. a general strike was declared in the city and in most of the south of the country.
since the initial skermish with police forces, army and local police have readily surrendered to the local populations throughout southern albania. rebellious masses have begun moving northward, toward the capital, to bring down the corrupt and brutal regime of president berisha.
keep your eyes and ears on your favorite news source for updated information. many see this as the most promising hope for a collectively constructed and governed society since the spanish civil war. communities have already begun to form local councils to draft local governance policies to replace the central command from the country's capital. for an interesting analysis of these events and how other states are likely to respond, read the meaning of the albanian revolution by alan woods.
due to the short attention span of most news media, additional information about this strike has been difficult to find. if you have information about when and how this event concluded, please e-mail me.